Photographing History

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...

We've all passed a cemetery... or two... or hundred in our life time.  More often than not, we don't stop.  We just think of it as just 'another cemetery'.  What most don't think of them as is pieces of history. This photo by chance... Old Hill Cemetery, Brazil, Clay County, Indiana Hundreds of people drive past it each day, and likely few will stop and to see who it is that lies beneath a huge stone such as it. Or the history that dwells just in the stone alone. Austin Willett Knight.  1807-1877 Doctor. Mason. Husband. Father. But unless you actually stopped and looked, you'd never know that... or that there are 2 other people listed on that tall stone that stands out (and above) all the rest. Austin Knight was married to Achsah (1803-1887).  On a third side of the stone is their daughter, Malvina (1835-1854).  The fourth side is a dedication to another daughter, Prudence Hudson (1837-1876). So much history in piece of stone.

If you drive along East Ashboro Road in Clay County, between 300 & 375 East, you'll see a structure unlike one you'd see today.   It looks to be what remains of the Walsh Railroad Tunnel & Abutment according to the 1997 Clay County Interim Report. But what turned it into what remains today?  According to a lengthy article on https://www.ccgsilib.org, John R. Walsh, an Irish Immigrant whose parents settled in Chicago, had 3 ambitions in life: to own a newspaper, a bank and a railroad. He established the Chicago National Bank in 1881.  He bought the Chicago Herald that same year. Later he started the Home Savings Bank and the Equitable Trust Company.  In 1897, Walsh bought the E&R to realize his 3rd ambition, and changed the name to the Southern Indiana Railroad.  He extended the lines from Elnora through the Sullivan-Greene coalfields, and on to Linton and Terre Haute.  The line opened in 1900.  In 1903, the Walsh railro...

This isn't a local history post... it's a forgotten places post. In 2013, I came across an old abandoned house on CR 500 East in Clay County.  It stood out to me, so I stopped to take photos.  And made me wonder.  Who lived there? What happened to them? Why was the place abandoned.  The more I wandered, the more the place intrigued me. Here are a few of the photos I took that day.  Perhaps they'll pose the same questions in you. I want to go back (once it quits raining) and take some more.  See what other pieces of history that old house holds... 

What do you do when you love photography and have a passion for all things old?  You drive around your area and take photographs of pieces of history that people have forgotten.  And then... you decide to create a blog dedicated to those things.  And tell about the history time forgot.   I can't guarantee I'll stick with this blog... I never have before... but it's my 2016 quest.  To find the old and forgotten... and bring it to light again.   So it begins.   This is a photo I took 7 May 2016:  According to the Clay County Interim Report (published 1997)  page 79, #096 for Perry Township, Clay County, Indiana.  This is a Flood Gate, off of 600 West; circa 1850/1920; Engineering, Transportation.  But what does that mean? what does it entail? What do they mean by Flood gate?  Here's a copy of an area map from maps.google.com  The red is the gate pictured above, orange is another gate, blue is dra...