Yester~Year

The Republican has published local news weekly since 1847. We offer this column as a look back at events from our archives and to help connect today’s readers to the people and events in our past.

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of May 7, 1896

Mont Clair: House cleaning is the order of the day among the housewives, consequently, the husbands remain in the fields as long as possible. Is there a man on earth who will stay at home during house cleaning time and why to day dislike the job more than a woman?

Brownsburg: Ben Salmon will enlarge his hall this summer by raising the roof, making it sixteen foot ceiling, also extending it back, making it seventy feet in length. When completed, it will be the most commodious hall in town.

Amo: Sam Atkins treated himself to a nice new surrey, Saturday. Harrison & Garrison are fitting out a great many people with rigs this spring.

Our own Albert Orth is setting a rapid pace in the National League. A private letter from a Philadelphia citizen to the editor, says that Orth is regarded as the coming great pitcher of the league. Plainfield has fifty bicycles. The newly-organized Tribe of Ben Hur at Pittsboro has thirty-eight charter members.

J.S. Marshall thinks he has the boss hen. She has raised a brood of chickens this year, and has since added forty-eight eggs to the world’s supply.

Cartersburg: Sunday was a great time for the Springs, hundreds coming and going all through the day. It is estimated that 3,000 different people were on the grounds during the day. Some 400 wheelmen were out from Indianapolis and with those that came in from other places, it is believed that there were no less than 600 there.

Prof. Williamson reports a fine boy at his house, just twenty-four years younger than himself.

Coatesville: Earnest Greenlee has a fine new wheel.

Pecksburg: John Kendall has been cultivating an appetite by farm labor the past week.

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ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO Issue of May 12, 1921

In a letter to the Danville school board, from Wm. C. McGuire, of the firm of Mc- Guire & Shook, architects, the opinion is expressed that the Mattie A. Keeney building in Danville is in such condition that the estimated amount to repair it is too large to be used for that purpose.

Friends and neighbors of Mrs. Dallas Bilbee, whose husband died a few weeks ago living near Maplewood, yesterday went to her home and put in for her thirty acres of corn. At one time, there were working in the field, 51 horses and mules and one tractor.

Frederick Vee Osborn, who has just graduated from the Plainfield High School, has been named by Senator New for cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

County Surveyor Johnson and crew of assistants are moving their instruments and effects from the northwest corner rooms to the southwest corner rooms of the third floor of the court house, formerly used for jury rooms.

Stilesville: A fine class of fourteen graduated and all the commencement exercises were good.

The Washington township public library will start a book delivery, May 16.

Marshall Comingore saw the great Kentucky Derby run at Louisville, Saturday.

The alumni banquet of the Amo high school was attended by about eighty and a very enjoyable reunion was held. The ladies of the Rebekah lodge served a delightful four-course supper.

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SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of May 9, 1946

With the final approval of the Northern Diocese, yesterday, upholding the vote of the Southern Diocese last Thursday, the Episcopal Church of Indiana prepared for the assumption of final and complete control of Central Normal College.

L.M. Kirtley, Coach at Clayton high school for the past two years, recently resigned and will teach mathematics at Clayton during the coming year. Mr. Kirtley has coached for thirteen years in Hendricks County, having been at Danville eight years and also at Pittsboro three years.

In the state poetry contest held this spring, Mrs. Eva Waters (Tiny Mite), Pittsboro, was announced as winner of the first prize for a novelty poem of four lines and Mrs. Arthur Shartle received honorable mention for an eight-line nature poem, “The Birds.”

Students in Center township school are being vaccinated this week against Japanese

smallpox, a disease said to be spreading from the west coast, inland.

A building code for Danville was discussed at a meeting of the town board. As a formality, E.J. Roberts requested a building permit, necessary only in residential sections, for the building under construction north of the garage.

Polly, forty-seven year old pet of Mrs. Anna Skillman died, Saturday. Mrs. Skillman owned the parrot since it was a few weeks old. Polly enjoyed singing more than talking, her favorite song being “The Old Rugged Cross.”

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FIFTY YEARS AGO Issue of May 6, 1971

Roger Riggs, age 17, R.R. 2, Danville, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ross Riggs, has been selected to perform with the 1971 State 4-H Chorus at the State 4-H Round-Up, June 26-30, at Purdue.

Mark Pierson was selected “the most promising grade school musician” Thursday evening in the annual Most Promising Young Artist Contest at the Danville Community School.

“It is therefore our recommendation that the old structure [County Home] be replaced with a new, compact, fireproof single story modern structure be built and located on the county acreage south of U.S. 36…” Such was a portion of the report of the Hendricks County Grand Jury to the Circuit court last Wednesday.

Miss Pamela Sue Herald, chosen “Miss Plainfield” was a contestant last week in the “Miss Indiana-USA-Universe Beauty Pageant” at Gary.

Boy Scout Troop 302 from Danville spent Saturday planting some 750 trees at the site of the former city dump, southeast of Danville, with the hope that some time in the future this area might be suitable for additional park land for the community.

Officials of the First National Bank of Danville “broke the sky” instead of the earth at an unusual ground-breaking ceremony, Wednesday afternoon. Fifty large weather balloons, filled with helium, were released from the site by community leaders and the bank’s officers and directors.

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TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of May 2, 1996

Hendricks County added over 4,100 names to the list of registered voters since the last Primary election in 1994, bringing the total for Tuesday’s election to a record 47,643,

The Muncie-based Community Partnership team, headed by Dr. James Segedy and Brad Johnson, conducted a charrette – collection of information – in Danville during the weekend to aid local Town Council members in planning the future.

After three and a half years of planning, engineering and undergoing protracted bidding process, work crews are industriously engaged in replacing North Salem’s downtown sidewalks and installing 24 new street lamps.

Richard Thompson, of North Salem, Republican candidate for the U.S. Congress, 7th District, received the Washington Tomes Foundation Service Award in Washington, D.C. on April 16.

Sharyn Routh, daughter of Marcia and David Routh, has been chosen as one of 30 Indiana high school students to spend 7 weeks in France this summer with the Indiana University honors program in foreign languages. The Danville Community High School junior will live with a French family in Brittany.

Craig Callahan graduated from the University of Indianapolis with his Masters degree in Business Administration, Saturday.

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TEN YEARS AGO Issue of May 5, 2011

The Easter Bunny made his fifth annual visit to Hendricks Regional Health on Saturday, April 24. The costumed Easter Bunny (retired jailer Frank Kolacz) was provided by the Hendricks County Sheriff’s Department.

Dressing like a queen without spending a king’s fortune is the idea behind Katie McClure’s resale boutique at 65 W. Marion, Danville.

The 500 Festival announced the winner of the inaugural 2011 Centennial Celebration Essay Contest is Kaitlyn Averion from Danville South Elementary. The 500 Festival received 750 entries from fourth grade students across the state.

Two Hendricks County students were recently awarded Indiana Sheriffs Association scholarship during a short ceremony at the Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Dave Galloway presented $500 scholarships to Nick Call and Aaron Claus.

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