Just after I hit publish on a post mapping the tunnels below Ball State University’s Old Quad as they existed around 1950, a friend messaged me with something even better: a newer map showing an expanded underground network as it appeared in 1982. Naturally, I dropped everything and started mapping again! Here’s what I found.
Continue reading “Even more tunnels beneath Ball State”
I’ve always been drawn to places where people once gathered, and old theaters seem to pull me in more than most. I’d known about the Hartford Theater near downtown Hartford City for years, but I’d never actually stopped to take pictures of it. Even with its current use, the building still gives itself away- in a town of about 6,000, it doesn’t take much to spot a former movie palace.
Continue reading “Hartford City’s old Hartford Theater”
I like massive, hulking ruins as much as the next guy. Portland, Indiana, has one that’s absolutely worth slowing down for: rising high above East Votaw Street on the way to the Jay County Fairgrounds, what’s left of the old Haynes Mill still dominates the landscape. Once I noticed it, I knew I had to learn more.
Continue reading “The eighty-two-foot ruins of Portland’s Haynes Mill”
Hey, there! It’s your old internet pal Ted, popping in with a confession: it’s been way too long since I last wrote about tornado sirens. I can hear my analytics groaning since this is probably the post where my views take a nosedive, but I don’t care. There’s just something about electromechanical sirens that flips a switch in my brain. They’re loud, awkward, and a little ugly. So am I!
Continue reading “It’s been a while since I wrote about a siren”
For decades, enclosed shopping malls promised a very specific kind of future: bright corridors, automatic doors, and the idea that everything you needed lived under a single roof. In small Midwestern cities like Richmond, Indiana, that promise carried even more weight. A mall wasn’t just a place to shop- it was proof that your town had arrived! Today, Richmond Mall’s role is far less clear-cut. What was once a bustling retail hub has transformed into part shopping center, part walking track, and part time capsule. Here’s some of its story.
Continue reading “Richmond Mall: a soft-spoken survivor”
I spent years walking the aisles of Marsh Supermarkets, buying my groceries there, and digging into the company’s history. Recently, all of that curiosity and familiarity converged on a single realization: if I truly wanted to understand the Marsh story, I needed to see where it all began. My search led me to Salem in Jay County, Indiana, where I found the Marsh family’s first store.
Continue reading ” My pilgrimage to the very first Marsh”
Back in July, word spread that a big piece of Muncie’s retail past was on the chopping block: the old J.C. Penney at Muncie Mall was headed for demolition. By September, the scope ballooned: nearly 255,000 square feet -including Sears and the long-shuttered cinema- were also slated to disappear! Fencing went up in October, then everything seemed to stall. What happened? At last, we have an answer.
Continue reading “Here’s why half of Muncie Mall is still standing”
If you’re anything like me, you find tunnels irresistible. There’s something about hidden spaces -places I’m not really supposed to see- that flips a switch in my brain. Stumbling across Ball State University’s tunnels on a seventy-six-year-old Sanborn fire insurance map last night felt like rediscovering a secret! In a way, they hide in plain sight.
Continue reading “Below Ball State: hidden tunnels mapped in 1950”
Big retail ideas that briefly landed in mid-sized cities and then quietly moved on are fascinating to me. Places like that tend to leave behind oversized buildings, bold promises, and a paper trail full of optimism. Muncie’s Value City Furniture is one of those stories. For a short time in the 1970s, it represented modern retailing at full throttle!
Continue reading “Muncie’s old Value City Furniture store”
I’ve been to Terre Haute maybe five times in my life, most recently to take photos of a Long Line tower and snarf down a wet plate at Taco Casita. Still, I recently got a chance to do some virtual globetrotting there when my friend Brett reached out with a question about a mysterious old school. Here’s what we discovered.
Continue reading “The Hoosier Boys and the Mystery of Otter Creek”