Photographing History

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 h...

There's a group in Vigo County called "The Time Travelers Club".  They meet once a month at a different place around Vigo County.  Usually a historical building with a past most would never know. On the 14th of June, I traveled back in time with them to the Condit House.  Condit House sits on the campus of Indiana State University.  Over time, it was a private residence, an office, and now its place in history is that of the home of the President of Indiana State Dan Bradley and his wife Cheri. Location of Condit House The history of Condit House is a unique in that until it was donated to the University in 1962, it had remained in the same family for 100 years.  Reverend Blackford Condit purchased the home from Lucien Houriet, a local Terre Haute jeweler, who had the house built in 1860.  It was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1973. Reverend Blackford Condit and his wife, Sara Louise Mills Condit, purchaes the home fr...

When we think of a jungle... most of us think of trees, bugs, birds, a maybe a monkey or two.  We think of movies like "The Jungle Book", "Tarzan", or even " Apocalypse Now".   What we don't think of is race cars.   In 1926, a man named Earl Padgett decided to open a sprint car track in Parke County, Indiana. It was a 1/2 mile, squished circle track (not quite oval, not a circle) on the banks of Sugar Creek, on the edge of Turkey Run State Park. Map of area where Jungle Park is located Jungle Park Speedway became a notoriously deadly race track.   But it was also known as one of the starting points for 8 Indianapolis 500 winners, including Wilbur Shaw who won in 1937, 1939 and 1940. Along the track, runs Highway 41 one one side, Sugar Creek on another, and woods on the other.  Those three elements are a portion of what made the track deadly.  The straightaways were paved, and the corners were  gravel.  The sides were high bank...