I’ve always been drawn to basketball and to the places where its echoes still linger. You might miss it if you blink while passing through Matthews, Indiana, but the town’s basketball story unfolded inside a modest structure at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and East 6th Street.
Continue reading “The home of the Matthews Minutemen”
I’ve noticed an odd pattern lately: it seems like every recent dental appointment has been followed by the discovery of a new-to-me artesian well! I know correlation doesn’t equal causation, but at this point I’m suspicious enough that I’d happily endure thirty root canals and thirty painful extractions if it meant finding sixty more flowing wells. Fortunately, unlike my last post-dental adventure, Madison County’s J.H. Rent Well was still doing exactly what an artesian well is supposed to do- flow with water.
Continue reading “Madison County’s J.H. Rent flowing well “
The day has finally arrived: exterior demolition at Muncie Mall is underway. The first area in the wreckers’ sights is the old Muncie Mall 3 cinema. For those of us who’d hoped for one last glimpse inside the theater, we finally got our chance! It just happened to be through a gaping hole in the wall.
Continue reading “Updated: Muncie Mall Cinema is being destroyed right now”
Dead malls rarely make news because of what opens inside them. More often, it’s another closure, another demolition plan, or another reminder that their best days are firmly in the past. That’s why I did a double take when I learned Ashley Furniture had moved into Richmond Mall’s old OfficeMax space! A new tenant filling more than 25,000 square feet in a moribund shopping center isn’t something you see every day, so I wanted to look back at the long history of the space it now occupies.
Continue reading “A rare win for Richmond Mall”
Not long ago, I wrote about a drive through Delaware County with Grandma, Mom, and Aunt Jan that recreated the 2002 trip that turned me into a full-blown schoolhouse freak. Just like Mom did twenty-four years earlier, I documented the schools we passed with her Sony Mavica FD-75, a gloriously obsolete digital camera that stored its photos on floppy disks. Naturally, I also snapped backup shots with my iPhone. Here they are.
Continue reading “Delaware County schools in iPhone definition”
The landmark Smith-Esteb Memorial Hospital has stood along US-27 and Potter Shop Road south of Richmond for decades. Last year, I shared the story of how it became the Wayne County Home before falling silent in the 1970s. A few days later, I received an unexpected invitation from Donald Reed of Cross Road Christian Recovery Center for Women: would I like to see the inside? It wasn’t an offer I was about to refuse! Armed with flashlights and accompanied by some backup -my mom- I finally got the chance to explore one of Indiana’s most fascinating institutions. Here’s what I found.
Continue reading “Inside the old Smith-Esteb Memorial Hospital”
Beginning when I was a kid, I took frequent trips from Fort Wayne to Elkhart. I always admired this remarkable house which, depending on which way we were going, signified that we were either leaving or coming into Wolf Lake, Indiana. I never knew much about it, but snapped some photos when I was last in the area. Now, a little research has revealed some of its story.
Continue reading “Wolf Lake’s eclectic house on the hill”
If the excavator and towering mound of dirt are any indication, the next chapter of Muncie Mall’s transformation is about to begin. It looks like its old cinema will finally be demolished any day now.
Continue reading “Coming soon: the final curtain”
Dimes are finally cool again! That’s important, because I might be genetically predisposed to dislike the Roosevelt version. The whole thing starts with my great-grandfather, Howard H. Shideler. As a young man, he was appointed assistant cashier at a bank in Huntington- a remarkably prestigious position for someone his age. After serving as a corporal during World War I at twenty, Howard returned to Citizens State Bank. Then came the Great Depression.
Continue reading “The dime is finally cool again “
Most people drive past the McDonald’s at Charles and Madison in Muncie without giving it a second thought. After all, it’s just another fast-food restaurant. Look just to the left, though, and you’ll find one of Indiana’s most remarkable surviving roadside landmarks: a giant neon sign from 1958 featuring a grinning mascot with a hamburger-shaped head! Long before Ronald McDonald and supersized meals, this downtown corner marked the arrival of a fast-food revolution in Muncie.
Continue reading “Muncie’s golden arch”