Writing History One Day at a Time

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

THE HERALD REPUBLICAN

THE NEWS SUN

The

Star

kpcnews.com

WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY

AT A TIME Booming industry, horrific disasters, monumental achievements: For 100 years KPC Media Group has been giving you the news

I N S I D E

T H I S

S P E C I A L

S E C T I O N

’20s

’30s

’40s

’50s

’60s

’70s

Eckhart gives Auburn huge gift

Steuben citizens make Pokagon happen

Auburn automobile company has finest hour

War hero gets a special tribute

Kentucky residents arrive in droves

Tornadoes rip through LaGrange County

An auto museum is born in Auburn

E5-E6

E7-E8

E9-E10

E12-E14

F1-F2

F3-F5

F6-F7

’10s

’80s

’90s

’00s

Dekko builds a thriving foundation

Hispanics become majority in Ligonier

Tri-State renamed Trine University

F8-F9

F10-F11

F12-F13

$1

E2

WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

Writing a century of local history a time.

Welcome!

TERRY G. HOUSHOLDER President, publisher of KPC Media Group Inc.

•

For the past 100 years, KPC Media Group Inc., and its predecessor newspaper companies, have been writing the history of our communities in DeKalb, LaGrange, Noble and Steuben counties one day at

Founded as Kendallville Publishing Co. in August 1911, on Main Street, Kendallville, KPC Media Group has grown into a multi-media firm serving an expanded area of northeast Indiana.

Our products include the daily newspapers based in Auburn, Angola and Kendallville, along with weeklies in Garrett, Butler and Ligonier.

We publish the Fort Wayne region’s only business weekly newspaper, a family magazine, local phone books, total-market saturation shopper products and free monthly

Allen County community newspapers.

In addition, our websites are major news and advertising vehicles for the region. We also operate commercial printing and direct-mailing operations.

While our products and geographical area have grown, we continue to be family-owned and operated — committed to meeting the present and future needs of the communities in which we live and work.

In your hands you have a taste of what we have covered as news and feature stories since the consolidation of the two daily newspapers in

Kendallville on Aug. 7, 1911. We hope you enjoy these glimpses of what was happening in each of the last 10 decades and the stories of some of the companies sponsoring this section.

Northeast Indiana is rich in history.

I encourage young and old to seek more opportunities to learn about our past.

We can take pride in those who forged our path. Inspired by their fortitude, we continue to strive to improve the communities we call home.

Population growth fluctuates over the years U.S. Census figures for Indiana 1910-2010:

Official U.S. Census records of the population of the four northeastern Indiana counties: DeKalb County

Steuben County

Noble County

LaGrange County

1910

2,700,876; up 7.3 percent

1910

25,054

1910

15,148

1910

24,009

1910

14,274

1920

2,930,390; up 8.5 percent

1920

25,600

1920

14,009

1920

22,470

1920

13,360

1930

3,238,503; up 10.5 percent

1930

24,911

1930

13,780

1930

22,404

1930

13,386

1940

3,427,796; up 5.8 percent

1940

24,756

1940

14,352

1940

22,776

1940

13,740

1950

3,934,224; up 14.8 percent

1950

26,023

1950

15,347

1950

25,075

1950

17,087

1960

4,662,498; up 18.5 percent

1960

28,271

1960

17,380

1960

28,162

1960

17,184

1970

5,193,669; up 11.4 percent

1970

30,837

1970

20,890

1970

31,382

1970

20,159

1980

5,490,224; up 5.7 percent

1980

33,606

1980

25,550

1980

35,443

1980

24,694

1990

5,544,159; up 1.0 percent

1990

35,324

1990

29,477

1990

37,877

1990

27,446

2000

6,080,485; up 9.7 percent

2000

40,285

2000

34,909

2000

46,275

2000

33,214

2010

6,483,802; up 6.6 percent

2010

42,223

2010

37,128

2010

47,536

2010

34,185

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WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

E3

George O. Witwer, publisher emeritus:

‘Tell life stories … be part of the community but not consumed by it’

BY GRACE HOUSHOLDER graceh@kpcnews.net

Founded in 1911, Kendallville Publishing Co. is celebrating its 100th anniversary. KPC’s publisher emeritus, George O. Witwer, and and his wife Dorothy Lee Witwer have experienced 49 of those years. Here are some of their recollections and predictions.

Did you envision the type of growth KPC has experienced when you first moved here in 1962? Did you envision that future generations would eventually be part of KPC? GEORGE O. WITWER: Yes and no. I thought I could make great improvements at The News Sun. I had seen the new offset technology while working in the East. I drove to the first successful daily offset newspaper in New York state to witness the miracle. I felt it would (and should) replace letterpress printing. It would improve the quality of our photos and reduce our costs. It was a very exciting time with great changes in the newspaper business — all for the better. As for my children, they were all little things then and I did not expect them to ever change much. I liked them the way they were.

DOROTHY WITWER: No.

“We were the first newspaper in the United States to receive our UPI wire news by satellite, rather than land line.

After we bought The Auburn Evening Star (now The Star), we became one of the first dailies to print two dailies on one press.”

What are you earliest memories regarding Kendallville and Kendallville Publishing Co.?

GEORGE O. WITWER: A nice little town and a newspaper with integrity — but behind the times. The owner and publisher of The News Sun was a 97-year-old lady named Mrs. Alice Merica. Once I restored her dividend, I could do no wrong. In most ways, she was a great boss. She seldom interfered with my management, except she would not allow me to sell ads to business outside of Kendallville that might be competitive with stores inside Kendallville. This was a big problem. Even Mrs. Avis Dickey, our wonderful business manager who helped me understand so many perplexing issues in those early days, had no advice.

Mrs. Merica allowed me to change the policy when an Albion attorney pointed out to us that policy refusing competitive ads from Albion merchants might be restraint of trade. A law suit could follow, he threatened.

Meanwhile, my little kids were bragging to their friends they met at school that their dad worked for “Miss America.”

DOROTHY WITWER: Kendallville was a very friendly place with hardworking communityminded citizens. Downtown was a place where you could find all your family’s basic needs including groceries, meats, bakery, clothing for children, men and women, shoes, Singer sewing machines, fabrics, post office, business at the newspaper

office, paint and wallpaper, hardware, drugstores, medical and dental, insurance, furniture, restaurant and more including a soda store and a movie theater. Kendallville had an excellent school system and a beautiful park and a good-for-swimming lake.

I remember The News Sun was a small newspaper with old linotype equipment and no way to print local pictures. I put all four children in the car and traveled with our photos to Churubusco where their printing department had a Fairchild scanner and got our pictures ready for printing in the paper.

Avis Dickey was the amazing lady who handled billing, accounting, circulation, newsboys, customer service and kept The News Sun office running. When she retired it took two full time women and one part time woman to replace her.

EXTRA! EXTRA!

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

The News Sun staff of 1966 included, from left, George O. Witwer, editor, C. William West, city editor, Wendell Jollief, sports editor, Bill Gisel, photographer and reporter, Jeanette Hetrick, society editor, and Marguerite Sand, wire editor.

we get to know our readers.

The most challenging part is keeping the business growing and profitable.

George O. Witwer Publisher emeritus

•

What were some of your innovations?

GEORGE O. WITWER: Two years after Lee and I and the children arrived, we began converting to the offset printing technology. We were the first newspaper in the United States to receive our wire news by satellite, rather than land line. After we bought The Auburn Evening Star (now The Star), we became one of the first dailies to print two dailies on one press. And I guess I might mention that we were one of

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

George O. and Dorothy Witwer, who will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary Oct. 12, 2011, enjoy laughter at a 2010 Christmas gathering in Kendallville.

Parents of four children and grandparents of 14, they have one great-granddaughter. The Witwers have been part of 49 of KPC Media Group's 100-year history.

Retired, George O. Witwer is publisher emeritus of KPC Media Group.

the earliest newspapers to perfect a reliable skip delivery system so that those readers who chose not to buy the newspaper would get some of the ads in our shopper.

What, if anything, has not changed?

GEORGE O. WITWER: Well, I guess the things that make a good page one story … a story should be both interesting and significant. If it passes those tests, it’s page one.

DOROTHY WITWER: Kendallville is still a city of friendly people who work hard to effect community

kpcnews.com today!

What parts of being a leader in small town journalism are most enjoyable? Most challenging?

GEORGE O. WITWER: I guess the most enjoyable aspect of small town journalism is telling other people’s life stories. You need to be part of the community but not consumed by it. You need to be empathetic, but objective.

DOROTHY WITWER: The most enjoyable is satisfaction from providing a necessary service and the pleasure when

In 1940, four very good engineers started Air Products.

Our humble beginnings took place in a warehouse in Detroit, MI, then later moved to Allentown, PA.

What are some of the major changes you have experienced through the years with KPC? GEORGE O. WITWER: We have needed to expand our services to different types of publications in different adjacent locations.

Looking ahead 50 years, what do you predict for KPC and for journalism as a whole?

GEORGE O. WITWER: We will use wireless technology more to reach our readers. Our websites will improve with the use of video cameras. Our websites will be used more for basic shopping and other information.

DOROTHY WITWER: Skilled reporting with high journalism standards will still be necessary, but more and more of the news will be online for readers. KPC will still be serving northeastern Indiana.

What advice do you have for community journalists?

GEORGE O. WITWER: Do what you love to do. Stay alert. Stay optimistic. Stay humble. Stay happy.

DOROTHY WITWER: Be respectful of your sources, friendly, honest and ethical.

1880-2011 Ministering to the spiritual needs of our community for 131 years.

1880

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2005

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Today, the Butler, IN facility is a proud supplier to Steel Dynamics and many major local companies.

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improvements and social services.

What have been some of the biggest news stories you helped report during the past 50 years?

GEORGE O. WITWER: Well, I had been in Kendallville only a few weeks when our only black resident died. She was a large black lady with a hearty laugh. A very popular person every one liked.

Before we went to press with the obituary, I received a phone call from a stern-voiced woman who said, “Did you check the death certificate, Mr. Witwer?” Then she hung up. I phoned John Hutchins at the funeral home. “All right, John. Do I have to come down and check the death certificate?” John admitted that the woman was not a woman at all, but a man. He took care of of two sisters, one of whom was bed-ridden.

The sisters, daughters of a wealthy Kendallville merchant, moved to Chicago during the halcyon 1920s, then moved back to Kendallville with the black lady in the

1950s. John and I discussed what we should do. I argued that we could not ignore the fact that the person was not quite a woman. John pointed out the problems in the deep Depression that would force a man to conceal his sex in order to get a job. I came up with the word “hermaphrodite,” the meaning of which I hoped most readers might not exactly know. The story was picked up by UPI and AP. Soon I was receiving requests for photos from smut magazines in Canada.

Much later, there was scandal when Henderson Lake began to smell — no, actually, stink. This went on for several months until a summer News Sun editorial intern studying to become a doctor figured it out. We held up printing the story in exchange for the company involved agreeing to install some expensive purifying equipment.

Stories involving a young, pretty News Sun reporter who spent a few days with followers of The Way in Rome City produced some excitement.

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E4

WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

kpcnews.com

1911

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

2011

100 Years KPC marks a century of service

KPC Media Group Inc., was founded 100 years ago as Kendallville Publishing Co. with the consolidation of Kendallville’s two daily newspapers on Aug. 7, 1911. The family-owned company has expanded over the years and now has more than 150 full- or part-time employees with over 1,300 years of experience.

We are proud of our century-long history of serving the communities in northeast Indiana. I give credit to the great staff of employees, past and present, for our success. We continue to have a team that is dedicated to serving our readers, advertisers and our communities.

Terry G. Housholder President, Publisher KPC Media Group Inc.

Kendallville Office

KPC principal owners George O. and Dorothy Lee Witwer. First Row (L to R): Nancy Sible, Vi Wysong, Grace Housholder, Terry Housholder, Donna Scanlon. Second Row (L to R): Erin Doucette, Stevie Lockridge, Becky Sliger, Nadine Kline, Heather Moses, Felicia Prumm, Crystal Sheets, Matthew Peters. Third Row (L to R): Ralph Prater, Tammy Huff, Jenny Kobiela-Mondor, Carol Ernsberger, James Fisher. Fourth Row (L to R): Mark Lee, Corey Cooper, Ryan Baird, James Tew, Bob Buttgen, Bob Braley, Brian Glick.

First Row (L to R): Jan Richardson, Barb Braley, Brenda Cureton, Michele Conrad, Tracey Robideau, Terri Myers, Holly Law-Bireley, Brenda Butters, Cindy Miller, Trina Abrams, Patti Prumm, Karen Bloom, Mary Lou Monesmith, Val Strycker, Melinda Ellert. Second Row (L to R): Brandy Montel, Vicki Coats, Karen Elliott, LeAnn Robinson, Charlene Condon, Sue Dunlap, Jenny Ernsberger, Kelly Wallen, Jodi Arington, Shelly Junk, Susan Green, Joie Dameron, Brenda Wert, Chuck Fischer, Michelle Herron, Gary Crager, Chris Lamotte. Third Row (L to R): Matt Getts, Jennie

Angola Office

First Row (L to R): Elane Light, Ken Fillmore, Art Condon, Machele Waid. Second Row (L to R): Dawn Oberlin, Daisy Reinhart, Mike Marturello, Amy Oberlin, Janie Minick, Jennifer Decker. Not Pictured: Misty Easterday, Violet Grime, Andrea Leady.

First Row (L to R): Jamie Perkins, Rebecca Gamble, Tabitha Steel, Dawn Call. Second Row (L to R): Beth Cureton, Martha Arnold, Nathan Clapp, Kerri Bell, Craig Haupert, Tianna Fortier, Mike Yoder. Third Row (L to R): Brian Ciolko, Tim Gregg, Dave Butts, Chris Fiedler, Dave Cook. Fourth Row (L to R): John Riser.

Rollins, Dennis Nartker, Bruce Hakala, Dave Ober. Not Pictured: Karen Atkins, JB Barker, John Bolitho, Brenda Farmer, Nancy Freeman, Anne Hakala, Sabrina Hunley, Ron Headrick, Chad Kline, Bill MacPhee, Mark Newland, Sue Poe, Judy Renkenberger, Cindy Ringler, Ann Saggars, Jessica Shaw, Kristina Sliger, Joey Swartz, Jeanne Vignau Berley, Harlow Watson, Mindy Brown, David Egly.

Auburn Office

Fort Wayne Office

First Row (L to R): Suzanne Cunningham, Rebecca Koverman, Lynda Wolfe, Lisa Myers. Second Row (L to R): Christy Day, Sue Carpenter, Maleah Leitner, Kathryn Bassett, Art Condon. Third Row (L to R): Nichole Hacha-Thomas, Connie Trowbridge, Michele Trowbridge, Bob Culp, Jeff Jones.

(One employee added to this photo with Adobe Photoshop computer program.) Not Pictured: Mark Murdock.

First Row (L to R): Lynn Sroufe, Janeen Pierr, Valerie Caviglia, Kit Anguiano. Second Row (L to R): Lynette Donley, Beth Welty, Ramona McGown. Third Row (L to R): Mary Schmitz, Linda Lipp, Brenda McLay. Fourth Row (L to R): Doug Leduc, Sasha Boehme.

Fifth Row (L to R): Don Cooper, Kelly McLendon, Maryann Ulmer.

Sixth Row (L to R): Tom Reynolds, Rick Farrant, Bret Jacomet.

Seventh Row (L to R): Barry Rochford. Not Pictured: Mike McCormack, Tom Anderson.

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WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

E5

Eckhart’s lasting gifts set example

BY JANDRA SUTTON

Charles Eckhart is a name that rings familiar in Auburn, as he contributed to much of what the city now holds dear, from the Eckhart Public Library to the Auburn Automobile Co. An avid philanthropist, Eckhart dedicated himself to people, leading him to play a crucial role in Auburn’s history.

Born on Feb. 24, 1841, in Germantown, Pa., Eckhart was no stranger to the hard life. His father was an alcoholic, and young Charles was pulled out of school for work at 8 years old.

He worked steadily until 1860, when he enlisted in the Union Army under the 104th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Although he was discharged in 1863 for heart problems, Eckhart reenlisted in 1865 and served until six months after the Civil War ended.

He traveled to Waterloo in DeKalb County in 1866, and on Oct. 30, 1866, he married Barbara Ellen Ashleman. The next year their first child, Frank, was born, and the family moved to Pennsylvania.

Returning to Auburn with his family in 1874, Eckhart brought with him the Eckhart Carriage Co., a successful

Charles Eckhart made gifts of land, a handsome building and furnishings totaling approximately $40,000 to create Eckhart Public Library in Auburn in

enterprise that continued to was granted flourish even after he retired $12,500 from in 1895. well-known A dedicated and hard philanthropist worker, Eckhart also Andrew committed himself to his Carnegie to principles as a Christian and erect a library Prohibitionist. He began to building. focus on these ideals, as well Eckhart as a recognition of the had donated Eckhart importance of knowledge, land for the after his retirement. library site As president of a newly and pledged himself to formed library board, Eckhart furnishing the building, but he wanted to give the people of believed Carnegie’s grant Auburn the best there was to would not be enough to build offer. In 1909 the library board the library he had in mind.

Unlike most benefactors, Bushnell emphasized, Eckhart’s contributions weren’t a monument to himself, but to knowledge.

The library was completed and dedicated Jan. 20, 1911, with gifts of land, building, and furnishings totaling approximately $40,000.

Eckhart continued his generous donations to the library. In November 1913 he purchased an ornamental fountain for the library park, and he provided an additional $15,000 grant to cover operational expenses. That same year Eckhart and his son, Frank, donated two other treasures to the city of Auburn: Eckhart Park and the YMCA building. The latter donation — an investment worth nearly $70,000 — at the time made Auburn the smallest city in the United States to be home to a YMCA. “I think Charles Eckhart established a baseline for philanthropy in this town,” Bushnell said of Eckhart’s KPC FILE PHOTO influence over Auburn. “He 1911. He donated more than three times the amount represents the best we have to that philanthropist Andrew Carnegie had offered offer.”

Auburn to build its library.

Eckhart’s legacy lies not only in the buildings he The grant was canceled, and “Charles believed that there erected, but in the example he Eckhart took it upon himself was a responsibility that came left behind. He didn’t want to to fund the entire project. with success,” Bushnell said. make Auburn a better place Carnegie wrote the library Other cities had benefactors for himself, he did it because board commending the action, championing development, but that’s what he believed the stating, “I should like to shake Bushnell said Eckhart stands people of Auburn deserved. him (Eckhart) by the hand as a out.

Auburn’s The Evening fellow-worker in the good “He had a formidable Dispatch published an article cause. Happy man, who can record for any citizen in the on Eckhart on May 13, 1910. console himself through life 19th and 20th centuries,” The newspaper praised him, with the thought that because Bushnell said. “He’s built a saying, “His virtues will shine he lived one little spot on earth world-class building serving as a beacon light to guide men has been made better than it the needs of the community in the paths of goodness and was before.” … (and) he’s not doing this helpfulness, and the good that History writer Scott for the top 1 percent, he’s he has done, will be an Bushnell adds that Eckhart doing it for the whole everlasting benediction to his held other motives as well. community.” memory.”

Steuben’s icon: Soldier’s Monument

IN SPORTS

BY MIKE MARTURELLO mikem@kpcnews.net

From 1910-1918, DeKalb County native Rollie Zeider played nine seasons at the top levels of professional baseball. Zeider took the field as a versatile infielder for the White Sox and briefly for the Yankees, played two seasons for Chicago in the rival Federal League and ended his Major League career with the Cubs. Born in Auburn, Zeider later lived in Garrett, where he died in 1967

ANGOLA — If there ever was an icon for Angola and Steuben County, if not northeast Indiana, it could very well be the Steuben County Soldier’s Monument in downtown Angola.

Rising up over the center of town, the monument has stood the test of time for 94 years in commemoration of the Civil War and the 1,278 men — including 280 that didn’t return home — Steuben County sent to that divisive conflict among the states.

The Steuben County Soldier’s Monument was erected in 1917 and dedicated on Decoration Day, the predecessor to Memorial Day. School children attended, and a great dance was held on the square — or the mound as it is still often called — the night before the dedication.

America was, at the time, sending off her sons to yet another battle, this time the first

Since 1878

world war. Even though there was a party the night before, there was little fanfare — at least in the printed press — for the occasion.

The monument has undergone two restoration projects, in 1953 and in 1993. The most extensive restoration came in 1993 at a cost of nearly $80,000. The work was done by the Venus Bronze Works of Detroit.

The monument’s original cost was about $17,000. Like the extensive restoration of 1993, it was funded mainly through private donations.

The monument was designed by architect J.M. Ayres, Mansfield, Ohio, and constructed

by Erastus Hetzler, the owner of the Angola Monument Co. On the west side of the monument, a plaque reads, “Erected 1917 by the grateful citizens of Steuben County to commemorate the valor and patriotism of her soldiers in the Civil War 1861-1865.”

The monument is built of

barre granite. The statues are made of copper. On each corner of the monument are statues representing the branches of the military of its time, cavalry, artillery, infantry and navy.

Columbia, a symbol of peace, stands up over the top of the monument.

Lore has it that Columbia was supposed to face south, to remind people where the great war took place. The architectural design shows Columbia facing west, supposedly to greet tourists who arrived on the west end of town via train. According to historical accounts, rope used in the mechanism employed to hoist Columbia to the top of the monument became entangled, and she ended up landing in the east-facing position she holds today.

A worker involved in the project reportedly told complainers that all monuments fact east, to the nation’s capital.

SEE PHOTO on cover.

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1910s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

E6

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

Sycamore Hall rises from its ashes

BY CRAIG HAUPERT chaupert@kpcnews.net

TOPEKA — A janitor lit the furnace in Sycamore Hall at around noon on April 16, 1915. He was warming the building for students who were scheduled to use the facility in the afternoon.

About an hour later, people reported seeing flames coming from Sycamore Hall.

It was not long before one of Topeka’s most important buildings of the 1900s burned to the ground. “It was the finest reading hall in LaGrange County, and Topeka was very much the center of the literary society in

the county because of it,� said Harold Gingerich of the Topeka Area Historical Society.

Sycamore Hall hosted many different events, including debates, lectures, plays, concerts and graduations from 1905 to the late 1960s.

Sycamore Hall’s roots can be traced back to the mid 1800s, when a group of people near Topeka formed the Star Literary Society.

They sponsored debates in a one-room schoolhouse west of Topeka until the school’s superintendent told them to take a hike in 1879 for

The original Sycamore Hall in Topeka was hollowed out by a fire on April 16, 1915. It was rebuilt in less than a year and stood until 1980.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

unknown reasons. The society responded by purchasing a building from a local church and moving it to Sycamore Corners, north of Topeka near the intersection of C.R. 700W and C.R. 600W. The society

renamed itself the Sycamore Literary Society and continued to use the building until a member — J.N. Babcock — decided to build another, more grand structure.

Babcock and other society

members solicited $5,000 apiece from Ligonier merchant Jacob Strause and famous philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Funding in hand, the Sycamore Literary Society built Sycamore Hall in downtown Topeka. The dedication took place Nov. 24, 1905, and was attended by Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley and Gov. Frank Hanley, among others.

Sycamore Hall thrived as the county’s literary and cultural hub until it burned in 1915.

Gingerich said Topeka residents rebuilt Sycamore Hall within a year. It was

roughly the same size as the original and seated about 500 people. Country music legends Loretta Lynn, Red Foley and Little Jimmy Dickens played there in the late 1950s and ‘60s. The building remained the centerpiece of the community until falling into disrepair and finally being torn down in April 1980. “I remember the day when I could’ve bought it for a dollar, but I didn’t know what I’d do with it or renovate it,�

Gingerich said. “Today, if I’d had the chance, we would’ve bought it and would’ve done whatever to save it.�

Author, naturalist found paradise on Sylvan Lake

BY DENNIS NARTKER dennisn@kpcnews.net

ROME CITY — One of Indiana’s most widely read authors and one of the world’s first nature photographers is buried along with her only daughter on the Sylvan Lake shore site that was once her home.

Gene Stratton-Porter and her daughter, Jeannette Stratton-Porter Meehan, are entombed near the “Wildflower Woods� cabin she and her husband Charles built in 1912 that is now the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site. Nearly 75 years after her death, her remains and those of her daughter were moved from California to the site.

Stratton-Porter published 12 novels, seven nature studies, three books of poetry, children’s books and magazine articles. It’s estimated she had more than 50 million readers, and her works found in public libraries around the country remain popular today.

Visitors can tour the cabin and 25 acres of gardens Stratton-Porter created and the woods where she did her

DENNIS NARTKER

Gene Stratton-Porter and her daughter are buried at the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site on Sylvan Lake near Rome City. Her burial site can be observed on a walk through the Wildflower Woods from the public parking lot to the Stratton-Porter cabin.

nature studies.

Stratton-Porter was born Aug. 17, 1863, in Lagro in rural Wabash County to Mark Stratton and Mary Shellenberger Stratton. She was the youngest of 12 children. At an early age, she enjoyed the outdoors, exploring in the woods and picking flowers.

On April 21, 1886, she married Charles Porter, a successful druggist and businessman. They moved to Decatur, with Charles traveling to his stores in Geneva and Fort Wayne. Their only daughter, Jeannette Stratton-Porter, was born Aug. 27, 1887, and the family

moved to Geneva soon after to be close to Charles’ store. In 1894 the family built a 14-room house called Limberlost Cabin near the Limberlost Swamp.

StrattonPorter began Strattonher intense Porter study of nature and recorded her observations through writing and photography while hiking through Limberlost Swamp and tending to her gardens and orchards. Several of her writings and photographs were published in magazines.

She wrote her first novel, “The Song of the Cardinal,� in 1903 while at the Limberlost Cabin. Other novels followed: “Freckles� in 1904; “At the Foot of the Rainbow� in 1907; “A Girl of the Limberlost� in 1909; “The Harvester� in 1911; and “Laddie� in 1913.

Her style of combining her knowledge and love of nature with stories of romance and hardship, adventure and

memorable characters won her fame and fortune.

Her first nature book, “What I Have Done With Birds,� was published in 1907.

People were fascinated with her description of Limberlost Swamp, and many came to Geneva to visit her.

The attention she was getting and the draining of the swamp for farmland distressed Stratton-Porter. She wanted privacy to continue her nature studies and writings.

In 1912 the Stratton-Porter family moved to Sylvan Lake in Rome City and built a cabin on 125 acres in the woods on the shoreline. The vast forest allowed Gene Stratton-Porter to concentrate on her nature studies, writings and photography. She created wildflower gardens that exist today to preserve endangered Indiana plants. Her novel “Michael O’Halloran� was published in 1915.

In 1918 the Stratton-Porter family moved to California, and Gene formed Gene Stratton-Porter Film Co. Eight of her novels have been adapted into motion pictures.

Six more novels and three

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She died Dec. 6, 1924, in Los Angeles from injuries suffered in a traffic accident.

The Gene Stratton-Porter Memorial Society Inc. was formed in 1945 to assist in acquiring 20 acres of buildings of the Stratton-Porter Sylvan Lake property. The society dissolved after the property was transferred to the state. In 1974, the 16-room log cabin was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the formal garden was registered in National Gardens of America in 1987.

In January 1976, the society was reorganized to promote activities and programs at the site. In 1999, the society raised money to build the Carriage House Visitor Center and donated it debt-free to the state.

The family cabins in Geneva and Rome City are preserved and maintained as state historic sites. Both properties are open to the public April through midDecember.

(Information compiled from the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site website.)

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1920s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

E7

Citizens of Steuben make generous donation

BY MIKE MARTURELLO mikem@kpcnews.net

LAKE JAMES — To some, Pokagon State Park is one of the finest gifts ever given to the state of Indiana.

The creation of Pokagon State Park was a gift of the people of Steuben County to all of Indiana and beyond.

And the spirit of giving continues to grow the park today.

In 1925, Steuben County citizens raised money to purchase what was the original 532 acres of farmland that created the park on the shores of Lake James and Snow Lake. The following year, the state Department of Conservation acquired more land to bring the original park to about 700 acres. And in 1927, the original Potawatomi Inn was built.

“It was a gift from the people of Steuben County, who, in the mid1920s, raised the money to buy the first 532 acres and then gave it to the state of Indiana as a Christmas gift in 1925,” said Fred Wooley, Pokagon’s interpretive naturalist. “It’s been a gift for millions of people who have come here for vacations, camping trips, weddings, family and company picnics, Christmas parties, meetings, conferences, or just a stroll in the woods or a pause on a bench to seek peace and solitude, away from the demands of everyday life.”

When the land was first proposed to become Indiana’s

FRED WOOLEY

FRED WOOLEY

Pokagon State Park's Lake Lonidaw is a short hike east from Potawatomi Inn. Lake Lonidaw, shown here in October 2010, is a kettle lake, meaning it is nearly perfectly shaped like a bowl, having been dug out that way by a glacier.

fifth state park, its name was going to be Lake James State Park. The DNR later changed it to Pokagon to reflect the rich heritage of Leopold and son Simon Pokagon of the Potawatomi tribe.

Today, Pokagon offers visitors such amenities as two beaches, 15 miles of trails providing the opportunity to view native wetlands, a pristine kettle lake and a wide variety of features created by the forces of a glacier, including a kame, known as Hell’s Point. The park also boasts a refrigerated toboggan slide, cross country skiing, horseback riding and boat rentals, not to mention camping and lodging at the Potawatomi Inn Hotel and Conference Center.

Over the years, through

acquisitions by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and through additional gifts from the people of Steuben County, Pokagon has grown to more than 1,200 acres, which doesn’t include its sister property, Trine State Recreation Area, another approximately 200 acres to the east of the park, surrounding the pristine Seven Sisters Lakes. That, too, was a gift.

In 2005, ACRES Land Trust acquired 28 acres of land that originally had been a motel dating to the 1950s for inclusion to the park.

At the time, park officials said some major out-of-state donors stepped forward to provide the funds for the addition, which was the site of the former Pokagon Motel.

Local residents, particularly students from local public schools, provided support for the expansion, which received funding from the state of Indiana through the National Heritage Trust environmental license plate program. While all Department of Natural Resources properties receive an allotment of the environmental plate money, the Pokagon expansion was put on a high importance list at the time.

In 2006, Ralph and Sheri Trine of Lake James bought the former Oakhill camp across I-69 from Pokagon, then donated it to the DNR for inclusion in the parks system.

The property was dedicated June 1, 2007.

The property became an early project for the Steuben

The entrance to Pokagon State Park is framed by the pink blooms of redbud trees. Later in the spring, the blooms of the redbud are backed by the white blossoms of dogwoods.

County Lakes Council Land Trust. The Land Trust, at the time, was a new organization formed from members of the Lakes Council.

The major partners in the drive to protect the property were the DNR, The Nature Conservancy and ACRES. These groups and others had shown interest in prior years when the property was available for sale. Joining in the effort was Wood-LandLakes Resource Conservation and Development, Blue Heron Ministries, the Steuben County Community Foundation and the McClue Nature Reserve Board.

The Trines agreed to work with these groups to protect the land and see that it became a part of the public trust managed by the DNR. In addition to verbal and moral support, some of the local groups also provided financial support. Local

individuals have also made contributions to the final project and further funding will be sought to supplement the purchase and begin to manage the property.

The $2.8 million purchase and gift marked one of the largest private donations to the DNR. It is the spirit of giving that makes Pokagon and perhaps is reflective of the tradition of generosity of the people of Steuben County.

“We know the tangibles — the beautiful, rolling, wooded hills, the kettle hole lake, the undeveloped shores, the open meadows with scattered wetlands, the 15 miles of trails that connect it all, the inn and campgrounds, the toboggan run and ski rental,” Wooley said. “It might be the intangibles, however, that strike the sweetest notes.”

That’s Pokagon State Park, a gift.

1920s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

E8

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

Six little pigs start huge auction

BY CRAIG HAUPERT chaupert@kpcnews.net

SHIPSHEWANA â&#x20AC;&#x201D; When the first auction was held in 1922 on George Curtisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 80acre farm in Shipshewana, no one could have predicted how large the business would grow.

Almost 90 years later, the Shipshewana Auction attracts approximately 1 million people annually, according to Kevin Lambright, co-owner of the auction.

Kevin and his brother, Keith, run Shipshewana Auction Inc., just off S.R. 5 in downtown Shipshewana.

The auction is open for business every Tuesday and Wednesday from early May to late October. It is home to the Midwestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest flea market, also held every Tuesday and Wednesday. Hundreds of FILE PHOTO vendors sell everything from fresh produce to Amish-made The Shipshewana Auction and Flea Market has become one of the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest tourist draws since opening in 1922. furniture at the flea market, while livestock and other Curtisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; auction to catch on.

Shipshewana on the map.

As one of Shipshewanaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s items go to the highest bidders Business grew so rapidly that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our No. 1 tourist most popular tourist attracat the auction. he built the first sale barn at question, still, is â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Is ShipsheIt is not unusual to see S.R. tions, the Shipshewana the same location in 1926. wana open?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Auction and Flea Market 5, also known as Van Buren Fred Lambright purchased because the flea market is Street, crowded with vehicles, contributes heavily to the the Shipshewana Auction in seasonal. They associate the buggies and pedestrians when tourism industry. Kevin the auction and flea market are estimates theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had as many flea market with Shipshewana 1946 and made several changes the following year. as 37,000 people visit there in being open, and we wrestle open. with that a little bit. Of course, He built a new sale barn and one day.

Shipshewana fuels the people that live here know put a roof over the flea â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is a major draw here in LaGrange Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growing market. A large scale was that Shipshewana is a town.â&#x20AC;?

Shipshewana, there is no tourism industry, which installed, and fat hogs and It is hard to believe the question,â&#x20AC;? said Beth pumped more than $112 cattle were sold by the pound.

Shipshewana Auction began Thornburg, executive director million into the countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s with the sale of six pigs, seven An auction restaurant was of the LaGrange County economy in 2009, according built in 1950, seating between cows and several head of to a 2010 study by Certec Inc. Convention and Visitors 50 and 60 people. young cattle at the home of In 2005, the county generated Bureau. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Essentially, I think The Shipshewana Auction the Shipshewana Auction and Curtis in the early 1920s. $90.3 million from tourism changed hands again in 1961 It did not take long for Flea Market is what put and travel.

Kendallvilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading citizen, Elmer McCray, builds mansion

FILE PHOTO

The Shipshewana Auction and Flea Market in earlier days.

as Lambrightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nephew Walter Schrock purchased it.

In 1968, Schrock expanded the flea market grounds from 100 to 400 vendors and more than doubled the amount of auctioneers from four to 10 for the miscellaneous auction.

Fire destroyed the sale barn and holding pen on July 7, 1979. With help from the community, including a young Kevin Lambright, the barn was rebuilt within three months. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The fire brought the community together,â&#x20AC;? Kevin said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The outflow of help from people was incredible.

So many people wanted to help do what they could and were very supportive. I think it showed just how important the auction was to the community.â&#x20AC;?

Two years after the fire, Robert Lambright and his sons, Keith and Kevin, purchased the Shipshewana Auction.

The Lambrights expanded the flea market to 1,000 spaces in 1984 and built a new, 250-seat restaurant in 1988.

Keith and Kevin assumed control of the business after their father passed away in 1992.

The Farmstead Inn, an 85room hotel, was built across the street from the auction in 1997, and the Antique Gallery was built next door to the Farmstead Inn in 1998.

Seventy camping sites were put in on the south side of the flea market parking area, creating the Shipshewana RV park.

IN SPORTS

FROM STAFF REPORTS

A testimony to the success of its owner, the McCray mansion rose on Kendallvilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s East Mitchell Street in 1928.

Elmer E. McCray had influenced life in Kendallville during the 20th century more than anyone up to that time. At one point, it was said that his McCray Refrigerator company sustained one-third of the families in the city.

McCray had begun humbly, assisting his fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s produce business as a DAVE KURTZ young man.

The McCray Mansion today on East Mitchell Street in Kendallville.

Realizing the need to McCray keep food Memorial Hospital, named in attack at the age of 77 in the Refrigerator Co. became the from spoiling, McCray and his honor. He helped develop Atlanta home of his only his father built a cold storage cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest employer and the Kendallville park system, daughter, Sarah Candler. She room and in 1882 received a the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest manufachad married Dr. Robert turer of commercial refrigera- owned Kendallville Country patent for their invention. In Club and donated generously Candler, an heir to the Coca1890, at the age of 30, Elmer tion equipment.

Cola fortune.

McCray himself became to build the original 4-H McCray founded McCray On the day of McCrayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s known for generosity to his buildings at the Noble County Refrigerator and Cold funeral, Jan. 2, 1938, some employees and community.

Fairgrounds in Kendallville.

Storage Co., later known as 300 employees walked In 1923, he established a For himself, he built a McCray Refrigerator Co. together from the McCray Colonial Revival home pension plan for retired McCrayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manufacturing factory to his home. Trustees designed by a Chicago employees â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the first in the operations grew from their and employees of Lakeside architect on the site of the city. first quarters on West Hospital also visited the McCray familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s former He donated half of the Mitchell Street to a large home in a group to show residence â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a one-acre site factory on the north side of money needed to build occupying five city lots. their respect for KendallKendallvilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s east-west Lakeside Hospital, a McCray died from a heart villeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading citizen. railroad tracks. McCray forerunner to McCray

Phillips places sixth in 1928 Olympics

BY KEN FILLMORE kenf@kpcnews.net

ANGOLA â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Lake James resident Hermon Edgar Phillips was an accomplished runner and is Steuben Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lone Olympian to date.

Phillips (1903-1986) placed sixth in the 400meter run in the 1928 Summer Olympic Games in Amsterdam, finishing the race in 49 seconds.

Phillips was a force in the 440-yard run in the mid1920s, winning Amateur Athletic Union championship in the event in 1927, and he was the NCAA champion for Butler University from 1925-1927.

His personal-best times were 47.1 seconds in the 440-yard run and 47.4 seconds in the 400 meters.

Phillips was a 1927 Butler graduate. During his college years, he was captain of the track team in 1924, 1926 and 1927 and was captain of the cross country team from 19251927. He won five gold watches one year at the Penn Relays.

Phillips competed for the Illinois Athletic Club in Chicago, then went on to coach. He coached at Butler from 1927-1937 and at Purdue University from 1937-1945. He also established and directed several summer camps for boys and girls.

Phillips was the developer of Tony Phillips Bay Estates in Fremont. He also tried to develop the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame in rural Fremont.

Kendallville High School reached the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sweet 16â&#x20AC;? of the 1927 Indiana high school basketball tournament, where Franklin Prentice of Kendallville won the Gimbel Medal for Mental Attitude and Spirit.

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.LULYH[PVUZ :PUJL Brinkerhoff ~ Trusted Since 1902 James Delano Brinkerhoff, after graduating from Indianapolis College of Law and conducting missionary work in the Middle East, began practicing law in Garrett in 1902. His son, James Delano Brinkerhoff, Jr., joined him in practice in 1939, establishing the law ďŹ rm of Brinkerhoff & Brinkerhoff. J. Daniel Brinkerhoff followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and joined the ďŹ rm in 1974. J. Darrick Brinkerhoff most recently joined the ďŹ rm in the fall of 2008 making the fourth generation of Brinkerhoffs proudly serving Garrett, Auburn, Ft. Wayne, Hamilton, Waterloo, and all of Northeastern Indiana which includes DeKalb, Noble, Steuben, LaGrange, Allen and surrounding counties.

J. Daniel Brinkerhoff Dan Brinkerhoff is a lifelong resident of Garrett, Indiana. Dan now concentrates his practice in real estate matters, estate planning and municipal law, being general counsel for the City of Garrett, and the towns of Hamilton, Waterloo, and Corunna.

Proudly Cel

ebrating 34 Years

J. Darrrick Brinkerhoff Darrick Brinkerhoff, as the great-great grandson of the founder of Brinkerhoff & Brinkerhoff, became the fourth generation to practice law in DeKalb County. Darrick will concentrate on domestic relations, criminal defense, civil litigation and collection matters.

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1930s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

E9

Car company shines brightly, burns out

BY DAVE KURTZ dkurtz@kpcnews.net

AUBURN — In 1931, the Auburn Automobile Co. enjoyed its finest hour from a bottomline perspective.

Its greatest triumphs in automotive design still lay ahead, but they would come out of desperation as the innovative company struggled to survive.

The company’s collapse by 1937 seemed an unlikely outcome. Auburn Automobile had moved into its gleaming new headquarters in 1930. A resdesign of its Auburn model for 1931 led to record sales.

With handsome new lines drawn by Alan Leamy, the ’31 Auburn combined luxurious looks with sound performance for as little as $945, auto historians said later. It became a runaway hit.

Expected production of 2,000 Auburn cars per month had to be doubled in 1931. The company’s Auburn and Connersville factories were working at capacity. Some 300 new workers were hired at the Auburn plant, bringing employment to 592. Auburn moved from 22nd to 13th place in sales among the nation’s car companies.

In the final accounting, Auburn’s 1931 net sales soared to $37.2 million, with earnings of $4.1 million.

It would be the last time Auburn Automobile Co. ever showed a profit.

Auburn’s success of 1931 could not erase the harsh reality of the Great Depression that was gripping America.

Another type of gloom was affecting Auburn Automobile Co.’s bold leader, E.L. Cord. His wife, Helen, had died of cancer in September 1930.

“After Helen’s death, everything slipped,” Lee Beck and Josh Malks wrote in “Auburn & Cord,” their history of the Auburn Automobile Co. The widowed Cord remarried quickly, moved away from Auburn and began to lose interest in his first business success, shifting his focus to aviation.

The automobile company lost $1.1 million in 1932 and did even worse the next year, showing red ink of $2.5 million.

The company closed factory operations in Auburn in 1933, leaving only the administration and service departments, while all production took place in Connersville. Bickering broke out among rival factions in management.

Surrounded by that unlikely atmosphere, a remarkable burst of brilliance was occurring in the design and engineering wings of the Auburn headquarters.

The desperate company set loose young designer Gordon Buehrig of its Duesenberg line to shoot for a miracle. Working under severe budget constraints and amid management chaos, Buehrig and his team created two of the most beautiful automobiles in history.

First came the 1935 Auburn Boattail Speedster with its daring shape and outlandish speed. Engineers introduced a supercharger that boosted horsepower from 115 to 150. Test driver Ab Jenkins drove a supercharged Auburn Speedster to 70 new records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, including 104 mph for a flying-start mile.

The Auburn Speedster captured attention, but didn’t spur sales. The company lost another $2.5 million in 1935.

PHOTO COURTESY AUBURN CORD DUESENBERG AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM

At the height of the company’s success around 1931, Auburn Automobile Co. workers lower bodies onto cars on an assembly line in the Auburn factory complex.

ACDA MUSEUM PHOTO

E.L. Cord, shown in 1925 at the start of his leadership of Auburn Automobile Co., would lead it to fame as a builder of fast, luxurious and stylish cars.

slumped to five cars per day

by May 1937. The last Cords

PHOTO COURTESY AUBURN CORD DUESENBERG AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM

Gordon Buehrig created two of the world’s most celebrated automobile designs, the 1935 Auburn Boattail

In spite of the bleeding bank balance, Buehrig and colleagues were working feverishly on the company’s final masterpiece. The 1936 Cord would take a giant leap forward in automobile design and engineering with its

Speedster and the 1936 Cord 810, in the final days of the Auburn Automobile Co.

graceful lines, absence of chrome, disappearing headlamps and slew of technical firsts. More than merely beautiful, the Cord set a world speed record by averaging 101 mph for 24 hours.

Crowds swarmed around the new Cord at automotive shows, and publications filled their pages with accolades.

The company could not build them fast enough for a while, but financial losses continued to mount, and production

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— the final cars made by Auburn Automobile — rolled off the line in August 1937.

Even earlier, the company had moved its offices out out of the handsome building in Auburn and relocated to Connersville in May 1936. A bankruptcy court officially shut down Auburn Automobile Co. on Dec. 11, 1937.

Though its history stretched back to the dawn of the 20th century, Auburn Automobile had burned most brightly for a brief time in the early 1930s before flaming out.

Historians say the Auburn story would not have been as romantic if the company had survived to build ordinary cars for the mass market.

Beck and Malks wrote, “Without the flair, without the pizzazz, Auburns wouldn’t have been Auburns, they would have been, well, just cars.”

TO THE STAR, You and your predecessors have recorded the history of DeKalb County, our towns and cities, and our citizens for the past century.

Your reporters have been present at hundreds of governmental meetings over the years. When I was City Attorney for Auburn, I attended all City Council meetings. I always considered Dave Kurtz, sitting on the front row of the spectator section, as representative of the eyes and ears of the 10,000+ citizens of Auburn.

You record our lives, from birth until death. In between, you report our school activities, our honor roll listings, our scholarships, our college choices, our military service, our marriages, the birth of our children, our club and organization activities, our wedding anniversaries, along with all of the important aspects of our collective lives.

You indeed provide “the first draft of our history.”

I have used you extensively in my historical research and writings.

Most of your back issues are available on microfilm or digital form at DeKalb County libraries.

DeKalb County has been fortunate to have had an outstanding daily newspaper over the past century.

Thanks goes to the Buchanan family, the Nixon family, Witwer/Housholder family, and to editors Verne Buchanan, Don Nixon, James Kroemer and Dave Kurtz.

As we enter the digital/online era, keep up the good work! We need you!

John Martin Smith DeKalb County Historian John Martin Smith & Thompson Smith, P.C. Attorneys at Law 507 South Jackson Street Auburn, Indiana 46706 260-925-4560 counselorsmith@mchsi.com

1930s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

E10

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

Work of the ‘boys of the CCC’ lives on FROM STAFF REPORTS

LAKE JAMES — Numerous public works projects throughout Indiana serve today as reminders of the Franklin Roosevelt administration’s make-work programs that helped rebuild America and get people working during the Great Depression.

Perhaps none of the projects is as unique as the structures built at Pokagon State Park.

One of Indiana’s original five state parks, Pokagon features the unique work of the Civilian Conservation Corps, whose members lived and worked at Pokagon from 1934 to 1942. The “boys of the CCC” built the beautiful stone and log structures that dot the park landscape and provide accent to the

rolling wooded hills, gathering in 2003, it was wetlands and open thought to be the last. We at meadows.

Pokagon would not hear of Some of the structures ending what is believed to are on the National Register be the longest running of Historic Places. reunion of CCC veterans in Other works of the CCC the country,” said Pokagon include a rustic bridge that interpretive naturalist Fred still carries traffic over one Wooley. of the park roads.

When the boys of the Perhaps the most unique CCC gather — and their of all of Pokagon’s numbers keep dwindling — structures is the refrigerated the public is invited to learn toboggan slide, originally about the great and hard built by the CCC boys. work that was done, the Company 556 of the memories that were made CCC may have ended its and the good times that work in 1942 with the were had by the boys who advent of World War II, but were at the park in the CCC. the work and the boys are Even with each passing not forgotten. year more is learned, Each year, Company 556 Wooley said. The CCC vets reunites at Pokagon on the continue to bring artifacts, last Sunday of July. photos and memories to “Following the 50th add to Pokagon’s archives reunion, the Golden and knowledge of this great Anniversary of the time in the park’s history.

FRED WOOLEY

This bridge at Pokagon State Park was built by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps who worked in the park from 1933-1942. Many of the field stone

structures found in the park, as well as the tower that supports the toboggan slide, were build by “the boys who built Pokagon.”

Kraft comes to Kendallville during Great Depression FROM STAFF REPORTS

KENDALLVILLE — Jobs were disappearing at a rapid pace in the depths of the Great Depression, but that’s exactly when Kraft Foods came to Kendallville to begin more than 70 years as one of the city’s major employers.

In 1927, local citizens built a plant on Kraft’s site to attract the Breyer Ice Cream Co., which bought the building as soon as milk receipts reached 50,000 pounds per day. The plant condensed the milk to supply Breyer’s plants in the East.

In 1934, Kraft purchased the plant from Breyer and began making cheddar cheese in Kendallville.

At the same time, Kraft was beginning to experiment with making caramel base at a factory in Wisconsin.

Within a year, Kraft moved the caramel base operation to Kendallville, because it was closer to the production site in Chicago and was the center of an excellent milkproducing area.

Four years later, the Kendallville plant stopped making cheese and devoted itself to making bulk caramel, shipping it to Chicago for cutting, wrapping and packaging.

By 1950, Kraft enlarged the Kendallville plant so it could house the entire caramel process — from receiving milk to packaging the final product. Kraft

IN SPORTS Don Lash of Auburn competed in the 1936 Olympics at Berlin in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs. Although an Olympic medal eluded him, Lash won seven national cross country championships and held the world record for two miles. In 1938, he won the Sullivan Award given to the nation’s best amateur athlete.

Sports Illustrated magazine called him “the first great American distance runner.”

BEFORE

became the city’s thirdlargest employer.

Production of marshmallow and marshmallow creme came to the Kendallville plant in 1961, with peanut brittle, Partymints and chocolate added the following year.

Marshmallow bits joined the product line in 1963.

Favorite Brands International bought the plant in 1995, and Nabisco purchased Favorite Brands in 1999. But in 2000, Kraft bought Nabisco and again became owner of the Kendallville operations.

Kraft today employs nearly 400 people at Kendallville, and they make more than 150 individual products.

The Genealogy Center needs your help. Through a grant by the Indiana State Library we have been able to create electronic digital copies of some historic newspapers from DeKalb County. However, there are many years of newspapers missing. We need you to check your attics, garages, basements and throughout the house for any old newspapers. We are especially interested in Auburn newspapers from 1918 to 1932.

Reward...

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Indiana State Library digitization grants are funded by the Library Service and Technology Act (LSTA). LSTA grants are a federally funded program of the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

kpcnews.com

E11

1940s

E12

WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

War hero’s sacrifice remembered

BY BOB BRALEY bobb@kpcnews.net

ALBION — He will be featured on this year’s Tombstone Trail, yet he isn’t buried at the stop where he will be remembered.

Lt. j.g. Donald H. Spangler was killed in action Nov. 13, 1942, while serving aboard the USS Atlanta. His accomplishments and sacrifice in World War II would prompt the United States to name a ship, the USS Spangler, after him.

Spangler was born in 1918, one of six children born to Martin and Myrtle (Blue) Spangler. A Nov. 30, 1942, article in The News Sun about Donald Spangler’s death called Martin Spangler an attorney who was well-known in Kendallville.

The Spangler boys, including Donald — nicknamed Red, according to a news item about his death — delivered the evening newspaper in Albion growing up.

Donald’s brother, Robert Spangler, recalled in Michael McCoy’s book, “Every Town, USA,” that the boys would gather at the Weber house on their south route.

“They were a wonderful family,” Robert Spangler is quoted as saying. “The fact that they had a pony didn’t hurt either.”

Donald Spangler graduated with honors from Albion High School in 1936, McCoy said.

He completed two years at Purdue University before accepting a Congressional

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

The USS Spangler has full colors flying in this undated photo.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

Lt. j.g. Donald H. Spangler’s parents, Martin and Myrtle Spangler, join officers at the dedication of the USS Spangler in

appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy.

Spangler’s class of 1942 at the Naval Academy graduated early due to the war, McCoy said. They were commissioned Dec. 19, 1941, just 12 days after the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor that prompted the Spangler United States to declare war.

Less than a month later, Ensign Spangler was assigned to the USS Atlanta. It served at the battle of Midway, screening for the aircraft carrier USS Hornet.

In August, the Atlanta downed five Japanese dive bombers. In October, it bombarded enemy positions at

KPC FILE PHOTO

Coach Keith Showalter led Auburn High School to the 1949 state finals in basketball, where Red Devils center James Schooley won the Trester Award for mental attitude. Schooley then played at Indiana University as a member of the 1953 NCAA championship team.

Joseph & Fanny Berhalter founded a furniture store and undertaking parlor in Kendallville in 1860.

They began a tradition of service that continued through their family. In 1935, the funeral home moved from Main Street to its current location at 222 South State Street.

In 1958, John Berhalter Hutchins joined his parents, Myron and Beverly Berhalter Hutchins, and the firm name was changed to BerhalterHutchins Funeral Home.

“It was moments after the torpedo blast that all hell broke loose.”

Stewart Moredock Operations officer on the USS Atlanta

• Guadalcanal.

McCoy said all these battles came without a single casualty on the Atlanta, earning it the nickname “Lucky A.” But the luck didn’t last.

On Nov. 13, 1942, at Guadalcanal, the Japanese battleship Atasuki, as it was sinking, struck the Atlanta with a torpedo, rendering it largely powerless, McCoy said.

Darkened, the ship became caught in a crossfire

from both sides of the battle, McCoy said.

He quotes the ship’s operations officer, Stewart Moredock, as saying, “It was moments after the torpedo blast that all hell broke loose. … There was just Captain Jenkins, the skipper, and myself left on the bridge. As far as I am able to determine, all others, about 60, in the area including radio and navigation stations had died.”

destroyer escort, was christened in July 1943, with Martin and Myrtle Spangler on hand.

The USS Spangler saw action in World War II, according to the website devoted to the ship, ussspangler.com. In 1944, it served in and around Guadalcanal, where the man for whom it was named had gone down with his ship.

In 1945, the Spangler moved along the islands toward Japan, serving at Guam, Saipan and Iwo Jima on its way to Okinawa, where it was stationed at war’s end.

After the war, the USS Spangler continued in service. While it was still in operation during the Korean War, it saw no action in that conflict. It was decommissioned Oct. 8, 1958, and sold for scrap Nov. 20, 1972.

Spangler’s body is not at Rose Hill Cemetery in Albion, where he will be remembered on the 2011 Tombstone Trail, and the ship named for him is gone. But his memory lives on.

G.I. Bill fills campus, homes in Angola

IN SPORTS

Trester Award winner James Schooley later became a distinguished scientist for the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

1943. The ship was named for Donald Spangler.

Among those at his radio station was Donald Spangler, by this time a lieutenant junior grade. He died at his post, killed in action. Robert Spangler’s investigation would reveal his brother had died a quick death, probably never knowing what hit him.

The Atlanta eventually was scuttled to keep it from enemy hands or costing more lives. Two survived the attack. That day 3,500 men lost their lives on nine American and six Japanese vessels.

Donald Spangler’s body would never return home, but an old trunk full of his things made it back. It was finding that trunk, years later, that was inspired McCoy’s writings about Spangler. “‘Red’ Spangler was a fine boy,” said a Dec. 2, 1942, newspaper item. “His exemplary character, his admirable qualities were well known.”

In 1943, the largest ship ever built on the Great Lakes needed a name. Spangler, a fallen Midwestern hero, fit the bill. The USS Spangler, a

BY MIKE MARTURELLO mikem@kpcnews.net

ANGOLA — Tri-State College went from ghost town to boom town in the months and years following World War II. The college, now Trine University, faced a boom of students enrolling, about 90 percent of whom took advantage of the G.I. Bill offered to those who had served in World War II. In the spring of 1946, Tri-State would end up with enrollment of 935 students.

Two years earlier, in the height of the war, enrollment was less than 200, said “From Carriage to Computer,” Beth Orlosky’s 1984 history of Tri-State.

The peak of the onslaught of students enrolling after World War II

would push enrollment as high as 1,650 students before the impact of the G.I. Bill started to wane in the 1950s.

The impact was felt throughout the community, not just on campus.

The greatest need was for housing. The federal government helped out, but the community had to furnish such things as sewer service, sidewalks, streets and water. On the southeast side of town, the Hendry Park Trailer Camp was opened and accommodated some 100 students in 1946 alone. The Tri-Stan Housing Project would end up housing more than 300 students. This housing project was on land now known as Commons Park on the city’s southeast side, not

far from Hendry Park. The Tri-Stan housing was surplus Army barracks provided by the federal government. The housing accommodated 234 single students and 74 married students.

On Dec. 12, 1945, college president Burton Handy put out this plea: “Unless we can get assurance of more rooms being opened up to students, it will be necessary to turn away fully 200 before the opening of the January term.”

In 1949, it was announced over an Associated Press radio account that the university no longer could accept students other than commuters who did not require university housing.

In addition to bringing

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more housing to Angola specifically to house students, local residents started taking in students, offering rooms for rent in homes that never before had been used as boarding houses. Due to a lack of a zoning ordinance, people started putting mobile homes in their yards in hopes of getting in on the newfound windfall.

Speaking of windfalls, the Tri-State board, at the time a for-profit operation, decided to increase tuition in June 1946 from $80 for four classes in a 12-week term to $120. This led to a great student protest and the eventual reorganizing of the college to a nonprofit corporation and other reforms that came postWorld War II.

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

1940s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

E13

Truman gives whistle-stop speech in Garrett FROM STAFF REPORTS

GARRETT â&#x20AC;&#x201D; On Oct. 25, 1948, in the final days of his successful campaign for president, Democrat Harry S. Truman spoke from the rear platform of a train that stopped in Garrett on the way to Chicago.

The Garrett Clipper reported on the historic occasion, the only visit to the four counties of northeast Indiana by a sitting president, in a story headlined: â&#x20AC;&#x153;GOP is aiding Reds, declared president here.â&#x20AC;?

The story began, â&#x20AC;&#x153;President Harry S. Truman accused the Republican Party of adding the communists in attempting to bring about his defeat in the coming election in an address in Garrett Monday morning. An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people greeted him.â&#x20AC;?

The story added, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The special arrived at 9:48 a.m. and departed 10 minutes later. Garrett schools were closed during the time in order to allow students to see the president. The Garrett, Auburn and Waterloo school bands played.â&#x20AC;?

Garrett Mayor Fred L. Feick introduced Edward H. Kruse Jr. of Fort Wayne, the Democratic candidate for Congress, who then presented the president.

Truman implored the crowd to vote for Kruse and former Gov. Henry Schricker, a Democrat seeking a return to the governorship.

The president accused Republicans of helping a third party, which he claimed had been taken over by communists, in order to take votes away from him.

The Clipper reported, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mr. Truman then asked, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Would you like to meet my family?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; A shout went up and Mrs. Truman and then Miss Margaret Truman

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It has been a good campaign for me. It has been a hard campaign. I have traveled from one end of the country to the other, telling millions of people about peace, prices and places to live, and the other issues which face the nation today. My opponent has talked a great deal, too, but he said almost nothing about where he stands on the major issues facing the American people today.â&#x20AC;?

Harry S. Truman Excerpt from speech given in Garrett on Oct. 25, 1948

â&#x20AC;˘

FILE PHOTO

President Harry S. Truman during his 1948 campaign.

walked onto the platform, smiling and waving to the crowd. All three smiled and waved as the train pulled away.â&#x20AC;?

The story said three local residents boarded the train to shake hands with the president: Mrs. Herbert N. Grimm of Waterloo, DeKalb County Democratic vice chairman; Robert Riddle of Auburn, county chairman; and Harold Kelly of Angola, district chairman.

According to the The American Presidency Project online, based in Santa Barbara, Calif., this is the full text of Trumanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s speech in Garrett: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thank you very much. I

am certainly glad to be here in Garrett this morning and to talk to you about this great campaign. I appreciate the introduction by the next Congressman from this district, Mr. Edward H. Kruse, Jr. I know you are going to send him to Congress, because you need that sort of representation there these days. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was most highly entertained and well treated while I was in Indiana before by your great Democratic candidate for governor, former Governor Schricker, and I am looking to see Indiana in the right column all the way down the line this time.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It has been a good campaign for me. It has been a hard campaign. I have traveled from one end of the country to the other, telling millions of people about peace, prices and places to live, and the other issues which face the nation today.

My opponent has talked a great deal, too, but he said almost nothing about where he stands on the major issues facing the American people today. He just keeps on giving the people highlevel platitudes. You know, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;G.O.P.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; means in this day and age â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it means â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Grand Old Platitudes.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Republican candidate has gone from one doubtful state to another trying to bail out the campaigns of hopeless reactionaries who ran the Republican 80th Congress.

He is trying to help those birds that ran that good-fornothing 80th Congress. He is trying to get them all reelected. One of these salvage operations is being carried on right next door here in Illinois. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Republican candidate is hoping to save that hard-shelled isolationist reactionary, Curly Brooks, who has

been the senator from Illinois for quite some time.

I think that should give you a pretty good idea of just how meaningless all these fine words are. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You know, one of the high-sounding lectures we have been hearing from the Republican candidate over and over again concerns communism. The Republicans are trying to pretend that my administration has been friendly to communism. That bit of campaign propaganda reminds me a lot of the stories we heard during the war and are now hearing from the communists in Russia. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They believe that if you tell a big enough lie, somebody is bound to believe it. If anybody in this country is friendly to the communists, it is the Republicans who are trying so hard to be elected. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not the Truman administration â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I can tell you that. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The communists are doing everything in their power to beat me. They have taken over the Third Party and are using it in a vain attempt to split the Democratic Party. The Republicans have joined up

with this communistinspired Third Party to beat the Democrats. They finance the situation right here. The Republicans financed the Third Party to get on the ballot right here in Indiana in a number of counties. We have got straight-out evidence on that, and I can prove it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Right here in Indiana the Republican State Committee did its best to get that Third Party on the ballot. Over in Illinois the Republicans are still trying to get the Third Party on the ballot. They even went all the way to the Supreme Court to get them on there. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;By their friends ye shall know them.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fall for their cheap promises. Vote for the party that has a program for peace and for prosperity and for places to live. Vote for the future of this nation. And the way to do that is to vote for your friends. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You know, you are the government, when you analyze it, when you exercise the privilege of the vote on Election Day. You control the government absolutely, and you get the kind of government you want when you vote. Back in 1946 about two-thirds of you stayed at home and didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t vote, and you got the 80th Congress â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and look what you got! â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do that this time. Go to the polls on Election Day and vote the Democratic ticket straight and you will be voting for yourselves and your own interests.â&#x20AC;?

NOTE: During his remarks the president referred to Edward H. Kruse Jr., Democratic candidate for representative from Indianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 4th District, former Gov. Henry F. Schricker, Democratic candidate for governor, and C. Wayland Brooks, U.S. senator from Illinois.

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E14

1940s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

Veterans return with stories from war

BY BOB CULP bculp@kpcnews.net

AUBURN â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Soldiers who returned home to DeKalb County after serving their country during World War II came back with stories about victory and tragedy.

Many of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Greatest Generationâ&#x20AC;? grew up listening to their parents talk about World War I. They came to age struggling through the Great Depression and Franklin Delano Rooseveltâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New Deal.

They remember where they were when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the moment the United States was pulled into the large scale, twofront war.

The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates more than 1,000 World War

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We saw Patton drive into the gate in his Jeep.

The first two things I made sure to get were a hot shower and white bread.â&#x20AC;?

Bob Andrews DeKalb County resident, on his release from a war prison

â&#x20AC;˘ II veterans die each day.

During the last three years, the National Military History Center in Auburn has taken part in a nationwide effort to record the oral history of World War II veterans through video interviews. Here is one of their stories: Bob Andrews of DeKalb County was among the first to fly long-distance

missions over Germany for the Army Air Forces, the predecessor of the U.S. Air Force.

Andrews said the air was calm on June 25, 1943 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; until German fighters started firing on his formation.

Machine gun fire surrounded the plane. One engine was hit. Then, another engine started smoking.

The plane started losing altitude. Andrews and his other crew members parachuted out of a small hole in the underside of the plane.

Soldiers are taught not to release their parachutes until the last moment. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to learn inside a classroom, but when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re falling from 15,000 feet, the body works on its own.

Andrews said he pulled the release cord as soon as he started falling. His chute opened, and he fell into a grain field outside a small German village. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I peeked my head out of the grain. Soldiers and a big dog were approaching, so I threw my hands up and surrendered,â&#x20AC;? Andrews said.

The soldiers escorted him to a barbed-wire enclosure.

His navigator already was

sitting there. The soldiers had captured him earlier.

After about a week, Andrews was on a train to a prisoner-of-war camp. He was put into a cell with other American soldiers.

Prison life wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that bad, Andrews said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We did our own cooking, cleaning and laundry in prison,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was better than being shot at every day.â&#x20AC;?

Andrews said the prison had plenty of potatoes and cabbage to eat and each person had a bread ration.

The camp had a central kitchen that always fixed soup for prisoners, he said.

The guards were kind.

Most spoke English and got along with the Americans, Andrews said.

At the end of January 1945, the Germans marched

Andrews and the other Americans to another prison. They spent about a week on the road, walking and traveling in boxcars on a train, he said.

The Russians were getting close. Prisoners had to be moved.

Andrews entered his final prison camp in February.

There were rumors the tide of the war was turning.

Allied forces were gaining steam on the Eastern and Western fronts.

Gunfire was heard in the distance during mid-April.

Soon, the guards left.

On April 27, 1945, Pattonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 3rd Army liberated Andrewsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; camp. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We saw Patton drive into the gate in his Jeep,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The first two things I made sure to get were a hot shower and white bread.â&#x20AC;?

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OmniSource played an important role in the birth of Steel Dynamics in the early 1990s.

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WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

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E15

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E16

kpcnews.com

WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

Expanded Services.

Familiar Faces.

Since 1964 DeKalb Memorial Hospital has served people in our communities through every stage of life. Over the years, as the healthcare industry has changed, we have grown to be so much more than just a great independent, not-for-proďŹ t hospital.

Now it is time to recognize that evolution, as we reaffirm our commitment to DeKalb County and surrounding areas. While this represents more than a mere name change, it does not signify a change in the most important thing of all, our people. Under the leadership of CEO, Kirk Ray, our physicians, medical staff and employees continue to be your friends and neighbors who are committed to caring for you and your family. On their behalf, we wish to say to you: Welcome to DeKalb Health.

www.DeKalbHealth.com

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

1950s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

F1

Kentuckians lured by jobs

IN SPORTS

BY TERRY HOUSHOLDER terryh@kpcnews.net

Noble County native Ford C. Frick became commissioner of Major League Baseball in 1951 and would continue in that role until 1965. He previously had been president of the National League, following a career as a sportswriter and broadcaster.

KENDALLVILLE — From the late 1940s to the mid-1960s, hundreds of men from the coal-mining region of southeastern Kentucky were lured to Noble County to fill jobs in foundries and growing manufacturing firms here.

Today, more than 10 percent of Noble County — over 5,000 people — can trace their roots to the Appalachian Mountain region.

Coal had been southeastern Kentucky’s economic mainstay for several generations. But the years following World War II through the 1960s were generally bad times for coal; oil was replacing it as a heating and industrial fuel and machines were placing men in the mines.

With jobs plentiful in Kendallville’s three major foundries — Newnam Foundry, Kendallville Foundry and Lane Foundry — families from Kentucky began coming to Noble County in large numbers in the 1950s and 1960s.

Claude Lane, manager of Newnam and Lane foundries, was instrumental in bringing many of the men from Kentucky. He sent emissaries to the poverty-stricken rural counties of Knott, Perry and Floyd counties, in Kentucky, to offer jobs to the former coal

BY KPC MEDIA GROUP INC.

miners. They readily agreed to pull up stakes and head north to begin earning paychecks again.

The Kentuckians, many used to a life of isolation in the hills and hollows, chose to live in small settlements through northern and eastern parts of Noble County.

Many came to Rome City, while others chose to be within walking distance of the foundries in Lisbon and on the south edge of Kendallville.

Later, as even more jobs in the area emerged, hundreds more came from southeastern Kentucky

to work in the recreational vehicle factories in LaGrange and Elkhart counties and manufacturing operations in Ligonier.

Many of the people who first came to Noble County from Kentucky were in poverty and poorly educated. For some of them, in those early years, their homes exhibited their economic status.

But over the years, the second, third and fourth generations of those families improved their standards of living and entered the middle class that is prevalent in the blue-collar communities of Noble

County today.

The Southerners who moved to Noble County had an influence on the local society. Many fundamental Christian churches today in the Kendallville area got their start from those with Kentucky roots.

They also had an influence on local politics, in Noble County, first voting overwhelmingly for Democrats in the 1960s and 1970s, and then bolting away from the liberal national Democratic Party beginning in the 1980s when social issues dominated the national scene.

FILE PH OTO Ford Frick, le ft, chats with Babe Ruth.

RP Wakefield first began in a building that was once a church.

It was Wakefield Plywood until 1962, when RP Wakefield bought it.

Auburn Hardwood Mouldings was formed in 1988.

www.rpwakefield.com

1950s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

F2

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

Buck Lake: aka Nashville of the North

BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcnews.net

BUCK LAKE — Buck Lake Ranch is known as the Nashville of the North.

The legendary Steuben County campground has hosted oodles of famous rock and country music singers over the years including: Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Jan and Dean, Count Basie, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Porter Wagner, Jimmy Dean, Roger Miller, George Jones, Alabama, The Judds and Hank Williams. Those are only a few of the hundreds of stars who have graced the Buck Lake Ranch stage over the years.

Almost everyone who was anyone in country music during the 1940s through 1970s performed

on Buck Lake’s rustic stage, along with rock pioneers, comedians, TV and movie stars. A few former heavyweight boxing champions came to referee wrestling matches at the park.

Buck Lake has long been known as a legendary place of action in Steuben County. It has attracted Christian, gospel and bluegrass artists. In addition, it’s a campground, fishing spot on scenic 23-acre Buck Lake, a place for hikers with trails sprawled over 70 acres, special events, a flea market and auctions.

The ranch has been restored to look the same as it did in the 1950s and 1960s.

Harry Smythe and his wife, Eleanor, started Buck Lake Ranch after

World War II in 1947. The family entertainment complex is a few miles west of Angola.

In a YouTube video, Capt. Carl Unger, Buck Lake Ranch’s current owner, said he appreciated all of the stars appearing over the years there.

“They had to be entertainers,” Unger said.

Bill Anderson, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, said Buck Lake was his favorite place to perform his music. He said playing at parks like Buck Lake was a huge part of performing.

In the video, it was also said Buck Lake Ranch was kept going by the family man as a destination that had a little bit of everything to appeal to all tastes.

Ask for Passport When Attending Museums

Buddy Holly and the Crickets perform at Buck Lake Ranch on July 4, 1958.

Also performing with the legendary rocker on that date was Frankie Avalon.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

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1960s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

F3

Snakes, peat challenge I-69 builders

BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcnews.net

PHOTO COURTESY OF EZRA MILLER

People survey the damage after a tornado leveled a home a quarter-mile west of U.S. 20 and S.R. 5 in

Shipshewana on April 11, 1965.

Nature’s fury strikes northeast Indiana

BY CRAIG HAUPERT chaupert@kpcnews.net

TOPEKA — LaGrange County historian Ezra Miller will never forget the afternoon of April 11, 1965.

That day, multiple tornadoes blew through several states, including northern Indiana, and claimed more than 250 lives. The socalled Palm Sunday tornadoes are believed to be part of the most destructive storm system to ever hit the Michiana area.

Miller and his family were riding in an automobile in Shipshewana when the storm hit. They witnessed its destruction firsthand.

“I saw when the twin tornado hit (S.R.) 5 and (U.S.) 20 junction. There were highvoltage poles that followed U.S. 20 that were literally tossed around like matchsticks,” he said. “When it hit, when the power lines struck each other, it just looked like lightning — I mean huge sparks everywhere. After it passed through, everything went quiet.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF EZRA MILLER

A car tossed by the Palm Sunday tornado of 1965 landed on a flipped tree near Shore Mennonite Church in Shipshewana.

Records from the National Weather Service say Indiana was one of six Midwest states to be hit by 47 tornadoes that day. In Indiana, 137 people were killed and more than 1,200 injured by 10 tornadoes.

Records obtained from the LaGrange County Historical Society indicate that 76 people were killed in the counties of Elkhart, LaGrange and St. Joseph, Mich.

As a member of his district’s Civil Defense unit,

Miller was tasked with helping clean up after the storm. He said his unit found 19 bodies between Rainbow Lake and the intersection of S.R. 5 and U.S. 20.

“I personally found three bodies, and they were so badly defaced and matted that you could not recognize them,” he said. “We just put white sheets over them until someone came with a station wagon to take them to the hospital for identification.”

Miller said it is the worst

storm he has ever seen.

Homes, barns, churches and businesses were reduced to rubble.

He recalls seeing one home that wasn’t flattened, but whose draperies were hanging on the outside of the house, caught between the roof and the ceiling.

“It must have lifted part of the roof off, sucked the draperies out and dropped the roof back on top,” he said.

“There were things like that all over.”

ANGOLA — David Field of Angola recalls spending five years working as a project engineer on I-69 construction, facing peat excavation issues and snakes.

Field retired after serving 36 years as an engineer for the Indiana Department of Transportation. Between 1962 and 1967, he worked on I-69.

“I was in on staking rights of way, supervising and testing compaction,” Field said. “When you’re building, you have low areas. There was an awful lot of peat excavation.”

Field spent the first four years as a project helper.

“Most of the project was five-mile sections. I started down at Auburn. By 1967, I69 was all done,” he said, explaining many rights of way had to be secured by condemnation.

Field said some of the staking was tricky.

“Going along Buck Lake, I couldn’t get through the right of way to stake” because of water, he said. “I was swimming with a rope around me with snakes coming at me. A lot of it, you never hit bottom. Some of it was so deep.”

Another challenge on the I-69 project, Field recalled, was working with contractors, “keeping them in line to do what they’re supposed to.”

Sometimes, that meant holding their pay until work was done properly.

In the end, Field said the finished product allows people to now hop in their cars and jump on I-69 to head down to Fort Wayne more quickly — and safely.

I-69 serves as a major transportation vein for Hoosiers running from northeast Indiana southward.

While it impacts the whole state, it especially affects Steuben and DeKalb counties.

According to published reports, the construction of I-69 caused controversy and angered environmentalists.

Part of the route ran through wetlands, existing farmland and forested areas, cutting through geologically sensitive topography, which environmentalists argued threatened underground water systems and harmed the rare species that live there.

Angola Mayor Dick Hickman said he can’t imagine life without I-69, which makes it easier to travel and for industry to thrive and get products to market. Hickman recalled driving through Angola before I-69, when travel meant backups along U.S. 27.

“The biggest difference now is the safety of the road,” Hickman said. “There were quite a few backups, and Buck Lake was busy. A story I have heard is at one point, they talked about putting I-69 east of town. That may have changed the complexity.”

Auburn Mayor Norm Yoder recalls the construction of I-69, which happened in phases.

“I can vaguely remember the construction where the routes went,” he said. “In Angola, there’s not as much latitude. Auburn grew out to I-69.”

Yoder said the major Indiana roadway helped Auburn grow, as restaurants, gas stations and businesses stretched one-half mile outside city lines to be close to I-69 to attract motorists.

“It went through northeast Indiana and created jobs and (provided) easy access. It’s good for all industry,” Yoder said. “It changed the traffic patterns in Auburn — now they’re predominantly east-towest — and it changed driving habits, with east-west stop signs. Trucks don’t go through the city.”

In addition to helping Auburn grow, Yoder said I-69 has helped all of northeast Indiana.

“It’s been a positive.

Without it, we wouldn’t have industry,” he said.

According to published reports, a route from Indianapolis northeast via Fort Wayne to I-80/I-90 near Angola was added to the proposed Inter-regional Highway System by the early 1940s. Unlike most routes, it was not drawn along an existing U.S. highway corridor, except north of Fort Wayne, where it used U.S. 27.

The extension beyond Angola to I-94 near Marshall, Mich., actually started as part of what evolved into I-94.

The Interstate 69 designation was assigned to the Indianapolis-Angola route in 1957.

ACRES preserves woodlands for future generations

BY LUCY FOLTYNIAK

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead The ACRES Land Trust started with 12 people getting together in a living room in Allen County, Indiana, and 60 bucks,” ACRES Land Trust executive director Jason Kissel said.

The story began 51 years ago.

The mission the founders of ACRES Land Trust committed to a half-century ago was to ensure the preservation of woodland areas.

ACRES now owns and manages more than 77 nature preserves with more than 4,700 acres scattered over northeast Indiana, southern Michigan and northwest Ohio.

ACRES was the first, but now there are 26 land trusts in Indiana, protecting about 50,000 acres of Hoosier land.

ACRES Land Trust is a nonprofit organization; it is

Indiana’s oldest and largest land trust. All of its properties are protected; most of the nature preserves are open to the public, from dawn to dusk; other properties will open to the public eventually.

In late 1959, Jane Dustin called a meeting of people concerned about the increasing loss of natural areas in Allen and nearby counties. Creating a formal organization was considered.

The group contained biologists, naturalists, teachers, a soil scientist, a surveyor, engineers, dedicated conservationists and persons with administrative skills.

Early in 1960, that group, with a lawyer added, continued to meet.

On March 12, 1960, a corporation with 12 directors was approved as ”Allen County Reserves Inc.” (“ACRES”). These initial directors, as well as all subsequent directors, have served without compensation.

The directors first sought land in Allen County without

TERRY HOUSHOLDER

In Noble County, home of the original “seed land” which started ACRES Land Trust on its path, ACRES Land Trust owns 12 nature preserves. Lonidaw Nature Preserve, pictured, with 30.2 acres, was acquired in 1979. Lonidaw is a Native American name meaning Spirit of the Woods.

success. Fortunately, Edna Spurgeon donated her Noble County land in 1961. Like other early (and many later) donors, she was motivated by her love of the land, not its economic value. Her gift

proved to be ACRES’ “seed land.”

Land acquisition soon followed with Beechwood Preserve in Steuben County, the Edna Spurgeon addition in Noble County in 1964,

Woodland Bog in Steuben County (at a tax sale with donated funds in 1965) and the Bender Preserve in Noble County in 1966.

Not until 1974 did ACRES obtain land in Allen County, a property called Fox Fire.

ACRES’ close relationship with The Nature Conservancy remains very important.

The Art Hammer Wetland Nature Preserve in the Rome City area was acquired in 1986. With 373 acres, it is ACRES’ largest nature preserve.

As our cities and towns expand, with more and more rural properties being claimed for development, there is an increasing need to preserve what is left of our forest, prairies and wetlands. It is these natural lands that produce the air we breathe, distill toxins from the water we drink, and provide a natural beauty and order that stir our souls and settle our minds.

BY GRACE HOUSHOLDER graceh@kpcnews.net

Women’s study clubs have been an important part of the history of the small communities of northeast Indiana.

Kendallville’s oldest study club, Tuesday Club, was founded 115 years ago, in 1896. Originally its 18 members wore hats and gloves to meetings and met weekly.

Today Tuesday Club meets monthly, October through April, and members dress more casually.

In the early 1900s, one of Tuesday Club’s members was Mrs. Alice Merica, owner of Kendallville Publishing Co. The 2010-2011 Tuesday Club program theme was “Planting Seeds for Noble County’s future.”

This article is based on information gathered by Lucy Foltyniak of Kendallville, who gave a 2010-2011 Tuesday Club program on ACRES.

1960s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

F4

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

Voters approve school consolidations

BY DENNIS NARTKER dennisn@kpcnews.net

KENDALLVILLE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Before the 1960s, Indianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s public education system consisted of more than 4,500 rural schools, many one-room schoolhouses, controlled by township boards.

The model dated back to the 19th century.

By the early 1920s, critics

of the system concluded its primary weakness was the low quality of rural schools, and the township trustees were the primary cause of this weakness, according to Noble County historian Bob Gagen in his News Sun column â&#x20AC;&#x153;School control was slow to change,â&#x20AC;? published Dec. 18, 2008.

Gagen was moved to

= Founded 1993 >

HOOSIER AIR MUSEUM Banquet & Meeting Facility

Museum

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Aircraft on Display: â&#x20AC;˘ 1946 Stinson Gullwing â&#x20AC;˘ 1935 Speedbird (One of a kind) â&#x20AC;˘ 1946 Cessna UC-78 (T-50 Bamboo Bomber) â&#x20AC;˘ 1979 Bell AH-1 Cobra Helicopter Gunship â&#x20AC;˘ 1946 Aeronca 7AC Champion â&#x20AC;˘ WWI Neuport 17, 7/10th scale replica biplane â&#x20AC;˘ WWI Neuport 11, 75% scale replica biplane â&#x20AC;˘ RHC-1 Mini-Copter single seat helicopter â&#x20AC;˘ 3-Place Military Training Helicopter â&#x20AC;˘ 1962 Wayne-Loving Roadable Homebuilt â&#x20AC;˘ Pitts Special Skeleton â&#x20AC;˘ Jet Engines, Radial Engines, Allison V-12 Engine Off Site: â&#x20AC;˘ 1965 7/10 Scale F-51 Mustang Replica â&#x20AC;˘ 1936 Stinson SR-9 â&#x20AC;˘ 1945 Piper J-3 Cub (85 HP) â&#x20AC;˘ 1942 Boeing Stearman â&#x20AC;˘ Fokker DIV WWI Biplane Full Size Replica â&#x20AC;˘ 1944 Pratt Read 2 Man Training Glider

The museum banquet hall has a maximum seating capacity of 250 people, and a resource center for smaller meetings of up to 35 people. Our complete approved caterers list and rental prices are available by contacting Rich Mawe at 260-925-2916 or bmawe@locl.net or leave a message at the museum at 260-927-0443.

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comment about the history of the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s public school system because the Indiana General Assembly was investigating a proposal to consolidate small school corporations to save money.

In 1925, a committee considering the township trusteesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; power over public schools concluded the only way to correct the problems with the trustee system was to abolish it. The committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s report said township trustees possessed too much power over schools, because they chose each countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s superintendent of schools.

So began the march to school consolidation in Indiana. Gagen pointed out that between 1920 and 1945, one-teacher schools in Indiana were reduced from 4,500 to 616. State officials assumed more control over the public education system, including teacher licensing and renewal and teacher tenure.

Schools in the 1920s struggled with inadequate funding and facilities.

State legislators noted the problems with Indianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s public education system through the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, but it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t until the 1950s that the debate over control of the schools heated up again. The General Assembly passed the School Reorganization Act of 1959 that mandated school district reorganization. Each county was required to set up a committee within the following three months to plan for consolidation of township schools.

Supporters argued school consolidation would raise the educational standards and school corporations could operate more efficiently, save money for taxpayers and provide higher levels of service to students.

Small-school advocates opposed the sweeping change in public education, arguing high schools were the focal point of pride for many small towns. Class sizes and the school administrative bureau-

&

26 YEARS

COUNTING!

DENNIS NARTKER

East Noble High School, a consolidation of Avilla, Rome City and Kendallville high schools, opened in August 1966 in Kendallville.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A committee of students, teachers and administrators from Kendallville, Rome City, Avilla and LaOtto recommended turning high schools in Rome City, Kendallville and Avilla into junior high schools, and constructing a new high school in Kendallville at the site of South Side Elementary School and the South Side Gymnasium.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;˘ cracy would increase with consolidation, they warned.

A Noble County school reorganization committee recommended the county be divided into three consolidated school districts comprised of East Noble (Kendallville and Allen, Wayne, Orange and Swan townships), West Noble (Ligonier, Cromwell and Wawaka and Perry, Elkhart and Sparta townships) and Central Noble (Albion and Wolf Lake with Jefferson, York and Noble townships).

The issue was put to voters in each district on Nov. 8, 1960. The vote for forming East Noble was 3,440 in favor with 3,130 against, and the heavy vote in Kendallvilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seven precincts overcame widespread opposition in

Avilla, Rome City and rural areas. The East Noble School Corp. was created Jan. 1, 1961.

A committee of students, teachers and administrators from Kendallville, Rome City, Avilla and LaOtto recommended turning high schools in Rome City, Kendallville and Avilla into junior high schools, and constructing a new high school in Kendallville at the site of South Side Elementary School and the South Side Gymnasium.

The vote for forming West Noble was 1,847 in favor with 1,033 against, and the West Noble School Corp. also was created on Jan. 1, 1961.

Incorporated were Wawaka, Perry, Cromwell, Ligonier, Kimmell and Washington

Center schools. Included within its geographic boundaries are the communities of Ligonier, Cromwell, Wawaka and Kimmell and Elkhart, Perry, Sparta and Washington townships.

The late 1960s found deteriorating conditions in some school buildings, continued population growth in Ligonier and updated education requirements, which prompted the need for a new school. West Noble High School was completed in 1971, and West Noble Middle School was built in 1976.

Voters in the Noble Central District rejected consolidation by 1,794 to 1,572, but with another vote, the Central Noble Community School Corp. was created in July 1966. It incorporated high schools in Albion and Wolf Lake, and schools in Albion, Jefferson, York and Noble townships. The new Central Noble High School in Albion was completed in 1972.

Voters in LaGrange County approved creation of the Lakeland School Corp. on July 18, 1961. The school district â&#x20AC;&#x201D; made up of schools in Bloomfield, Greenfield, Johnson and Lima townships and the towns of Brighton, Howe, LaGrange and Wolcottville â&#x20AC;&#x201D; was officially incoporated Jan. 3, 1962.

In 1955, Shipshewana and Scott schools in LaGrange County consolidated, and then Westview School Corp. was formed in 1963. Westview Junior-Senior High School opened in 1966.

Voters approved the creation of Prairie Heights School Corp. on Jan. 1, 1963.

Prairie Heights High School opened in 1966.

By 1968, the number of school corporations had declined from 939 to 382 and more than 90 percent of Indiana students attended consolidated schools.

In 2007, there were 293 school corporations governing 1,918 public schools. An elected board of trustees retains control over each school corporation.

In the year 1880,

the Norris Chapel Building was constructed, consisting of a one-room structure without belfry and altar. In 1899 the belfry and altar were added.

1940

1968

Worship in the Park Sun., Sept. 11 at 10:00 AM in pavilion at Auburn Eckh art Park. Potluck dinner followi ng service. Please bring a covere d dish to share.

Norris Chapel is a community of faith that exists as the family of God. Our mission is to reach out through worship, fellowship, love, service and acceptance to all persons.

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Norris Chapel United Methodist Church

4793 CR 40A, Auburn, IN â&#x20AC;˘ 260-925-1096 â&#x20AC;˘ www.norrischapel.org Sunday School starts at 9:15 AM â&#x20AC;˘ Worship time starts at 10:45 AM

TRADITION. INNOVATION. PROGRESS.

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Auburn Essential Services congratulates KPC Media Group on recording a centuryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worth of historyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;one day at a time.

Auburn Essential Services (AES), a division of the Auburn Electric Department, is a municipal project that provides phone, internet and television* services over a community-owned fiber optic network to a select service area. *Television services coming soon. Visit www.auburnessentialservices.net to learn more.

1960s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

F5

IN SPORTS

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY DEKALB HEALTH

DeKalb County residents break ground for the building of DeKalb Memorial Hospital on April 29, 1962, on the

After finishing second to Gary Roosevelt in 1962, Ashley High won the 1963 state championship in cross country over West Lafayette. Dwight Graber coached the Aces to the stunning upset, reminiscent of the “Milan Miracle” in basketball a decade earlier.

east side of Auburn.

‘Miracle’ campaign raises hospital funds in 17 days

BY KATHRYN BASSETT kathrynb@kpcnews.net

AUBURN — It was described as the “biggest single project in which the people of DeKalb County have ever participated.”

Campaign leaders and observers acclaimed it as a “miracle victory.”

DeKalb County’s longawaited dream was realized in PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY DEKALB HEALTH 1963 with the dedication of The new DeKalb Memorial Hospital as it looked when it opened Jan. 2, 1964.

DeKalb Memorial Hospital.

“Wonderful! Wonderful!” one visitor was quoted as In January 1960, the fundraising campaign began equipped hospital was $2.5 million, with $1.8 million of saying in a Dec. 2, 1962, newpaper report of the when the 1,400 volunteers gathered in the Auburn that spent on the building itself. hospital’s dedication day.

Enough funds were Another visitor from out of High School gymnasium to receive their instructions. available to cover operating town said, “We have two costs for the first year of the hospitals in our town, but hospital, after which time the can’t appreciate them because, hospital would be selfunlike you in DeKalb County, sustaining. we put nothing of ourselves When it opened, the into these hospitals.” hospital had 75 beds that were would direct a group of 1,400 from W.H. Willennar of The seed for the project Auburn, who donated 1,000 staffed, along with 15 was planted in 1956 when the volunteers. In January 1960, shares of Lincoln National additional beds that would be the fundraising campaign Auburn Lions Club secured Life Insurance stock, valued at available as needed. began when the 1,400 professional hospital $230,000. A total of $610,000 An estimated 12,000 volunteers gathered in the consultant Dr. Herman Smith in federal Hill-Burton funds people attended the hospital’s Auburn High School to determine the feasibility of also was available for the open house and dedication on gymnasium to receive their a county hospital.

Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, with tours instructions. Just 17 days later, project.

At that time, there were Groundbreaking took place extended three additional days the campaign goal had been three privately owned April 29, 1962, and construcbecause of the interest. exceeded with $1.5 million hospitals in the county with a tion began immediately.

The hospital formally raised. total capacity of 79 beds, The largest donation came The cost of the fully opened in Jan. 2, 1964.

Smith’s report led to the formation of an eight-member board, the DeKalb County Non-Profit Hospital Association.

In December 1957, a citizens’ committee was formed. The committee circulated a petition requesting formation of a board that would meet with the DeKalb County Commissioners to Our roots go back to 1947 with examine the need for a Dwight Sebert. hospital and how it could be financed.

A report, completed in 1960, recommended that the hospital should be citizenowned.

Formed in the fall of 1960, We’re still here today the hospital board included Glenn Rieke as president, C.J. providing that same Maxton as vice president, Richard O. Fink as treasurer service you’ve come and Otis Fisher as secretary, along with 19 township to expect. directors.

The board retained Dan Carmichael of Columbus, 501 S. Broadway Ohio, as the architect and Butler selected a tract of land on S.R. 8 on the east side of Auburn as 260-868-2191 the site for the hospital.

800-292-6568 The board also secured the Hours: services of professional Mon.-Fri. 8:00 AM-5:00 PM fundraiser Paul Young, who

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1970s

F6

WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

Automobile museum is born in Auburn

BY DAVE KURTZ dkurtz@kpcnews.net

AUBURN — After nearly four decades of neglect, the Auburn Automobile Co. headquarters reopened July 6, 1974, ready to begin a new life as an automobile museum.

Inspired by the growing interest in Auburn’s automotive history, volunteers formed a nonprofit organization, bought the building, restored it and created the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum.

The building had opened in 1930 as a showroom and headquarters for Auburn Automobile, which stood on the brink of its finest years.

Built at a cost of $450,000, it featured a grand stairway, ornate chandeliers, a patterned terrazzo floor and a brick-and-limestone exterior.

Fourteen plate-glass windows, standing 18 feet tall, illuminated the showroom.

Seven years later, all activity had ceased in the building, and Auburn Automobile Co. met its fate in bankruptcy court.

In 1938, Dallas Winslow of Detroit bought the remaining Auburn and Cord automobile parts for $85,000 and paid $25,000 for the administration building.

Historians later would say that Winslow’s new company kept many of Auburn Automobile Co.’s future-

KPC FILE PHOTO

The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum’s main showroom gleams in its early days in the 1970s.

classic cars running, but nearly destroyed the building by turning the showroom into a machine shop.

As the 1970s arrived, the building housed a clothing factory, a motorcycle shop and a tent-camper company.

At the same time, admirers and owners of the cars built in Auburn were growing an annual festival about the autos into a major event.

In 1971, the Auburn Chamber of Commerce sponsored an auction of collector cars on the city’s west edge. It racked up $750,000 in sales, including a $61,000 price for a Duesenberg that made national news.

Suddenly, history buffs who wanted to save the auto company headquarters and create a museum had found a way to pay for the project.

They formed two nonprofit

corporations — Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival Inc. to operate the festival and raise money and Auburn Automotive Heritage Inc. to buy and restore the building and eventually operate a museum.

Continuing the annual car auctions conducted by the Kruse auction company of Auburn, the community raised enough money to buy the building in late January 1974 for $105,000.

Noble County’s Earl Butz serves U.S. presidents

BY TERRY HOUSHOLDER terryh@kpcnews.net

ALBION — Earl L. Butz, a farm boy from York Township, became one of Noble County’s most famous native sons of the 20th century. He served two U.S. presidents in the Cabinet role of secretary of agriculture in the 1970s.

Graduating from Wawaka High School in 1927 as class president and valedictorian, Butz was among the five original 4-H leaders in Indiana. He earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Purdue University in 1932 and in 1937, he earned the first doctoral degree in agricultural economics given at Purdue.

In a 1989 News Sun interview, Butz said he had the good fortune of being born into a nice family with loving, caring parents who emphasized the work ethic.

His farm parents instilled the concept “that work itself is good for the soul.”

Butz joined the staff of the Purdue Department of Agriculture Economics in 1937. He served as department head from 1946 to 1954.

He was dean of agriculture at Purdue from 1957 to 1967.

Butz served under three presidents. He was assistant secretary of agriculture from

Earl Butz, a Wawaka High School graduate, went on to serve under three presidents, acting as assistant secretary of agriculture under Dwight Eisenhower and secretary of agriculture under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

FILE PHOTO

1954 to 1957 under President Dwight Eisenhower. He was secretary of agriculture from 1971 to 1976 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Butz was a free-market advocate and credited with revolutionizing federal agricultural policy by reforming many New Deal era farm support programs.

He left the Cabinet post after repeating a religious and

racial joke that caused a national political uproar.

After his fall from power, Butz returned to West Lafayette, and was named dean emeritus of Purdue University’s School of Agriculture. He traveled extensively as a lecturer and consultant. He hosted his own radio program and worked for several farm-related businesses as a board member.

Butz drew headlines again

in 1981 when he pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges, for having under reporting income he had earned. He was sentenced to five years in prison, however, all but 30 days of the term was suspended. He was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $61,183 in civil penalties.

Over the years, Butz returned to his native Noble County on several occasions.

His last appearance at an event in Noble County was at the first Noble County 4-H Alumni Banquet in April 2000, held at the new log community building at the Noble County Fairgrounds in Kendallville. Butz was impressed when he learned that 850 youths in Noble County were part of the 4-H program. “That’s tremendous in a county like this,” he said.

“They will become a part of that leadership class that is so scarce. I encourage you to keep it up.”

In 1999, Butz donated $1 million to Purdue’s Department of Agricultural Economics.

On Feb. 7, 2008, Butz died at the home of his son in Washington, D.C. He was 98.

At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Cabinet member from any administration. His funeral and burial were in West Lafayette.

IN SPORTS Garrett High School’s Railroaders won the Class A state championship in football in 1974, finishing an 11-0 season under coach Dave Wiant.

The Railroaders defeated North Knox 20-6. Garrett’s Paul Rassell won the mental attitude award.

Volunteers set to work cleaning and polishing their investment — making roof repairs and removing the grime of more than 35 years.

News reports said they spent more than $50,000 on the renovation.

By May, they had it ready for an open house to show the community what they had done. The new museum opened to visitors on July 6, 1974, with a sampling of

Auburn-built cars arranged in the main showroom. “… although the years had not been kind to the majestic Auburn-CordDuesenberg building, the living generations are restoring it, making it beautiful again, giving the city a focal point for its impressive heritage,” Jane Kempf, city editor for The Evening Star, reported.

More improvements followed before the grand opening on Labor Day weekend 1974, during the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival. An estimated 10,000 people toured the museum.

“It’s just like it was back then, except the floor was in better condition. Of course, the building has been used hard since then,” said L.M. Teeters of Garrett, an Auburn Automobile Co. employee from 1931-33.

The community had saved what one expert called one of the finest examples of art deco architectural style in the nation, saying it remained “remarkably unscathed in more than 40 years.”

“Other antique car museums jam their jewels bumper to bumper in barnlike structures which detract from the vehicles’ elegance.

Not at Auburn. Here the building provides the perfect setting,” wrote George O. Witwer, editor of The Evening Star and The News Sun. Still thriving 37 years later, the museum was placed on National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and became a National Historic Landmark in 2005. Today it is known as the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum.

Gen. Hershey a decorated military man

BY MIKE MARTURELLO mikem@kpcnews.net

ANGOLA — Perhaps the most decorated military man to come from Steuben County was Gen. Lewis B. Hershey.

He also was one of the more controversial figures in the military during the 1970s during the height of the Vietnam War, when he served as the director of the Hershey Selective Service.

To this day, Hershey’s memory lives on in Hershey Hall on the campus of Trine University.

Hershey was a graduate of Tri-State College and his legacy lives on at Trine not only in the athletic facility.

Hershey’s personal momentos from his lengthy career — he joined the National Guard in 1911 — are in a collection at Trine. It includes everything from uniforms and medals to his papers.

Hershey grew up in Steuben County and attended public school. He received his degree from Tri-State and later an honorary doctor of law from the school.

In 1970, Hershey Hall was dedicated. It was during the height of the Vietnam War, and some came to Tri-State University to protest the general.

As the former head of the Selective Service, he was viewed by some as the man responsible for sending many young men to their deaths in the war.

“I hate to think of the day my grandchildren will be defended by volunteers.”

Gen. Lewis B. Hershey

• He also was viewed as the man responsible for the growth of college protests against the Selective Service and the war.

In October 1967, Hershey issued an order known as “The Hershey Directive.”

It held that anyone who demonstrated against military recruiters on college campuses could be subject to reclassification of their draft status, meaning demonstrators could be drafted immediately.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1970 voided the order, and he was removed from his post by President Richard Nixon after becoming the focus of anti-war protests.

Later, Nixon would name Hershey one of his advisers and promoted him to full general. At the time, he was the only four-star general to reach the rank without having served in combat.

He was a huge proponent of conscription.

“I hate to think of the day my grandchildren will be defended by volunteers,” Hershey was quoted as having said.

Hershey, born in 1893, died in Angola on May 20, 1977. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

1980s

WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

F7

Dekko builds thriving foundation He co-founded one of the largest privately held industrial firms in northeast Indiana. In 1981, he started the Dekko Foundation, now one of the largest Dekko foundations in Indiana.

The 1980s were boom years for Group Dekko International, but the company began in 1952 as Lyall Electric with five employees producing readymade wiring assemblies or harnesses for manufacturers of commercial refrigerators.

After three years with Aluminum Co. of America Today, Group Dekko and a stint as a salesman for International Inc., based in a small Fort Wayne Garrett, employs approxicompany, Dekko staked all mately 1,500 people in 11 he owned on a partnership facilities in three states and with Lyall Morrill, owner of Mexico and a manufacLyall Electric Inc. in turing partnership in China. Kendallville.

The late Chester E. By 1956, Dekko set a Dekko, co-founder of Lyall goal of a 20 percent growth Electric, now Group Dekko rate for the company, International, was the son of compounded annually.

Norwegian immigrants and Dekko and Morrill believed grew up in a small farming manufacturers of commercommunity in Minnesota. cial refrigerators could

BY DENNIS NARTKER dennisn@kpcnews.net

KENDALLVILLE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; What began as a hand-operated toggle clamp for rubber molding, developed on Chet Dekkoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dining room table, grew into a sophisticated organization of integrated resources with more than 50 facilities in five states.

benefit from ready-made wiring assemblies, eliminating the labor intensive practice of handwiring cabinets. Their belief took off, and Lyall Electric experienced extraordinary growth.

The company acquired Pent Inc. in 1962, and expanded its core competencies to include engineering design, testing and certification, electrical advancements, wire-winding technologies, metal fabrications, powder coating, injection molding, profile extrusion, fluid controls and LED lighting solutions.

At one time, Group Dekko included 16 companies with more than 50 small plants nationwide.

Forty-two of those were in northeast Indiana.

In 1988 Dekko purchased the remaining Morrill family

interest and became the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s owner, changing the name to Group Dekko International Inc. Dekko retired in 1990 and died in 1992. His legacy and vision continued under family-influenced leadership until the company was sold in 2006. Group Dekko International remains privately held and is led by Jon A. Jensen, president and CEO. Chester Dekko grew up during the Great Depression and believed that education was the element that lifted him beyond those difficult years to a life of economic freedom. He attended the University of Minnesota under the Naval V-12 program and graduated with a bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in naval technology. He was commissioned an ensign in 1946, and in 1947 earned a degree in mechanical engineering. In 1948, he received a masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in economics.

He established the Dekko Foundation in 1981 with a mission to foster economic freedom through education.

He was especially impressed by the good that could be done through small grants

placed in the hands of people dedicated to their communities. He was determined the foundation would help those people develop grassroots initiatives. It was important to him that the foundation would help communities help themselves, not do things for them.

His business and financial assets came to the foundation after his death in 1992. This sparked a period of financial, staff and program growth.

Dekkoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s children, C.E. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tadâ&#x20AC;?

Dekko, Erica Dekko and Lorene Dekko Salsbery, replaced by her husband Phil Salsbery after her death, serve as the foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s board of directors.

The foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s geographical focus is in the communities where Dekko did business during his lifetime: DeKalb, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Whitley and Kosciusko counties in Indiana; Limestone County, Ala.; Collier County, Fla.; Clarke, Decatur, Lucas, Ringgold and Union counties in Iowa; and the community of Ada in Minnesota.

The board has focused the foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grantmaking on young

people from birth to age 18 in three targeted areas: quality early childhood education; child-centered education; and the sustainability of youth-serving asset building organizations.

Charitable projects over the years have included capital campaigns for libraries, YMCAs, community parks, recreation areas, operating support for organizations that promote positive youth development, materials, equipment and training for public and private schools and support to build community foundation endowments.

According to the foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2010 annual report for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2010, the foundation had $194.6 millions in total assets, and dispersed just under $9 million in grants with total dispersements of $11.3 million.

Dekko started Freedom Academy in 1991 with adult continuing-education programs at convenient locations in six different northeast Indiana counties.

His goal: â&#x20AC;&#x153;To enhance the quality of life for those who are willing to enrich their education.â&#x20AC;?

Bledsoeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Beach hub of Lake James for nearly eight decades

BY MIKE MARTURELLO mikem@kpcnews.net

LAKE JAMES â&#x20AC;&#x201D; For nearly eight decades Bledsoeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Beach served as a place of entertainment, a social gathering spot, a postal station and more.

It was like the seat of government for Lake James and neighboring lakes on the Lake James chain. You could get everything you needed at Bledsoeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, from a postage stamp to a fresh cut of beef, from a few rays of sun to a smooch from your sweetie while dancing the night away.

Bledsoeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s was a lake hot spot for decades. During the Big Band era, numerous national acts came to play at the facility, which held dances seven nights a week and even on Sunday afternoons, which was criminal for a time. The cost was a five-cent dance ticket, pretty pricy during the 1920s, and men and women came dressed to the nines.

In their heyday, the Bledsoe brothers, Roy Sr. and Charles, not only operated the flagship property on the second basin of Lake James, but also had a dance hall at the property that is now home to Lake James Christian Assembly, on the first basin, and an open-air dance facility on Lake Gage. The dance

floor at Lake Gage was concrete that had embedded crushed, colored glass. When the bare light bulbs overhead were turned on at night, the floor sparkled.

After the Big Band era waned, the record and sock hop era followed, and the dance hall continued to be a hot spot. Fort Wayne radio station WOWO used to broadcast sock hops from the facility.

During the 1960s, rock bands were brought in, and the excitement on the lake continued.

In the 1970s, the dance hall was used less frequently â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it did become home of the Lake James Jazz Festival â&#x20AC;&#x201D; though the other facilities on the massive property, including the beach and basketball camp, continued to bring visitors to the area. Ă&#x2026; banquet hall was developed in the 1980s, yet its use declined after the Hoosier Basketball Camp moved away from Lake James.

The beginning of the end of an era came in the early morning hours of Sept. 24, 1980, when fire broke out at the Bledsoeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Beach complex, destroying much of the facility.

This week, on Thursday, the Bledsoe properties will be up for auction.

FILE PHOTO

Women and children are shown catching some sunshine on one of the docks at Bledsoeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Beach, Lake

James, in this photo from the 1950s.

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1980s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

F8

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

Slaying of town marshal stuns community

BY TERRY HOUSHOLDER terryh@kpcnews.net

AVILLA — No one living in this small southeastern Noble County community in 1983 will forget the shocking slaying of 29-year-old Avilla Town Marshal William D. Miner Jr. Miner was killed in the early morning of May 28, 1983, while he was investigating a report of a vehicle vandalism south of the town’s railroad viaduct on S.R. 3.

During a struggle with

Allen Lewis Snyder of Fort Wayne, Miner was shot in the back with the officer’s own handgun by 18-year-old William J. Spranger of Fort Wayne. Miner was pronounced dead at the scene when the Noble County EMS arrived at 4:30 a.m.

A massive 24-hour-a-day investigation began immediately with nearly every police department in northeastern Indiana participating.

On May 31, 1983, the day

of the town marshal’s emotional funeral at Calvary United Methodist Church, Avilla, attended by more than 400 family, Miner friends and colleagues, two murder suspects were arrested. The case broke when Indiana State Police Detective John Barrett

received a phone tip that led to the arrests of Snyder and Spranger.

Two separate trials were held in Richmond, both resulting in convictions.

Snyder was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to eight years in prison. Spranger was convicted of murder and given the death sentence by Wayne Circuit Court Judge James C. Puckett.

In 1995, the Indiana Supreme Court reaffirmed Spranger’s conviction, but

overturned the death sentence which resulted in a resentencing to 60 years in prison.

The state Supreme Court said the following mitigating circumstances caused it to reduce the sentence for Spranger: No advance plan or scheme to murder, 18 years old at the time of the murder, capable of rehabilitation, poor social controls, impulsive and extremely susceptible to influence of others, no prior criminal record, intoxication and

stress on the day of murder, accomplice received a disproportionate easy plea, cooperation with law enforcement.

Miner was buried at Butler Cemetery in DeKalb County with a full police memorial salute by more than 200 officers. He was survived by his wife and two young children.

Miner is among the fallen federal, state and local lawn enforcers honored at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Industry bounces back Kendallville business booms from high unemployment

BY BOB BRALEY bobb@kpcnews.net

BY DAVE KURTZ dkurtz@Kpcnews.net

The early 1980s brought double-digit unemployment rates to northeast Indiana.

But by the middle of the decade, industry was bouncing back in DeKalb County, thanks to the efforts of a private nonprofit group.

Auburn Industrial Development Corp. recruited industries for the entire county.

Auburn’s mayor at the time, Burt Dickman, described AIDCO as a matchmaker. He said AIDCO, as a private organization, could work quietly with companies considering the area for factory sites.

In a 1989 interview, Dickman recalled how he and Allen Graber made a trip one day to woods and cornfields

on Auburn’s west side to discuss the land’s potential for industrial sites.

By the mid-1980s, west Auburn had become home to Magnavox, Contech and Auburn Packaging, with still more development to come.

In one of its first steps toward success, AIDCO obtained a $1 million state grant to build an industrial sewer for west Auburn.

In its busiest period, AIDCO showed sites in DeKalb County to a prospective industry about once a week. The efforts paid off with a flurry of groundbreaking ceremonies in 1984 and 1985.

The year 1984 saw 11 companies begin operating or start building new factories in DeKalb County. They created 1,682 jobs immediately, with

IN SPORTS

several plants expanding over the next few years. Guardian Automotive of Auburn opened in 1985 and employed 350 people two years later.

Although AIDCO hoped to reduce the county’s dependence on the automotive industry, about half of the new companies were involved in making automotive parts.

With 20 percent unemployment in the early 1980s, AIDCO could not be too choosy about potential employers. But it did turn away some companies because of their low wages.

“There aren’t any $4-anhour jobs that we’ve recruited,” Jeff Turner, vice president of AIDCO, said at the end of the decade. “There isn’t one minimum-wage job that we’ve brought to the county.”

KENDALLVILLE — Former Kendallville Mayor John Riemke said the city’s industrial boom of the 1980s can be summed up in two words — tax abatements.

At a time when the city had 16-percent unemployment, Kendallville was consistently finishing behind Angola, Auburn and Ashley in drawing jobs, Riemke said.

At the time, the city had never offered tax abatements to any businesses.

He recalled a conversation in which businessman Jim McFarland asked, “Will you give us a tax abatement?”

Riemke replied that the city never had, but he would see if it could.

Riemke said McFarland replied, “Let me put it this way. If you don’t give it, we

don’t come.”

It was the granting of the city’s first tax abatements that opened the doors for companies such as Sterling, James River and The Budd Co. to open facilities in Kendallville, and for NoSag to expand its business in the city, Rienke said.

The city had set a goal of bringing in 200 jobs a year for three straight years, Riemke said.

“We ended up creating 1,200 jobs in 18 months.”

The other major asset the city had in the 1970s and ’80s was Indiana NorthEast Development, headed by Lincoln Shrock, Riemke said.

Another key element was that everyone was in agreement on what to do, Riemke said.

“Back then, the (city) council was very cooperative. I had a lot of latitude from the council. They gave me some broad guidelines

and pretty much turned me loose,” he said.

“It all came together, and it worked primarily because we had one contact person and we had everybody pulling on the same harness.

We had one common goal, and everybody worked toward it.

Factory Sites Inc. helped, too, providing money for water lines and helping get grants for sewers, Riemke said.

The result was that most of what now exists in the city’s East Industrial Park was established, Riemke said.

Riemke served as Kendallville mayor from 1972-1991.

The auto industry’s problems caused many of that era’s jobs to leave the city in the early part of the last decade, and the national recession made things worse, but the memory of the boom still lingers.

DeKalb High School won a pair of state championships in the 1980s. The baseball team claimed the trophy in 1980 with a 1-0 win over Muncie North in eight innings.

In 1986, DeKalb won the Class 4A state championship in football, 28-7 over Franklin Central.

Coach Dale Hummer’s Barons compiled a 13-1 record behind a punishing ground attack.

AT HOME IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

1876

“Home is where the heart is.” Maybe it’s a cliché. Maybe not.

Provena Sacred Heart Home, in the small rural community of Avilla, Indiana, has been where the heart is for more than a century.

The story that led up to establishing the Sacred Heart Home began when Father Dominic Duehmig, pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish and Bishop of the Fort Wayne Diocese, placed an ad in a German newspaper that Sisters of the Sacred Heart could relocate to Avilla.

There was most certainly a connection, not a coincidence. Fr. Duemig was originally from Baden in Germany’s Black Forest. The sisters were from Baden as well. They were under the throes of religious persecution. The Grand Duke of Karlsruhe felt the Sisters were merely a nuisance.

Half of the congregation responded to the invitation and set sail for America, arriving in New York in May 1876 and made their way to Indiana. The Sisters purchased the Thomas Storey farm in Avilla for $12,000 and took possession of their new home on the Feast of Corpus Christi. It wasn’t long before Fr. Duehmig offered the Holy Sacrifice in a new little chapel.

Fast forward with us to this new century.

Provena Sacred Heart Home today is a Continuum of Care Community. That means we ensure our residents a smooth transition through the different levels of care we all need as we age.

Specialized care, skilled nursing care, independent living in patio homes, assisted living, and long-term care for the aged are all offered right here on our Avilla campus. An Alzheimer’s wing was established in 1990 and skilled nursing care was incorporated in 1995. Most recently, April 2011, Private Medicare Suites were built on for short term rehab stays.

Sacred Heart Home is an integral part of Provena Health, a Catholic health system that specializes in building communities of healing and hope “by compassionately responding to human needs in the spirit of Jesus Christ.”

A section of the old farmhouse was used to care for the elderly and was the beginning of Sacred Heart Home. The first “Old People’s Home” opened in January 1896 and the Sisters were embarking upon a new field of endeavor, “the care of the aged.” Ironically, the very first residents were Mr. and Mrs. Storey.

Provena is well respected for its responsiveness to community needs, quality, value and innovation. The ministries are sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart, the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary and the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.

The Sacred Heart Home as we know it, opened on 75 beautiful, peaceful acres on North Main Street in 1978, more than 100 years after the Sisters arrived in America.

Despite this ever-changing world ~ some things never change. The caring, compassionate feeling that has always permeated Sacred Heart Home is still present today. Everywhere you turn.

Today

1896

1896

Welcome to the Provena Sacred Heart “neighborhood.”

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1990s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

F9

Steel giant rises from DeKalb County fields

BY DAVE KURTZ dkurtz@kpcnews.net

BUTLER — Keith Busse liked the work ethic he saw in northeast Indiana during 15 years as a manager for Nucor Corp. at St. Joe. Busse left St. Joe in the late 1980s to manage the building of the nation’s most modern steel mill for Nucor at Crawfordsville.

When the job was finished, Busse and two of his colleagues broke away from Nucor to start their own company, naming it Steel Dynamics Inc. In 1993, Busse said he wanted to build an even better steel mill for his new company — and he set his sights on returning to DeKalb County.

In December 1993, PHOTO CONTRIBUTED DeKalb County’s commissioners and council pledged An employee watches giant rolling stands during the early days of the Steel Dynamics steel mill near Butler. to do “everything we can within the bounds of fiscal responsibility” to make the Ohio, Busse announced in reality would not be an easy the mill signed a full-page the mill site southwest of mill possible. Butler February 1994 that SDI had road. advertisement in The Butler and a massive business leaders Bert chosen rural Butler as the site Neighbors of the proposed Evening Star. The county incentive package. It included Hollman and Jack Bercaw for its mill. mill raised concerns about Board of Health issued a a $17.6 million bond that assembled a team of 20 Gov. Evan Bayh joined traffic, noise, possible letter citing its health would be repaid partly by a volunteers to work on Busse for the announcement pollution and the impact of a concerns about the mill. new county economic recruiting SDI. at the DeKalb County massive new power line on A majority of county development income tax.

After considering sites in Airport. health and property values. In officials stood by their initial “Does this thing make Garrett, Whitley County and But making the mill a May 1994, 550 opponents of pledge and voted to approve economic sense for the

county? I think the answer is a resounding yes,” said Daryle Doden, a county councilman at the time.

When SDI began accepting applications for jobs that would pay $50,000 per year, nearly 2,800 people lined up at Kruse Auction Park south of Auburn on Oct. 10, 1994.

The newly hired workers built the mill themselves, and the company began making steel in the fall of 1995.

“Fourteen months from start of construction to rolling is the shortest cycle time for the completion of an entire steel works that we are aware of,” said Dick Teets, one of SDI’s three founders.

SDI produced some of the lightest-gauge steel ever made by a hot-rolled mill, giving the company a significant price advantage.

In March 1996, SDI chose the Butler site for expansion with a cold-rolling mill that would put a higher-quality surface on it steel and boost employment from 250 to 425.

Steel-processing companies sprouted around the mill, bringing hundreds of additional jobs.

From its start in DeKalb County, SDI grew into the fifth-largest steel company in the United States.

Now based in Fort Wayne, SDI employs more than 6,000 people and operates five electric-furnace mini mills.

Park honors generous pioneer David Rogers

BY CRAIG HAUPERT chaupert@kpcnews.net

WOLCOTTVILLE — David Rogers Memorial Park was established in 1970 as LaGrange County’s first official county park.

The county has established five more parks since then, but none have the rich backstory of the first.

The park is named after the man whose grave is found upon it — Dr. David Rogers, who died in 1871.

When Rogers died, his will bequeathed his fortune and all of his LaGrange County land to the commissioners of LaGrange County to set up a trust benefiting the county’s poor and orphaned.

An orphanage was built north of the park.

In Rogers’ honor, the LaGrange County Parks Department holds an annual festival — David Rogers Days.

“He exhibited a sense of

caring that we want to remember and that we want to use as an example,” said Scott Beam, LaGrange County naturalist.

According to records from the LaGrange County Historical Society, Rogers came to LaGrange County from New York in the 1830s. He bought about 1,500 acres of LaGrange County land for $1.25 an acre and made a fortune reselling it. He took an interest in herbal medicine and did not charge for medical services provided to those who could not afford it.

A monument to Rogers, who was born in 1786, can be found in the park. An inscription on the monument reads: “He was the friend of the invalid, gave medicine without money and without price.”

Beam said a lot can be learned from Rogers’ life.

“We are trying to

remember Dr. Rogers coming here as a pioneer and the others who also did so,” Beam said. “It takes a lot of courage to relocate your family. They came here and established farms and businesses hoping to start the beginnings of a good life for their families. That same courage is something we have to tap into today.”

The establishment of David Rogers Memorial Park occurred in the same year the county’s park board was formed, 1970.

The development of Delt Church Park began in 1975.

Dallas Lake Park and Maplewood were added in the mid-1980s, although Maplewood Nature Center was not constructed until 1988.

The first David Rogers Days Festival was held in 1991.

The county’s newest park, Pine Knob Park, opened in 2007.

For More Than 95 Years

Around 1915 the Golden Garage was started at the former Wendy’s site in Angola.

In 1931 the Golden Garage became incorporated and the name was later changed to Golden Auto Parts Inc. Around this time the company began doing business with a new organization called the National Automotive Parts Association, known as NAPA. Beginning in the 1950’s the company expanded into other towns where their present locations are.

Above: Original store at the former Wendy’s location early 1940’s.

Right: Golden Auto Parts Wrecker in early 1940’s.

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A monument to Dr. David Rogers stands at David Rogers Memorial Park near

Wolcottville. It was the first park established by LaGrange County.

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1990s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

F10

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

Hispanics become majority in Ligonier

BY BOB BUTTGEN bbuttgen@kpcnews.net

LIGONIER â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Like many small towns in the Midwest, Ligonier has gone through significant changes over the past 30 years.

Ligonier saw a rise in manufacturing facilities over the past three decades, with several factories offering a high number of good-paying jobs. On the downside, the number of small, locally owned retail businesses in the downtown area has dwindled at a steady pace, especially in the last 20 years or so.

One other dramatic difference in Ligonier is the makeup of its population.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 52 percent of Ligonierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residents are of Hispanic heritage, making it one of only two cities in Indiana with a Hispanic majority. East Chicago is the other.

Ligonierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population was set at 4,405 by the 2010 census, an increase of only 48 residents compared to the 2000 count. But from 2000 to 2010, many more Ligonier residents identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino. In 2010, that number

Ligonierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Changing Population Mix 1990 Census TOTAL POPULATION: 3,443 HISPANIC RESIDENTS: 321 (9.3 percent)

2000 Census TOTAL POPULATION: 4,357 HISPANIC RESIDENTS: 1,451 (33.3 percent) FILE PHOTO

The cover of this book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Apple Pie and Enchiladas,â&#x20AC;? which profiled the Latino immigration into Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s small towns, featured a sign in Ligonier that had been vandalized.

The word â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mexicoâ&#x20AC;? was spraypainted over the word â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ligonier.â&#x20AC;?

rose to 2,270 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; up from 1,451 in 2000, an increase of 819.

Many fewer Ligonier residents identified themselves on their census reports as â&#x20AC;&#x153;not Hispanic or

2010 Census TOTAL POPULATION: 4,405 HISPANIC RESIDENTS: 2,270 (51.5 percent)

Latino.â&#x20AC;? That category was set at 2,135 residents in 2010, down from 2,906 in 2000. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a decrease of 771 non-Latino residents.

Those changes have, for the most part, been absorbed by the city without much strife.

Like other cities in the Midwest that have experienced an influx of Latinos, Ligonier and the West Noble

Angolaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dana Weatherhead plant comes to an end

BY MIKE MARTURELLO mikem@kpcnews.net

ANGOLA â&#x20AC;&#x201D; A legend on the Steuben County industrial scene came to an end on Nov. 21, 1993.

That was the day that Dana Corp. came to an agreement with members of its unionized workforce to close the Dana Weatherhead plant in Angola that had employed, at times, some 600 people.

At the time, it was the largest factory in the county and at its apex, the company employed hundreds of people in its brass mill that started in the mid-1940s.

When the plant finally closed its doors following a 19-month strike that spawned violence, lawsuits and bankruptcy protection being sought for UAW Local 1406, there were about 350 people in the workforce.

When it all ended that day on a vote of union members meeting in the newly opened Steuben Community Center, many of the aging members of the Dana work force took retirement options.

School Corp. have had to deal with language barriers.

Many of the documents sent home with students from West Noble schools are printed in both Spanish and English.

About half of the small businesses in Ligonierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s downtown area are owned by people of Latino heritage.

Not all of these new residents come directly from Mexico. Many migrated to Ligonier from Texas.

Census reports from years past also document the dramatic rise in Hispanics in the last 10 and also 20 years.

In the 2000 count, Ligonier was reported to have onethird of its population being from Latino background. In 1990 that number was just 9.3 percent.

Studies of the 1980 Census failed to show any recording of the percentage of Hispanics living in Ligonier.

This changing makeup of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population has been documented in other ways.

In 2004, a book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Apple Pie and Enchiladas: Latino Newcomers in the Rural Midwest,â&#x20AC;? was published.

Written by Ann V. Millard

BY MATT GETTS mattg@kpcnews.net

LAGRANGE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; From his home in LaGrange County, he held the purse strings for the state of Indiana. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of ironic, isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it?â&#x20AC;? said Robert â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bobâ&#x20AC;? Meeks.

Meeks retired from the Indiana Senate in 2008. When he left office, he was chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee that was responsible for state spending. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I liked working with numbers,â&#x20AC;? Meeks said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I liked having responsibility.â&#x20AC;?

Responsibility has been a big part of Meeksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; life.

He worked four years for the Allen County Sheriffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Department. He then spent 21 years with the Indiana State Police, retiring as commander of what was then the Ligonier Post.

In 1984, he sought public office for the first time, winning a seat on the Lakeland School Corp. board of trustees. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had kids in school, and I still felt I had something to give back,â&#x20AC;?

Meeks said.

In 1988, he won a seat in the Indiana Senate, eventually taking over the reins of the Appropriations Committee.

The hours were difficult â&#x20AC;&#x201D; at times he would work between 16 and 18 hours a day. When he was home on weekends, he would sit down Meeks with the numbers and work some more. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wanted to do what was right,â&#x20AC;? Meeks said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wanted to do the best I could.â&#x20AC;?

Meeks played a critical role in the state cutting a $600 million deficit and making good on $750 million in late payments. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My mantra was â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;There is no money,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Meeks said.

When his years as a police officer and government public servant are added together, Meeks said he has served his community and state for more than 51 years.

His most memorable moment?

Your hometown furniture store for over 80 years.

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School reports back up census findings The fact that Hispanics are now a majority of Ligonierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population, while surprising to some, has always been hinted at in the Minority Language Report (MLR) done each year by the West Noble School Corp., which serves Ligonier and the surrounding area.

Of West Nobleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2,544 students, 1,110 are Hispanic, according to the MLR that is required each year by the state of Indiana.

Another 42 students are considered multiracial, seven are African-Americans and 11 more are either Asian or Native Americans.

At Ligonier Elementary School, the number of students who come from a home where Spanish is spoken is 56.6 percent, according to school officials.

In general, to be counted as language minority, the student must speak at least two languages, with the primary home language being something besides English.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Responsibleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; senator controls state budget

Others talked about staying on with the company in other plants in northeast Indiana, or several states away. Some talked about starting new careers. It was estimated by union president Terry Swager that about 100 of the workers would be able to retire with full benefits and a cash severance.

Part of the settlement included the company excusing an $832,000 settlement it had been granted in Steuben Circuit Court against the union through a contempt case.

Union officials estimated it would cost the company approximately $10 million to settle with its workers, though company officials at the time would not comment about it.

Dana hung on to the property on Weatherhead Drive until 1996, when it was sold to Univertical Corp., at the time based in Detroit.

Univertical has been in operation at the facility since 1997. It currently employs about 65 people in its highly automated operation that employs extensive robotics.

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and Jorge Chapa, the book devoted much of its research to the city of Ligonier. Ken Crane, credited as a researcher by the authors, spent months in Ligonier documenting the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s changing population.

The cover of the book featured a photograph of a welcome sign to Ligonier.

Sometime in the 1980s or early 1990s, someone vandalized the sign. Instead of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Welcome To Ligonier,â&#x20AC;? someone spray-painted the word â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mexicoâ&#x20AC;? over â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ligonier.â&#x20AC;? The sign was quickly fixed, but the photograph lives on as a reminder that not everyone endorsed the influx of Spanish-speaking residents.

In March of this year, an academic study was done by Goshen Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning (CITL), in collaboration with Notre Dameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Institute of Latino Studies.

The report was published in a three-volume report, and provided a look into the Latino population of northern Indiana including Ligonier. It is available through the Goshen College website, goshen.edu.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;My mantra was: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;There is no money.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

Robert Meeks Retired tate senator

â&#x20AC;˘ Meeks said it happened shortly after being elected to the state Senate. He said he remembers standing above the Senate chambers, looking down. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I got that warm feeling of responsibility,â&#x20AC;? Meeks said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had that same feeling when I joined the Indiana State Police.â&#x20AC;?

In 2010, the state honored Meeks by naming the new Indiana State Police Toll Road Post at Bristol after him.

Still active on various corporate and civic boards, Meeks said his wife and children have always been behind him. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They were my rock-solid people,â&#x20AC;? Meeks said.

IN SPORTS Coach Troy Neeleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Westview Warriors won back-to-back state championships in Class 2A boys basketball. The Warriros defeated Paoli 71-52 in 1999 and downed Winchester 59-53 in 2000.

Aaron Willard coached Eastside to a Class A state championship in girls softball in 1998, winning the final game 3-1 over Riverton Parke.

DeKalbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Luke Recker became the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only Mr. Basketball in 1997.

DeKalbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Brad Weber won the mental attitude award for football in 1994.

Recker

Mental attitude award winners in cross country were Andrew Begley of Westview in 1994 and Matt Stout of Lakeland in 1997.

2000s

WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

F11

New chapter begins for local university MIKE MARTURELLO mikem@kpcnews.net

ANGOLA — There was much fanfare as Tri-State University became Trine University in a ceremony on Aug. 1, 2008.

Bells pealed, a small plane pulled a “We are Trine University” banner overhead, a new flag was raised, several hundred people applauded and TriState University officially became Trine University just before noon on a bright, sunny Friday before the start of the 2008-2009 school year.

A great picnic celebrated the dawn of a new chapter in the local university’s history.

But it wasn’t all rosy leading up to that historic day. Alumni voiced opposition, writers of letters to the editor objected. Many in the community did not want to see part of the name dating to 1884 changed.

But change it did, and three years later it seems as though the new name has become as much a part of the community as had the old Tri-State, which had its roots in the founding of the school as Tri-State Normal College. The school later became Tri-State College, then Tri-State University.

“I’m excited about the name change,” state Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, said after the unveiling of

Sheri Trine enjoys a laugh just after unveiling the new Trine University sign (formerly Tri-State University) along with her husband, Ralph, during a celebration Aug. 1, 2008, on the Angola campus. The family is a primary donor with the university and has dedicated many hours to developing the campus.

PHOTOS BY BY KARLY TEARNEY

Tri-State College alumnus Ralph Trine unveils the new Trine University sign during a celebration Aug. 1, 2008, on the campus. The event marked the

the new Trine University sign and the flag-raising. “I know it’s tough (for some people) … but in the long run it will be very beneficial.

It is forward-thinking. It’s an easier name for people to remember, and it identifies the school as a unique university.”

Kruse added that he likes the fact that the university is named after people who are living and still involved with the school.

official name change and was complete with a flag raising, lunch and acknowledgements to alumni, donors and community members.

Ralph Trine is a 1961 graduate of Tri-State College.

The Trines moved the family company, TS Equipment, to Angola in 1982 from Jackson, Mich.

The company was started by Ralph’s father, Donald.

Ralph and Sheri Trine have three children, Cari, Barry and Donald. Barry works at Vestil Manufacturing and Cari also works for the company. Donald

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died in a tragic car accident while in college in Miami.

Vestil, the first manufacturing facility to open a plant in Angola Industrial Growth Park, is a materials handling equipment manufacturer, making a wide variety of materials-handling equipment — everything from loading dock equipment to carts and dollies.

In his remarks immediately prior to Ralph and

Sheri Trine’s unveiling of the new name at the university’s entrance, university President Earl Brooks II commented the Trine name represents “transformational change.”

But he emphasized that the school’s core values will remain the same.

Brooks said the university is helping to “propel northeast Indiana to a new level of prosperity and economic vitality.” He thanked the Trines for their

insight, advice and “unselfish leadership that helps build team spirit.” He said every corner of the campus has evidence of their support.

Sheri Trine noted the university is growing not only architecturally — it has numerous significant new buildings — but also academically.

“We are humbled and overwhelmed,” Ralph Trine said.

Avilla population booms

BY BOB BRALEY bobb@kpcnews.net

AVILLA — For most of the first decade of the 21st century, Avilla was one of Indiana’s fastest-growing cities or towns on a percapita basis.

That growth was reflected in the 2010 U.S. Census, which listed Avilla as seeing the biggest population growth in Noble County — and that was after what Avilla town manager Bill Ley said was a drop-off in the last few years of the decade.

“Most of the growth was in the first half of the decade,” Ley said.

Avilla’s population boom really began in the early 1990s, Ley explained. It continued until 2007.

“During that period, we were seeing about 30 to 35 new homes built every year,” Ley said.

New developments such

as Cranberry Acres sprang up during that time, and even the Avilla Mobile Home Park expanded, adding new lots.

During some of the peak years of the boom, Avilla ranked in the top 20 cities and towns in the state for population growth as a percentage of the town’s previous population.

The 2000 Census put Avilla’s population at 2,049.

From 2000 to 2003, the town’s population grew by 9.3 percent — or 191 people — to 2,240, said INContext, a publication of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

That ranked Avilla as the 17th fastest growing community in the state.

With an 11.4 percent change from 2000 to 2004, the town had grown to 2,284, the Indiana Business Research Center said. That was good enough for 19th

fastest growing community statewide.

There were a couple of reasons for the rapid growth.

“A lot of it was marketing from developers,” Ley said.

Another factor was the availability of good jobs, both in Avilla and in nearby communities, he added.

“At one time, there weren’t enough people for the jobs we had. Now it’s just the opposite,” Ley said.

The economic downturn that hit northeast Indiana and the nation in 2008 ended Avilla’s population boom, Ley said, adding, “We may actually have declined in the last two or three years.”

Still, Avilla’s population of 2,401 in the 2010 Census was good enough to make it the fastest growing community in Noble County over the prior decade, the Indiana Economic Digest said.

IN SPORTS East Noble graduate Amy Yoder Begley ran the 10,000-meter race for the United States team in the 2008 Olympics at Beijing, China.

She later won the 10,000-meter event at the 2009 USA Track & Field Championship.

DeKalb had two state mental attitude winners in the decade — cross country runner Kaleb Van Ort in 2001 and basketball player Alex Kock in 2003.

Kock went on to win honors as a national small-college player of the year for Huntington College.

Kendallville native Brad Miller, a 7-foot-center, was chosen for the NBA All-Star team in 2003 and 2004.

East Noble won the Class 4A state championship in football for 2000. Coach Tim Able’s Knights defeated Plainfield 28-7 in the title game.

The Knights returned to the state finals in 2003, finishing as runner-up, with Jeff Wedding winning the mental attitude award.

LOOKING BACK WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

F12

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

KPC’s history dates back to Aug. 7, 1911 ‘Keeping People Connected’ in print and online

This publication is delivered to more than 42,000 households every week.

Our Mission

KPC has had a Phone Book Division since purchasing The Herald Republican in 2001. The previous owners had published the Steuben County phone book annually since 1986. In 2003, in addition to publishing the Steuben book, KPC published the first Noble/DeKalb Couny book.

In 2004, KPC expanded to three books with a separate book for DeKalb County and a combined Noble/LaGrange County book. KPCYellowPages.com was added in 2006.

LeAnn Robinson is manager of the KPC Phone Book Division.

KPC Media Group Inc. publishes top quality news and advertising information products, created with teamwork in a positive environment. By taking advantage of technological advances, KPC is a leader in print quality as well as in the use of the Internet. KPC will continue to meet the needs of readers, advertisers, commercial print customers and the communities of northeast Indiana with innovation and integrity, dedicated to continuing a strong, locally-owned company making a positive contribution to the lives of its employees and their communities.

History Kendallville Publishing Co. Inc., the predecessor of KPC Media Group Inc., was founded by O. E. Michaelis and George W. Baxter after merging their Kendallville daily newspapers into the Kendallville News Sun on Aug. 7, 1911. The company was sold to C. O. Merica in 1913. He died in 1918 and his wife, Alice Merica, became the principal owner of the company for the next half century. At the time of her death on Jan. 25, 1969, at the age of 103, she was the oldest newspaper publisher in the United States. George O. Witwer, who came to Kendallville as editor and general manager of The News Sun in 1962, became the principal owner and publisher in 1969.

Witwer family members continue as the owners and operators of the company.

Terry G. Housholder, who first went to work for the company while in high school in 1969, has been president and publisher since 2001. The company’s name changed to KPC Media Group Inc. in 2005, to reflect its expanded geographic market and additional products and services. KPC stands for “Keeping People Connected.”

The company’s main office is at 102 N. Main St., Kendallville, in the same building where the publishing firm was founded a century ago. The company’s other offices are in Auburn, Angola and Fort Wayne.

KPC Media Group Inc. produces a variety of publications and hosts websites.

The News Sun The News Sun is the daily newspaper serving Noble and LaGrange counties in northeast Indiana. It traces its history back to the spring of 1859 or 1860 in Kendallville when Judson Palmiter began publication of the Noble County Journal, renamed the Kendallville Standard in 1870.

In 1877, Dr. A.S. Parker launched a competitor to the Standard called the Weekly News. The two weeklies coexisted until 1898 when the publishers of the Standard hit the streets of Kendallville with

the Daily Sun. Eight years later, in 1906, the Weekly News followed suit and began publication of the Daily News.

Daily competition existed in Kendallville for only five years. On Aug. 7, 1911, the Daily News and Daily Sun were consolidated into the Kendallville News Sun. In 1965, the publishing company converted its letterpress printing operation to the offset process with the purchase of a four-unit press and folder. It was the third daily newspaper in Indiana to convert to the cold-type process. On July 2, 1984, with a redesign of the newspaper, the city name was dropped from the page one flag of The News Sun, reflecting the newspaper’s growing circulation area. On March 12, 2000, the newspaper added its Sunday edition. On April 6, 2009, it converted to a morning newspaper seven days a week.

David R. Kurtz, with KPC since 1974, is the executive editor of KPC newspapers.

The Star The Star is the daily newspaper serving DeKalb County, Ind. The Auburn Courier began publication as a weekly in 1871. Three years later, it had a competitor in the weekly Auburn Republican, renamed the Auburn Dispatch in 1885. They later merged.

In 1913, the Courier and Dispatch, a twice-a-week publication, became a daily named The Evening Star. The paper was owned and published by Verne Buchanan from 1916 until 1968, when it was purchased by Nixon Newspapers of Wabash, Ind. In December 1971, The Evening Star was purchased

by KPC. On March 12, 2000, the newspaper added its Sunday edition. On April 6, 2009, it converted to a morning newspaper seven days a week and its name became The Star.

The Herald Republican The Herald Republican, serving Steuben County, Ind., traces its roots to the pre-Civil War publication, the Steuben Republican, first published in May 1857. The Angola Herald began publication as a Democratic newspaper in January 1876, as a counter to the Republican viewpoint.

Both newspapers published continuously as separate newspapers, although printing of the two newspapers was consolidated in 1925 with the formation of the Steuben Printing Co. The two newspapers maintained separate ownership until the 1960s with the death of Angola Herald publisher and owner Harvey Morley. The Herald was then purchased by the Willis family, which had owned the Steuben Republican since 1907.

The Willis family continued to publish the Herald and the Republican weeklies separately until 1979 when the two newspapers merged, becoming the Herald-

KPC Phone Books

Commercial Printing

Republican. Then, in December 1982, the Willis family sold the HeraldRepublican to Home News Enterprises of Columbus, Ind., Home News expanded the newspaper to twice-weekly in April 1989, publishing first on Wednesdays and Fridays, and then Wednesdays and Saturdays, starting in September 1997.

KPC Media Group Inc. purchased the newspaper in August 2001, and expanded the paper on Sept. 12, 2001, to a daily newspaper. The editor is Michael Marturello.

from publisher Joe Shelton, who founded it in 1976. The editor is Jeff Jones, who has worked for the weekly since 1985.

who has worked at KPC since 1975, serves as editor.

Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly

The Times Community Publications, with free-distribution newspapers serving communities in Allen County, was purchased by KPC Media Group Inc. in December 2006, from founder Bill Fahlsing. The monthly publications are: the St. Joe Times, the East Allen County Times, the Dupont Valley Times and Aboite & About.

The Advance Leader

Greater Fort Wayne Family magazine

The Advance Leader, serving western Noble County, Ind., became part of KPC Media Group Inc. in May 1975. The weekly Cromwell Advance, founded in 1912 by Forrest Robbins, was purchased from Jim and Greta Wallace. The weekly Ligonier Leader, founded in 1880 by E.G. Thompson, was purchased from Norm Davis.

The two mastheads were merged to form The Advance Leader, with the first issue published on May 14, 1975.

The first editors was Grace Witwer Housholder. The editor and general manager today is Robert Buttgen, who joined KPC in 1996.

The Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly, a newspaper dedicated to covering local and regional business news, debuted on March 14, 2005. It serves Fort Wayne and the 15county region surrounding the Summit City. The editor is Barry Rochford.

Times Community Publications

The Smart Shopper

The Greater Fort Wayne Family magazine was launched is February 2005.

The monthly magazine is distributed in the multi-county region surrounding Fort Wayne. Grace Housholder,

KPC has produced totalmarket-coverage print products since the mid-1970s.

The Smart Shopper is a free newspaper and advertising publication that serves the residents in LaGrange, Noble, DeKalb and Steuben counties.

In addition to the daily and weekly production of its own publications, KPC Media Group Inc. prints a wide variety of other publications on its high-speed Goss SSC 16 unit press with four-color capabilities. Printing on broadsheet, tabloid and minitab formats is offered as well as bindery, inserting and composition services. In addition, a direct-mailing operation was recently added.

Websites KPC Media has offered a local news Internet presence since 1996. A KPC report in October 1996 showed that the number of users per day of our website was nine. The same report indicated that at least four of the users were our own employees and one was our publisher, so the actual number was probably four users per day. Today, KPC interacts with thousands of daily users of our sites.

KPC also offers full-customer web services, including website development. KPC’s main website is kpcnews.com.

Serving the needs of Northeast Indiana since 1893

The Garrett Clipper The Garrett Clipper, serving the Garrett and area community in southern DeKalb County, Ind., was purchased by KPC Media Group Inc. on Oct. 1, 1999, from Wayne and Pat Bartles.

The Clipper of Garrett was formed in 1885 by A.J. Little and H. E. Little and is the oldest operating business in the city. The editor and publisher is Sue Carpenter, who joined KPC in 1974.

The Butler Bulletin

1920

Service From The Past...

The Butler Bulletin, serving eastern DeKalb County, Ind., was purchased by KPC Media Group Inc. in December 2005,

Part of

HISTORIC DOWNTOWN AUBURN

since 1901

Today

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2000s WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

F13

Women take charge of cities, schools

BY DAVE KURTZ dkurtz@kpcnews.net

The rise of women into leadership became clear in local communities during the past decade, as women took charge of the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two largest school corporations and second-largest city.

Suzanne Handshoe became mayor of Kendallville in 2003. Sherry Grate was named superintendent of DeKalb Central schools in 2009, and Ann Linson rose to superintendent of East Noble schools in 2010.

Handshoe won election as mayor of Kendallville eight years ago in her early 40s.

Voters re-elected her in 2007,

and in 2011, she is set to win a third term without opposition. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I hope Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve served the citizens well, and I Handshoe Grate Linson want to continue serving them,â&#x20AC;? she said ribbon by commanding 27 when announcing she would Marines during Operation seek a third term.

Desert Storm in 1991.

Handshoe, a Republican, Grate ascended to the top lost her first bid for mayor at DeKalb Central after in 1999 by 138 votes, but arriving as principal of came back to win four years McKenney-Harrison later by a 115-vote margin.

Elementary School in Handshoe served 24 years Auburn in 2000. She became with the U.S. Marine Corps assistant superintendent the and earned a combat action following year.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m extremely excited about this new opportunity and challenge,â&#x20AC;? Grate said after the school board elevated her to superintendent. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It has been a privilege to work in the district for the past nine years, to be here this long, and for the school board to have this confidence in me to take the district to the next level.â&#x20AC;?

Grate said she aimed to provide a model of her expectations for others. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I would never expect someone to do something that I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be willing to jump in and do myself,â&#x20AC;?

Grate said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just believe that modeling is so important.â&#x20AC;?

Stutzman sprouts up from farm to Congress through the U.S. Capitol when he goes to work.

HOWE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Only in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a really neat America could a boy who feeling,â&#x20AC;? Stutzman said after spent part of his formative nearly eight months in years living in a rented office. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve learned so farmhouse one day walk the much. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve met so many neat halls of power in his nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s people.â&#x20AC;? capital.

For In fact, U.S. Rep. Marlin inspiration, Stutzmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rise from farmer Stutzman and small businessman to said he Congress could be described looks to the as the American Dream first come to fruition â&#x20AC;&#x201D; except president of Stutzman says he never the United dreamed he one day would States, be elected to the U.S. House Stutzman George of Representatives.

Washington.

Stutzman became a â&#x20AC;&#x153;He was a farmer,â&#x20AC;? congressmen when he Stutzman said of defeated former Fort Wayne Washington. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He was a City Councilman Tom surveyor. He was selfHayhurst by a 63 percent to taught. He just did things 33 percent margin on Nov. like a farmer.â&#x20AC;?

2, 2010.

At 34, Stutzman became Stutzman said he learned the youngest person to a lot watching his parents as represent northeast Indiana he was growing up. The in Congress since 29-yearfamily did not have a lot of old Dan Quayle took office money, but he said his mom in 1977. He is younger than and dad â&#x20AC;&#x153;worked their tails his eight Hoosier colleagues off.â&#x20AC;? He recalled that his dad in the U.S. House of and grandfather were quick Representatives. to come to someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aid.

He also became the first â&#x20AC;&#x153;They just helped person from LaGrange people,â&#x20AC;? Stutzman said.

County to serve in Congress Now, Stutzman walks in 101 years. Clarence

BY MATT GETTS mattg@kpcnews.net

Chauncey Gilhams, a native of Brighton, served in the U.S. House from 1906 to 1909.

As a 26-year-old political newcomer, Stutzman upset five-term state Rep. Dale Sturtz, D-LaGrange, by 249 votes (51 percent to 49 percent) in 2002 to become the youngest member of the Indiana General Assembly.

He won re-election to the state House in 2004 and 2006. In 2008, he was elected to the Indiana Senate after the retirement of state Sen. Robert Meeks, RLaGrange.

Stutzman said he was inspired to run for a seat in the Indiana General Assembly after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just thought I could make a difference in a small way,â&#x20AC;? Stutzman said.

He recalled that shortly after being elected as a state representative, he was approached by someone in a grain elevator in the Howe area. The person told him he should be thinking about setting his sights on Congress.

Stutzman said he dismissed the idea.

In his time in Indianapolis, Stutzman voted to balance the state books and left the state in much better financial shape than surrounding states.

Buoyed by what the legislature was able to accomplish in Indiana, Stutzman decided to make a run for U.S. Senate in 2010. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You could get good results,â&#x20AC;? Stutzman said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just felt we needed the same type of determination and political willâ&#x20AC;? in Washington, D.C. Stutzman lost to eventual winner Dan Coats in the May 2010 primary for the Senate nomination, but when U.S. Rep. Mark Souder announced his resignation just weeks later, Stutzman had the political apparatus in place to run for Congress.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not exactly a rags-toriches story, but Stutzman sees a lesson to be learned from his successes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to be born in a certain bloodline,â&#x20AC;?

Stutzman said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Opportunities like this can only happen in America.â&#x20AC;?

Linson brought 30 years of educational experience to the position of superintendent. Before joining East Noble in 2003 as high school principal, she served as the assistant director of the Four County Area Vocational Cooperative based in Kendallville. In 2007, she moved from East Noble High School principal to assistant

superintendent. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am honored that the school board has selected me to be the next superintendent,â&#x20AC;? Linson said upon her promotion.

In addition to Handshoe, Grate and Linson, Patty Fisel serves as mayor of Ligonier, and Risa Herber serves as superintendent of the Lakeland school district.

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Congratulations KPC Media Group on 100 Years of providing our communities with news that matters.

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Celebrating our 20 Anniversary in 2011

The Steuben County Community Foundation is celebrating 20 years of connecting people who l care with needs that matter to ouro community.

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We now have 70 employees in two facilities.

Butler, IN - Headquarters Kendallville, IN - Compounding Facility added in 2009

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In 1991, twelve local citizens had the passion and vision to establish a non-proďŹ t organization that would serve the citizens of Steuben County for generations. The Steuben County Community Foundation was started, and Founding Directors Carl Akers, Jr., David Ballinger, George Gilbert, Richard Kenyon, E.F. McNaughton, Neal Patterson, F. Mayo Sanders, Charles Sheets, James Stock, Sheri Trine, Bob Wyne, and Michael Zdyb charted its course. The primary objective of these dedicated people was to ensure that resources would be available to support the great work of the many charitable groups and organizations in our area and enhance the quality of life for those who live here.

Twenty years later, and through the ongoing generous donations of businesses, individuals, friends and supporters, the Community Foundation now holds 204 funds through which grants and scholarships are awarded each year. During the 2010 ďŹ scal year, over $400,000 was awarded to beneďŹ t areas such as health, education, the arts, humanities, technology, womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s issues, the environment, recreation and human services.

After two decades, the Steuben County Community Foundation continues to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Connect people who care with needs that matter most to our communityâ&#x20AC;?.

jesus. relationships. relevant teaching.

Ă&#x2019;We connect people who care with needs that matter to our community.

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WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

Writing History One Day at a Time was coordinated by KPC Media Group executive editor Dave Kurtz, designed by presentation editor Erin Doucette and created by efforts from our entire staff. Additional copies (sections E & F of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newspaper) may be purchased for $1, while supplies last.

In 1984, John Schnatter opened his ďŹ rst Papa Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s restaurant, and Papa Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s has been going strong ever since. Today, Papa Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s is the recognized leader of the pizza category and now owns or franchises more than 3,500 restaurants in all 50 states and 29 countries. More than 25 years later, one thing remains the same - Papa Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s is still fully committed to delivering on its brand promise of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Better Ingredients. Better Pizza.â&#x20AC;?

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KPC Media Groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s corporate office today, 102. N. Main St., Kendallville. Other offices are in Auburn, Angola and Fort Wayne.

1100 W. 7th St., Auburn

We cannot predict the changes that will occur in the next four to five generations. We know KPCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growth and diversification â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and how life in northeast Indiana has unfolded â&#x20AC;&#x201D; could never have been predicted by anyone at KPC. The only thing of which we can be certain is that there will always be news; there will always stories to be told. Skilled, committed people always will be needed to tell those stories as well as to help share advertising information. Freedom of the press and free enterprise are the foundation of our democracy, our economy and our future.

We are proud of KPCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s centurylong history of serving the communities in northeast Indiana. I give credit to the great employees, past and present, whose skill and dedication have been the cornerstone of our success. We continue to have a team that is dedicated to serving our readers, advertisers and our

Proudly

communities. Joining me as senior managers of KPC are, Donna Scanlon, our chief financial officer, and Don Cooper, our vice president of sales and general manager. We have many other longtime department managers and co-workers who are committed to excellence. We also have a board of directors, composed mainly of family members, that views KPC as an integral part of northeast Indiana.

The board knows that if KPC meets the needs of the people it serves KPC â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and northeast Indiana â&#x20AC;&#x201D; will have opportunities for growth and a bright future for many years to come.

Above all, thank you to you, the reader, for sticking with us. We look forward to connecting with you on a regular basis, in print and online.

TERRY G. HOUSHOLDER, president and publisher of KPC Media Group Inc.

KPC PHOTO

KPC Media Group stays close to its community with its downtown corporate headquarters. Parts of the building have been with the newspaper for all 100 years.

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We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to sell you a carâ&#x20AC;Ś

WE WANT TO SELL YOU ALL OF YOUR CARS!

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Steuben Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s undisputed #1 volume new car dealer. We are extremely proud to make a lifelong commitment to our growing community.

Watch for exciting changes on the way in 2012! â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since 1989â&#x20AC;?

Thank you to all our current and former employees and customers for allowing us to continue to grow.

Charleston Metal Products, Inc. .YHU[ :[ Â&#x2039; >H[LYSVV 05 Â&#x2039; *47 >LZ[ +P]PZPVU Â&#x2039; *VY\UUH 05 / 5 +P]PZPVU Â&#x2039; :LSTH 05

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WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011

1912 ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER GHOST LONDON TO EDINBURGH TORPEDO TOURER BY MANN EGERTON OF NORWICH

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One of the Most Sought After Ghosts in Existence

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Freshly Restored and Sorted, Factory Black

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Single Ownership for 50 Years

1927 ROLLS-ROYCE PICADILLY ROADSTER

Beautifully Restored and Tour Ready

1955 HUDSON ITALIA GT COUPE

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The Finest Example Extant

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Like The Star, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re celebrating a special anniversary this year. For the past decade, Worldwide has provided the serious motorcar collector with a vast range of services and sold some of the greatest cars ever conceived along the way! We are proud to have become one of the most respected businesses in the world of vintage motorcars, but we always stay true to our roots. Auburn has long been our home town. We celebrate its heritage, but most of all, we are dedicated to building its future as the undisputed Classic Car Capital of the World. Join us this Labor Day Weekend for a celebration of all things classic, and experience the new tradition in town.

Worldwide Auctioneers. Celebrating Ten Years of Setting the Standard from right here in Auburn

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Numbers Matching with Original Coachwork and Full Documentation

1932 AUBURN BOATTAIL SPEEDSTER

Accurately Restored by the ACD Factory

1931 CADILLAC V12 DUAL COWL SPORT PHAETON

Fully Optioned and Show Ready

1937 CORD 812 CUSTOM BEVERLY SEDAN ACD Certified, OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

1948 DELAHAYE 135M CHAPRON DHC COMPETITION

Completely Original Barn Find

1970 PONTIAC GTO JUDGE CONVERTIBLE

Four-Speed, Numbers Matching

1911 STANLEY STEAMER MODEL 72 RUNABOUT

The Only Known 20HP Example

OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

1968 PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA FORMULA S SOX & MARTIN RACE CAR

1964 DODGE CHARGER S/FX â&#x20AC;&#x153;THE FIRST FUNNY CARâ&#x20AC;?

OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

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1934 CHEVROLET â&#x20AC;&#x153;INSTIGATORâ&#x20AC;?

1954 JAGUAR XK 120 ROADSTER OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

All Original, 35,000 Actual Miles

1957 LINCOLN MK II

1949 CADILLAC COUPE DEVILLE OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

Ridler Award â&#x20AC;&#x153;Great 8â&#x20AC;? Finalist, $500,000+ Build Cost

OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re proud to make Auburn our home.â&#x20AC;?

Rod Egan & John Kruse, Principals

800.990.6789 | 5GVVKPI VJG 5VCPFCTF | WWGauctions.com TM

Auburn, Indiana - The Classic Car Capital of the WorldÂŽ Roderick C. Egan, Auctioneer

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IN Lic. #AU10000207

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kpcnews.com

WRITING HISTORY ONE DAY AT A TIME

Thank you.

We’ve had a lot of help along the way as we’ve risen to become one of America’s top steel producers in a short 15 years. We’re indebted to our talented employees, the Indiana communities that have supported us, and our valued customers.

Steel Dynamics got its start in DeKalb County in 1996 with the first shipments from the Butler flat-roll mill. SDI now operates five steel mills with a combined capability to produce more than 6 million tons of steel each year. In addition, our OmniSource operations make SDI one of the nation’s largest metals recyclers.

In 2010, SDI posted sales of $6.3 billion, and the company now has a nationwide workforce of more than 6,000 employees. Steel Dynamics ranks No. 363 on the 2011 FORTUNE 500, and is one of America’s most profitable steel companies. We were recently honored when American Metal Market named SDI Steel Producer of the Year.

Our success is driven by the hard work, dedication, creativity, and ingenuity of our employees.

Their can-do work ethic, high level of motivation, and strong sense of teamwork have made SDI’s Butler facility the most productive flat-roll mini mill in the United States. Our employees are key to our achieving the high product quality and top-notch customer service for which we’ve gained recognition from our customers.

All successful businesses exist in a community context, and we can’t stress enough that the encouragement and help we’ve received from citizens, community leaders, and other businesses in northeast Indiana have meant the world to us. Steel Dynamics is proud to have become a major employer and supporter of economic development in our area, and we continue to contribute to the community in a variety of other ways as well.

Again, thanks. We appreciate your support, and we’ll continue to do what it takes to maintain your trust.

Keith Busse Chairman and CEO

Mark Millett President and COO

Dick Teets Executive Vice President for Steelmaking

www.steeldynamics.com

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011