Month February 2023

Meijer’s whimsical pineapple of discovery

Ted Shideler 4 Comments
Read time: 8 min.

When Grand Rapids-based Meijer decided to expand the reach of its Michigan hypermarkets to a trio of new states in the early 1990s, officials decided that a unique aesthetic was necessary to introduce their massive stores to a new batch of customers. There’s little that can be done to make a 200,000-square-foot building unique, but Meijer did just that, in large part through the use of a pineapple.

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Jackson Township’s White Oak schoolhouse in Jay County

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Read time: 5 min.

Jackson Township’s White Oak schoolhouse sits on sixty-four wooded acres just east of the Loblolly Marsh Wetland Preserve. “There’s a very good reason why you can’t come upon the school as you drive along,” a reporter for the Portland Commercial Review wrote in 1968. “It is located near a road which was abandoned about a decade ago. You can see it by car, with the aid of binoculars, from County Road 99 between County Roads 16 and 20 in Jackson Township1” Now that we’re firmly into the 21st century, a drone works too. 

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Albany’s last extant schoolhouse in Delaware County

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Read time: 2 min.

In 1893, the Albany Land Company capitalized on the prosperity that the natural gas boom brought to the town in northeastern Delaware County and laid out an addition to the community. It sat east of Halfway Creek1. The following year, the Lake Erie & Western railroad moved the town’s depot to the site of East Albany, a change that infuriated many of the town’s established residents2.

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Another of Delaware Township’s Albany schoolhouses in Delaware County

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Read time: 2 min.

Julia Allegre, George Current, and Rhoda Current deeded land to the Delaware School Township on July 15, 18761. Shortly after, the township constructed a two-story, three-bay brick building with a hipped roof and cupola to serve as a schoolhouse. Though originally the schoolhouse at Albany was designated as Delaware Township’s District 1, the town eventually operated its own, separate, school system.

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One of Delaware Township’s Albany schoolhouses in Delaware County

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Read time: 3 min.

The first school in the Albany area was established in 1836 when William Venard’s old cabin was converted into a schoolhouse near the center of town. Classes were taught over the course of a three-month term1. In 1874, this school was known as Delaware Township’s District 1 schoolhouse. It sat on the east side of South Water Street, just north of Albany’s modern day Lions Club building2.

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The Perry County Courthouse in Rome, Indiana (1818-1859)

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Read time: 7 min.

Historians have examined the cities of Rome and Troy for years, trying to ascertain whether one was founded by descendants of the other’s ancient heroes or whether the story was a legend. Rest assured- through my diligent research, I’ve finally cracked the case: though the two cities were founded at different times by different people, they remained fierce rivals for nearly fifty years. Just like in ancient times, Rome, Indiana managed to outlive its Hoosier counterpart, Troy, at least for a while.

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Welcome to Gates Corner, Indiana. Population: ~3 (including you!)

Ted Shideler 6 Comments
Read time: 6 min.

Indiana is home to hundreds, if not thousands of tiny, forgotten communities. Take Delaware County’s Gates Corner, for instance: it sits at the crux of County Roads 600-South and 700-East in Perry Township. Today, it consists of an abandoned store and an occupied house. That’s it! I drove through the hamlet four or five times before I became aware that it was somewhere instead of nowhere.

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Three shuttered cinemas a stone’s throw apart in Anderson, Indiana

Ted Shideler 7 Comments
Read time: 10 min.

Movie theaters are closing: the rise of streaming services, competition from entertainment, changing consumer preferences, and residual economic factors from COVID-19 have shuttered many multiplexes over the past several years. Anderson, Indiana, alone has four! That’s not uncommon for a community of its size in the midwestern rust belt, but what is uncommon is that three of them sit within an astonishing eight hundred feet of one another! 

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