I was bumbling through Union County looking for its old infirmary when I spotted an old schoolhouse rising in the distance. I haven’t been able to find out much about it, but the building’s still intriguing for a variety of reasons.
Continue reading “Harrison Township’s intriguing District 4 schoolhouse in Union County”
The history of the National Road -an early highway that connected Cumberland, Maryland, with Vandalia, Illinois, and blazed its way through East-Central Indiana in the 1820s- is fascinating. Along the route, travelers once relied on tombstone-shaped markers that recorded distances between towns and state lines. Many still stand in other states, but Indiana’s are few, if not far between. At least, they were.
Continue reading “1.5 milestones on the old National Road”
I guess it should come as no surprise since the mall that houses it will soon be demolished, but Muncie’s MCL cafeteria is closing on March 29th. This is a real shame: I’d only just become acquainted with it!
Continue reading “Muncie’s MCL is closing and everything sucks”
I’ve loved Hot Wheels for as long as I can remember. Honestly, what kid doesn’t? Lately, I’ve rediscovered the YouTube channel baremetalHW, where battered old die-cast cars -Hot Wheels Redlines, Matchbox, Johnny Lightning, and even more obscure brands like Siku and Corgi- are carefully restored back to life. Watching those tiny survivors get a second chance has stirred up a few die-cast memories of my own. Here’s one of them.
Continue reading “The Bugatti incident “
I pass through Redkey every now and then. For years, it was my quickest way past the landmark Oak Grove Schoolhouse. Recently, though, I learned the town has been working to restore a 117-year-old clock downtown! Once I heard the story behind it, I realized the place was far more interesting than a quick drive around its outskirts might suggest.
Continue reading “A new clock for Redkey’s tower?”
My brain often brims with burning questions of no real consequence. One recent obsession was where Muncie’s first Dollar General store was. Here alone, there are at least ten today. That works out to roughly one Dollar General for every 6,500 people! That sheer density made me curious. It didn’t just happen overnight, so where did the phenomenon begin? As it turns out, Muncie’s first Dollar General was in the old Southway Plaza.
Continue reading “The first Dollar General in Muncie”
Sometimes a simple roadside curiosity turns into an unexpected adventure. In this case, the culprit was a 160-foot clock tower in Berne, Indiana. All I wanted to do was watch the little glockenspiel show that comes out of the doors near its base. That seemed reasonable enough. As it turns out, though, timing a Swiss-inspired clock tower in rural Indiana is much harder than it sounds.
Continue reading “Apparently I’m not meant to watch the full Berne clock tower show”
I’ve always been drawn to big, sweeping statewide projects. There’s something irresistible about assembling a collection than informs the bigger picture! A few months ago, I decided my next long quest would be to visit each of Indiana’s old county infirmaries. I’d already been to six when I set out for the Adams County site just southeast of Decatur. For many years, it went by another name: Golden Meadows.
Continue reading “Indiana’s Adams County Home”
A single high school serves Jay County today, but things weren’t always that simple. Not so long ago, eight separate high schools dotted the county, each one anchoring its own community. Time and consolidation have erased them all, but one exception stands in New Mount Pleasant: there, a modest marker commemorates the site of I. P. Gray High School.
Continue reading “Jefferson Township’s I. P. Gray marker in Jay County”
The only good thing about not working lately has been that I have Fridays off. I technically have every day off, but Fridays are different around here: that’s when Delaware County tests its outdoor warning sirens. A handful of them -our Thunderbolts- are incredible relics! One stands perched above Southview Elementary School.
Continue reading “Muncie’s Southview Thunderbolt”