The

MEGAPHONE

Elwood, Indiana                      Elwood High School(s)

Volume 8, No. 2                                                                                Thursday, February 1, 2007

  Contents

-- Page numbers are active links --

Page 1 . . . In and Around Your Hometown -- Nancy Sumner

Page 2 . . . Panther Den Birthday & Anniversary Calendar -- Nancy Sumner (Our Calendar Girl)

                    Numb3rs -- Fuzzy Logik

Page 3 . . . Five People I Met On Earth -- Julie (Stout) Crim

Page 4 . . . The Caddy Shack -- Dick Cleaver

Page 5 . . . Elwood Retires Mengelt's No. 43 Jersey -- Nancy Sumner

Page 6 . . . A Commitment to Education for All: the "Hope of Our Country" -- Jane Ann (Seright) Lemen

Page 7 . . . We Might Have a Winner & Warms You Twice - Cindy (Benedict) Odom

                    I'm Lonesome -- Virgil Ledford . . . submitted by Julie (Stout) Crim

Page 8 . . . Jingles -- Estel Harney

In and Around Your Hometown   

by Nancy Sumner

Every month I try and bring you news from your hometown. But this month I’m scratching the bottom of the barrel! Winter has settled in Elwood and it seems to me that many folks are huddled indoors waiting for the first robin! It’s pretty slow around here. There have been no snow storms, the schools haven’t closed for bad weather days and trash pick-up days are on schedule! The Heart of Hoosierland is a quiet little burg. So not to disappoint my legions of fans (!!), I’ve decided to write about what happened this month in history.

Elwood Call-Leader

Tuesday,  March 1, 1960

FIRE GUTS DOWNTOWN AREA

Flames Destroy Federal Savings, Local Finance, Golden Garden Building,

Other Stores Threatened

A view the next day!

   A fire believed to have started shortly before midnight Monday in the basement of the Golden Garden, 107 So. Anderson Street, destroyed a quarter block area of business places in downtown Elwood.

   Estimates of damage from the flames that licked their way from the restaurant building into the adjoining Local Finance, 109 So. Anderson Street, and on into the Elwood Federal Savings and Loan home, ranged all the way from $100,000 to $500,000 late this morning.

   Fire Chief Theodore (Pete) Wilson said the blaze is believed to have started in the basement under the Golden Garden. He said the same basement extends under the Local Finance building allowing the flames to spread to that area. The chief said a brick wall separates the Local Finance building from Federal Savings and Loan, but a two-foot opening at the floor level between the two allowed the blaze to squeeze into the corner building and include it in its destruction.

   The blaze was described by veteran firemen as the worst in Elwood since the R. L. Leeson and Sons store was destroyed on Jan. 2, 1934. Although there were near frozen hands and feet of firemen, Wilson said there were no injuries. Wilson credited prevention of the fire spreading into three other buildings in the half-block area to a solid brick wall that separated the tavern-restaurant from the Elwood Paint and Wallpaper store at 109 South Anderson street.

   Firemen from 13 cities in addition to Elwood, some 100 in all battled the blaze throughout the night in sub-freezing temperatures at the mercury plunged to its lowest of the season at 8 below zero.

The above is directly from the Elwood Call-Leader article of the day. Due to the frozen sprayed water, the ice on the buildings and in the streets, along with the condition of the damaged buildings, Anderson Street remained closed for several days. Some accounts said it looked like a bombed out European city during World War II.

Although the Smith-Alsop Paint and Wallpaper store was not fire damaged, the building had to come down also. Today, the three fire ravaged buildings have been replaced by one -- Huntington National Bank at the corner of Main and Anderson streets along with an exit drive from the bank building on the south side. The Smith-Alsop building has been replaced with the now Edward Jones Investments.

Fire is no stranger to the Elwood community:

Late 1800’s the first of 3 fires for R. L. Leeson & Sons; the last one 1934

1908 – Leaderer and Hene Department Store, So. B & Anderson Sts.

1931 – Elwood Lumber Co., South 18th St.

1941 – Perkins & Rhodes Furniture, Main & Anderson Sts.

1960 – Elwood Federal, Local Finance & Golden Garden

1963 – National Airplane factory, No. 9th St. (vacant)

1964 – Sellers Cabinet, No. 13th St. (vacant)

1964 – Elwood Country Club, club house

1983 – Roger D’s Supper Club, 300 block So. Anderson

1984 – J. C. Penney & Thread Baron, 200 block So. Anderson

1987 – Poolside Products, (old armory), 1500 blk of So. B St.

1988 – Old High School and Jr. High school, 1600 Main St. (vacant)

2000 -  After Dark Bar (Harting Bldg), 1500 block Main St.

2003 -  Tribune Lounge, 1400 block Main St.

Next month, I’ll have the continuing story of the buildings in the 100 block of So. Anderson St.

Sincerely,

Your Hometown Reporter,

Nancy Sumner

Elwood, IN