Notes from Individuals

Notes from individuals:

Sue Merchant Todd—“Ollie and Ida Lane had the grocery and gas station in the east end of town on Taylor Street which is now McClure’s.  Lee Dodd had a grocery store in the 600 block of east Elm Street and a lady by the name of Barber had a grocery store in her house on Vine Street where Diane Cross now lives.  I can remember going to Mrs. Barber’s store and see her sitting in a room off of the main part of the store smoking a pipe.  Also Letha Peffley had a store in her house on Taylor Street.  There was also a beauty shop on the south side of Main Street between the FJO restaurant and Herman Davis Chevrolet.  I remember that Betty Elless worked there.”

Ray (Skip) Ronk—“Runt Cross was town cop from about 1959 to around 1964, because I remember him chasing me a couple of times.  I don’t remember why, but when I got a driver’s license, it was because he didn’t like my driving style.  The overweight cop that drove a Jeep was a guy named Crawford.  Some of my fondest memories are the fish fries, the swimming hole at Raccoon Creek, and some of the hills we used to sled on in winter.  I also remember the canning factory across the RR tracks from the ball diamond and the Ladoga Grain Elevator owned by Emory and Marion Chase.  I spent many days in my youth unloading bags of fertilizer from RR cars there.  I also remember Mrs. Peffley’s store.  She was very kind to all us kids.” 

Ed Miller—“Really fun reading.  Ethel Merchant (wife of Elmer) mother of Sue and Bill was one of the Ladoga telephone operators.  Howard Steele was the barber in the basement at Main and Washington.  Lawyer Marks was Walter Marks.  He and his wife Zenia lived on Scotland Drive.  Their son, Adrian, was an aviator in the Pacific during WW II.  He landed his plane on the water to rescue survivors of the USS Indianapolis disaster.  The Chase family owned and operated the elevator next to the Monon.  The lumber yard was run by Mr. and Mrs. Lewis.  Later Chet Dickerson provided coal to Ladoga residents out of that same location.  Harold Miller purchased the old Hillis and Oliver machine shop in the 50’s where he sold and repaired farm machinery and implements.  In the 50’s Mr. Jenkins ran the Ladoga train station.  By the 60’s, few trains stopped.  By the 70’s, Monon was no more.”  I remember Ernie French well.  He talked in a clipped frog-like cadence.  He would often stop in to Miller’s Sales and Service on south Washington (now Kenny Vice ford) for a nickel; Coca Cola.  The cokes were smaller then, in classic green bottles.  On a hot day, Ernie could down the entire bottle on the first swig.  Met with Richard Stark a few years back when he stopped by my folks place in Crawfordsville.  He said he was working as a machinist in the area.  I told him I still remembered his cool ’46 Chevy he drove in high school.  His dad “Red” Stark, was a fixture at the elevator next to the Monon, just as his mother Hallie, was a fixture at Widdop’s Grocery, where she checked out customers at the cash register.”

Don Cotton—Don has a lot of memories of Ladoga in the 40’s and early 50’s.   He writes, “The hardware store was owned by Charlie Travis before the McGaugheys.  Charlie was collecting rubber tires and inner tubes in the front window of the store for the war.  The school was collecting old iron and machinery also for the war effort.  There were tons and tons of iron on the pile and it was getting kind of high.  One morning, I believe it was on a Monday morning, there were a lot of people coming to look at the pile of iron.  Right in the middle of the pile and on top was a model T.  Nobody knew how it got there, but I think the car came from old Fat Anderson’s. (Ernest)  He lived right behind the library and had a lot of junk all over the place in the trees and weeds.  Later on, we heard that there were 8 or 10 kids who got together and were responsible.  They had to take the car and put it back where they got it.

            “There were two canning factories in town.  There was the one across from the baseball field owned by Ralph Strickler called the Home Canning Company, and the one in the east end of town called the Ladoga Canning Factory.  It was started by Edgar Ashby.  Next to Kenny Vice Ford across the alley north, was an upstairs recreation room where you could make things and learn how to box.  I remember the street movies and the fish fries and carnivals that were held on Main Street.  The streets would be full for the carnivals.  I remember the penny suppers at the Rebecca Lodge.  Lee Dodd was the owner of a small grocery store in town and was hit by a train at the crossing by the depot.  He was in his car and fell out when it was pushed down the tracks.  All the gas stations had gravity gas pumps.  You had to hand pump your gas in the top for the amount you wanted and then put it in your car.  One station was right on the sidewalk in front of the tire shop.  The tire shop used to be a garage.  Right next to the garage across the alley was another filling station (Jess Byrd’s) Jess also sold feed.  Upstairs at the hardware store, there was a big round tank of leather oil.  They had ropes and pulleys to dip the harness in for oiling and cleaning.  In the back part of the hardware was the John Deere repair shop run by my dad, Francis Cotton.  He was known all over the county for working on and repairing John Deere tractors.  Back behind the hardware and pool room we always played kick the can.  Next to the alley was the Brunst Brothers Meat Market and Grocery Store.  Herman Brunst was a gun collector who collected muzzle-loading rifles.  He had dozens and dozens of guns.  Lots of times, he gave people groceries and food for guns.  Herman also owned a red Stearman or Waco  biplane.  Just behind Hillis and Oliver’s machine shop was an ice house.  I believe it closed in the late thirties.  Dad (Francis Cotton) was marshal in Ladoga after work through the week, including nights and week ends for about two years.

Bob Stull, Monon Stationmaster

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading your memories of Ladoga.  Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. I think you have it covered pretty well.  I’ll add a few recollections that might interest you.

As you said Chas. Hughes had the juke box business in the area restaurants and taverns.  Jim Cross and I would go with Carl Todd occasionally to collect the dimes out of the machines.  On one occasion, somehow a tub of iced beer got into the back of the van, so Jim and I tried to help Carl out.  The labels were wet so whenever a bottle happened to get empty, we slid the labels off and pasted it to the side of the van, unknown to Carl.  We the next day Charlie drove the van and found the labels.  He almost fired Carl.  We didn’t do that again.

When McMurtreys operated the grocery, they also had two huckster trucks that they operated in the farm area around Ladoga.  Dick Fendley and Raymond Carter drove the trucks for some time.  I remember buying candy off Dick when we lived on the farm three miles east of town.  They sold grocery goods and would buy eggs from the farmers.  The trucks were old converted school busses.  Raymond Carter also operated the projector at the movie theater and did bicycle repairs at his home.

I remember when your grandfather (Amos Boone) had the Golden Rule Garage.  He had a little building just inside where the double door was located that was insulated and held the ice that they sold.  Mr. Fletcher, 6^th grades teacher, delivered ice around town during the summer months.  I worked for you grandfather off and on selling ice there the garage for people that lived out of town.  I was working for him when I wanted to get my first driver’s license.  I told him what I wanted to do, but that my folks didn’t have a car for me to use.  He had a couple of old cars for sale so he told me I could take one of them to get to C’ville to get my license.  I drove up there with no license and probably no auto insurance to take my test.  I took my test and during the test, the instructor shouted “STOP.”  I pushed the brake pedal to the floor and finally the car stopped.  He wasn’t impressed and gave me a few choice words, but he did pass me by two points.

Bill, do you remember the little store my folks (Bruce and Ruth Stull) operated for about five years?  I think it was about 1960-1968.  In regard to the Canning Company, they stored canned goods in the stores up town; they used the two buildings on Main Street and filled the Golden Rule Garage with canned items waiting for orders.  My Dad fired the stoves in all three buildings to keep it from freezing.

You mentioned Tommy Davis’ accident.  Tommy and Joe Featherstone were driving Tommy’s mother’s brand new Chevy coupe and hit a low culvert about two miles east of New Market.  Joe was killed and Tom died either on the way to C’ville to the hospital or at the hospital.  His mother and father were on vacation in Florida

Harry Todd ran the paint department at the Chevrolet garage.

I think Nicholsons opened a restaurant next to the Chevy garage after they left the bank building.

I agree with you that I couldn’t have grown up in a better place than Ladoga.  Hope this helps you trip down “Memory Lane.” 

Bill and Carol (Brunst) KImmel

Bill:

Here's your answer to the question about the Poe/Brunst market - Charles Poe was my great-uncle.  He was married to Grandpa Brunst's sister Anna. I'm attaching a photo taken in 1911 of Charles Poe (on the left) and a man who worked for him whose last name was Bishop (don't think I ever heard or knew his first name). I've also attached another photo taken in the meat market of my Grandpa (his name - Herman Brunst) and my Daddy and Uncle Herman; this photo taken sometime in late 30's (sometime before WWII).  Uncle Charles and Aunt Anna wrote to Grandpa and Grandma (Herman and Lucy) sometime in 1914 and wanted Grandpa to consider buying the store because they wanted out of the business. My Grandma was ten years younger than Grandpa and was raised in New York City.  She loved the city and also loved her church (St Peter's Episcopal). She was very reluctant to move; Grandpa talked her into a trial move. To make a long story short, after they got there, he told her if they had another baby and it was a girl, they would go back to New York - doesn't that sound just like a man.  Anyway early in 1916, they had a girl (my Aunt Margaret), didn't go back and Grandpa bought the store. I can't tell you the exact date in 1916 that he bought it (bill of sale might be here, but can't look for now). I can tell you that he bought the land for the slaughter house from John and Pearl Myers in August 1919. Also, just another personal family fact, my Daddy never killed a cow or a pig - he just could not - Grandpa, Uncle Herman, and a couple of guys who worked for them did the slaughtering - Daddy did butchering of the meat, but couldn't go down there when the killing happened. They briefly sold the store a couple of times - 1947 when Grandpa was very ill and again in early 50's - Bennett's and then to Clark's. Daddy sold it for good in 1958.

These items are just additional info/corrections we noticed or thought of as we read your E-Mails:

The hardware next to the meat market - you didn't mention that Orris and Olive Reiter owned that for several years before the McGaughey's did.

- The little store across the alley from the meat market - I remember the pool room, but, I also remember very well when it was occupied by Andy's Shoe Repair - I can't remember Andy's last name, but I do remember that he loved to tell Daddy about things that he saw Janet and I doing that he thought Daddy should know. Best of all, was the night we were at the drive-in at Crawfordsville - I was driving Daddy's car - Janet, Jean Anne, Brenda, and Alice Ann in the car and we were smoking cigarettes - Andy and his wife were in the row behind us.

- Telephone operators - Paul Osborne was one. I remember that because Janet and I had a slumber party at our house and for fun we were making nuisance telephone calls such as "Are you the lady who does laundry" The answer was usually "No" followed by our "Why you dirty old thing" and hang up. Mr. Osborne marched in to see Daddy the next morning.

- Just a couple of name corrections - Herman Davis' wife was Sybil (Opal was Frank Davis' wife). Bill's Mom's middle name was Pearl; she didn't like it and all her married life, she used her maiden name, Jones, as her middle name.  Whoever told you the middle name was Fay might have been thinking of Fay Perkins, who was Lena's niece.

- Bill also fondly remembers Harold Miller's Machine Shop located across the railroad tracks from home plate. He said it was a fascinating place with belts that ran all over the building and, best of all, a 5-cent Coke machine. He went there frequently with his Dad.

-Bill also remembers very well the B.F Goodrich store (was located on the corner across the street from what eventually was Bouse's Drug Store). He cannot remember the name of the man (Bill Oliver) who ran it. He does remember he and his brothers got an electric train from the store one Christmas and the guy sold Whizzer bikes out of the back of the store - the Kimmel boys got one of those also. He says that after the store closed, the guy continued to sell Whizzer bikes out of his garage.

Bill also wondered how many basketball players remember Orson Craig driving the bus to away games.

Too bad, we don't still have Wayne (Bird) here - his mind was sharp as a tack and he remembered all kinds of stuff about Ladoga and people who lived there. Anytime we went to visit we would have those "remember" conversations. I can imagine how overwhelming taking on this "history" of a town is - I have been trying to put together family history/stories to leave behind for our kids in some kind of organized fashion. The main problem is I waited too long to start and most of my sources for info are gone and I'm not sure I will be here long enough to get it done. We, very much, agree that growing up in Ladoga was the "best of times." Our kids and grandkids hear our stories all the time, so much so, that, at a family gathering last year when we all found out that one of our grandsons and his wife were expecting their third baby, a name for a new baby came up and Jeff, our son, suggested that maybe they should honor our Ladoga roots and name the baby "Grubby, Cooney, or Sneedle." I didn't mean to write you a book; good luck with getting all the info you need.

Carol and Bill

Nicknames

After reading Carol and Bill’s note about possible Ladoga names for new babies, the Monday Morning Culture Club came up with some other nicknames of old Ladoga.

Tuney—Warren Strickler

Juicey—Ralph Strickler

Ike—Harold Strickler

Fat—Ernest Anderson

Sneedle—Richard Stark

Tort—Arnold Yeagley and all other Yeagleys

Haw Crick—Harold Morrison

Yok—Lyle McClellan

Funny—Harold McClellan

Mose—Lawrence McClellan

Whitey—Donald McClellan

Honky—Jim Ronk

Peanut—David French

Grubby—Lynn, Warren and all other Pitzers

Red—Herman Stark

Red—Gerald Hart

Runt—Irvin Cross (He was short)

Heinie—Owen Zimmerman (He was tall)

Squint--Ora VanCleave

If any of you old Ladoga folks can come up with other nicknames (clean ones), share them with us.

Floyd William (Wimpy) Ball

            My first memory of moving to Ladoga was in 1941 when my Dad. Ernest Ball was offered and accepted a job as cashier of the Ladoga State Bank.  In later years Dad was promoted to bank president after Frank Davis retired.

            Dad also served as Santa Claus for over 25 years while he was a member of the Ladoga Lions Club.  One snowy year, with the assistance of my brother Edsel and Clifford Cook, Dad borrowed a sleigh from Dode Crodian’s loft and a horse from Jess Cook, Clifford’s Dad, to deliver the sacks of Christmas goodies to the children of Ladoga.  He departed from Franklin Street just east of the library.  Everything went well until Santa arrived at the center of town. He was greeted by a large group of screaming children.  The horse bolted and headed west on 234 at a furious gallop.  My brother, Clifford and I recovered Dad, the horse, sleigh, and all the goodies down by the Old Normal Building and walked Santa and his sleigh back to the center of town.  There was a lot of snow on 234 that year but using Jess Cook’s horse and Dode Crodian’s sleigh was not such a good idea.  Dad was raised on the Ball homestead near Waynetown, but never developed a love for working horses on the farm, so that was the last time he used a horse and sleigh for the Ladoga Lions Club annual Christmas program for the children.

            I was very unhappy about moving from Crawfordsville to Ladoga, when I found out that Ladoga did not have a football team.  However, Dad and Mom felt that my early HS football ambitions were not that important at the time; my brother and I were born in 1928 and 1930 and the country and Ladoga were still recovering from the Depression.

            Our first home in Ladoga was Harry Skinner’s rental house behind Mr. and Mrs. Keller’s, across the street from the Presbyterian Church.  The Kellers owned the drug store at that time.  The church sponsored a canteen after basketball games when I was playing basketball in the late 40’s and early 50’s.  (I graduated in 1950)  A few years, Dad and Mom bought our first home from R.C. Cox, the principal of Ladoga H.S.  It was located on 234 next to Chet and Dorothy Vice’s current home.  They were great neighbors and during my high school years, I used to go coon hunting with Chet.  During WW II, I worked at the Ladoga Canning Factory with Chet, placing cans on the 2^nd floor racks that made their way down to the 1^st floor canning steamer.  Chet can tell you about filling water in the upright cans on their trip down to the steamer.  It would dump water as they made the turn on the trip down to the steamer operators  

            I also worked a few Saturday nights at Keller’s Drug Store jerking sodas.  The drug store and streets were always full of people on the north side of 234 on Saturday nights.  The farmers would come in early just to park in front of the hardware and drug store.

            During WW II, I wrote several letters to Jim Stewart and Dick Long, Navy veterans and Bob Scott, an Army Air Force WW II veteran.  Henry Allen and I gathered scrap metal (including an old corn planter we removed from a tree from one of Fat Anderson’s vacant lots, located just west and on the back side of the Hillis and Oliver welding and machine shop.

            The Ladoga schools conducted a WW II scrap metal program and the material was stored on the west side of the Ladoga Grade School yard.  It was a very successful program and covered just about all the west side of the grade school playground yard.  Fat Anderson complained to Mr. Cox about the removal of his corn planter from his property and we had to return the corn planter.  However, we were able to hide some of the other metal items that we removed from his lot.  

            Ruthanna also remembers gathering milk weed pods and scrap metal from the Britts farm.  She thinks that the milk weed pods were used in the manufacture of parachute cords and other parts of the parachutes.

            During WW II, all grade school children were encouraged to buy war bond stamps, in hopes that they would accumulate enough for a full $25.00 war bond.  I think that my yard mowing, car washing/ waxing jobs and other earnings finally made enough for three full $25.00 bonds.  This is also the period of time when the Damewood girls, (Janette, Evelyn and Pauline) tried to teach me how to dance on the 2^nd floor of the old Hannah’s Crossing store, restaurant, and gas station located at the intersection of SR’s 231 and 36 after Ladoga H.S. basketball games.  Their dancing instructions didn’t take.

            I have many memories of jobs that I held while I was growing up.  I remember mowing Mr. Marks’ very large yard in Scotland Yard for 75 cents and other yard in Ladoga for much less.  Joe Lewellyn and I washed and waxed cars for $5.00 per car.  My brother and I delivered the morning Indianapolis Star for 2 ½ years.  I delivered the north part of Ladoga and Edsel covered the south part.  During my junior year in HS, I mowed both sides of 234 from Jamestown to highway 47, with my Ford tractor.  My boss was Tol Sutherlin, manager of highway 234.  I had to sign a form that IU was a registered Democrat to get the job even though I was not old enough to vote. 

            In my junior and senior years, I farmed Fred and Lola Newby’s 120 acre farm down the road from the Stoner Cemetery.  I made several hog houses for myself and a few hog houses for Doc Neff and Jack Hester.  I also made a cattle feeder for Jack Hester in the Ladoga HS shop.  Harmon Rogers and Max Buell were my shop teachers during my HS shop years.  I had 25 head of Berkshire pure bred brood sows plus other pure bred stock.  Any time I felt like I needed a day off from school, I called the principal and told him I had sows farrowing and needed to see after them.  The Korean War broke out during my senior year and Joed Clark and I joined the Navy after graduation.  I now had a large herd of hogs that needed to be sold.  What I didn’t sell before going into the Navy, Ruthanna’s Dad helped care for on the Britts farm and then sold the remaining stock.

 Pastor O.J. McMullen had started the canteen program in the late 40’s and also married Ruthanna and me in the Christian Church on February 7, 1951.  It was a very cold and snowy day as I remember it and we spent two nights on our honeymoon at Turkey Run State Park.

            Ruthanna’s mother passed away a few days later, and we returned home on February 19, 1851; then we traveled back to Alameda, California in Turk Rhodes’ old, used 49 Ford and set up housekeeping, thanks to the U.S. Naval Service Group in a federal housing apartment on the 2^nd floor.  It was a small one bedroom, kitchen and bath apartment with an icebox and kerosene stove which rented for $28.00 a month.  I was assigned to Captain George Dufek’s office on the USS Antietam which was still in moth balls.  Ruthanna worked for the Alameda Naval Air Supply Office.  After coming out of dry dock, the recommissioning of the Antietam was conducted by the famous Admiral Nimitz.  Prior to the ceremonies, Captain Dufek called Ed Gengnagel (an office buddy) and me into his quarters and introduced us to the Admiral.  We were both just SN and it was a great honor for us to meet the great WW ll navy admiral.

            After returning to Ladoga in 1954 with a wife and son after my four year enlistment, my first job was carrying hod in the construction of Elliott’s new Marathon service station. After that job was over, I entered into a working relationship with Joe and Mary Genung at the Ladoga Locker Plant.  In the day time hours, I worked at the locker plant and in the evening and night hours, I was feeding the pigs and cleaning up at the farm rental location east of Ladoga just off 234.  We used a very large propane cooker to the locker plant’s offal. (Meat scraps, body parts of hogs, cattle and the cattle’s stomach that was full of half-digested grain).We rented a small farm, built a large cement slab just east of town and began raising feeder pigs.  Working at the plant and raising pigs lasted about four months.  We dissolved our working partnership agreement and I went to work for Phillips Petroleum Company in Clermont, Indiana in December of 1954, thanks to my good buddy, Joed Clark’s recommendation.  I retired from Phillips in Sugar land, Texas after 31 years of service and went to work for Coldwell Bankers, listing and selling real estate in the Houston/Sugarland, Texas area for six years.

            I have fond memories about playing basketball in Ladoga.  My first competitive game was a 4^th grade game against Roachdale.  I think we won.  My coach in the 6^th grade was Kenneth (Doc) Fletcher.  We got our clocks cleaning in a sixth grade tournament against Roachdale, New Ross and Whitesville. There were three players on the Whitesville team that I remember well.  They were Jerry Zachary, Phil Frances and Wayne Kessler.  Phil Frances’ dad, Lewis was their coach and they won the tournament.  Phil Francis and Wayne Kessler went on to Crawfordsville after grade school and Phil played for the CHS basketball team that went to the Semi-State at Butler Fieldhouse.  As we all know, Jerry Zachary moved to Ladoga and played on the 1947 Canner team that won the County Tourney.

            I was privileged to play basketball and build hog houses for Doc Neff.  The first year that Ladoga won the Montgomery County Tournament in 1947, I helped celebrate the win by coming down 234 from our house shooting  my Dad’s 12 gauge pump gun and raining pellets on the big crowd in the middle of the town square.  Dad met me in front of the Dickerson residence just behind the bank and disengaged me from the shot gun!  In my junior year, we won the County Tourney again (1949).  I did not touch the shot gun that year.

            I later played basketball for the U.S. Navy at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, two U.S. aircraft carriers, (The USS Antietam and the USS Boxer), and at the Naval Air Station in San Diego, California.  It was great fun playing on the carriers steel hangar deck during rough seas.  If you were an Hoosier and had played basketball in HS, you could play for anybody, anywhere. 

 

            I also played basketball while employed with Phillips Petroleum Company, in the Indianapolis Industrial League at their Refined Product Distribution Terminal in Clermont and the Phillips 66 Industrial League in Bartlesville, OK.  We had two former Phillips 66 players on our team, Andy Likens and Jack Yalkon.   We got beat in an overtime game at the AAU’s Basketball Tournament in Oklahoma City’s Southwest Pacific Border Association by an Air Force team.

            Memories of old Ladoga—Where do I start?

I think of the old movies house just east of Herman Davis’ Chevrolet Garage.  I think the ticket was only 25 cents.  The back row was a favorite location if you had your girlfriend with you.

I remember the band concerts in the middle of the Ladoga/Roachdale road.  Hay wagons ere used for the bandstand. 

I remember the removal of the old Opera House over the bank and the remodeling of the Ladoga State Bank by my grandfather, Floyd W. Ball of the New Market Co-op Lumber Company.  Dad started a Community Room on the west end of the bank for the rent free use of the Ladoga community.  I think the old player piano that was there for public use, is now in the basement of the Presbyterian Church.  That is based on a conversation I had several years ago with Mary Catherine (Brown) Mahorney.  She used to work for Dad at the bank.  She was a member of the Presbyterian Church and when the bank was sold, she arranged to have the piano moved to the church.

I remember ice skating on Raccoon Creek above the dam with Jim Cross, Jim Stewart, Frank and Eva Williamson, Joan Foxworthy, the Todd brothers and others.  We built bonfires at night and skated all the way to New Ross and back.  I fell through the ice one winter while we were skating.  I thank God that I had Jim Stewart there to pull me out with a willow branch.  I walked home covered with ice and on arrival, my mother asked me, “Floyd William, where have you been?  I didn’t even get a cold after the event.

I remember building a boat with loads of tar and becoming a member of the Raccoon Navy with Jim Cross, Jim Stewart, Dick Long, Carl and Alfred Todd and my brother, Edsel. 

I remember the winter snow and sledding down the big hill on the Ladoga-Roachdale road past the Feed Store and Locker Plant.  Several of my friends, Jim Cross, Jim Stewart, Dick Long, Carl and Alfred Todd and I cleaned up the old Raccoon Park and restored the croquet court at the park that was located just past the Locker Plant and Feed Store.  During high water, we would jump into the creek and float down to the Purdue swinging bridge, get out and return to the park and jump in again.  Several of us used to make trips to the top of the old Ladoga water tower and swing down the cross supports, hand over hand to the ground.

Another high point of my school career was being a member of the LHS track team and winning the Montgomery County Track Meet my junior and senior year.  I used my little Ford tractor to roll down the track around the baseball field prior to each track meet.  I used the school’s big old cement roller that was stored at various locations near the baseball field.

These are a few memories of an 82 year old man that have no historical value to anyone, other than perhaps some of my family and also my friends who share memories of growing up in Ladoga and attending Ladoga High School.  How fortunate I was to be raised in that great little county rural town of Ladoga, Indiana.

Memories of a farm girl growing up in the 30’s and 40’s, Ruth Ann Britts Ball

I remember:

We used to go to Crawfordsville on Saturdays sometimes.  We would visit Woolworth’s 5 & 10 Cent store and buy some chocolate covered peanuts.  I also collected handkerchiefs and could buy them for 10 or 15 cents.  It was a treat to get a hamburger at the Silver Shanty.

Going to the band concerts on Thursday nights in the summer time and the girls would walk up one side of Main Street and then back on the other side while the boys stood on the corner and watched.

Buying penny candy at McMurtrey’s Grocery Store.  (They had a whole case of penny candy)  They also had a huckster wagon that came around to the house once a week with different grocery supplies.

My older sister raised some ducks in the summer and sold them to make money.  When they were babies, they would put them out in the yard in a little foot high chicken wire fence so they could play.  They told me that one time when I was little I came around the house swinging a couple of them by the neck.

We always had a lot of cats, sometimes as many as 25 at a time.  Martha Jean had a dog named “Tuffy” and later Daddy had a bird dog named “Sally.”

I had an all black rabbit I named “Midnight,” and an all white one named “Snowball.”  They were out one night and got caught in a fence during a bad storm.

Once we had a sheep named “Jessabel.”

I had fun with two pet raccoons named “Lum and Abner,” when I was about 12.  One time, they got up in the big oak tree in the front yard and we put bread and milk in a pan to get them down.

The big moths that would collect on the screens at night in the summer time.

Roller skating on the back sidewalk.

Playing on a homemade ‘teeter-totter’- a wide board over a barrel.

Playing on a trapeze that was hung in the old pear tree.

We always had a large garden.  It was usually my job to bring in the lettuce, onions and radishes and clean them.

We had a fruit cellar (brick walls and dirt floor) where Mother stored her canned goods.  She used to can over 300 jars of food each summer.

I helped with the preparation for the canning and also picking cherries, strawberries, peas, etc., for the freezer in later years.

When they wired the house for electricity and that my hand was small enough to reach up and pull the wires down through the walls to the outlets. (I must have been about 5-7 years old.)

Sticking a hairpin in an electrical outlet and the sparks flying everywhere.

When I was little, dressing behind the coal stove in the corner of the living room in the winter time.

GRADE SCHOOL

I remember:

Riding the bus to and from school.  I would come from the west and go east about ¾ of a mile and then turn around—so I’d wait inside until I could see it coming back down the road.  In the winter time, the snow would drift across the road and into the ditches.

Wearing dress coats with leggings (our winter wear) that had to be taken off in the cloak room at school.

Louise doing back bends and turning cartwheels in the cloak room at the grade school.

Coming home from school and Mother would be raking and burning leaves in the fall.  We helped and that wasn’t my favorite job.

Coming home from school and Mother would have a fresh jelly roll made with homemade raspberry jelly waiting for us.

Having chocolate milk at the morning recess time during the early grades. (Cost 2 cents)

When the new gymnasium was being built (1941), I was in the 3^rd grade and we could see the construction out of the window.

Having operettas (musical stories) once a year until the war broke out.  We had the cutest costumes that our Mothers made from patterns.

The lunch room usually served chili (with elbow macaroni) on Wednesday, and I would buy lunch on those days.  

Having scarlet fever, whooping cough, measles and poison ivy.

Playing on the playground at recess.  Swinging on the circular swings, the slide, the regular swings, playing marbles, walking the ‘ladders’ and getting blisters.

Getting my tongue stuck on the outside water fountain in the winter time.

When the weather was bad, we played in the old gymnasium that was in the basement of the high school that was connected by an above ground tunnel.

Mother fixing my hair every night.  I’d sit on a foot stool and she would dip a brush in water and then brush a curl around her finger and put a bobby pin in it.  In the 6^th grade, I’d brush it out at school, but it would go right back into long curls.

I remember when a new boy came into our class in the 4^th grade.  His name was Floyd Ball !!

In the 4^th grade getting a ‘whack’ on my behind along with everyone else when we wouldn’t tell on one of our classmates who did something wrong.

CHURCH          

I remember sitting in church looking at mother’s hands where the blood vessels really stood out.  Mine do now. (Daddy seldom went to church with us)

Louise and I joined church during a revival meeting when we were in the 5^th grade. (The invitation hymn was ‘Just As I Am.’

We used to take turns going to each other’s houses after church to play during the afternoons.

GRANDPARENTS

I remember:

Visiting Grandpa and Grandma Smith.  They lived just north of town on the old Ladoga and Crawfordsville road.

Stringing the prettiest beads—round, prism shaped beads in amethyst, pink and blue.

The stewed apples that Grandma had canned in ½ gallon jars.

The iron plugged into the electric light cord in the middle of the kitchen.

The feather bed upstairs in the 1^st bedroom.

The indoor bathroom upstairs.

Grandpa taking me to the ice cream parlor in Ladoga for ice cream.

I seldom visited Grandma and Grandpa Britts.

All of my grandparents died within about 4 years—when I was about 8 to 12 years old.

Martha Jean remembers that Granddaddy Britts always sat on a big wooden box instead of a chair in the dining room.

WORLD WAR II (GRADE SCHOOL)   

I remember running out to identify military planes that came over the house.  (We had identification cards something like baseball cards that we used to identify them)

The service flags in everyone’s windows.  Each star on the flag meant that a member of the family was in one of the military services. If there was a gold star on the flag, it meant that a member of their family had died serving their country.

Paying 10 cents for each stamp at school towards a war bond. ($17.50)

Having a contest to see which class could in the most scrap metal.  One end of the playground was stacked really high.

Ration stamps for gasoline, tires, shoes, sugar, etc.

I was weighing eggs on a scale when I heard that Press. Franklin Roosevelt had died.

V-E day I was visiting my cousin, Katie Smith in Indianapolis and Uncle Walter took us down and we drove around Monument Circle in Indianapolis to see all of the people celebrating.

After the war, I remember Daddy coming home with a new Dodge automobile. (Black)

Getting our first indoor bathroom.

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

I remember:

I had my long curls cut before going into the 7^th grade and I wore it in a shorter style.  I still have my curls that were cut off.

How different it was going to different class rooms and having different teachers

Going to 4-H meetings.

Going to youth meeting at the Christian Church and later at the Presbyterian Church.

HIGH SCHOOL

I remember:

Belonging to the Sunshine Society. (An organization for girls)

Our school winning the County Basketball Tourney when we were freshmen and again when we were juniors.  (The only times that our school won the County)

The Canteen that was held in the Presbyterian Church’s basement after basketball games. (We had refreshments and danced to records)

Job’s Daughters was organized in 1949-50.  It was organized by Olin Swinney, Ruth Denny and Lola Hostetter.  I was a senior in high at that time and the asked me to be the first Honored Queen.  It was a great time for girls to get together and we had a lot of fun.

Date night was on Sunday because the best movies played on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday at the Strand Theatre in Crawfordsville.  We usually went for a hamburger and coke at the Triple XXX east of Crawfordsville or the Rustic Gardens after the show.

Having class sweaters. (Our colors were maroon and gray) I had a gray and maroon corduroy skirts to match.

Roachdale always had a carnival and fireworks display on the 4^th of July.  We usually went.  I always liked to have my picture taken at one of the booths.  I liked the swings, tilt-a-whirl and Ferris wheel.

Ladoga also had a carnival and fish fry sometime during the summer.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Memories of Chet and Dorothy Vice.

Going north on Washington St. on the west side was the Ladoga State Bank run by Ernie Ball.  In 1940, the next business was Milt Berry’s restaurant, then a large empty room which had a tin shop in it run by Omar Gates.  Later, it was Wendell Blaydes’ furniture store before the coal office.  Next was Lawrence McClellan’s coal office.  Next was Charlie Bindhammer’s shoe repair shop when he moved from his former shop on south Washington St.  Next was Hi Vails’s barber shop and the last building was the office of the Ladoga Leader.

            Going west on Main Street, before Charlie Hughes opened his appliance store was the Ladoga Athletic and Social Club (pool room). Some of the owners were Cap McGuire, Sandy Todd, Chet Vice and Lop Walsh.  Chet remembers a couple of interesting incidents among the many that took place at the pool room.  Since the boys always played cards in the back or upstairs and that was kind of illegal at that time, the owners had a button under the counter which rang a bell to warn the boys that the law was coming (or maybe somebody’s wife).  One night theyboys were playing cards up stairs and someone sounded the alarm as a joke.  Doc Plunkett jumped out the window ran across a little roof and fell into the ash heap.  He came up covered in ashes and ran away.  Another time, Lop Walsh switched the crutches of Andy Ross and Art Gray.  Andy was tall and Art was short, so when the alarm sounded both grabbed the wrong crutch and both fell headlong onto the floor.  When Andy fell down, Art hit him in the head with his crutch.  Next to the pool room was McMurtrey’s Grocery Store, then a restaurant run by Aubrey Walker and his wife.  Later in 1940, the pool room moved to the restaurant building by the alley.

            Across the alley was the Brunst Grocery.  Next to the grocery was a drug store owned by Sam Ayles.  Next to the drug store was a dry goods store managed by  ____Houston where they sold Peters shoes.  When he went out of business, the Canning Company stored canned goods there.  In the corner store, George Harris had a grocery store.  Later, Oscar Stewart and his brother had a grocery store there.  After they left, that building, the Canning Company stored canned goods there.  Later there was a drug store, managed by Bernie Bouse.

            Going north on Washington Street, there was a little restaurant called the Coffee Shop run by Averal Harris and his wife.  Next door was a tavern called  the City Café started by Charlie Hughes and later run by Ward and Elsie Chadwick.  Next was a Dodge-Plymouth agency run by Charlie and Margaret Patterson.  Across the alley was a house where the Vice family lived in 1936-37.  This is the house where the Vice boys (Virgie and Ike) found a skeleton and a gun under the floor.  This caused quite a stir in town until they discovered that it was a doctor’s skeleton and not a murdered man.  The house was torn down in 1938 and a gas station was operated there by Elmer Merchant and later Jess Byrd who also sold feed.

            Going south on Washington Street.

South of the Dry Goods Store was Leslie Warner’s Ford Agency.  Later, Walter Todd had a TV and radio repair shop.  The next room was the fire station.  Down the alley, Andy Gayhart had a shoe repair store, as did Charles Bindhammer before he moved to north Washington St. next to Mose McClellan’s coal office.  Next was the Golden Rule Garage which later became the Ford Agency run by Clyde Dickerson, Harold Miller, Carney Stewart, and then Kenny Vice.  There was a little house on the corner where Harry Widdop and his mother lived.  She was a seamstress.  The house was torn down in the late 40’s.

            Down below the hill on the west side was a poultry house; they shipped chickens and eggs by rail to New York City.  It was owned by the Havens brothers.  They candled eggs across the street which is now the locker plant.  On the east side of the street up on the hill, Pete Parker had a greenhouse.  Coming back into town from the south, Edwin Barnard had the Home Comfort Shop.  Dr. Denny had his office in his home in the house across the alley from Barnard’s.  Before Dr. Denny, Dr. Price had his office in that house and lived there.  On the northeast corner or Main and Washington, I remember Barnes and Shackleford having a grocery store. 

After the grocery store went out, Howard Himes had a drug store in that building.  Later, Mate Blaydes had a furniture store there.  Then Bill Byrd and Squint Vancleave had a B.F. Goodrich store there.  Then they sold out to Bill Oliver and his dad.  In the basement of that store, was Lou Gibson’s Barber Shop.  At one time, the next building was occupied by Roy Stover Grocery Store.  The next building was occupied by Shackelford Bros. Insurance and Coal office.  Carrie Robbins also operated a beauty shop and millinery business there.  Next building was the Building and Loan and the office of Lawyer Marks.   Roy Stover moved his grocery store next to the Building and Loan.  Then Harry Widdop purchased it from Stover, and he sold it to Harry and Helen Burnett who in turn sold it to Janet Scott.  The next building was the post office, with the Oddfellows and Rebekahs upstairs.

            When Forest and Irene (Babe) McMurtrey left the old Opera House, they had a movie house with talkies called the Fox Theater in the building next to the alley.  This would have been in 1929-30.  Before the talkies came in, I remember going to silent movies where first Mrs. Slade played the piano, then Dorothy Nelson.  This would have been at the Old Opera House.  After the McMurtreys left, Ollie Pennington started a tavern there.  It had several owners including Jim Carmichael and Marsh Fuller.  It is now a beauty shop owned by the Ray girls.  Newt Slade had a barber shop across the alley in a corner of the Chevrolet Garage owned by Herman Davis.  Next was a restaurant run by Bob Nicholson.  After the restaurant went out there was a package liquor store run by Vanetta Fuller.  That was when Fred Thomas was a clerk there and the McKinsey boy beat him up.  Fred later died from complications from the beating.  He was heading for his car and if he could have gotten there, the fight might have ended differently.  He had a gun in his car.  Next was the theater run by Bob Poynter.  Later, Bert Rayburn took it over, then Emory Creekbaum.  After the theater closed someone put a restaurant there.  I’m not sure what was in the next building east but Fanny and Owen Gott had a restaurant there call the FJO. (Fanny, Johnny, and Owen)

Harley Barnard

Hi Bill

I enjoyed your e-mail about Brunst Market.  I remember it well.  My brother, Robert, worked there at one time.

            I also remember another business that was in the old pool room building.  It was Lindsay’s Baths.  My Dad and I revamped the building for use as a steam bath and massage.  It operated during the 1950’s and possibly early 1960’s.  The process went as follows:

1.     Sit in a small room with hot water radiators, cold towel on head, feet in a bucket of warm water.  The temperature of the room was approximately 150 degrees.  Go to a second small live steam room to open sinuses.

2.    Shower and dry off.

3.     Mr. Lindsay gave a 30 minute massage.  If massage.  If you had sore spot, he found it and would use massage therapy to relieve soreness.  One day I saw two men carry Harry Seale, former owner of Service Lumber Company into Lindsay’s Baths.  After treatment. Mr. Seale walked out on his own.  Mr. Lindsay also cured my Dad of bursitis, which he said was by calcium deposits in the body.