Spring Week 2010

Saturday wrapped up an important week in spring for the greek community. I have the privilage of being in a greek chapter here at ISU and I'm very proud of it. The picture I have at the top of this post is of tandem. This is the event that wraps up the whole week and it the biggest event of the week. Teams train for almost a month and a half before the actual race. This has been a tradition at ISU since way before I was born. The now 94 year old man that just retired this year has been flagging the tandem race since it started. Tradition is one thing that will always stay true in the greek community. If nothing else holds true at ISU what the greeks do will.

Temple Isreal

Jewish history in Terre Haute started in 1827 with the first land purchase by one Mr. Samuel Judah. This man later became one of Indiana's legislators. He rose to become the 25th General Assembly of the state of Indiana. This is just the great start of the Jewish history in Terre Haute.

The next big event that took place for Jewish history was the purchase of land for burial at 1st and 8th ave. Quickly followed by the formation of a burial society. This burial society formed the first Jewish congregation in Terre Haute.

The picture I have above is where the Jews now have Temple. The neo-classical structure dates back to the 1900's. It was designed and built by Simeon Eisendrath. At this period in time there were two Jewish congregations. The reformed congreagtion for whom the temple was built and the orthodox congregation who was in a synagogue in Farrington's Grove. That synagogue would later be the senior center that now stands today. The two congregations merged in 1936 with what is to be the first record of orthodox and reformed Jews merging together in the United States.

I was unable to venture inside this beautiful building, but from the reading I have done on it I found out that it has a half-dome skylight. I would love to get in and see the beauty this building has to hold. But for now I'm just left with what my imagination has to hold.

Paul Dresser

This is Paul Dressers' home located on the banks of the wabash in Fairbanks park. You would think will this house still standing that we would turn it into a memorial of the man who wrote our state song. There is only a sign out in front of the house telling you about the man who lived there. I'm not sure if you can take a tour into the house and look out the windows to see the view that inspired Paul or not, but from peaking into the windows it doesn't look like you can go in.

The is the sign that is in front of Pauls' house. As you can see it doesn't do the man any justice. It pretty much just tells you that he wrote a song and a book. It doesn't mention anything about what inspired him to write those things or that the house behind the sign was his child hood home. I believe it is important to give him credit, but there is so much more we could do with these things to help make Terre Haute shine.
If I could go back and redue this for the city of Terre Haute I would. Speaking out and giving ideas is how you go about keeping a city alive and thriving. When we all stay quiet nothing good can come of it. I would say that we could turn the Dresser home into a museum and make it the end part of a walking tour. You would start the tour along the banks of the wabash and talk about how this view inspired Paul to write the famous Indiana song "On the Banks of the Wabash". Then you would stroll through the park and up to the house. Entering the house you would see furniture from that time period and your guide would tell you the history of the family and of the house. When you left your tour you would be more education on Paul Dresser and how Terre Haute use to be.

Max Carey

Maximillian George Carnarius got his start playing baseball in Terre Haute, Indiana. This plack is up in front of the football field for Indiana State University. What is now the football field use to be the old baseball stadium. The old gates are still used to enter the football field. Max Carey adopted his name when he played his first professional game to maitain ameture status for Concordia College. The name stuck and he went on the play for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He holds many records that are still good today. In most of the categories he is still ranked 9th. After playing for the pirates he went on the play for the Brooklyn Robins for three years before he retired. After he retired he was the manager for the Dogers. During World War 2 he went on to manage the Milwaukee Chicks and the Fort Wayne Daisys two women's teams that played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Of all these accomplishments everyone will always remember that little Max Carey got his big start playing ball in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Greenwood Elementary School

I was driving around Terre Haute the other day and I have seen this building many times and have always wondered what it is. Well it use to be Greenwood Elementary School. I have tried to find it in the data base for schools, but am unable to find why it closed. It is pretty amazing that this building is standing since it was built in 1908. I would have figured with the history Terre Haute has of tearing buildings down that this one would have followed suit after they no longer needed it for an elementary school.
I have been unable to figure out why they no longer use it as an elementary school or why they stopped using it in the first place. I don't know if this was a segregated school or if the attendance just became so low that they had to close it. I would love to get into this school and have a look around. Not only because I'm and education major and it fasinates me, but because I love going in old buildings and exploring to see what I will find.
This building now houses Freebirds Solution Center. It is a drug rehab facility. They offer a twelve step Christian based program to help people to over come their addictions. I think this is a very fitting thing to put in a elementary school. People are still helping eachother out and I think that is one of the most important things that could happen in a community.
Someday I may figure out what happened to the school that use to be housed in this building, but for now it will be a mystery. The building is still around so this mystery may be solved very soon. If I could somehow manange to get a transcript of who went to the school I may be able to figure out what happened to it, but until then we just have the picture I took to fill in the blanks.

On the Banks of the Wabash

'Round my Indiana homestead wave the cornfields,In the distance loom the woodlands clear and cool,Oftentimes my tho'ts revert to scenes of childhood,Where I first received my lessons - nature's school.But one thing there is missing in the picture,Without her face it seems so incomplete,I long to see my mother in the doorway,As she stood there years ago, her boy to greet.
CHORUS
Oh, the moonlight's fair tonight along the Wabash,From the fields there comes the breath of new-mown hay,Through the sycamores the candle lights are gleaming,On the banks of the Wabash, far away.Many years have passed since I strolled by the river,Arm in arm, with sweetheart Mary by my side,It was there I tried to tell her that I loved her,It was there I begged of her to be my bride.Long years have passed since I strolled thro' the churchyard.She's sleeping there, my angel, Mary dear,I loved her, but she thought I didn't mean it,Still I'd give my future were she only here.

These are the words from the famous song "On the Bank of the Wabash" by Paul Dresser. I took a field trip the other day over to fairbanks park. I walked past Paul Dressers house and down the road to gaze at the river that so inspired him to write this song. It is such a lovely site as you can see by the picture I took. Unfortunatly the river was very high and had flooded the docks that the city has built so you can feed the ducks or I would have had more picture from further down.

I really enjoyed looking at the river and how romantic it could be. As a city we need to make the decision to utilize our river. Put paths along it, so people can enjoy it's natural beauty. Someday maybe some will come along that people will listen to and say hey I think we should really use this river and make it the center of our town. Peole are really going to want to come here and see what we have to offer with this river we care so dearly about. It's just a thought I had while I was gazing upon the scene in the picture.

Surprise

I was plesantly surprised as I was heading to Nashville, TN, to see a sign towards the end of Indy promoting ISU. It was one of those electronic signs with bright lights that really catch your eye. It said transfer to ISU in our blue and white. I just found it pretty darn exciting that we had a sign like that up in Indy. Unfortunatly I was unable to get a picture of it due to that fact I was driving and it was raining. I hope with more signs like these in the future more people will come to love it down here like I do.

Markle Mill

This plack is to help us remember Markle Mill. It has since burned down, but in it's hayday it was one of the biggest mills. It is located on otter creek. This mill was all natural power something that we should consider getting back into. Otter Creek is still there and flowing and we are not taking advantage of it because the mill burned down.

Markle Mill was owned and ran by Charles Hansel in 1816. The mill ground wheat and corn without the assistance of machines. The mill didn't modernize until 1927 and it was all run by machines. Before that it had been in constant work run by it's free fuel before machines ever came through the doors. It is a great landmark here in Terre Haute and it's one that we should work to restore.

Greek Life

I am a member of Alpha Omicron Pi here at Indiana State University. I have recently taken a project under my belt to redue some of our photo albums. The other day as I was going through them with our chapter advisory I was so excited to see not only the history of my sorority unfold before my eyes but also so very exciting events that no longer are at ISU. I found some black and white original pictures of Parsons Hall and the old womans dormatory. I asked so many questions while looking through some of these books dating back to the early 1950's. I found out that our campus use to have a campus review at the end of every year and the cool thing was it use to be put in the star along with being in the school news paper. Now why is it that we have let traditions go like that? The picture that I hope to get permission to scan are so cool. Greek life here on campus you to be such a big deal more so than it is now. Home coming was also a bigger deal back in the "day". The floats were amazing to the point that it is hard for me to describe them in words, but I'll try. Picture rose bowl parade and that is a close glimpse of what these floats use to look like.

I am just so excited to continue to go through these books. As I get further into them and see if I am able to scan these pictures or not then you guys will also be able to see what I get to. It just totally made my day when I found all that stuff. So get excited!

Rose Orphan Home

This is a picture of the Rose Orphan home. This beautiful building was on a 20 acre sprawl on what is now 25th street and wabash. As you can probably guess this building and all the other ones on the land no longer stand. At one point in time this orphan home housed around 150 children and was recognized as one of the top 10 children's institutes in America. This home was built in 1884 and was torn down in 1949 to make room for what now stands there. We got rid of this stuff for a Kroger and Starbucks and everything else that is over there. I'm going on a adventure tomorrow after work to get pictures of where this use to stand. I finally figure out how to get the pictures to work and I can't wait to dig into this one and get more up for you.

Promoting ISU

On my drive back to Terre Haute on Sunday I noticed that there is only one sign promoting Indiana State. The one sign we have is about our national championship title in cross country. That is the only sign we have coming into Terre Haute. Rose Hulman has two driving in that say they are number one in the nation for the eleventh year in a row. Please tell me why we don't have more signs promoting ISU? I'm honestly sad that we don't have more saying hey come here we have a lot to offer you. I hope as elections for a new student government president is coming up that we can push to get more information out there about Indiana State instead of just the one road sign that we have.

Stars

I know it's totally random for a building to just have stars on it. I have noticed everyday this week as I have driven to work that buildings like the saratoga and the building right across the street have five point stars on them. It has been way to cold to stand out there to get a picture and as you can tell from my previous post I am having trouble getting them uploaded. I just am curious why these buildings have these stars and if there is a real purpose behind them. I'm going to have to dig into some google time and see what I can figure out. If anything else I think it make the building unique from other ones I have seen in different cities.

Where did it go?

Have you ever heard of the Terre Haute Brewing Company? Me either. I just happened to look close at a building the other day as I was driving down poplar to work. The building next door to moggers is the old brewing building. Now it is all boarded up and I don't think anything else is in there. Why wouldn't we want to work hard to keep the brewers of Champagne velevet in business. The beer industry brought a lot of livelyhood to Terre Haute. Along with the money it brought it also brought a lot of coruption to the city giving in the nicknames of the original "sin city" and the "Paris of Indiana". We got those names because the beer was helping to fund sporting houses and saloons without closing hours. As a city we don't need that corruption, but why did we just stop brewing such a well known beer at the time?

I feel like we should restore that building and make it into a museum of what it use to be. We can leave out the fact that it did use to help fund our lovely red light district and just educate people on the brewing of the beer. This is an important building in the history of this town and we need not let it go to ruins.

Who knew they would do so much work to save the court house!!

You would think that after so many buildings that Terre Haute has torn down without batting an eye that the court house would be one of them eventually. Well for once that is not the case. I happened to stumble across an article that really help shed some light on this wonderful building. This court house is a 19th century French neo-baroque style has had it's exterior repaired and also has had about 8 million dollars by the city put in to historically remodel the interior and to fix the south portico. I know it's totally shocking that the city would spend so much to save this building, but it gets even better! The two-ton historic bell that use to hang in the bell tower is in the plans of being hung back up and operate. I'm not sure if that has been done yet, but I haven't heard or seen the bell. I am really starting to think I need to get inside this court house and get pictures. They have restored the glass dome and fixed up all the marble floorings. How amazing is it that Terre Haute has put an effort into saving a building and working so hard to fix so many details. Digging into this buildings history is getting to be so cool.

The Court House

I have always loved court houses. They are always so beautifully designed. There is so much detail that goes into planning out each room. Court houses are also neat for the pure fact that they get to see everything that goes on in a city. Every big robbery, murder, and civil suit this city has seen has gone through that court house.

Like most cities the court house here in Terre Haute is located in the heart of down town. I decided that I needed to do a little more looking into the history of such a beautiful building. The building of the court house started on August 14, 1884 with the laying of 10,000 cornerstones. The monuments that were later constructed all have speacial meaning and are all dedicated to the people who have served in America in the armed forces and for the people of Terre Haute who at one time brought this city to it's greatness.

I plan on digging deeper into the history that has been through the court house and filling you guys in at a later time. There is just so much stuff to go through that I can't even begin to tell it all to you in one post.

My first experiences with Terre Haute

I came to Indiana State my sophmore year. Coming to Terre Haute was a whole new experience for me. You see I'm from Fort Wayne and am just use to seeing a different atmosphere, but Terre Haute has grown on me. Yes the mall is not really something to be desired, but that can be helped. This is such a beautiful city if we would fix up what the downtown area use to look like in all it's glory. This city could really shine again if we would take pride and step up and make something of this place instead of tearing down the history of this city. Everyone probably won't admit it but they love going into old buildings. It's so cool to see how they use to be decorated and how the structures are different. Take for example the court house. It is such a beautiful building inside and out and it's a big part of the history here. I am so excited to start learning more about this city and possible how I can get involved in the remodeling of this city.