WPA Outhouses: Humble But Historic

It might seem strange to write a book about outhouses -- those rustic shacks that our forebears used instead of the indoor porcelain plumbing we're used to -- but there is a lot of history in those little wooden buildings!  During the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were created to provide jobs for out-of-work citizens, and one of those unglamorous jobs was building outhouses.  The Indiana Community Sanitation Program reported in January, 1943 that 125,791 “Sanitary Privies” had been built since the program began in December, 1933, providing more than $4 million dollars in WPA wages to otherwise-unemployed workers during the 1930s.

A few of these WPA constructions still remain standing in Franklin Township.  Our latest publication, Humble but Historic, The Surviving WPA Outhouses of Franklin Township, Marion County, Indiana, includes a brief history and photograph of each of the 10 remaining outhouse buildings, as well as a copy of the “Indiana Community Sanitation Program Regulation Manual, Sponsored By United States Public Health Service, Indiana Division of Public Health Works Progress Administration,” which directed the workers in building the structures and a copy of the “Maintenance Rules” to be tacked to the wall of each finished outhouse. (One of the township’s outhouses still has these rules fastened to the wall!)

The stapled book was designed and printed by Faulkenberg Printing in Indianapolis. The Society has priced it at $7.00.  You can purchase a copy in person at the Meeting House during Open Hours, or order one by mail via our website.

From The Ash Grove: Interurban

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).


Written for my June 20, 1985, column for the Informer, “From the Ash Grove,” this glimpse of the past reminds us again of that wonderful transportation innovation, the Interurban.

Cousin Mary who lives in Acton has asked you, one of her city relations, out for the day. “Get an early car,” she said.

So you consult your Indianapolis and Cincinnati Traction Company Vest Pocket Time Table, and find you can get an interurban car at the traction terminal on Market Street at 7:30, 9:30 or 10:30 a.m. No.24, which leaves at 8:35 won’t do, for it is the Greensburg Express and stops only at Shelbyville and Greensburg.

No.4, leaving at 7:30 a.m. arrives at Five Points at 8:02, New Bethel at 8:08, and gets to Acton at 8:17. No.6 repeats that schedule two hours later. No.26, which leaves downtown at 10:30, is a Limited, which shaves seven minutes from the time by stopping on signal only at the stations, and reaches Acton at 11:10. The locals stop on signal at designated points all along their route. (Some interurban stops survive today in the names of our county roads, such as Stop 8, and Stop 11.) For after dark signals the timetable warns, “Use a Light.”

After a pleasant day with Cousin Mary, you can catch the 5:31, the 7:31, the 8:41, the 9:31, or the 11:31 car back to Indianapolis. No.19, the last car, reaches the downtown terminal at 12:10 a.m. Robert Paugh, Maze Road, gave the Historical Society a Xerox copy of the August 6, 1911 timetable, found in an old house by his daughter. A railroader himself, he worked for B.& O. for 36 years as a brakeman and conductor. His interest in railroading continues and he has “locks and keys, and a whole menagerie of stuff,” he says.

He remembers only faintly seeing the big electric cars run through Acton, “down Main Street, we called it,” he says. (It’s now Swails St.) More clearly he remembers workmen taking up the iron rails in the 1930s when the interurbans were going out of business. Five other electric railway companies provided hourly service to “200 other stations in Indiana, including Fort Wayne, South Bend, Warsaw, Winona Lake, Michigan City and Laporte.”

On Jan. 1, 1900, the first interurban line entered Franklin Township along Southeastern Avenue. At Hickory Road it turned south and making a wide turn through the corner of a field, followed the railroad tracks past the Acton Camp Ground, into Acton. Just beyond Acton it again paralleled the railroad tracks on to Brookfield, London, Fairland and Shelbyville. The end of the era came in 1941 when the last car made its final run.

Remembrances: Hittle Tile Factory

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).

This interesting old photograph, its mounting broken, but taped to a piece of cardboard, and a torn edge also taped, is titled “Isaac Hittle Tile Co. 1880” It appeared in a March 12, 1976, issue of the Informer, under the heading “A Bygone Era.” The caption (unsigned) was “One of the oldest factories in Franklin Township was located one fourth mile north of Edgewood Avenue on Hickory Road. It was known as the Isaac Hittle Drain Tile company. It was located on the Isaac Hittle property, now owned by Ed Klasing and Bob Waterman. The factory made field drain tile around the year 1880.

“The mud for the tile came from the Hittle farm and was hauled in by steam engine and four wagons. It took three days and nights to bake a kiln full of tile. The farmers would drive for miles to get the tile the day the kiln was opened. The tile were so hot they would burn rings in the wooden wagon beds.

“The day the kiln was opened was a time the men swapped stories and watched the dogs fight. The man who was watching the kiln, at times would kill a rabbit and hang it in front of the fire door to cook.”

A business card for “Isaac Hittle, Manufacturer & Shipper of Superior Drain Tile (From 2 ½ to 9 Inches), Gallaudette, Indiana. Prices per M: 2 ½ in. $10 ; 3 in.. $11; 4 in. $17.50; 5 in.. $26; 6 in. $37; 7 in. $45; Made to Order: 8 in. $60; 9 in. $85.”

The Society’s book Historic Treasures of Franklin Township, includes more about the Hittle Family. Of Isaac, the biographer says, “Isaac Hittle continued to live on the farm but had many other interests. He owned and operated a tile factory from 1875 to 1898, and also a threshing machine. He was a surveyor, and was secretary of the New Bethel Farmers’ Mutual Insurance Company until his retirement in 1924.”

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).

Beech Grove, our neighbor community to the north west, is the subject of a new book. being sold by the Beech Grove Library. Produced by Arcadia Publishing, as one of their Images of America Series, the 127 page book is well-written, interesting and full of new and old black and white photographs. Eleven of the photos are of postcards from the collection of our own society member, Joe Seiter. The text is written by Jim Hillman and John Murphy, “with the Beech Grove Public Library.”

The Foreword by former Beech Grove Mayor Donald Joe Wright gives an overview of the earliest days of the area, when the prominent families were the Churchmans, McGregors, Boltons and Cottmans. The Churchman property was then in Franklin Township, and George Cottman, who became a historian, wrote at one time of attending school at “No.9,” the one-room Franklin Township district school known as Poplar Grove.

In 1904 construction began on a large repair facility by the Big Four Railroad (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St.Louis Railway). Beech Grove as a town also had its beginning, at first only four homes and two businesses. But as the repair facility for engines and passenger cars grew, so did the town. Beech Grove was incorporated in 1906. The Shops were completed in 1908.. “Of the original 2400 acres the railroad had acquired, 640 acres were reserved for the Shops and rail operations, and the balance formed the original land for the town itself,” the authors wrote.

The name of the facility has changed over the years. In 1923 it took the name of its parent Company, the New York Central Shops. During World War II, it had its busiest years with 5000 men and women employed, but after the war railroad traffic declined, and in 1968 the NYC Railroad merged with Penn Central, and the facility became the Penn Central Shops.

The Federal Government created the Amtrak passenger rail system, which used the repair facilities of the Penn Central Shops in1975. In 1986 Amtrak took control of the facility, renaming it Amtrak Shops.

The attractive paperback, which sells for $23.50 at the Beech Grove Library also records the growth of Beech Grove, its businesses, schools, homes and celebrations. Beech Grove opted, in 1970, not to join UNIGOV, the county-wide consolidation with Indianapolis, and maintains its own government and municipal services. The Society has added a copy of the book to our collection of local histories, and you may look at it at our Meeting House.

A Celebration of Learning: Memorials and Tributes

Attention, Franklin Township Residents!

Franklin Township Historical Society is preparing to publish an updated book on the history of Franklin Township Schools. A Celebration of Learning: An Updated History of Franklin Township Schools is planned for summer of 2010. Many of you purchased copies of a 1988 publication, Readin', Writin' and Rememberin', and the new book will highlight many of the changes since that time.

To offset the cost of publishing, FTHS is inviting individuals and local businesses to place notes of appreciation in the book to (1) honor someone, or (2) in memory of someone who has been a positive influence in your life. The costs of these tributes are: an eighth of a page ($25); one-fourth of a page ($40) and a half page ($75). Space is limited. The deadline for placing this information in the new book is April 30. The name of the person being honored may have 10 – 15 words of description (sample at right).

For information regarding the placement of these tributes, phone 862-8822 or e-mail kimgada2004@yahoo.com. You may also contact any member of the “Celebration of Learning” committee: Sylvia Henricks, David Ostheimer, Barb Fengya, Linda Hayward or Diana Stevenson.

2010 Events

The FTHS has a full schedule this year!

In 2010 we celebrate our 35th anniversary! Plus, we have a new book in the works (more on that later!), and we're working on some very special programs for our membership.

The first date to save is May 15, 2010. We'll be hosting an old-fashioned croquet tournament! For those not participating in the lawn games, Melissa Heigl of The Ideal Pet will offer a performance featuring her amazing trained cats. Melissa and her performing cats have been featured in The Indianapolis Star and on Fox 59.

Stay tuned for more free community events, brought to you by the Franklin Township Historical Society!