Ladoga Clark Township Public Library and the Ladoga Post Office

Bertha Peffley Boone, librarian

Anderson House became the library in 1919

                                             Earliest picture I have seen of the Anderson House

Ladoga Clark Township Public Library in the 50's

Main Street looking west.  A black iron fence surrounded the library on the south and east sides

Bertha Boone in front of the library in the 50's

Ladoga Public Library

            The culture of the early settlers in Ladoga is very evident in all walks of life.  They knew that the growth and prosperity of knowledge and wealth depended on the children that would be the leaders in the future years.  Also, they knew that the adults would have to keep up mentally with the children.  Consequently, books always held a special interest for all.  As early as 1878, there is mention of ‘Stoners’s Private Library.’  There were libraries available for students at Haw Creek Academy established in 1838, a Baptist Seminary in 1855 and a Christian Church Academy in 1859.  It is recorded, ‘Clark Township had one of the township libraries and received much good from it.’  A circulating library, the “Tabard Inn Library’ had a branch in Ladoga in the 1890’s.   According to a web-site owned by Larry T. Nix, The Tabard Inn Library was one of the first circulating book collections.  He noted:

            “The Tabard Inn Library was founded in 1902 by Seymour Eaton.  It was a membership library with stations in the form of revolving bookcases located in drugstores and other commercial establishments throughout the United States.  The bookcase held 120 books which were to be charged from a central location every week.  A member deposited five cents in a compartment in the bookcase to exchange a book.  The carved message around the top of the bookcase read, ‘The Best Reading Rooms in the United States are the Homes of the American People.’  The books of the library were housed in sturdy black containers with red tape around the outside, prompting the readers to say, “The only red tape is on the outside of the boxes.” Initially a life membership for the Tabard Inn Library cast $3.00.  It was later reduced to $1.50.  Eaton used this procedure to develop a mailing list containing the names of over a million men and women.  He used the list to promote other ventures including the Tabard Inn Food Company.  Eaton’s conglomerate of enterprises came to an end in March of 1905 when he declared bankruptcy.”  Netflix had nothing on Seymour Eaton.  There is truly nothing new under the sun.

            In 1902, Mrs. Mabel Werts kept up to 500 books in her home; they were provided by the Indiana State Library.  They were later moved to the telephone office where there were volunteers who handled the distribution of the books.

            The Ladoga Women’s Literary Circle which is still functioning appointed a committee (Mrs. Purdy Foster, Mrs. Norris Stoner and Miss Bertha Ashby) to place additional books in the high school library.  Also, they were responsible for getting information regarding the establishment of a public library in Ladoga.

            Time passed and in 1919, they canvassed for signatures to petitions asking for a tax levy for a library.  The cooperation was great and more than the required number of signatures was secured in Ladoga as well as Clark and Scott townships.  On May 26, 1919, the first meeting of a library board was held and R.W. Marks was elected president, E.N. Stoner, vice president and Mrs. Opal Davis, secretary; other board members were Mrs. Mabel Werts, Mrs. Purdy Foster, Mrs. Hattie Byrd and John Harshbarger.

            By unanimous consent, the library was to be open and free to all the people of Clark and Scott townships as long as they continued to support it.

            In August of 1919, the 85-year-old Caleb Anderson house, standing on Main Street, one block east of the center of town, was purchased to house the library.  There were 1200 books donated, as well as bookshelves, tables, etc. 

            Mrs. Bertha Ashby, the first librarian, served without salary until 1923.  Because of the growth of the collection and heavy use of the facilities, and addition to the building was necessary in 1926.  Service was expanded to include a collection of books made available at all the small schools in the area.  Also, the board started a branch, with a part-time librarian in New Market.

            As with everything, the old building grew inadequate to handle the volumes of books and people.   The board began a cumulative building fund and in August of 1967, a beautiful Colonial type brick building was completed.  The furnishings and landscaping were purchased with funds left by the will of Mrs. Gertrude Brann Dodd.  The board members at the time of the building of the new library were the following: Harmon Rogers, Karl Rhoads, Sam Mahorney, Helen Kail, Harriet Bradley, Marjorie Blix, and Jane Kessler.

            The public continues to use and support the library with over two-thirds of the population being registered as borrowers.  The collection was grown to around 14,000 volumes and includes microfilms and recordings.  For many years, there has been a summer reading club in charge of Mrs. Jane Kessler.

The Tabard Inn Library

Books in the Tabard Inn traveling library

Tabard Inn Library

Membership Card

Book check

            Through the years, we have had only six librarians (1971)—Bertha Ashby, Mary Foxworthy, Elizabeth Carmichael, Bertha Boone, Ruth Harshbarger Buser, and Carolyn Cross.  The present board members (1971) are Sam Mahorney, Harriet Bradley, Joanne VanCleave, Jane Kessler, Lewis Goshorn, Beverly Bashia, and Norman Rogers.

The 1992 addition was made possible through the generous bequest of Maude (Long) Neff (Mrs. Floyd Neff).  It was originally used as a community room and housed the local history and genealogy collection and the reference section. The bell in the foreground was taken from the Old Normal when the bell tower was removed.  From its humble beginnings of 120 books in a public place somewhere in town, the Ladoga Public library has grown to the point when it is open 35 hours a week; it has a collection of 18,738 books, many of the popular magazines of the day, and 264 audio books.  the total circulation in 2011 was 12, 738 items.

John W. Lough Post master 1906-1914

The postal employers pictured are L-R Urban Ford, PM, John Lough, PM. Fred Long, carrier, and John Overstreet, carrier.  The first rural route in Clark Township was established in July of 1899.  Fred Long was the carrier.  It went north, then west, then south through Pawnee before going back into town.  Another route was added in 1901. 

You have to look closely to see that the building in the right side of the picture is the post office.  the picture above is the inside of that post office.  It was in the building next to Charlie Hughes Appliance store in our day.

        The two most important gathering places in Ladoga then and now are the Library and the Post Office.  The first post office in Ladoga was on the SE corner of Washington and South streets.  After that the post office  was housed in the first building east of where Hughes Appliance Store was in the 50's.  Next it was in the Oddfellows building downstairs.  It moved for a short time to the corner of Herman Davis' building where the city building is now and thenm back to the Oddfellows building where it remained until the new building was built on the west side of the RR tracks on Main Street. The first post office I can find a picture of was on the north side of Main Street where Charlie Hughes had his appliance store in the 50's.  The pictures I have are from about 1913.  Click on the picture and it will enlarge.   The post office was in the downstairs of the Oddfellows building in the 50's.  The present post office was built in 1967 and sits on the corner of Main and Sycamore Streets next to the railroad.  Look closely at the building on the far left in the picture above..  That is the Old Opera House.  I have no pictures of the Opera House with the chimneys and facade on top.

New post office built in 1967

Notice the facade, chimneys and fire escape on the Old Opera House