Photographing History

The creek  Nestled in the hills of Southern Indiana is a 1319 acre state park.  Spring Mill State Park gives it's visitors a chance to explore caves, capture the serene beauty of the woodlands, and take a walk back in time. Or visit the Virgil I. Grissom Memorial at the entrance to the park. Wildlife and birds are abundant in the park.  It's not uncommon to see wading birds in Spring Mill Lake, or to see deer, raccoons and other animals throughout the day.  The caves are home to fish, bats and spiders. The main attraction of the park is the Pioneer Village.  It takes you back close to 200 years in history to some of the first settlers in Indiana.  Thanks to Samuel Jackson, Jr., a young Canadian soldier from the War of 1812, and his vision of building a log cabin and a grist mill in the Indiana Territory, the Pioneer Village has survived the ownership of many people until 1927.  In 1927, Richard Lieber, the father of Indiana's state park system, was instrumental i

I've always had an infatuation with the Indiana Theatre.  Last night, I went 'behind the scenes' after hours on a tour.  It fascinates me even more so now. In 1920, Theodore W. Barhydt sold the Hippodrome Theatre(located at 727 Ohio Street) and founded the Indiana Theatre Corporation.   Mr. Barhydt was a prominent Terre Haute business man with ties to the Terre Haute House, Grand Opera House, Varieties Theatre, and the Hippodrome.  The Hippodrome still stands today.  It is now the home of the AASR . The Hippodrome as it stands today.  It is the oldest remaining vaudeville theater in America.  It was built at the cost of $100,000 The John Schumacher Company of Indianapolis was the builder.  Cost of Construction was $1,000,000 in 1922 dollars.  That would be roughly $13,671,965.32 today.  Construction consisted of: 1,665,000 bricks 7,250 yards of excavation 24.500 square feet of cement floor 283 tons of steel all fabrication and plaster work were prepa

The Sycamore Building wasn't always the Sycamore Building.  It was originally built as a bank for Citizens Trust Company Building in 1921 by Hoggson Brothers of New York City for $500, 000.  The construction of the building, from demolition of the old to designing and building of the new only took 9 1/2 months. At the time of construction, it's 12 stories made it the tallest building between Indianapolis and St. Louis.  It lost it's title in the 1960's when ISU erected the twin Statesmen Towers that were 15 stories tall.  But has since regained that title when the Statesmen Towers were demolished. Here are some statistics: Height (architectural) 140.00 ft Height (roof) 140.00 ft Height (main roof) 126.00 ft Floors (above ground) 12 Floors (below ground) 1 Construction start Feb 1921 Construction end Oct 1921 Elevators 2 1964 The Sycamore Building was sold by the Herber Estate to Sunset Harbor, Inc. A top the Sycamore building,

At one time, Clay County housed close to 200 little one room school houses.  Yes... you read that right, 200.   There was a school house every mile or so. You have to remember, children walked.  If people wanted children to obtain an education, they had to make the schools accessible to them.  That meant putting them much closer than they are today.  Schools also served other purposes.  They were meeting houses.  And sometimes served as a place of worship for Sunday services. The days of the old "one room school" house is coming to a stark end. Over the weekend I took it upon myself to track down 2 of them.  The intention was 4, but 2 are already gone.  In the coming weeks, I hope to track down more.... if they still exist. First up was one of the old Harrison Township Schools.  Oh a sight.  I fell in love with it right away... because of the history it showed.  But the condition of it? I couldn't believe that people have let such a historical piece of Clay Count