Society Vice-President John Kanouse greeted guests, and invited all to share in a few moments of silence in memory of our late president, Diana Stevenson. After the meal, enjoyed by all, John recognized the board members, presented the 2012 Budget, and distributed a page of “What We Did in 2011.” He spoke briefly of the value of our Society, both to individuals and to the community. Not only is our preservation of records, abstracts, and photographs valuable, but as we work with young people -- students and Boy and Girl Scouts – we try to encourage in them an appreciation of our community’s place in state and national history.
Our guest speaker was Nan Hendrickson, a retired teacher, who has, over the years, presented her talks on Hoosier Poet, James Whitcomb Riley, to wide and appreciative audience. With a few remarks about each poem, she recited “Little Orphant Annie,” “Out to Old Aunt Mary’s,” “The Bear Story,” and several others. Of the dialect, she said, “That was just the way we talked,” referring to her own Indiana childhood.
Society members Ginny Compton, left, and Bob Fraley, right, greet speaker Nan Hendrickson, who holds a 1937 volume of James Whitcomb Riley poetry that belonged to her father.
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.”
Cost: $15 per person
Menu:
To make your reservation, please mail your name(s) and a check for $15 per person to:
The president of the Franklin Township Historical Society, Diana Stevenson, passed away on September 26, 2011. In the following Remembrances column, president emerita Sylvia Henricks looks back at Diana's contributions.
It was a beautiful day, this past July 6, when the Franklin Township Historical Society visited the Propylaeum at 1410 N. Delaware Street. Preceding the event, Diana met some of us at the Meeting House and gave us a leisurely drive “into the city,” with a short detour through the Old Northside neighborhood to see the recently restored Central Avenue Methodist Church, built in 1891 with additions in 1900 and 1922, now the home of Indiana Landmarks.
Arriving at the Propylaeum, we still had time for a bit of visiting on the big porch, and a photograph or two of all 14 of us, before we entered the impressive front door for our tour. The 19th Century house, built as a private home, with a wide stairway leading to a ball room on the third floor, has been the home of a Women’s Club for many years. The Club’s original building stood on North Street, and was razed in 1923 when the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza was built. Organized in 1888, by a group of Indianapolis women, the club’s name means "gateway to higher culture."
Our group reassembled for lunch in the sunny first floor dining room where we enjoyed good food, cloth napkins, stemmed glassware, and gracious service. It was a day to remember.
I sat near Diana, and took her picture. Not one of us would have believed that Diana would soon leave us. Our President since 2009, we considered ourselves fortunate to have so energetic and personable a leader. Even before she became president, she made a valuable contribution to the organization in 2005, using her skill to promote our application to the National Register of Historic Places to have our Meeting House (the former Big Run Baptist Church and Cemetery) added to their list.
We shall miss her, but shall be forever grateful for the time she spent with us.
A Big Run Cemetery Talk is planned for Open Hours at the Franklin Township Historical Society Meeting House on Sunday, September 18.
Dana Crapo, the Society’s treasurer, is also its most knowledgeable person concerning burials in the Big Run Cemetery, across the road from the Society’s Meeting House at 6510 S. Franklin Road. Dana says he has long been bothered by extra names on headstones in the cemetery, not included in the cemetery records made by a locarecorder (Mrs. Leo C. Hoyt)) in the 1960s. (At that time the Big Run Church was still in operation. It became the property of the newly formed Historical Society in 1976.)
Dana, long wondering about those unrecorded names in the cemetery, now believes he may have the answer, that before the Big Run Church was built in the 1870s, there was a Willis Smither family burial plot on the site of the current Big Run Cemetery. That will be the basis for his talk at the Meeting House during Open Hours on Sunday, September.18, at 2 p.m. “I will provide maps and hand-outs,” he says, and invites all interested persons to attend.
