Category Found Muncie

Muncie Mall hangs on by a thread

Ted Shideler 16 Comments
Read time: 10 min.

Make that thirteen threads: in February, people in Muncie learned that all of our mall would be demolished, beginning with the long-vacant Sears, J.C. Penney, and old three-screen cinema. At first, the wrecking ball was supposed to arrive in March1. Later, the timeline was pushed back to April2. Now, with two-thirds of May already gone and no visible signs of demolition outside, a strange limbo has settled over the property. Curious, I ventured in. A baker’s dozen of tenants are still hanging on compared to sixty-seven in 2004.

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A Modern Woodsmen hall in Eaton

Ted Shideler 2 Comments
Read time: 4 min.

Most of us have probably heard of the Masons, the Moose, the Elks, and the Eagles- fraternal organizations mostly named after animals whose lodges dot our local landscape. Some may have even heard of more obscure groups like the Odd Fellows or the Knights of Pythias! I’d only ever known Modern Woodmen of America through the distinctive grave markers left by some of its members, and it wasn’t until I stumbled across an old lodge hall in Eaton that the organization suddenly took on more of a physical presence. 

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A glimpse inside the Gaston gym

Ted Shideler 18 Comments
Read time: 10 min.

Delaware County boasts basketball cathedrals like the Muncie Fieldhouse and Ball Gymnasium, but its history thins out fast after a step outside the city. In fact, only one true survivor from Indiana’s golden age of hoops remains- the home of the Gaston Bulldogs. After years of trying to find someone to let us in, My friend Brett and I visited yesterday. We might have made it just in time. Here’s how it all unfolded, with some history to boot.

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The home I wrote about yesterday WAS an old schoolhouse, but I still don’t know much about it

Ted Shideler 3 Comments
Read time: 4 min.

Yesterday, I posted about a building at 3604 East Jackson Street in Muncie that someone told me was an old schoolhouse. I had my doubts since I’d never come across it in years of digging through local history, but a fortunate tip from reader gregandbirds strongly suggested I may have been wrong.

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I clinched Muncie’s Thunderbolt trifecta with unfortunate results

Ted Shideler 4 Comments
Read time: 4 min.

Most of Muncie’s outdoor warning sirens are bland, modern Federal Signal 2001-SRNs. Three, however, are different: they’re yellow Federal Signal Thunderbolts that date back to 1958. I’ve finally tracked all of them down, but the last example -perched at the old Riley Elementary School- has fallen silent. Its Cold War voice is broken. 

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Rees: a pioneer cemetery in Delaware County

Ted Shideler 3 Comments
Read time: 6 min.

Of all of Delaware County’s pioneer burial grounds, few carry the weight of history quite like Rees Cemetery along the old Muncie–Richmond Road. At first glance, it’s easy to pass by without a second thought. Look closer, though, and the ground tells a deeper story: nearly two centuries of early settlement, loss, and survival are bound up in this modest acre. That makes Rees Cemetery not just one of the county’s oldest burial grounds, but one of its most revealing windows into the lives and deaths that shaped Delaware County from its earliest days.

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Muncie’s former Garfield School

Ted Shideler 2 Comments
Read time: 6 min.

As a post-industrial city sitting squarely in the center of the Rust Belt, Muncie was once home to a fantastic variety of smokestacks. Many no longer exist as the factories have been demolished, but one of the best that remains sits behind the old Garfield Elementary. Some version of the school has been a landmark for more than a century! Fortunately, it’ll soon become home to something new.

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Spotted in the wild: the first “Victorian” Village Pantry

Ted Shideler 2 Comments
Read time: 2 min.

As it grew across Indiana and Ohio, Yorktown-based Marsh Supermarkets wasn’t content to just dominate the grocery aisle- it wanted a foothold on the corner. In 1966, the company jumped headfirst into the booming convenience-store business with its Village Pantry division. Many of the oldest examples have found second lives as something else, and I can’t pass one without slowing down. 

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