It's Elwood, Indiana . . . did you know . . . ?

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Elwood has been known by at least three names over its history. Before the name Elwood was established in 1869, it had been known as Duck Creek and Quincy. Various maps continued using the name Quincy for years after the name was changed.

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The town was still known as Quincy when the first railroad, the Cincinnati & Chicago Railroad Co. (No. 2) (C&C RR), was built through town. It later became the Cincinnati & Chicago Air Line (C&CAL RR) and eventually part of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Despite claims to the contrary, corporate records and railroad history indicate the first railroad through our hometown was known at the time as the Cincinnati & Chicago Railroad Co. (No. 2). The C&CAL was not the name of the railroad at the time it was built through our hometown... and the line did not open in 1856... rails weren't laid through town until early 1857.

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The Main Street Christian Church once served as a temporary hospital. During the 1918 flu epidemic, Elwood had no hospital.

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The Union Traction Company of Indiana and the Lake Erie & Western Railroad (later the Nickel Plate Railroad) couldn't come to an agreement for a grade crossing in Elwood. The interurban company then built an overpass across the tracks just west of Elwood. A few years ago, one side of the embankment was leveled. But to this day (2006), the remaining embankment on the south side of the tracks can be seen from Highway 28 just a couple of blocks west of County Line Road.

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The Radio Program Archive of the University of Memphis offers a cassette tape of one of Wendell L. Willkie's radio addresses from 1940.

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The distance from Elwood to Washington, DC, is 480 miles (773 km) statute miles. The distance to the Indiana state capital is 38 miles (61 km) statute miles. (Statute miles are "as the crow flies.")

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As of June 2000, the population of Elwood was less than 8,500.

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Elwood's city street car system was abandoned in 1924. Interurban passenger service ended in Elwood at midnight on June 30, 1931. Regular freight service continued through Saturday, October 31, 1931 (Halloween), when the last interurban car left Elwood. Through cars would occasionally pass through Elwood in each direction for several years beyond that date.

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Elwood is the 604th most popular male first name in the United States; frequency is 0.013%; percentile is 86.058.

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Elwood is the 5,922nd most popular last name (surname) in the United States; frequency is 0.002%; percentile is 65.229.

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Elwood had an interurban car named for the city. It was built by the Jewett Car Co. in 1913 for the Grand Rapids, Holland & Chicago Ry. as car 21. In 1916 it was leased to Michigan Ry. and renumbered to car 113. When that company broke up in 1924, it reverted to the GRH&C as 113. In 1927 it was sold to Union Traction where it became car 443 and given the name "ELWOOD." When taken into the Indiana Railroad in 1930, it retained its name and number until 1934 when it was converted to Indiana Railroad's tool car 1150. One note indicates it retained the name "ELWOOD." Below is the "ELWOOD" car shown in Anderson, Indiana, in 1940. It's shown here as Indiana Railroad's car 1150.

 

 

 

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No. D Street was originally "North Street."

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There are 16 cities and towns named ELWOOD in the United States. The states include FL, IL, IN, IA, KS, MS, MO, NE, NJ, NM, NY, OR, TX, UT, VA, and WA.

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Wendell Willkie's birthplace was located on the northeast corner of So. A and 19th Street. The family later moved to the house on the northwest corner of No. A and 19th Street.

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You may know that Elwood had a Chamness Avenue at the intersection of Main and Anderson Streets, but did you know it was named after the Chamness family from Elwood and was for decades a major business location?

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Elwood's City Building was built based on a model of the Chicago Town Hall.

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There is no one distinct species of wild cat called a Black Panther. Black panthers are either black leopards or black jaguars.

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Oh sure . . . the Continental Can Company . . . but did you know about the Heekin Can Company . . . ???

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Elwood's land area is about 8,265,000 sq. km.

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Ann Bancroft and Rex Allen came to Elwood in the '50s to promote movies after television was introduced.

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The Elwood Fire Department started out using horse-drawn wagons and operated out of a building on West Main Street where Tru-Value is presently located.

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Elwood High School was first organized in 1888 by Mr. Herman F. Willkie and offered only a two year course.

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In November, 1944, the name of the high school was changed to Wendell L. Willkie High School in honor of the boy who was graduated in 1910 and became Republican candidate for President of the United States in 1940. He was the son of the school's founder, Herman F. Willkie.

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Elwood was the home for several cigar factories. Among them were two listed at 1403 Main Street and 1623 Main Street. Another took up business in the first fire barn (where Tru-Value is today).

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Before Elwood's Post Office was completed in 1913, various stores in town provided local postal service with the proprietors serving as postmasters.

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GM's Train of Tomorrow toured the nation from 1947 until sometime in 1950. It traveled from Muncie to Elwood on the Nickel Plate Railroad and interchanged with the Pennsylvania Railroad at So. 18th Street. It was photographed (shown below) stopped in Elwood on Wednesday, June 16, 1948, sitting on the crossing of the PRR and NKP railroads headed west towards Kokomo. [The Cincinnati to Chicago rail line through Elwood was designated an east/west route from the time it was first built.]

 

 

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Frazier's Packing Company had boxcars advertising their products from ELWOOD, INDIANA, that traveled the country's rail system.

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No. A Street was originally called "Walnut St."

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Swihart's Barber Shop was located at 1300 So. A Street before it moved to its last location at 1530 So. A Street. It was on the north side of the street just west of the old Pennsylvania Railroad tracks.

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On Saturday afternoons, you could go to the Vogue or Elwood Theatres and watch the latest episode of the serial adventures (cliffhangers) of the Crimson Ghost, Blackhawk, Batman, Superman, or Rocket Men from the Moon among many others.

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At the corner of No. B and Anderson Street, where the Ford dealership has been for years, you could go to Firm Grinnell's gasoline station to buy and/or trade your old comic books.

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The first streamliner (a streamlined steam engine) passed through Elwood on Tuesday, May 5, 1936.

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Elwood made Ripley's "Believe It or Not" when Elmer Baucher found a Frazier label on a bottle of catsup while he was serving in the Pacific area during WW2.

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Elwood once had two telephone systems, both the Delaware & Madison and the Bell System.

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An Elwood resident once placed a wreath on the grave of the "Unknown Soldier." On October 11, 1935, Bernard Bradley was chosen for the honor while attending the National Convention of the American Legion in Paris, France.

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So. A Street was originally "Simmons St."

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During the '40s and '50s, the Style Shop, located at 222 So. Anderson St., had two sister stores...one in Adrian, Michigan...the other in Sidney, Ohio.

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The hub or axle for the first Ferris Wheel was made in Elwood at The Foundry (So. J and 22nd Street). The Ferris Wheel made its first appearance in 1893 at the World's Fair in Chicago. The Ferris Wheel was so large that 2,000 people could ride at one time. Each car was streetcar size.

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19th Street north of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad was first known as "James Street."

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Wendell L. Willkie High School once was the proud owner of an airplane. In 1947, the senior class purchased an airplane and presented it to the school for the Manual Training classes. The Naval AT-6 trainer sat for many years in the grassy area between the school and the gym.

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On March 31, 1976, Penn Central Railroad's RH-8, a daily freight train from Logansport to Richmond, was the last regularly scheduled train on the former Pennsylvania Railroad line through Elwood. The next day, April 1, 1976, Conrail absorbed Penn Central and sent one last train to Elwood to pick up cars left behind. Conrail chose to abandon the line through Elwood. April 1 seemed an appropriate date.

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Built in 1912 or 1913 at 223 Main Street, the Whipple House was best known to most of us as American Legion Post 53. It was torn down and the Presbyterian Church is now at this location.

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During the Depression many streetcars and interurban cars were sold to be made into homes. This was before trailers or mobile homes were made. The home at 1608 No. E Street is one where you can still see the configuration of the original car.

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This beautiful home on the southwest corner of Main and 19th streets was often referred to as the Ray Kleinbub house. It was built by a man named Peters who had both his arms blown off in an explosion but lived there for many more years. The East Main Christian Church obtained the property and the house has been demolished.

 

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In November of 1944, work started on a remote control signal office at the intersection of the PRR and NKP railroads near So. C and 18th Streets. The new electric inter-locking signal tower or block station first went into operation on Friday, April 27, 1945, at 11:30 a.m. The same structure sits abandoned by Norfolk Southern at the same location today (June 2006). The structure can be seen on the left in the photo of GM's Train Of Tomorrow above.

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Plans for building an automobile named the Elco at The Elwood Iron Works (The Foundry at So. J and 22^nd Street) failed when the company went bankrupt before the car could be offered on the market. The rights to the Elco, a four-cylinder, 30 horse-power gasoline engine car, were sold to a company in Sidney, Ohio, that continued to market the car as the Elco before switching the name to Bimel.

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In 1946, the bus company at La Porte, Indiana, was almost put out of business because the government closed the Kingsbury Ammunition Plant. The bus line had hauled passengers from La Porte to the plant. So the bus company came to Elwood and started a bus line here in March. There were four routes. One in each direction, north, south, east and west. Some of the original drivers were Joe Davis, Ed VanBuskirk, Omer Heater and Dewey Smith. The service only lasted about three or four years because the men that came home from WWII were eventually able to buy cars and furnish their own transportation.

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On the night of April 11, 1945, a special six-car train from New York City to St. Louis passed through Elwood over the Nickel Plate Road. The train carried executives, officials and the board of directors of the Nickel Plate Road. Speculation about the special train centered around the possibility of a new coast-to-coast route for a modern streamlined train.

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At one time, Elwood High School colors were . . . blue and gold.

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In the 1940s and '50s, there were several trailer factories in Elwood. Ventura, Zimmer, Holan, and National were only a few.

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Elwood streets were given their present names by Ordinance No. 15, passed on March 21, 1892. Many other municipalities have yet to catch on. ; )

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For many years, if you were headed west towards Chicago on the Pennsylvania Railroad, a station sign mounted on the edge of the east end of the station looked much like this one.

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During the years of city streetcars and later the interurban cars between Alexandria and Tipton, the depot at 1600 Main Street carried a sign similar to this one over the entrance to the building. In later years, the building was known as the Wheeler Mkt. That address is now occupied by the Elwood Public Library.

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Upon arriving in Elwood to announce his acceptance of the Republication nomination for President in 1940, Wendell L. Willkie realized he had left his speech in Rushville. It had to be rushed to him by a special police motorcade.