Henry County Historical Society & Museum-Spring 2023 Historicalog

The Henry County Historicalog

“Bringing history to life...and life to history”

Wed. June 7: Worship service at Arts Park

Sat. June 10: Ice Cream

Social at Historical Soc.

Sunday, July 30: All New Castle Family Reunion at Baker Park

Saturday, Sept. 9: Sam Alford Golf Outing

Saturday, Sept. 16; TNT Mini Marathon

From familiar school buildings of the past to greenhouses, churches and the courthouse, this vintapostcard from the collection of the late Mike Bertram now sends the viewer on a trip back in time.

Happy 200th birthday New Castle!

By DARREL RADFORD Henry County Historian

Nothing but an untamed wilderness greeted weary travelers from North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Ohio to this place that would be called New Castle 200 years ago.

But roses would bloom. War

Here’s a scoop!

Read about the upcoming ice cream social at the historical society / Page 7

generals and floor generals would be born. Artists would sculpt and paint iconic images. Largest and finest would

be built. As the Henry County seat celebrates its 200th anniversary, the birthday cake oozes with history.

On April 8, 1823, a new town was officially platted in the midst of trees and a river. Formed from 100 acres of land near what is now Broad and Main streets, this place named New Castle was born.

Located in almost the exact center of Henry County, most

believe the town was named after New Castle, Henry County, Ky., the former home of Ezekiel Leavell, first agent appointed to sell land here. He had come to Indiana from New Castle, Henry County, Ky., a town located 35 miles northeast of Louisville. That town is one of the oldest in Kentucky, settled in the 1790s, less than two decades af See HAPPY, Page 4

Those who lived through it will never forget April 3, 1974, when a tornado “roared” through the small Henry County town of Kennard. Above are Courier-Times archived photos and the front page of the newspaper the next day. At the left, Indiana Gov. Otis Bowen reviews information about the storm’s impact. At the right, a stunned Kennard resident stands amid the rubble with what’s left of the elementary school in the background.

This day in Henry County history

Darrel Radford, Henry County’s official historian, has been featuring a “This Day In Henry County History” tidbit on the historical society’s Facebook page. We invite you to like our Facebook page and go there daily for some interesting historical events that have happened in our county over the past 200 years or so. Here’s a sampling of recent Facebook posts.

On April 3, 1974, a tornado swept through Kennard, destroying the 100-year-old elementary school. Taught what to do in the event of a tornado just days before, none of the 175 students were seriously injured in the event, calmly going to their assigned positions in the basement and coat hall of the building.

On April 3, 1841, 109 Henry County women met at Spiceland to form an anti-slavery association.

On April 4, 1967, the Charles A. Beard School Corp. opens its new community high school at Knightstown.

On April 4, 2020, Tim Brown (right) — raised in Knightstown and a 1955 Morton Memorial High School graduate who went on to play football in the NFL and star in the television series, M*A*S*H* — died at the age of 82. He played eight seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and ended his career with the Baltimore Colts, scoring the last touchdown in the 1968 NFL Championship game, a 34-0 victory over the Cleveland Browns. Two weeks later, Brown played his final NFL game — the historic Super Bowl III game in which the Joe Namath-led New York Jets upset the Colts 16-7.

Following his retirement from the NFL, Brown became a full-time actor, perhaps best known as Dr. Oliver “Spearchucker” Jones on the first season of M*A*S*H. He was one of only four actors who appeared in both the original M*A*S*H* movie and the hit TV series.

On April 7, 2007, an arson fire destroyed the St. Anne Catholic Church in New Castle.

On April 30, 1865, the funeral train carrying the body of slain U.S. President Abraham Lincoln made a stop in Lewisville. The New Castle Courier described the scene this way: ‘The funeral procession of our late loved President exceeded in solemn grandeur anything of the sort ever witnessed in this country or perhaps in the world. Everywhere along the route of over a thousand miles, at every village and hamlet, the people turned

out with emblems and decorations of mourning to testify their share in the sorrow, and appreciation of the worth of the illustrious dead.”

Knightstown resident Robert Reed wrote a book about the funeral train that carried the body of President Abraham Lincoln from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Ill.

Your Family History Stories Deserve to be Recorded

By KAYE FORD Co-Director

Consider either writing or recording (audio or video) what you remember about your childhood, what your grandparents told you…those wonderful family memories that will be lost to time if you don’t preserve them in some manner.

My great-aunt did this, and I am so very grateful! She left a few sentences about several of her earliest memories. I read her memories and wanted to know more about the stories. I turned to other sources, such as census records and historic newspapers, to flesh out more details. Please note the accompanying photos to see the surprise I found while searching my great-grandmother, Gentle Doyle, in old newspapers!

To learn more about using censuses and newspapers, check out the first two presentations in our 2023 Family History Writing Series. These are located at unlisted links on our new YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@HenryCountyMuseum). To access the links, you must be a member of the historical society at the Patron, Benefactor, or Life Member level or a member of the Henry County Genealogy Alliance (HCGA). The presentations are available to Individual/Family Members for $10 per lecture and for nonmembers at $15 per lecture.

Go here for information on how to join using PayPal: https://henrycountymuseum.org/become-a-member-form/

Go here for information on how to purchase access to the links using PayPal: https://henrycountymuseum.org/henry-county-genealogy-alliance/

The next presentation will be about searching military records. I will also be talking about using Storied (https:// storied.com/), a new way to collect your family history stories and memories in an interactive way with your family.

Please contact Kaye at the historical society at 765-529-4028 if you are a Patron, Benefactor, Life, or HCGA member to have the unlisted link emailed to you.

Gentle Doyle, the mother of Appleby, is mentioned in this article. In her memoir, Appleby mentions that the family called her father, John Edward Doyle, husband to Gentle, “foxy grandpa.”

“Foxy Grandpa,” Richmond Daily Palladium, 2 October 1901, p. 4, c. 2. “Foxy grandpa is circled in her family notes below.

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Continued From P. 1

America won its independence.

Revolutionary links

New Castle, Henry County, Ind. also has its links to the American Revolution.

Both grandfathers of Gen. William Grose, New Castle’s Civil War hero, served during the Revolutionary War. One died for the cause of American freedom.

A monument not far from town marks the burial site of Christopher Long, who was in several major Revolutionary War battles and spent the winter of 1777 at Valley Forge. Later in life, he reportedly claimed to stand “thirty steps from Gen. George Washington and saw Gen. Cornwallis surrender his sword.”

Today, more than 30 men who fought in the Revolutionary War are buried in Henry County.

Grose, whose stately New Castle home has been the site of the Henry County Historical Society for more than 100 years, lived up to his family heritage. The lawyer-and-legislator-turned-general served bravely in the Civil War and historians say “he was where the bullets flew the thickest” – places like Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Atlanta.

World War I hero

Less than six decades later, another New Castle general would come to the aid of his country.

Omar Bundy, born in New Castle the same year the Civil War started in 1861, would rise in the military ranks to general – one who didn’t always follow orders. During the battle of Belleau Wood in World War I, he refused a French commander’s order to retreat.

“We regret being unable on this occasion to follow the counsels of our masters the French,” Bundy said, “but the American flag has been forced to retire. This is unendurable and none of our soldiers would understand their not being able to repair a situation which

is humiliating to us and unacceptable to our country’s honor. We are going to counterattack.”

Some historians say Bundy’s action probably saved Paris from complete takeover by the Germans and represented a turning point for the U.S. in World War I.

Flower Power

New Castle has also been a place of flower power.

In 1901, brothers Myer and Herbert Heller created “the American Beauty Rose,” a flower that became a national status symbol with

buds the size of goose eggs and petal counts higher than any other. The flowers were sold across the country and gave New Castle the title “Rose City.” At one time, because of the famous flower, more than 100 greenhouses operated in the city.

But a March 11, 1917 tornado swept through town, killing 21 people and destroying many of the greenhouses. New Castle’s Rose City reputation faded from the forefront by the 1920s.

Net gains

Almost from the time James Naismith invented the game of basketball, New Castle has been mesmerized by the sport. A high school team won the state championship in 1932. What has been documented as “the world’s largest and finest high school gymnasium” was built here, opening Nov. 21, 1959. Two Indiana “Mr. Basketballs” played here – Kent Benson in 1973 and Steve Alford in 1983.

Four of Indiana’s five NCAA championships had a New Castle connection – Marvin Huffman (1940) and Jack Wright (1953) were on national championship teams before Benson and Alford. And, most recently, New Castle won the 2006 Class 3A state championship. The star of that team, Zach Hahn, went on to play for Butler University teams that made back-to-back appearances

See HAPPY, Page 5

This monument at the intersection of Roads 200S and 500E pays tribute to Christopher Long, a Revolutionary War veteran who died in Henry County. He served at Valley Forge and claimed to have been “30 steps from Gen. George Washington when England officially surrendered. Most appropriately, the monument is in “Liberty” Township.

Myer Heller Herbert Heller

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in the NCAA championship game in 2010 and 2011.

sioned to do a life-sized statue of the magnificent racehorse. It is still seen today at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

LARGEST AND FINEST

A ‘LOVE’ OF ART

New Castle is also a place with a heart for art.

Robert Clark was born here in 1928. He would grow up to become known as “Robert Indiana” and create the iconic “LOVE” image with the tilted ‘O’ that became so nationally popular, it was featured on a U.S. postage stamp.

Frances Goodwin would sculpt the bust of U.S. Vice President Schuyler Colfax in 1897. After Secretariat won the Triple Crown in 1973, New Castle graduate Jim Reno was commis -

New Castle history also includes two examples of “thinking big.” In 1907, Jonathan Maxwell and Benjamin Briscoe brought the largest automobile manufacturing facility in the nation at that time here. A forerunner to Chrysler Corp., the factory would provide good jobs to New Castle residents for nearly 100 years. At the same time, Goodwin Brothers Auto would become the state’s oldest car dealership, operating until 2019, when it was purchased by Russ Hubler.

Maxwell and Chrysler were part of a manufacturing boom for the town which would also produce Hoosier Kitchen Cabinets, build infrastructure with the Pan American Bridge Co., and manufacture pianos

with the Jesse French Piano Co.

But perhaps there was no bigger thinking than a city-wide “Gym Now” campaign that raised money in the late 1950s to build a new basketball palace. On Nov. 21, 1959, New Castle opened a 9,335seat fieldhouse to replace the historic “crackerbox” Church Street Gym.

The crackerbox, which seated only about 1,800, was where one of Indiana’s most famous basketball games was played. New Castle defeated Kokomo 92-81 on Feb. 20, 1959. In that game, the Trojans’ star, Ray Pavy scored 51 points while Kokomo’s top player, Jimmy Rayl, scored 49.

That fieldhouse

today is more than 60 years old, but the title of “world’s largest and finest” – given to the

The Henry County Historical Society, formed in 1886, stands today as the oldest, continuously operating organization of its kind in the state of Indiana.

facility by IHSAA Commissioner L.V. Phillips when the facility opened – still fits. With a seating capacity of 8,424, the gym remains the largest. And in this historic year for New Castle, it’s also worth noting the town is very good at recording history. The Henry County Historical Society was founded in 1886 and is the oldest, continuously operating organization of its kind in the state of Indiana.

From the giant hole in the ground when it was under construction to big crowds like the one seen above, the New Castle Fieldhouse has had a history as

exciting and storied as some of the teams that have played here.

RAY PAVY

Busy April at museum!

Author, journalist presents lively program during our 136th annual meeting

In terms of annual meetings, this one was most certainly a “keeper.”

Well-known Courier-Times journalist Donna Cronk was guest speaker for the Henry County Historical Society’s annual meeting Sunday, April 23. Her program, entitled “What We Keep: Fun With Heirlooms” drew a big crowd to the Gen. Grose Home.

Cronk, whose most recent book is entitled “There’s A Clydesdale In the Attic: Reflections on Keeping and Letting Go,” led the audience through her own experiences of sorting through the accumulation of items in her own home. She’s seen at the top row of photos here displaying items, such as furs and interesting newspaper clippings saved by her mother.

Then Cronk invited audience members to share their unique heirlooms, which Judy Baranski (l) and Sharon Roberts (r) did.

Cronk is available to speak with your group. Call us at 529-4028 and leave a message.

Catherine Winters presentation draws more than 70 to museum

It was most appropriate that on late author Charlene Perry’s birthday, the Henry County Historical Society host a PowerPoint presentation on the disappearance of Catherine Winters. Perry and her daughter, Lisa, authored a book about the mystery that began on March 20, 1913, when she disappeared from the busiest street in town and was never seen again. Above is Catherine with brother, Frank. At the right is the beginning of a newsreel that was part of the museum’s presentation.

Henry County Historian Darrel Radford leads a PowerPoint presentation on the disappearance of Catherine Winters. If you’d like to schedule a presentation to your club or group, call us at 5294028.

Great entertainment to be featured at Historical Society Ice Cream Social

For the second consecutive summer, Gen. Grose is hosting a big birthday party on his front lawn.

Last year, it was a celebration of Henry County’s 200th birthday. On Saturday, June 10, it will be the city of New Castle’s turn.

The event will be held Saturday, June 10 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Henry County Historical Society and Museum, 606 S. 14th St., New Castle.

While ice cream will again be the featured dessert to celebrate the citiy’s 200th birthday, a smorgasbord of activities will accompany the confection delight.

KEVIN STOCKROCK

Museum directors are again thrilled to have Kevin Stonerock perform. He will take those in attendance back in time to the Civil War through story and song inside the museum starting at 12:30 p.m.

Stonerock is a product of the Midwest, born and raised in the small town of Greensboro. He currently serves as a board member for the historical society.

His website says he was Americana before the word became a staple in the music lexicon—an amalgamation of traditional country and roots rock, with the sensibilities and lyricism of a folk artist. Whether in concert, on stage doing any one of several original monologues, writing a play or crafting a song, first and foremost, Stonerock is a master storyteller; an introverted extrovert who is more comfortable in front of a crowd than in one.

Stonerock will make audience members feel like

Kevin Stonerock (l) and The Chords of Friendship (right) will again provide their unique sounds of yesteryear at the Henry County Historical Society Ice Cream Social Saturday, June 10. Stonerock will perform inside the museum at 12:30 p.m. while The Chords of Friendship will fill the air outside with sounds of yesteryear beginning at 2 p.m. on the front lawn.

they’re interacting with someone who was actually there in the heat of Civil War battles.

CHORDS OF FRIENDSHIP

Then at 2 p.m., the Chords of Friendship will fill the air with music of the past. This group was formed in 2015 by local musicians Sharon Day and Jeff and Bev Glascock for the purpose of enjoying and sharing acoustic musical instruments and fellowship and friendship. Members decided early on not to charge for their performances and that music would be shared as simply a gift to their audiences.

Sharon Day, a retired elementary teacher, owned and played many acoustic instruments, and had spearheaded the annual Raintree Music Festival. The Glascocks were also retired teachers. Jeff built dulcimers for himself and several group members.

The group has performed at many nursing homes, assisted living centers, and churches and several civic organizations in Henry and

Delaware Counties. They specialize in mountain and folk music of the Civil War period and early Depression Era, plus gospel tunes. The group recently formed two subgroups–a ukulele group called the Strumalongs, whose music includes the 20’s Era music and beyond, Folk music of the 60’s, plus various rock and roll artists from the 50’s through the 80’s; and last summer formed a steel drum group called the Steel Drummers, which plays tropical island music. The Strumalongs have Rung the Bell for the Salvation Army the past two years at the New Castle Kroger and have been very popular at this event.

Instruments the group plays include mountain and hammered dulcimers, acoustic and bass guitars, harmonica, mandolin, autoharp, harp, banjo, dulcibanjo, ukebanjo, ukulele, washboard, spoons, steel drums, and cajon.

Group members include: Tana and Charlie Black, Margie Chapel, Georjean Cory, Sharon Day, Paula

Edwards, Jeannine Euckert, Wayne Ferguson, Cheryl Flaherty, Roy Herrmann, Ken Holmes, Debra Hopseker, Lynn Schultz, Sally Taylor, and Terry Yoakum.

OTHER ATTRACTIONS

The ice cream social will be sprinkled with other items of interest throughout the day, including:

• Self-guided museum tours from 11 a.m. to noon. Come meet founders of the Henry County Historical Society, a special display with photos and info about the men who created this organization way back in 1886. The Henry County Historical Society and Museum is the oldest, continuously operating organization of its kind in Indiana.

• “Welcome to Rose City,” a new exhibit that explores the literal roots of the flower power that made New Castle famous in the early 1900s.

• Dollhouse miniatures, local artisan and pioneer trade demonstrations.

• Local authors Ricky Cottman, Darrel Radford and Donna Cronk

‘Domestic Engineers’ visit Historical Society Museum

Monday the Henry County Historical Society hosted a group tour for a Delaware County Women’s Group called “The Domestic Engineers.” The lively group enjoyed a stroll through the Gen. Grose home. They were particularly fascinated by the 56,0000-piece Thaddeus Coffin Desk. The women also enjoyed seeing the museum’s collection of Hoosier Kitchen Cabinets. Many of the museum’s artifacts on household chores, such as washing boards and irons of yesteryear, stimulated conversation about family members of the past. Schedule your group for a tour. Call 529-4028 and leave a message.

Wanted: More volunteers to make history!

The Henry County Historical Society & Museum depends on and is very grateful for its volunteer force. There is always room for more volunteers, however. If you have been looking for a way to make a difference in our community, consider helping us at the Museum.

There are a number of options available to you. Please review them and indicate which might appeal to you, as well as times you are available to volunteer. We are happy to work with your schedule and are grateful for whatever time you can donate, whether it is on a regular basis or just a few times a year. Volunteers will be trained for their desired tasks. Our typical hours are Tuesday through Friday, 1-4:30 p.m.

Tasks available:

• Museum Work: Duties include helping with inventory, cataloging, bulk mailings, and office work.

• Museum Tours: Duties include giving or assisting with tours of the Museum on a daily basis or as needed with scheduled groups. Docents will be specially trained and given a comprehensive write-up on the museum to assist them. Ability to work with groups is helpful.

• Physical Work: Duties include minor repairs, painting, yard work such as flower bed planting and weeding. Other tasks that may be helpful include cleaning collections, copying/ scanning, or general cleaning around museum.

specific rooms during scheduled meetings, the Ice Cream Social, or Holiday Open House held each year. Other events may also be planned where similar help is needed. These are usually scheduled for evenings or Sunday afternoons.

• Shelving and Cataloging: Duties include moving items in storage to make room for the installation of shelves; moving items onto shelves once installed; and cataloging items into the database.

Ability to lift and move boxes is important. Computer skills are also needed. Volunteers may work as teams. You can find the volunteer form here: https://henrycountymuseum.org/volunteer-interest-form/ or give us a call at 765-529-4028. Henry County

• Special Events: Duties include working as host/hostess or tour guide for

Historical Society