Tidbits

I have mentioned the Grand Kankakee Marsh before. My father was born north of Hamlet in 1893 on an “island”. Any little sand knoll or rise out of the water of the marsh was called an “island”. All of the islands were named. There was Crab Island, Coon Ridge, White Woman’s Island and on and on. These names are often mentioned in the old history books, but very seldom identified as to where they are.

Before 1900, the only way my father and his family could get to Hamlet (the nearest trading area) was by boat. Or perhaps in a real dry season, by horseback. Or walking in the winter time on top of the ice. Grandma didn’t really like this type of pioneer living, so eventually she and Grandpa sold the land and moved to Knox in 1897. Grandma liked a little more social life. Remember, no cell phones, not even a land phone, no TV’s, no radios, no mail service out in this location. They were on their own.

That was before the area was drained.

A new documentary has just been produced about this marsh, which included much of Starke County. It is called Everglades of the North – the story of the Grand Kankakee Marsh. A promo of this great video can be seen at – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh6RWgyDnJw&feature=player_detailpage.

The full one-hour program has just been released and can be viewed:

Monday, November 5 on WYIN, Lakeshore Public Television in Merrillville, IN – 8 p.m. CST.
Thursday, November 8 on WNIT Public Television in South Bend at 8 p.m. EST (7 p.m. CST).

Former Starke County Historian, Marvin Allen, was interviewed at our museum by the production crew, and will appear in the film. This story is part of Starke County history. I hope you enjoy it.

Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society

Bookmark It

I received the following note from Marty Lucas the other day about a composer of music with connections to Starke County. He said, “Just learned a tidbit of Starke Co. history I’d never heard before. And it’s pretty cool, in my opinion…it requires some explanation, so bear with me..”.

You’re no doubt familiar with the American Songbook classic “Georgia On My Mind”. Everybody knows Ray Charles’ 1960 rendition, and probably lots of people assume he wrote the song. But no, the music was composed by Hoagy Carmichael (who also wrote Stardust, Buttermilk Sky, Heart and Soul, the list goes on), well suffice it to say he was one of America’s greatest songwriters of the first half of the 20th century.

Carmichael was a native of Bloomington, received his undergraduate degree from IU in 1925 and his law degree there too, in 1926. At a party in Bloomington in 1930, Carmichael came up with a melody, and then stayed up all night with his friend Stuart Gorrell, working on it.

Stuart ended up writing the lyrics for the song, which became ‘Georgia on My Mind’. Here’s the local connection. According to Wikipedia, Stuart Gorrell was born in Knox, Indiana, in 1901. [Ed Hasnerl says that Stuart's father, Samuel M. Gorrell was the publisher of North Judson and Knox newspapers. The Knox paper was later sold to Henry F. Schricker.] He (Stuart Gorrell) went on to become a banker and never wrote another song lyric.

Stuart said the lyric was about Hoagy’s sister, Georgia Carmichael. Nevertheless, it’s the Georgia state song.

Actually, the song was a mostly forgotten oldie when Ray Charles recorded it. I’ve heard his producer didn’t want to do some tired old song from 30 years earlier, but Ray Charles generally did what he wanted to do. And he did it well.”
________

Some of you may not have heard of the song writer, Leo Friedman. He was born in Elgin, Illinois in 1869 and died in Chicago in 1927. I would say that his and your age difference would be a reason for not knowing him. However, you might have heard of some of his songs. He is best remembered for composing and publishing the sentimental waltz, “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”, with lyrics by Beth Slater Whitson in 1910. Another one of his popular compositions was “Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland.”

The local connection of “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”, is where is was composed. It was composed on the east side of Bass Lake at the Center View Hotel, (see the attachment) which is now the home of Bill and Nancy Sonnemaker, and they are proud to tell the story about Leo Friedman.
_________

Another song writer that I am sure you haven’t heard about is Alice Prettyman Shilling. Prettyman Street in Knox is named after her father. She wrote the words to “Yellow River” with music by Leo Friedman. Yes, it is our Yellow River in Starke County. And yes, it is the same Leo Friedman. And yes, she was my great aunt. You can access this song by clicking on our website — http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/yellow_river/yellow_river.pdf

If you know of other Starke County composers, let me know.

Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society

Bookmark It

Several years ago, the Starke County Tourism Commission, with help from the Historical Society and the County Extension Office, received a grant from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. through the Indiana Humanities Council to photograph the barns in Starke County. Only a few of the 92 counties in Indiana received this type of grant. We probably didn’t find every barn, but, as I remember, we did photograph about 450 of the barns, corn cribs, windmills, and out-houses in Starke County. These can be seen on our website — http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/ — and then click on Barns Again in the center of the page.

Hundreds of people viewed the Smithsonian Barn Exhibit at the Schricker Library in Knox. The Calico Quilt Club had a display of Quilts about barns and school children made beautiful drawings of barns and displayed them in the libraries in the county.

Because of this effort by the Smithsonian, many of the old barns in the United States have been saved and restored. In many states, people have started putting quilt patterns on their barns. Indiana has several counties that are doing this. Marshall County has a tour of their barn quilts. So does Randolph County, with 22 quilts already installed on barns and 27 more ready to go.

I only know of three barns that have quilt patterns on them in Starke County. I have attached a photo of mine. Grandfather built our barn in 1902. He died a month before I was born, so I never knew him except in articles and what was passed down from my father. So, this fall, with the help of my children, we put his name on the old barn, then we also added a quilt pattern. If you know of other barns (or other buildings) in the county with quilt patterns, please let me know. Maybe Starke County could have a barn quilt tour, also.

Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society

http://www.starkehistory.com

http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/

Bookmark It

This photo from 1912 shows the former residence of Starke County’s Sheriff. The attached jail was just out of view to the right. Gabriel Doyle was the sheriff at that time.

The facility had been built in 1887 and was located at the southeast corner of Mound and Pearl Streets in Knox, the same location as the jail today. This view is looking north.  The two story brick residence of the sheriff was one of the finest homes in Knox when it was built. It was an honor to be invited to the annual sheriff’s picnic, which was held on the south lawn. This was a formal affair attended by such folks as the Koffels, Peters, Vanderweeles, Bortz’s, Moormans, Longs, Whitsons and Hartzlers.

Jail picnic

The second photo shows the Jail, which was attached to the east side of the house and had a separate entrance on the south side. In the early days, there was also a stable located in the southeast corner of the lot, where the sheriff’s horses and buggies were kept. Starke County’s first sheriff was Jacob S. Wampler, who was appointed in 1850 instead of being elected like all later sheriffs. In 1914, the sheriff’s salary was $1,100 and the jail’s annual operating expenses were $700. In 1971, the Indiana Department of Corrections found the facility inadequate and recommended that the 84 year old facility be closed.

Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society

http://www.starkehistory.com

http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/

Bookmark It

An article from Who Pulled the Plug on English Lake, by Bob Statchura —————-

1908
The farmers of LaPorte and Starke Counties can have a sigh of relief. The bear that has been destroying so much stock for the past year or so is no more. While two Indianapolis hunters by the name of Ed Longerich and J. C. Rickerts were fishing in the Kankakee at Indian Stretch last week they were startled by hearing a noise in the bushes on the opposite side of the river and were horrified to see a bear swimming across the river toward them. They abandoned the boat and with great difficulty made their way back to camp with all haste through the swamps to Riverside. After changing their clothes, which were badly torn in the mad haste, they borrowed a bear trap of Buffalo Bill and arming themselves with rifles went back to the place where they had seen the bear. They set the trap on Wambaugh‘s bridge and hung a large ham over it.

They proceeded to Wilder [west of Brems] and reported their experience to Fred Armt. Mr. Armt, being an old time bear hunter, was overjoyed to hear their story and he hastily organized a posse to go in search of the big grizzly. The great Dog King happened to be in his place at the time and volunteered the services of his famous pack of hounds. Bill Tesmer, Skinnie McDonald and Mr. Margin composed the balance of the party. All being heavily armed, they proceeded to where the Indianapolis hunters had set the trap.

The party arrived at the spot only to find that the trap had been sprung and that the bear in his mad struggle had gnawed off his leg at the first joint. The hounds took up the trail and followed it to Dunn‘s bridge. Here back of Burrow‘s abandoned camp in the swamps the bear was cornered by the faithful hounds. The dogs put up a good battle with the angry beast, which was clawing and tearing the hounds as fast as they came within reach of his terrible claws. The fight was so thick and fast that the posse was afraid to use their rifles for fear of killing some of the hounds. Finally the combined weight of the hounds made it possible for them to throw the monster to the ground, which enabled Mr. Longerich to administer his heavy hunting knife. The bear was carried by Mr. Tesmer (who declined all assistance) to Wilder and it was weighed in front of Smith‘s store. It tipped the scales at 694 pounds. Mr. Armt sent it to Chicago to have it mounted and will place it on exhibition in his buffet.

The Dog King is bemoaning the loss of seven of his best hounds as a consequence of the fight—valued at three hundred dollars—and his friends at Wilder are going to try to induce the county commissioners to reimburse him in view of his valuable assistance in ridding the county of the greatest pest it has known for a good many years.

Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society

http://www.starkehistory.com

http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/

Bookmark It

Starke County No. 41 Railroading

In his book, “Who pulled the plug on English Lake”, Bob Statchura has copied many old newspaper articles about different subjects in the Kankakee area. One subject is railroading. Here are a couple of those articles.

1930
Iceless Refrigeration Car—from the Feb. 8 issue of Prairie Farmer

The automatic iceless refrigerator car is operated from the axle of the car as it is in transit. The material
used for the reduction of temperature is ammonia and brine as is used in refrigerators in the home. The car is equipped for temperature control and can be set and left to maintain an even temperature as long as the car is moving. When the car stops the motor stops but the car will maintain its previous temperature for 72 hours. If it is desirable to keep the motor running, it has an electric motor that can be operated by plugging into an electric switch.
Some of the advantages are: the new car is lighter in weight; there is no stopping for ice, which will save
switching charges and labor bills of the train crews. Salt and brine used in the old cars has always done much damage to railroad property but this is eliminated in the new car.
The cars are being manufactured at North Judson, Indiana.

1931
Radio Pictures ―Danger Lights, first great railroad melodrama of the talkies comes to the Gayble Theatre [North Judson] as a stirring tribute to the stout hearts who keep the wheels moving.
Railroad men will appreciate the countless authentic touches of ―Danger Lights the roundhouse
operations; the emergency clearings of landslides and washouts; plunging long freights over mountain passes;
the headlong stride of the limited Greyhounds with their deluxe coaches; all the stirring glory of railroading
novel sound and talk.
Danger Lights was filmed over the right of way of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific road, and
the cast covering more than 30,000 miles before the film was completed.

A short movie of Danger Lights can be seen on youtube —–

Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society

http://www.starkehistory.com

http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/

Bookmark It

Whoa — what is velocipede? Generally it was an old term for a bicycle or a vehicle on wheels propelled by a human being. It also describes a vehicle used by the railroad industry for rail inspectors – see attachment.  It was a light enough vehicle that the operator could easily pull it off the tracks if a train approached him.

In his book, McCormick’s Guide to Starke County (1902), Chester McCormick talks about the different factories in Starke County. North Judson had two pickle factories, an artificial stone factory, a wholesale frog and turtle industry, a cigar manufacturer. Knox also had two pickle factories, a handle factory, a lumber mill, two grain elevators, a tomb stone factory and a velocipede factory. His little book is online and you can read about some of these items on pages 18. The attachment can be found here.

A velocipede factory ????? You know factories and other businesses come and go. One sees this all of the time on the Radio, TV or in the newspaper. Well, apparently, Marion McCormick’s Velocipede factory came and went, also. I can’t find any reference to a velocipede factory in any of the the other history books. So, what does one do when looking for a velocipede factory in Starke County? You Google it, of course. And finally, there it was – the U.S. Government patent for Mr. McCormick’s Velocipede. What he was making was a kit that you could put on your bicycle to be able to travel the railroads. Think about this. Some of the towns in the county had stone roads – some may have had brick streets in the downtown area. But most of the county didn’t have solid roads – most country roads were still sand roads. Did you ever try to peddle a bicycle through loose sand? So, if you had Mr. McCormick’s bicycle attachment and wanted to go from North Judson to Knox, you could hop on the railroad track and start peddling. Ah, a nice, smooth ride. But, watch out for trains!

In finding his patent, we also now have all of the other government patents in our files for Starke County. See attachment for the velocipede patent’s front page.

Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society

Bookmark It

Lovina Streight

This year, 2011, marks the sesquicentennial of the Civil War in the United States. At 4:30 in the morning of April 12, 1861, Confederate forces started the American Civil War by firing on Fort Sumter, a Union military base located outside the entrance to the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Just two days later, after suffering severe damage from four thousand shells, the federal forces surrendered. The American flag came down, and the Confederacy’s new Stars and Bars banner flew over the fort.

President Lincoln asked for a quota of 4600 men from Indiana… “Soldiers, or good men willing to be converted into soldiers for the emergency.” In reality, almost 200,000 served from Indiana. My grandfather was one of those men. During those four years, 25,025 Hoosiers died. In fact, the Battle of Antietam in 1862 was much more devastating than present day wars around the world. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000 casualties.

The Historical Society has an excellent program about William Garner, the last Civil War soldier from Starke County to die. If you would like a program about the “Billy” Garner in the Civil War for your club or organization some time during this sesquicentennial year, call me at 574-772-4311.

Also, the Starke County Historical Society has made special arrangements with the Indiana Historical Society to exhibit, Faces of the Civil War from May 3, 2011 to May 27, 2011, here in Starke County. The exhibit will be at the Henry F. Schricker Library in Knox. The exhibition brings to life the stories of many Hoosiers whose lives were touched, and in some cases taken, by the Civil War.

Non-soldier stories featured in the exhibition include the stories of women who served both on the homefront and on the battlefield. Lovina Streight followed her husband into battle and was captured more than once by the Confederate Army while tending to her husband, as well as his wounded and dying comrades.

Bookmark It

Savanna – Now what is that? You have heard of savannas in Africa, but here in Indiana? Yes, right here in Starke County. In fact, there are several in Northern Indiana. For the most part, savannas occurred in Indiana’s main prairie region in the northwestern part of the state. The plant geography of Indiana is a transition between the wide open prairies of Iowa and Illinois and the deciduous forests of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Early Indiana had prairies (almost 15 percent of the state) and forests. Savannas were interspersed between and shared some characteristics of both prairies and forests. Savannas have trees like a forest and many of the same grasses and wildflowers as a prairie. Typical trees are black and white oaks with scattered wild black cherry and sassafras. Typical shrubs are winged sumac, blueberries, and huckleberries. Wildflowers in the savannas are very different from the typical forest ones. They are more of the prairie type flowers. Lupines, puccoons and bird’s-foot violets welcome the spring, while coreopsis, sunflowers, blazing star and butterfly weed accent the summer. Fall is heralded by asters and goldenrods. Prairie grasses are also highlighted in the landscape. We probably have several small savannas in Starke County, isolated on some of the sand ridges, but one that gets all of the attention is the Ober Savanna.

Ober Savanna – Located just west of Ober, Indiana, this 59-acre parcel is owned by The Nature Conservancy and contains a high-quality remnant of a black oak savanna. Clusters of large black oaks grow among prairie grasses and wildflowers, such as little and big bluestem, Indian grass, porcupine grass, June grass, and puccoons. The rare prickly pear, yellow wild indigo, globally endangered fame flower, and wild indigo are found here, as are some rare, prairie-specific butterflies.

To find the Ober Savanna, drive west of Ober on 200 S., cross the RR tracks, and within a few hundred feet there is a small parking area on the north side of the road with the Ober Savanna sign. Follow the instructions on the sign. See attachment.

Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society

http://www.starkehistory.com

http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/

Bookmark It

It is winter –
—- Many years ago in the winter it was ice-making season on the ponds, rivers and lakes of Starke County. Really, I should say “ice harvesting.” Farmers and others from the area would be hired by the Ice Companies to cut blocks of ice to store for the next summer’s use. These blocks of ice were elevated and placed in large “ice barns” and insulated with saw dust or marsh hay. Because of the large mass of ice in one location, the ice would last for several months. Often the ice, in large blocks, was loaded into railroad box cars and shipped to Chicago and other places for the customers’ kitchen ice boxes. Bass Lake had a railroad line on the south side of the lake to carry vacationers in the summer and ice in the winter.

Ice house at Bass Lake

The Modern refrigerator has changed the way people live all around the world. It’s easy to take the “white box” in your kitchen for granted. Just take a look at places in the world which don’t have refrigeration. People go shopping every day. They may lower dairy products and other foods into a well or spring so they will stay cool for a couple of days without spoiling. There is no way that a modern America would be recognizable to you or me if it weren’t for refrigeration.

In the 1930′s, before electricity, I remember the ice box. It was a common fixture in every home. Ice boxes were usually made of wood with insulated walls, lined with tin inside. There was a door for a large (maybe a 100 lb) block of ice. The other doors were for milk, fruit, vegetables and other perishables. There was a drain tray at the bottom for the melting ice water. My Mother would put a sign (see attachment) in the window, letting the ice man know how much ice she wanted to buy that day. He would cut that approximate size with his ice pick, grab it up with his ice tongs, throw it over his shoulder, carry it into the house and put it into our ice box. I was usually close at hand to see if I could find any small chunks of ice which I could suck on during a hot summer’s day.

This last picture (left) shows the Shaws from Knox with their delivery truck ready to haul ice to customers. The Shaw family had ponds and ice houses just north of the Yellow River and north of the present location of the Knox Railroad Depot (Gateway area). Across U.S. 35 from the Depot, they owned a coal yard and ice storage building. They would regularly deliver ice in the summer and coal in the winter.

Refrigerators, as we know them now, have only been mass-produced since the late 1940s. Appreciate yours!

Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society

http://www.starkehistory.com

http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/

Bookmark It

I wonder if some people still think that milk comes from the grocery store.

milk bottles

When I was a kid, Dad would milk about 10 or 12 cows every morning and every night. This was before milking machines – all milking was done by hand. There is nothing like a glass of warm milk right from the cow. Dad would secure the cows into the stanchions for their feed, then get his stool. He had a four-legged stool, but many farmers used a three-legged stool, and I have even seen a one-legged stool used quite often. Dad would position himself on the right side of the cow and start milking. It was fun to watch him because once in a while he would squirt the cat in the face with the milk. Of course the cat would love that and lick the milk from his fur for quite a while. Sometimes Dad would let me milk the cow, but when I started to squirt the cat more than into the bucket, that stopped.

The folks had an in-ground “cooler” on the north side of the house – a 30″ glazed tile in the ground with boards for cover – that cooled the milk somewhat. The temperature in the “cooler” was always 55 – 60 degrees. Later, Dad would pour the milk into the cream separator (see attachment). I got to crank the machine. This was really a centrifuge. It had a series of cones in it that, when spun, separated the cream from the milk. We could then make cheese or butter from the cream.

Remember, this was during the depression. The folks would sell the butter (and the eggs that Mom had gathered from the chicken house) to the grocery store. The rest of the milk that wasn’t separated was sold to Drews’ Sanitary Dairy at 405 S Main in Knox. They would pasteurized it, bottle it and deliver it to their customers’ door steps. This was before homogenized milk. The cream would rise to the top of the milk bottle, and you could tell the quality of the milk by how much cream was on top. Generally, it was thought that the taller the layer of cream, the better the milk. In the winter, if the bottles of milk were left outside too long, the freezing temperature would push the lids off. (see attachment) As for why the bottles didn’t crack, well, I’m speculating that with whole milk, at least, the cream that collected at the top acted as a lubricant, allowing the ice to move freely upward, relieving pressure and keeping the bottle intact. On the coldest of winter days we would sometimes make “ice cream” by placing a bowl of the cream into the snow so it would freeze. Later, the homogenizing process was invented which breaks down the fat of the milk into smaller particles so that it stays suspended in the milk and the cream doesn’t rise to the top.

My wife, Melba, came from a farm in Eastern Indiana and showed Red Poll cattle all over the United States. Red Polls are considered dual-purpose animals, giving great meat production and good milk production, also. One time as a teenager, while showing at the Indiana State Fair, the owners of the 4-H Grand Champion cows in all dairy breeds (Jersey, Holstein, Guernsey, Red Poll, Milking Shorthorn, etc.) participated in a milking contest. Of course the contestants were all boys, except Melba! Her cow had just had a calf the week before and milked very easily – she knew she could win this contest. They even brought in a cow for the Governor of Indiana to milk, just to make the contest a little more fun. That Governor was our own Henry F. Schricker from Starke County.

The contest starts – Melba started to milk her cow – but got no milk. The cow just stood there and “Mooed” – she wanted her calf. Melba’s Dad quickly realized that fact and ran to get the calf. As soon as the cow saw the calf, the milk poured into the bucket. As fast as the milk came, Melba couldn’t make-up for lost time. Both she and the Governor lost the contest to a boy!

Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society

http://www.starkehistory.com

http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/

Bookmark It

Since I grew up on Grandpa’s farm, I was destined to become a farmer, it seems. After college and the army, I joined up with Dad and we farmed the home place together for several years. I feel very lucky to have been born in Starke County, Indiana, to Russell and Edna Shilling. As I look back on those few years when Dad and I farmed together – wow. He allowed me to experiment with all sorts of innovative ideas and yet with a careful eye, guided my inexperience. There is nothing like “been there, done that”. And he let me know it in his gentle way.

The changes that we have seen in Agriculture, just in my time, have been tremendous. There have been more changes in production agriculture during the last fifty years than the 10,000 years before that. During the great depression, the average farmer was selling enough farm produce to feed 3-4 other people. During the 1950s, the average farmer in the U.S. was feeding 50 people. A tremendous increase, in just a few years. Now, the average farmer is feeding 154 people. It is estimated that by 2030, farmers around the world will have to produce 4 billion tons of food for the growing population.

Starke County is doing its part. The average farm in Starke County is only 259 acres, but those acres produce more than 81 million dollars in income for Starke County each year. That’s third, behind Manufacturing and Retail Sales. I haven’t found all of the figures of the Ag-related retail, but I know that the Farm Bureau Coop has a gross sales of more than 59 million dollars in materials to farmers. When a farmer talks about a 1″ rain as “a million dollar rain”, it is more than a figure of speech. A 1″ rain every week during June, July and August will add about 10 to 12 million dollars to the Starke County economy. Farmers are not only spending huge amounts of money on production inputs, such as implements, seed and fertilizer for their crops, but also adding to the economy by patronizing the local stores.

The next time you see a Starke County farmer, whether he farms 50 acres of vegetables or 5000 acres of corn, think about the food he helps grow and the part he plays in the local economy.

A good site to learn more about Indiana agriculture is:

http://www.farmersfeedus.org/in/corn/10

Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society

http://www.starkehistory.com

http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/

Bookmark It