Yester Year

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 21, 1896

Pecksburg: Charley Walls, the genial trustee of Franklin township, has purchased a new wheel, on which he may be seen daily attending to his official business.

Stilesville: John Harding says he has a new kind of corn planted which grows so high you have to use step ladders to gather it. It has no cob. The corn grows in the shuck already shelled. He will sell the seed at one dollar and fifty cents per bushel.

New Winchester: Items are a scarce this week as donations to the heathen.

There are four graduates from Avon school – William Smith, Byron Cox, Esther Guthrie and Irma Huron.

There will be a glorious Fourth of July celebration in Danville this year. It is proposed to have the celebration in the driving park. In the morning there will be some good bicycle races for young American. After the picnic dinners are disposed of under the trees, the trotters and pacers will be brought out and some good races will be the entertainment.

W.S. Wooten is spending this week in Danville having this trees and underbrush on his nursery property trimmed up. Mr. Wooten has lost considerably by the people cutting down trees and removing them from his property.

Rev. Nelson Greene thinks this is the champion year for potato bugs as he picked thirty-six off of one hill Monday. He thinks he is entitled to the premium.

Mont Clair: Isaac Mendenhall has contracted to furnish 85,000 feet of lumber for the Union Stock Yards.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO Issue of May 19, 1921

Saturday, the contract for the new school at Lizton was let at a total cost of $110,385. The building is planned on the “T” shape and when completed will be one of the most modern arrangement and equipment to be found in the central states.

Edgar M. Blessing has accepted the position tendered him on the Public Utilities Commission by Governor McCray.

Tonight at the chapel, the forty-first commencement exercises of the Danville high school will be held. The class is counted one of exceptional strength and consists of thirty members.

A wedding party was staged for three o’clock last Saturday afternoon in the private room of the County Recorder’s office in Danville. The contracting parties were Mrs. Almedia Jones and John W. Pounds, of Clayton.

In the window of the Christie grocery is a beautiful vase made from a French 75 casing. It is he handiwork of George R. Fleenor, a student, and was made while Mr. Fleenor was with the American army overseas. His tools were a hammer and two punches.

Amo: On Sunday, May 15th, about thirty-five relatives with well filled baskets met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Cosner to remind Mrs. Cosner that her birthday was near at hand.

Avon: The Huron bridge is out and Enos Denney must travel four miles to go from the house to the barn if he goes around the road.

Rev. William Wallace Curry, 97 years old, once a widely known resident of Danville, died at his home in Washington, Tuesday. As a campaign orator he had a national reputation and his services were in great demand.

SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of May 23, 1946

Donald Hogate has been elected president of the Washington, D.C. DePauw alumni club.

Children who are 15 years old or younger, are eligible to enter the first annual Junior Horse Show, to be held Sunday, May 26, under the sponsorship of the Danville Saddle Club at the club grounds, 2 ½ miles north of Danville on Road 39.

Two World War II veterans were laid to rest in the South Cemetery since last Memorial Day, Joe Scearce and Alvin Hall.

A paper by Stanley Shartle appears in the April issue of “Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Compute,” published by the National Research Council.

Mr. and Mrs. Harry Cartlidge, of Avon, are the parents of a daughter, Katherine, born at the Methodist Hospital, Monday.

North Salem: A Cub Scout organization was completed at a meeting held in the church, last Thursday night. Everett Davidson was made Cub Master and will be assisted by Richard Trotter and Charles Kurtz.

John Jenner, a veteran of World War II, is taking his printer’s apprenticeship to The Republican office, which has been accredited for Veterans training. Mr. Jenner has served in the Navy, is married, has one son, and lives in Danville.

Special – See the 500-Mile Race and the Speedway crowd from the air – Decoration Day – May 30, 1946 – Round Trip Sightseeing Tour, $7.50 – Mecca Airport. Phone 535-L.

Miss Avis Thelma Logue, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Logue, of Amo, and Robert Maxwell Rees, of Chicago, were married April 15, at Covington, Ky.

A pure white filly was foaled May 8, out of Silver Babe, a palomino mare owned by Mrs. Enver Shaw and has been named Silver Beauty.

FIFTY YEARS AGO Issue of May 20, 1971

Dell Harrison Nunaly III, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dell H. Nunaly, Jr., R.R. 3 Danville, has been accepted for admission to the U.S. Military Academy as West Point.

Avon high school’s 1971 graduating class will have 105 seniors.

The Hendricks County Health Department has given the Christ Festival Committee until tomorrow to file written verification of “certain precautionaly measures” before it will evaluate the facilities and general situation for the proposed Christ Festival, May 28-29-30 at Maplecroft Drive-In Theater, U.S. 40.

As of May 14, a total of $2,021.85 has been contributed to the Evelyn Miller Artificial Kidney Fund. Last week’s balance was $1,235.

Mrs. Huldah York, town clerk-treasurer, administered the oah of office to Earnest Davis as new town marshal, Saturday morning.

Terry Cupp, Danville Community High School senior, won the coveted Robert D. Leedy Sports Award last Wednesday night, at the All-Sports Banquet, sponsored by the Danville Booster Club.

Miss Linda Ratliff, R.R. 1, Lizton, was among 78 co-eds initiated into Gold Peppers, activities society for upper-class women at Purdue University.

Dr. William Hudnut III, senior minister of the Second Presbyterian Church at 7700 North Meridian St., Indianapolis, will deliver the Danville Community High School commencement address.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of May 16, 1996

A total of 1,093 seniors will receive their diplomas from the seven high schools in Hendricks County in the Classes of 1996.

The Hendricks County Heritage Alliance will kick off National Historic Preservation Week with a guided tour of the Historic Court House Square District in Danville.

Superintendent John McKinney of the Danville Community School Corporation announced at the May School Board meeting that Richard Snodgrass will be the varsity basketball coach for the coming season.

The Hendricks County Singles Over 40 will meet on Friday, May 17, for a Spring Fling Picnic at Avon Park.

Marjorie Schulmeister has a unique collection of miniature doll houses at the Danville Public Library.

For the first time, two Danville Community Middle School students have placed in the top three statewide in the State Math Mania Finals. David Tripple placed third of all Grade 7 students and Aaron Pizarek tied for second in the state overall.

TEN YEARS AGO Issue of May 19, 2011

Sergeant Kevin L. Courdray, son of Gene and Jo Cordray of Coatesville, was awarded the Bronze Star for exceptional meritorious service during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.

Lt. Governor Becky Skillman recognized outstanding contribution to the tourism industry during a ceremony at the Indiana Statehouse. One of the recipients was Doris Marten, schoolmarm for the Pittsboro One-Room School House.

This week Danville’s landmark, the Dairy Queen, operates under new ownernship, Lee Kleiner, and manager Micah Brown.

The Danville Community School Corporation, next fall, will not only be giving only the teachers, but each student at Danville High School, an Apple iPad as part of the curriculum.

Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #132 hosted a Memorial Service for fallen officers in the court house rotunda at noon on Wednesday, May 14.