The Willard Library, a gorgeous piece of Gothic architecture, is the oldest public library building in Indiana. It's also rumored to be haunted -- and it seems someone caught the library's most famous ghost on camera. Click the link below if you want to see the pictures.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Indiana Ghost Story
Since it's Halloween, here's a story from Evansville, Indiana to give you seasonally-appropriate goosebumps.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Acton UMC Craft Fair
It's once again time for the Acton United Methodist Church Craft Fair! Join us Saturday, November 3 at this annual fall festival. We'll have a booth with our publications (including Sylvia Henricks' latest book, Humble But Historic), memberships, and a few other items for sale. It's a great start to your holiday shopping!
The church is located at 5650 Senour Road, near the Acton Road exit off I-74. The craft fair runs from 9AM to 3PM. Food will be available onsite.
The church is located at 5650 Senour Road, near the Acton Road exit off I-74. The craft fair runs from 9AM to 3PM. Food will be available onsite.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Little Orphant Annie
It's almost Halloween, which means it's time to celebrate the most popular work of poet James Whitcomb Riley. Riley has no particular connection to Franklin Township, but he did grow up in nearby Greenfield, and he's one of Indiana's favorite native sons -- perhaps most favorite, if one judges by the number of things named after him.
As a seasonal treat (no trick!), here's one of the few surviving audio recordings of Riley reading his poetry aloud. This is "Little Orphant Annie," written by Riley in 1885. This (originally wax) recording was made in 1912, two years after the author suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. Riley died four years later, in 1916.
Anyone who grew up in Indiana schools probably had to memorize this poem -- or at least part of it -- in elementary school, where we also learned that the poem was intended to be called "Little Orphant Allie" (after Mary Alice "Allie" Smith, shown at right, who lived with the Riley family for a time). The published title was a result of a printing error (popularly attributed to Riley's bad handwriting).The poem was one of Riley's best-known works. It was adapted as a silent film in 1918, and also served to inspire the "Little Orphan Annie" comic strip, which itself inspired books, movies and a major stage musical.
...And remember, if you want to hear more seasonal tales, join us on October 21 from 1 to 4 p.m. for Ghost Stories at Open Hours!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Report on September 16 Events
Today, we bring you one of Sylvia Henricks' "Remembrances." You can read more of Sylvia's columns weekly in The Franklin Township Informer, or in her book From The Ash Grove (available directly from the FTHS, and via the web site).
Will it rain – or be cold and windy? Are there seats enough out on the terrace at the Meeting House? Will anybody come? Will there be enough punch and cookies – or way too much? Where did I put the notes for the speech I plan to make, thanking those that let us photograph their WP Outhouses? Where’s my camera?
So ran my thoughts as Sunday afternoon, September 16 approached. The second half of a “double event” at the Township Historical Society it marked the completion of a self-published booklet, Humble but Historic, The Surviving WPA Outhouses of Franklin Township produced by Faulkenberg Printing, Indianapolis. I planned to autograph copies of the book for the invited guests – and others who might purchase one. (The other event, at 1:30, was a Big Run Cemetery Tour by Dana Crapo who has researched the early years of the cemetery when, privately owned, it was known as the Smither burial ground. See next week’s “Remembrances.”)
As often happens, my worries were needless. The weather was perfect, and a good crowd favored us. My daughter Ann and her three girls handled the punch and cookies, with more cookies supplied by Society members. Granddaughter Molly took photos including the one below.
There was an additional attraction on the Society grounds. With thanks to Yolanda Hughes, one-time owner, and Kathy George of Bob Cook Realtors – and Tommy Grimes, who moved it to our lawn—our Society is the proud owner of an authentic WPA outhouse, to be restored, repainted and valued as an exhibit of The Great Depression Days.
Will it rain – or be cold and windy? Are there seats enough out on the terrace at the Meeting House? Will anybody come? Will there be enough punch and cookies – or way too much? Where did I put the notes for the speech I plan to make, thanking those that let us photograph their WP Outhouses? Where’s my camera?
So ran my thoughts as Sunday afternoon, September 16 approached. The second half of a “double event” at the Township Historical Society it marked the completion of a self-published booklet, Humble but Historic, The Surviving WPA Outhouses of Franklin Township produced by Faulkenberg Printing, Indianapolis. I planned to autograph copies of the book for the invited guests – and others who might purchase one. (The other event, at 1:30, was a Big Run Cemetery Tour by Dana Crapo who has researched the early years of the cemetery when, privately owned, it was known as the Smither burial ground. See next week’s “Remembrances.”)
As often happens, my worries were needless. The weather was perfect, and a good crowd favored us. My daughter Ann and her three girls handled the punch and cookies, with more cookies supplied by Society members. Granddaughter Molly took photos including the one below.
There was an additional attraction on the Society grounds. With thanks to Yolanda Hughes, one-time owner, and Kathy George of Bob Cook Realtors – and Tommy Grimes, who moved it to our lawn—our Society is the proud owner of an authentic WPA outhouse, to be restored, repainted and valued as an exhibit of The Great Depression Days.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Ghost Stories - October 21
It's coming up on Halloween, and that means it's the perfect time of year for ghost stories! Indiana has its fair share of paranormal oddities, and even Franklin Township has a few stories that just might make you shiver. Join us at Open Hours on October 21 for some chilling local legends and delightfully creepy tales from history. You can even see the infamous Black Dress, one of the stars of our collection, which has been featured on the TV shows Sightings and Unsolved Mysteries.(Please note that this will be our final regular Open Hours of the year. You are still welcome to join us at any of the scheduled events during the off season, such as our Old Fashioned Christmas Celebration on December 16.)
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Remembrances: 1855 Township Map
Today, we bring you one of Sylvia Henricks' "Remembrances." You can read more of Sylvia's columns weekly in The Franklin Township Informer, or in her book From The Ash Grove (available directly from the FTHS, and via the web site).
Old maps are fascinating to study, and are an almost endless source of speculation when compared with an area familiar to a reader today. Fellow historian Dana Crapo recently found and purchased the useful topographical map of the part of Franklin Township on Shelbyville Road we were wondering about. I used it several weeks ago in writing about the elevation of Scott and Mary Verbarg’s home in Franklin Parke Estates. Their hilltop site was designated as 900 feet above sea level, perhaps the highest spot in Franklin Township.
Another map that Dana recently purchased, and gave me copies of is an 1855 Franklin Township map, the earliest one I know of. I have had a copy of it for several years – Xeroxed myself at the Indiana State Library -- but Dana’s copies are sharp and bright, and show more clearly some early “roads” which were later abandoned. A portion of that map is shown above, with the land owner designated as Daniel Moore.
The Society’s Historic Treasures (1978) includes this information (in a longer biography) about Daniel Moore. “He was born in 1786 in Virginia . . .At age thirty he moved with his family to Kentucky. . . later they moved to Marion County, Indiana, locating on a farm nine miles southeast of Indianapolis. . . in what was then an unbroken wilderness, the family proceeded to make a home. The forest was cleared away and a fine farm developed . . . The Moore farm was in the family since 1835 when Daniel Moore received his land grant signed by Andrew Jackson. Their log cabin was built at Five Points and Stop 11 (although the roads were not so named at the time) where they owned additional land."
Our family’s six acres was not part of the Moore farm, but a parcel of the Nimrod Kemper farm to the south. Shelbyville Road cut through the corner of the Kemper farm as it did at another place the Moore farm. Our six acres includes a two acre field, and a wooded area which I was told was the woodlot for the Kemper farm across the road.When we first moved here I remember some “elderly “ ladies telling me they had picked wildflowers in our woods as children. Except for the field and a small area along Shelbyville Road, our land has never been farmed. We have three large ash trees, two beech trees, and an oak tree with a trunk 15 feet in circumference. Some large rocks in the yard are either remains of a glacier, or dug out of Kemper fields long ago.
Old maps are fascinating to study, and are an almost endless source of speculation when compared with an area familiar to a reader today. Fellow historian Dana Crapo recently found and purchased the useful topographical map of the part of Franklin Township on Shelbyville Road we were wondering about. I used it several weeks ago in writing about the elevation of Scott and Mary Verbarg’s home in Franklin Parke Estates. Their hilltop site was designated as 900 feet above sea level, perhaps the highest spot in Franklin Township.Another map that Dana recently purchased, and gave me copies of is an 1855 Franklin Township map, the earliest one I know of. I have had a copy of it for several years – Xeroxed myself at the Indiana State Library -- but Dana’s copies are sharp and bright, and show more clearly some early “roads” which were later abandoned. A portion of that map is shown above, with the land owner designated as Daniel Moore.
The Society’s Historic Treasures (1978) includes this information (in a longer biography) about Daniel Moore. “He was born in 1786 in Virginia . . .At age thirty he moved with his family to Kentucky. . . later they moved to Marion County, Indiana, locating on a farm nine miles southeast of Indianapolis. . . in what was then an unbroken wilderness, the family proceeded to make a home. The forest was cleared away and a fine farm developed . . . The Moore farm was in the family since 1835 when Daniel Moore received his land grant signed by Andrew Jackson. Their log cabin was built at Five Points and Stop 11 (although the roads were not so named at the time) where they owned additional land."
Our family’s six acres was not part of the Moore farm, but a parcel of the Nimrod Kemper farm to the south. Shelbyville Road cut through the corner of the Kemper farm as it did at another place the Moore farm. Our six acres includes a two acre field, and a wooded area which I was told was the woodlot for the Kemper farm across the road.When we first moved here I remember some “elderly “ ladies telling me they had picked wildflowers in our woods as children. Except for the field and a small area along Shelbyville Road, our land has never been farmed. We have three large ash trees, two beech trees, and an oak tree with a trunk 15 feet in circumference. Some large rocks in the yard are either remains of a glacier, or dug out of Kemper fields long ago.
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