The Streets of Ladoga in the 40's and 50's

Derald Van Cleave, John McCrery, and Dave (Jigs) Elless

The Victory Bus

            The Victory Bus ran from Ladoga to Allison’s three times a day during WW II.  It left Ladoga and made stops at Roachdale, Barnard and North Salem hauling workers to Allison’s Plant 5 and on to Plant 3.  It carried workers for all three shifts.  The cost was $1.00 a day round trip.  The bus was owned by Wink Hannah from Roachdale and was driven by Ora (Squint) Van Cleave, John Radford and Fat Enochs.  Squint Van Cleave owned and operated the Marathon Station on west Main where the bus was housed and maintained.  Chet Vice remembers that some of the riders were Wilbur McCoy, Rachel Prosser, Henry Kincaid and Owen Gott.  Pictured on the Old International bus are Dave Elless, John McCrery (In uniform) and Derald VanCleave.  The other picture shows standing L-R, Derald VanCleave, John McCrery, and Dave Elless.

 

Dave Elless, John McCrery and Derald Van Cleave

The elevator, water tower and old Monon water tank.

The elevator and water tower.  The old Monon water tank has been taken down.  It was used for storage by the elevator.

Water tower

Railroad bridge and dam south of town in flood stage

                                   

Railroad bridge and dam south of town

Inside the telephone office in 1945.  L-R--George Long, Pete Thompson, Mrs. Woodard, Carroll Faulkinbury, Grace Carter, and seated Irene McMurtrey

Ladoga Telephone Company

            Peter M. Fudge had started the telephone system in this area, and had hooked up with other lines in neighboring towns.  In 1925, when John M. Stanley was recuperating from an operation in St. Vincent Hospital, he wrote the twenty-five year history of the telephone system in Ladoga.  Here is Stanley’s history as recorded by Pauline Walters.

          “John M. Stanley drove into Ladoga with a New York draft in his pocket which he endorsed and turned over to Peter M. Fudge, receiving in exchange all the poles, cross arms, wires, telephones, switchboards, supplies and other miscellaneous of the Ladoga Telephone Company.  Already in place was a toll line to New Ross and Crawfordsville and a switch in the drugstore for a line to Greencastle, Penobscot and the Goodbar neighborhood in Parkersburg with 52 telephones installed on the three lines.  Lula Heavenridge was at the switchboard from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM and her brother Earl was at the switchboard from 9:00 PM to 7:00 AM.  She received 4 cents an hour for her service and brother Earl received $6 a month.  Mr. Stanley receive 10 cents toll for the first day so he went next door to the James C. Knox Hardware and bought 10 cent ax.  The telephone office was over Ward Overman’s store; Mr. Fudge owned the building and wanted to put in a hotel, so Mr. Stanley had to move the system.  Knox rented him two rooms over the Featherstone Grocery for $5.00 per month.  William McCaw helped Stanley with the day to day operation of the company. 

            The first telephone installed in a rural area was at the home of George Harshbarger.  Asa Corn, James K. Everson, and Dr. Mahorney already had private lines installed in their homes.  Two of the Goodbar residences and Dave Hostetter were on a party line.  In the spring, John Stanley and William McCaw started to Brown’s Valley at 4:00 in the morning with 14 telephones to be installed.  It was almost dark when they finished and had to finish by lantern light.  Stanley was up a pole, wearing his wedding coat to ward off the chill and slipped on a pole which had frost on it.  He caught his coat on a nail, tearing the coat, but preventing him from a bad fall.  He said that he had always heard that a person should wear out his wedding clothes before he had good luck; he ruined his coat, but had money in his pocket from the telephones he had installed, so he presumed that this was lucky for him. 

In 1903, Stanley sold half interest in the telephone company to E. W. Foster, who later sold half interest to his father.  He said that they decided to raise the rates in the rural areas from $2.00 a month to $3.65.  This caused quite a stir and many people just had their telephones removed.  However, eighteen lines were installed in Roachdale and twenty-two in New Ross.  In 1915, the company started putting the lines underground and the telephone situation was quiet.  On October 1, 1921, Stanley moved the offices to rooms on East Main on the north side of the street.  They made the move at night and no one even knew that they were without telephone service for about twelve hours.  One of the linemen under John Stanley was Irvin Cross.

The Indiana Bell Telephone Company took over the Ladoga Telephone Company and installed dial systems in the late 50’s.  Ladoga could then call Roachdale and Crawfordsville free of charge.  The exchange started out as Whitney 2 and finally changed to 942 as it is today.  

           

Do you remember when Wayne "Red" Miller drove the Boone-Miller midget around the ball diamond block?

Found a better picture of the boys at the garage. (Names available on request)

The Streets of Ladoga, My Hometown

            My memory loves to walk the streets of the old hometown.  This little mental exercise always starts at the library and goes west on Main Street until I get to Washington Street which is the end of the business district.  It runs from Franklin to Washington then one block south and ½  block north.  I’m going to write a short paragraph on buildings and businesses as I come to them and then let the Monday morning group fill in the blanks of my memory.

            The Clark Township Public Library comes first.  It was protected by a black, wrought iron fence along the street side in the early days.  It was an old residence which had been converted into the library.  It was originally owned by Caleb H.R. Anderson and was built in 1841.  Ladoga was only eight years old when the Anderson house was built. At one time, Doc Price had his office in that building.   Before the house became the public library, it was the dwelling of B. F. Overman and his family.  Later, three granddaughters of Benjamin Franklin Overman, also part-owner along with Silas Kyle of the Trade Palace on the SW corner of Main and Washington, would serve as librarians for the library.  That would have been Elizabeth Peffley Carmichael, Carolyn Peffley Cross, and my mother, Bertha Peffley Boone. Don Cotton remembers a showcase at the library with swordfish and sawfish fossils in it.  One of my earliest memories of the streets of Ladoga is watching a street movie in front of the library.  People brought their own chairs and watched a western movie on a large sheet or makeshift screen out in the street.  Fred Foxworthy remembers seeing movies shown against the east wall of the building that was on the corner east of the old theater. Joed Clark remembers how crowded the streets would be on Thursday nights when all the stores stayed open and they had band concerts.  They simply put two hay wagons together to make a stage.  Later they had a portable bandstand which they kept in Mrs. Knox's barn behind her house. 

      Pauline Walters remembers it this way, “Band concerts under Professor Remington, started in Ladoga in 1909.  Concerts were held on Thursday evenings.  Lew Gibson was the featured soloist on many occasions. Once, Marguerite Fensler sang with him and they did a beautiful job.  Everyone loved it.  Marguerite still sings; I have a recording she made a few years ago.  People came by horse and buggy from surrounding areas and towns. In 1911, the marshal, V. P. Camden, lined up the buggies, and carriages; later cars were lined up the same way.  The Ladoga band played at Jamestown on Wednesday evenings and Roachdale on Saturday evening.  I don’t know how they had the first concerts, but I remember that they had a large platform, built on a wagon base, which could be folded up and moved easily.  The sides were hinged and when it was opened up, it made a large platform.  The “bandstand” was stored in a barn behind the Knox House, and wheeled out into the middle of the street between Washington and Franklin Streets.  It was a wonderful night of free entertainment for the public, and for many new romances to start.  (Ed. Note—I just discovered that Chet and Dorothy Vice met at one of the Thursday evening concerts and began their life together). A boy would see a girl that he thought he would like and he would ask if he could walk her home.  It was a profitable night for young lovers and for the downtown merchants.  People could walk, visit, or go into stores and still hear the beautiful band music."

            The west side of the yard of the library went all the way to a building which housed a barber shop with two barbers and a shoe shine boy.  The names of the two barbers are lost in my memory, but the shoe shine boy was me.  My shoe shine parlor consisted of a green chair sitting on a green platform with iron foot rests.  Every Friday evening and all day Saturday for several years, I would shine the shoes of men who wanted their shoes to look good for church on Sunday.  If the weather was nice, I dragged the shoeshine parlor outside and shined shoes in the sunshine.  As I recall, the going price for a pair of shoes was 15 cents, but most men gave me a 10 cent tip, making the total a quarter before taxes.  Ed Bastion and Hi Vail were barbers there are one time, as were Bob Dellinger and Jess Gray.  The building served as the Ladoga Post Office in the late 20’s or early 30’s.

            The next building was Charlie Hughes’ Appliance Store. At one time, The Ladoga Athletic and Social Club (Pool Room) was located there.  Charlie had the first television set that I ever saw.  He put it in his show window, piped the sound outside to the street and tuned in to the Indianapolis Indians baseball games.  There was always a big crowd of young baseball fans sitting and standing around the window watching the ball game.  Fred Foxworthy remembers watching Milan win the State Championship on television in 1954 at Charlie’s store window.  Charlie also had pinball machines, juke boxes, and slot machines scattered around over the county.  He and Harley Campbell were partners in various businesses.  Their endeavors were called “The Merry Whirl Amusement Company.”  Don Cotton’s dad bought a juke box from Charlie with the WW II song “Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer,” on it.  There was a Laundromat in the Hughes building in later days. 

            Next to Hughes Appliance store was a restaurant where the school fed the basketball team after a game in the 50’s.  We always had a dollar to spend which would buy two hamburgers, fries and a coke and leave you with a little money left over.  We haven’t come up with the name of this restaurant yet.  It may have been called the Chicken Shack in the late 50’s.  Max Todd recalls that Bob and Mary Nicholson owned and operated a restaurant there in the 50’s called the White Front Restaurant.  That would have been in 1948.  Derald Van Cleave was a part owner.

            The next shop or business that I remember was Babe and Forest (Mac) McMurtrey’s little grocery store.  It was one of three grocery stores in Ladoga when I was growing up.  I think Mac carried some other items that the other two didn’t carry.  Mac also drove the huckster wagon and ran a route through town and also out in the country selling eggs and other items to his customers.  Renie French worked at McMurtrey’s for several years. The other grocery stores were Brunst Brothers Meat Market owned by Harry and Herman Brunst on the north side of Main Street and Widdop’s Regal Store owned by Harry Widdop on the south side of Main Street.  Bill Poynter remembers that Mac and Babe had the longest penny candy counter in town.   All candy bars were a nickel except the Echo bar which was a dime. After Babe and Mac retired, Bill and Helen Morris had a fruit market in that building.

            The next business that I remember was the pool room which was right on the alley next to the Brunst Brothers grocery store.  At one time, this building housed a restaurant owned by Herman Scott and Aubrey Walker. Underage boys were not permitted in the pool room.  The only time I got to go into the pool hall was to collect for the paper.  I think they played cards in the back room—probably just a friendly game of Rum for matchsticks.   After the pool room closed, Lindsay’s Turkish Baths moved in to the building.   We had to go to Roachdale to play pool or to the IOOF lodge hall where there was a pool table and a ping pong table.  We had some great times playing in the lodge hall on Sunday afternoons.

            Across the alley west of the pool room was the aforementioned Brunst Brothers Grocery Store and Meat Market.  I think they specialized in fine cuts of meat that were not available at the other grocery stores.  There was another meat market south of town on the Roachdale road.  It was owned and operated by the Young brothers, Jack and Drake.  There was also a locker plant just down the hill on the east side of the road.  The locker plant did custom butchering and rented frozen locker facilities for individuals before home freezers became popular.  The Brunst brothers slaughtered their cattle on the north side of Raccoon Creek just west of the bridge and north of the cemetery.  There was also a smoke house in the rear of the grocery store.  At one time the pool room had the fancy sounding name of the Ladoga Athletic and Social Club.  Through the years it was operated by Cap McGuire, Lop Welsh, Chet Vice, Sandy Todd, Shorty Van Horn, Fred Sandusky and Slim Vice.  

            Next to Brunst Brothers was the hardware owned and operated by the McGaughey Don and Morris McGaughey who were cousins.   They owned the hardware store in the 50’s.  Lee Dodd owned it in the early teens and Walter Harris and a man named Van Meter around 1900.The building had been used as another type of store before it became McGaughey’s Hardware, but I have no memory of the type of store it was.   Other owners of the hardware store were Mr. Van Meter, Jim Knox,  Walter Harris, Orris and Olive Reiter, and Ben Carman.  Francis Cotton worked on John Deere tractors in a shop in the back of the hardware in the late 30’s and early 40’s.  At one time, Charlie Travis owned the hardware store. He had a partner named Dillman who later moved to Crawfordsville and opened a hardware store which closed only 5 years ago.  Don Cotton remembers that there was a large tank upstairs full of harness oil where the farmers came in to dip their harness to restore and soften them.   Bill Poynter and I visited the upstairs of the Hardware Store.  The tank for dipping harnesses is not as large as you might think, but it is still there.  Bill took a picture of it.  It is labeled “Eureka Harness Oiler.”  I remember that the hardware store was the only place in town where you could buy sporting goods like baseballs and bats.  The boys of summer who played baseball would frequently pool their nickels and dimes and buy a baseball and bat and head for the ball diamond to play baseball.  Almost everybody had a ball glove, but most of us were not rich enough to have a bat and ball.  Bats and balls were community property.  The guy who was entrusted with the bat and ball had better be the first to show up when the dew was off the grass or he was in trouble.  Other owners of the hardware were Orris and Olive Reiter, Warren Williams, and Bill Merchant.

            At one time, the telephone office was next to the hardware or someplace close.  I remember Babe Todd (Sandy’s wife) and Carolyn Cross sitting at the switchboard connecting calls as they came in.    Other ladies who worked there were Nellie Jacoby, Ruth Stull, Mary Nicholson, Nina Merchant,  and Kate Foxworthy, who  worked at the telephone office in the late 40’s early 50’s.  I wonder if anybody else remembers people who worked for the telephone company.  Chet Vice remembers when Minnie Kessler (John’s wife) worked there and George Harris’ wife, Lizzie.   My uncle Irvin Cross worked as a lineman for the telephone for several years. The sweet voices always asked, “Number please,” and you hoped that you weren’t on a party line if you wanted to talk privately.  I could always go into the telephone office and ask my Aunt Carolyn where my mother was.  One of the operators always knew.  At one time, there was a drug store next to the telephone company.  The only man I ever heard of who worked as a telephone operator was Paul Osborne, who was also the preacher at the Christian Church. The drug store next to the telephone office was owned by Sam Ayles, then Doc. Rainier, then Keller and Bouse.  After the telephone office closed, the building housed a dentist, Dr. Kail.  The Ladoga Jaycees took over the upper rooms of the old telephone office after the telephone office went out of business.  Bill Poynter remembers hauling at least 250 of the old wooden crank type telephones to the dump when the Jaycees cleaned out the upstairs storage area of the telephone company.  How much would they be worth as antiques today!!  In the early days of the telephone company, the operators were upstairs and John Stanley had an insurance company downstairs.  When John Stanley moved his insurance company, the operators moved downstairs.

Grace Carter, Thelma (Babe) Todd, and Lois Walton

                                   A Charlie Brown Christmas tree at the Telephone Office

            On the corner of Main and Washington going west was Bouse’s Drugstore.  It was the best smelling store in town.  There was always the smell of roasted nuts in the nuts display case and all kinds of candy.  In addition to selling all things that had to do with drugs and medicine, the drug store was also the clearing house for school books in the fall.  If you didn’t get your books from one of the older students, you could buy the new books and required notebooks at the drug store.  The drug store, of course had a counter where you could sit and drink a cherry phosphate, a green river, any kind of soda or milk shake and booths where you could play your favorite song for your favorite girl on the juke box at a nickel a song.  There was a little selection box at each booth connected to the large Wurlitzer in the back of the store.  You had to wait your turn until your song came up.  The drug store was originally in the middle of the block next to the telephone office, and McGinnis had a shoe store where he proudly sold Peters shoes on the corner where Bouse’s was in the 50’s.

            Before I cross the street to go east on Main Street, I turn right and go north to one of the two taverns in town.  When I was growing up, Ward and Elsie Chadwick owned the tavern on the east side of Washington and Jim Carmichael owned the tavern on Main Street next to the alley across for the Chevrolet Garage.

            Next to Chadwick’s was the tire store owned by Ben Bryan and across the alley from the tire store, Jess Byrd had a small filling station.  Jess Byrd, also sold feed at his station. The feed sacks were made out of gingham and the women would make dresses and aprons out of them after their husbands used up all of the feed. Jess would have been the great-great grandfather of D.J. Byrd who plays for Purdue.  At one time, there was a basketball court in the large room above the tire shop.  I don’t think it was a tire shop then.  At one time, the tire shop was home to Charlie Patterson’s Dodge-Plymouth Sales and Service.  That made at least three car dealerships in Ladoga.  Harold Miller had his Kaiser-Frazer car dealership in the old Golden Rule Garage, once owned by my grandfather, Amos Boone.  Charlie Patterson had the Dodge-Plymouth dealership and Herman Davis had the Chevrolet dealership.

            Directly across the street from Chadwick’s on the west side of Washington Street was Wendell Blaydes’ Furniture Store.  Wendell Blaydes also had a furniture store in the building which was once the Trade Palace, now The Ambience.

            North of the furniture store was a little restaurant  owned by Milt Barry which fed the basketball boys in the late 40’s; next to the restaurant was Hiram (Hi) Vail’s barber shop, which was one of three in Ladoga when I was growing up.  One was next to the library where I had my shoe shine business and the other was in the basement of the Trade Palace on the NW corner of Main Street.  Next to Hi Vail’s was an insurance office owned by Bill Byrd and Orie Van Cleave; in earlier days, it had been the office of the town newspaper, The Ladoga Leader.  Before Milt Barry had the restaurant, the building was the office of two doctors, first Dr. Lidikay and then Dr. Denny.  Next to the restaurant was Ladoga’s first community room.  Next to the restaurant was a tin shop owned by George Anderson.

            South of the furniture store was the Ladoga State Bank which was run by Ernie Ball and Lawrence Brown.  I think Ernie was the president and Lawrence was the chief clerk. At one time the Ladoga Opera House was located above the Bank.  It was operated in the 20’s by Forest and Babe McMurtrey.  Bob Stull remembers being in a play entitled “Tom Thumb’s Wedding” at the Opera House when he was in the first grade.    He also remembers going to a minstrel show starring Ernie Ball, Heinie Zimmerman, and Sandy Todd.  (Try holding a minstrel show today anyplace)  West of the bank was a little shoe shop owned by Mr. Bindhammer.  It later became a hair salon.  Bill Oliver, Wayne Miller, and David Brown started a business called OBM and had their office their in the early 60’s.  Many people will remember the monument which stood in the middle of the intersection of Main and Washington.   It was placed there in 1927 under the sponsorship of the Bachelor Maids Social Club.  The names on the monument are Everett Harshbarger, Horace Hicks, Ruby Barnes, Roscoe Davis, Clare McCrery, William Kessler, Jasper Orick, and Grant Peffley.  I wonder if these were Ladoga folks who died in WW 1.  I know that Grant Peffley died in WW 1, because he is a relative; he is buried in France.  The monument was moved to the Ladoga Cemetery on July 26, 1938 when 234 changed from gravel to blacktop.  Chet Vice remembers that the state paved 234 from Washington Street to 231 in 1935.  In 1936, the state paved 234 from Ladoga to Jamestown, but not before they straightened out the road some.  The road used to run east until it came to where Frank Williamson lived for many years on the corner of 234 and Meridian.  It then went straight north to Taylor Street. When the state paved 234, they changed the route until it went straight east then around a gentle curve until it went east again at Taylor Street.

            Across Main Street on the SW corner of Main and Washington was Sidener’s Dry Goods store where you could by all kinds of material and things for sewing in addition to clothing.  Hallie Sidener and Carrie Robbins owned the store and rented the building from the Masonic Lodge.   That building on the SW corner of Main and Washington was the only three story building in downtown Ladoga.   At one time Bischof’s Big Store was the anchor store in that building.  Bischof’s store burned and he moved his business to Crawfordsville where his business burned again.  When Hallie Sidener had the dry goods store, she had a novel way of collecting the money.  Iinstead of a cash register, there was a little line that ran upstairs where one of the clerks took your money and made change.  West of Sidener’s or maybe upstairs over the building was the Masonic Lodge where Job’s Daughters, which was a social club for girls met.  I think Job’s Daughters was the teenage branch of Eastern Star.  Just west of Sidener’s, Bob Elliott had a service station.   Chet Vice has a picture of the first modern gas station.  It had electric pumps and was located where Elliot’s Marathon was in the 50’s.   At one time, there was an ice house on that lot.  Bob Denny (Doc Denny’s son) ran a little ice cream stand between the Masonic Temple and Harry Skinner’s house when Bob was still in high school.  Bischof’s Big Store was located where the Masonic Temple is now.  The Big Store burned and Bischof moved his business to Crawfordsville on Main Street.. 

City Hall

            South of Sidener’s on Washington Street was the City Building and across the alley was the Golden Rule Garage owned and operated by my grandfather, Amos Boone.   Kenyon Roberts remembers when they staged boxing matches in that garage.   The garage later became and is still the Kenny Vice Ford Sales and Service.  The City Building had a large rec room upstairs where the HS played basketball at one time in the early days.  Doc Griner gave boxing lessons in the rec room also.  Between Sidener’s and the city building, Walter Todd had a radio and TV repair shop.  Above Sidener’s was the dentist office of C.B. Werts and the doctor’s office of Dr. Gross.  Andy Gayhart was a shoe cobbler who had his shop on the alley around the corner west of the city building.  West of his shop, also opening onto the alley was the town jail.  Harold Miller had a Kaiser-Frazer dealership in the late 40's and early 50's in the old Golden Rule Garage.

 Amos and Mary Boone at the pumps of the Golden Rule Garage.  They started out with the gravity pumps.  You pumped the top part full of gas to get the number of gallons, then dispensed it into the car.

 Notice the new pumps in the picture at the right

Harold Miller's Kaiser-Frazer Garage was located in the old Golden Rule Garage

Some of you youngsters may remember that Harold Miller also had a tractor repair shop in the old Hillis and Oliver Machine Shop.  Ed wrote me and said, "No pictures, but many memories.  It was a maze of whirring overhead leather belts and pulleys, all driving various tools.  Dad repaired many farmer's implements there and welded broken stuff;  Elmer Merchant worked there also,  Rook Scott worked there for a while as a welder.  On the north end of the property was an old ice house with a heavy door about nine inches thick.  Dad stored tires and sundry farm parts there." 

            Harley Barnard’s dad, Edwin Barnard owned the Home Comfort Shop across from the City Building where Mr. Barnard sold and serviced washers, driers, and refrigerators.

            On the NE corner of Main and Washington was The Trade Palace owned by B. F. Overman and Silas Kyle.  Overman was my great, great grandfather who lived in the Anderson house which became the library.  You could buy just about anything for the home and family at The Trade Palace.  There was a barber shop in the basement.  Lou Gibson cut hair there as did a Mr. Steele from Bainbridge.  Next to the Trade Palace were the law office of Lawyer Marks and the office of the Ladoga Building and Loan which Mr. Marks also operated.  At one time, there was a drug store just east of the Trade Palace.  The Trade Palace of Silas F. Kyle burned and was rebuilt in 1899.  J.L. Gibson and son had a barber shop in the basement.

B.F. Overman and Silas Kyle owned The Trade Palace

            Moving on east on Main Street was Widdop’s Regal Store, one of the three grocery stores on Main Street.  The Regal Store was first owned by Roy Stover.  Harry Widdop worked for Roy Stover than bought the store and hired Harry Burnett to work for him.  Then Harry and Helen bought the Regal Store and passed it on to their son, Larry, who sold it to the owner, who is the daughter of Forest Allen Scott.  Don Cotton remembers when the store was a shoe repair shop.  He had a wall mounted shoe shine stand there.   

            Next to Widdop’s was the post office where Sandy Todd was the clerk.  The post office opened early in the morning in those days, so the Indianapolis Star dropped off the papers and my brother Danny and I folded papers to deliver all over Ladoga.  When the post office wasn’t open, we folded them in the hallway of the Odd Fellow’s Lodge which was right next to the post office and above it.  Danny and I bought the paper route from the Todd kids, Keith and Sandy who had bought it from Floyd and Edsel Ball after the Ball brothers got it from Sandy and Keith’s brothers, Alfred and Carl Todd.  We in turn sold it to the Cox brothers, Byron, Earl, and Carl.  Next in line were Dan Scott and Tom Todd.  David took over from 1961 to 1966 along with Bobby Sandusky.  After that came the Williamson boys, Steve and Dave, followed by the Houston boys, Paul and Michael.  Shorty Long took over the paper in 1971 and sold it to Carolyn Cross in 1973 who delivered the papers with her children Judy, Russ, and Don.  They delivered it until 1985.  The first paper boy in Ladoga that anyone can remember was Stanley Foxworthy who started in 1940.  The newspaper business was the first business many young people had in those days.  There were at least three Indianapolis newspapers that were delivered in Ladoga in the 40’s and 50’s.  As I recall, Bill Strickler delivered the Indianapolis Times and Mel Todd delivered the Indianapolis News. 

            Next to the entrance to the IOOF lodge was Carmichael’s Liquor Store which was owned and operated by Jim Carmichael.  That was another place that I never got to go into except when I was collecting for the paper.  I always felt very sinful when I went in there and smelled the stale beer.  There was a small shuffleboard game just to the left as you came in the door where the patrons could compete in a friendly game of shuffleboard. 

            Across the alley east of the liquor store was the Herman Davis Chevrolet Agency.  Outside of the Ladoga Canning Company, Herman Davis was probably the biggest employer in Ladoga.  He employed the most interesting and friendly men in Ladoga.  They were always ready to play softball or baseball with the younger guys even after a hard day working at the garage.  I remember guys like Dale Perkins, Homer Todd, Don Myers, Bob Reed, Bob McGrew, and Jim Harshbarger playing ball with us and really enjoying the competition.  Many of the Chevrolet garage boys had been good athletes at Ladoga High School or in Don Myers’ case at New Market High School.  Dale Perkins went to Alamo and earned a tryout with the Cubs after graduation. Herman’s father, Tom Davis and John Stratton stabled their race horses in the livery stable in back of the building which became the Chevrolet Garage.  Newt Slade had a barber shop in the NW corner of the front of the livery.  

            On the corner, just east of the Chevrolet Garage was the Sunshine Café.  I’m not sure who owned it in the 50’s, but my parents, George and Bertha Boone ran it for a time in the late 70’s.  At one time, it was the Hub Café and later (or earlier) it was called FJO, run by Fanny and Owen Gott.  (The J was for their son, Johnny)

            I think the Ladoga Theatre was between the garage and the restaurant.  It was run by Bob Poynter in the early days and Emory Creekbaum in the late 40’s and early 50’s.  It was called the American Theater in those days.

            There were a couple of businesses that need to be mentioned that were not downtown.  One was Claude Harshbarger’s cement block and burial vault factory.  At one time, it was behind the Rapp and Sons Buggy Shop which was on Elm Street by the railroad tracks.  Claude later moved his business to North Cherry Street beside the Monon RR.   Joe Troupe had a foundry there after Claude moved out.  This would have been in 1926 or 1927.  The other major business was the Ladoga Canning Company which was at the NE edge of town on the Midland RR.  Ralph (Juicy) Strickler owned and operated the Home Canning Company just across the RR tracks west of the ball diamond.  The Home Canning Company was in the old Rapp and Sons Buggy Shop.  Directly across the street south of the Home Canning Company, Fred Hillis and Billy Oliver had a machine shop.  Walter Riddelbarger had his blacksmith shop just south of the machine shop.  The Ladoga Lumber and Coal Company was just across the RR tracks going east on 234 or Main Street.  Daniel Miller worked at the lumber yard and also had a cabinet shop in his home.  Next to the RR was the elevator which first housed a Lumber and Coal business, then became a grain elevator operated first by Wal Ashby, then a man named Perkins, and finally by Emory Chase and his son Marion.  

            One of the items that needs to be added to the “Streets of Ladoga,” is a list of the town marshals, who kept the streets safe.  Max Todd came up with a partial list.  Here are Max’s and some others:  John Merchant—1936, Francis Cotton-- 1939-40, Lloyd Carmichael--1948, Forest “Rip” Young—late 40’s and early 50’s, some guy who had a Jeep named Crawford Smith—50’s, Raymond Carter—50’s, Bill “Bud” Merchant and Buster Dowell—60’s, and Jim Bob Miller—70’s.  I remember that my uncle, Irvin “Runt” Cross was town marshal at one time, but I don’t remember when.  Skip Ronk sent me a note and said that Runt Cross was town marshal from 1959 to around 1964.  He remembers because Uncle Runt chased him out of town a couple of times.  Skip said, “I don’t remember why, but when I got my driver’s license, it must have been because he didn’t like my driving style.”   The complete list of town marshals from 1936 to 1986 was listed in the 1986 sesquicentennial book in 1986.  It is as follows:

John Merchant

George Rodman

Grant E. Rose

Earl Proctor

Lloyd Carmichael

Everett Gibson

John Walton

Forest Young

Raymond Carter

Crawford Smith

Robert Nicholson

Irvin Cross

Max P. Carson

Lloyd “Buster” Dowell

William Merchant

Milton Weir

Herman Moore

James Gilliland

Harold Crumley

David Wilson

Don Schick

James Miller

Art Gray

Fred King

William Clements

Richard Finney

Sam Dickerson

Jay Prosser

Rick Miles

            There were at least four doctors that I remember in Ladoga.  Dr. H.K. Walterhouse had an office in his house just across the street east of the library.  Dr. Maurice Gross had his office above the dry goods store along with C.B. Werts, the dentist.  Chet Vice recalls that you went right to go to see Dr. Gross and left to see Dr. Werts. Dr. Frank Denny moved in to a house across the street from the City Building .  Dr. Fred Blix had in office in his house on Main Street.  Dr. Robert Denny, Frank’s son who had his dentist office in his house on 234 just east of town.  Dr. Kail moved in to the building where the telephone office was after I left Ladoga sometime in the 60’s.  Ladoga also had a veterinarian whose name was Earl Miller.

            There were also some small stores scattered around town that were not downtown.  Lee Dodd had a little store across the street from Elmer Merchant.  Ida (Idie) and Lewis Otterman had a Cities Service station and grocery store in the east end of town on Taylor Street.  After Lewis died, Idie married Ollie Lame and they ran the station during the late 40’s and early 50’s.  Then Lewis and Lucy Wright bought the store and ran it for a year before leasing it to Mae Morgan.  Mae ran it for several years, before the Wrights sold the station to Paul and Mary McClure in the early 60’s.  The McClures have run the little store since then.  Letha Peffley had a store in her house on Taylor Street.

            In addition to the little stores, there were at least three men who hauled stock to market.  They were Oscar Featherstone, Granville Murrel, and Cline Graybill.  There were at least three men who delivered heating oil and gas.  These were Floyd Dickerson, Charlie Wilson and Frank Williamson.  Floyd Dickerson and Charlie Wilson delivered Standard Oil and Frank had the Farm Bureau brand.

Our Town of Ladoga

 Compiled by the class of 1961 on the occasion of their 50^th anniversary of their graduation from good old LHS.

Many of us have fond memories of the time we spent in the wooden booths drinking 5 cent vanilla cokes and eating Nab crackers at Bouse’s Phamacy before and after it was moved to the corner.  Bernie never seemed annoyed with our teenage antics, but Alta Cross usually seemed happy to see us leave.

We had two restaurants in town down the street from Bouse’s Pharmacy ably run by Lois McKinsey, Nina Merchant, Babe Todd, and Mary Nicholson was next to McGaughey’s Hardware Store with its oiled, creaky, wooden floors and bulk nail tins.  Brunst’s Grocery, sat next door.  Betweeen these two stores and the iron-fenced, converted-house Clark Township Library with its musty smell, we had Andy’s Shoe Repair Shop, Hughes Appliance Store and Lindsay’s Bath. (Fred’s comment, “I always wondered about “Turkish Baths” in Ladoga.)

Across the street from Bouse’s Corner Drug Store, Ernie Ball (Also known as Santa Claus in the Presbyterian Church at Christmas time) oversaw the operations of The Ladoga State Bank.  South of the bank, The General Store was run by the Sidner sisters assisted by June’s grandmother, Anita Robbins Vice.  And across the street east of the General Store, we had another General Store, that was located above one of the two barber shops in town.  Dale Long and Joe Faulkinbury could later be see cutting hair through the street level windows under the store.  Hi Vail’s Barber Shop was located across the street from the land mark, The Ladoga Tire Shop. (in back of Bouse’s Corner  Pharmacy).  Who hasn’t bought or had a tire fixed there at least once?

Harry Widdop ran Widdop’s Regal Grocery Store across the street and a little west from Brunst’s grocery.  He had a great sense of humor and always came out from behind the meat counter counter to tease the children in the store.  Loraine Widdop ran the cash register and had a glass eye.  This grocery store later became Burnette’s Grocery Store.  Larry Burnette expanded the store to include the old U.S. Post Office that was located between Widdop’s and the tavern later to become known as the L and M Tavern and Restaurant.  Square dances and chili suppers were common events above these stores in the IOOF (Oddfellows Hall) The Kessler-Burress Insurance Agency stood west of these stores in the old Ladoga Federal building.

Fanny Gott’s Liquor Store (Where the old American Theater used to be) was located east of these stores and next to the Herman Davis Chevrolet building.  This building was converted into the Ladoga Town Office which used to be across the alley north of the Kenny Vice Ford Agency.  The Byrd Insurance Agency fit between the old town office (now the Ladoga Pizza King) and the Sidner Sister’s General Store.

Just a block away from our town square, you could receive excellent health care in Dr. Fred Blix’s Office, have your hair done at Edna Elliott’s Beauty Shop and fill your car up with gas at Bob Elliott’s Marathon Station.  Farmer’s could take their harvested crops to the Ladoga Grain Elevator operated by Emory and Marion Chase which was just across the rail road tracks from the Home Canning Factory run by Ralph Strickler.  In the east end “suburbs,” you could count on Morgan’s Gas Station and Grocery to take care of your after hour needs.  And of course, many of us spent part of our lunch money at Peffley’s Grocery so we could have a dime left over to spend for that coke at Bouse’s after school.

The south end “suburbs” housed our two meat processing and/or locker plants; Genung’s Locker Plant later to become Lowe’s Locker Plant and Young Brothers.  Across the street from Genung’s we had a Purina Feed Store which might have been in the old water mill building, and our local newspaper was printed in Mr. Graves Printing Company in a house just north of Young Brothers.

We had one liquor store, but to our credit four churches in our town; the Presbyterian Church, the Nazarene Church, the Methodist Church, and the Christian Church were all in town and the Haw Creek Church of God was located south of town.   Do any of you remember walking as a group to one of these town churches for Good Friday services before school was considered to be part of the “state” and religion and prayer had to be separated from it?

Well, that is what Ladoga was like when we graduated in 1961.  It was a great time to be alive and a graduate of the best school in the world.