July 2024

Celebrate with us as we move Downtown!

This building, at 110 North Monticello Street, between Refined and the telephone company, will be the third and final home of the Museum. In the 1960s, we took up residence in the County-owned Quonset Hut (adjacent to the Library's parking lot). In 2018, we moved to our current home at 500 South Monticello Street (the carriage house).

That move was based on the largess of Don and Dee Galbreath. We owned the property; the Galbreaths had lifetime residency. They invited us to move into the carriage house before we assumed control of the property, and to make it happen, they made a significant contribution and managed the construction.

In 2023, the Historical Society and the Galbreath family reached an agreement, through property sales and transfers, that would allow us to seek a new location. That agreement allowed the Museum - again, through the Galbreath family's largess - to remain in place until June 2025.

The new building will significantly increase the museum display space (by 6-7 times). We'll have appropriate climate-controlled artifact storage, and we'll have the ability to provide educational programming. Community organizations will be invited to use our Cultural Center for their meetings and events as well. A galley kitchen will be available, and a mezzanine area will provide space for us to work on projects.

Because we'll be downtown, we will be able to participate in downtown events, like Winter Wonderland, the Town-Wide Garage Sales, the annual car show, and more! And as we participate, the Cultural Center will be available for use by others. We hope the visible presence on Monticello Street (U.S. 35) will bring both tourists and locals in.

You should see work beginning in the very near future. We hope to schedule a groundbreaking event in July. Stay tuned for details and for additional news as the building takes shape.

Gabe's Ghost

As a high school student in search of an “A,” this writer’s sister Linda interviewed family members to get a sense of family history. This particular interview took place with our grandfather, Adam William Thompson. In our family, this is Adam William the Younger. His grandfather, Adam William the Elder, purchased land in Van Buren Township, Pulaski County, in the 1850s. He did not live here. His son, William Henry, moved from Darke County, Ohio, in 1888. William Henry’s son, Adam William the Younger, was born at that homestead in 1891. He would have been a boy of eight when Gabe’s story became known.

The Story, As Told By Linda

As a farm boy, his life was never dull. He remembered, for instance, the sapping of the maples for syrup. Every spring they hitched horses to sleds and carried the buckets to the maple grove. There, someone would have to keep watch day and night so that the syrup wouldn’t boil over. Adam was usually dealt the night shift. He mightn’t have minded so much had it not been for the company of an old-timer who specialized in ghost stories. Young Adam tried his hardest to act brave, but those stories kept him glancing uneasily into the darkness.

The County of Long Ago, by E.R. Brown

This is the fifteenth in a Series of Reminiscences by E. R. Brown. Pulaski County Democrat, May 25, 1922

Its Homes and Home Life

I take it for granted that even schoolchildren know that the first houses of all our early settlers were log cabins. It would be interesting, if it was possible, to know when the first frame house was built in the county. My guess would be that it was in Winamac, but not until after all those who were then here had lived awhile in log cabins. From what I know personally, I would say it was still some years after that before such a house was built on any farm, and later still before any farmer built one for his first home.

A fact about these early homes that may well cause surprise is that no sand was found, or believed to exist here that was sharp enough, when mixed with the lime available, to make good mortar. For that reason no early cabins had plastered ceilings and few of the earliest had ceilings of any kind. 

Untitled poem from Francesville Tribune dated May 29, 1903

On the porch he proudly sits,

In his straight-backed wicker chair.

Buttons bright and coat well brushed,

Slouch hat over silvered hair.

Listening with eager ear.

Peering out with kindling eye, 

For the fife and drum and flag

When 'the boys' go marching by.

A few years a-back, and he

In the ranks t'was keeping step:

Now it is his heart alone

Follows to the warning 'hep':

Follows through the dusty streets,

Banners drooping overhead.

To the oak embowered slope,

To the bivouac of the dead. 

He can only wait and dream,

In his sun's declining rays,

Of the muster rolls that marked

Other Independence Days.

And adorn the aisles of Time

He reviews, with subtle thrill,

Camp and foray, song and cheer,

And charge that hard-fought Hill.

On the porch he proudly sits

In his threadbare suit of blue,

Thinking of the hours agone,

Hours when he was marching too,

And his came upon the floor

To the drumbeats makes reply:

"Thump" and "thump, thump, thump!"

As "the boys" go marching by. 

While the newspaper was dated on Decoration Day, the poem mentions celebrating Independence Day. The accompanying photo - purportedly taken in 1903 - is of Albert Henry Woolson (February 11, 1850 – August 2, 1956). He was the last surviving Civil War veteran on either side whose status is undisputed. (Photo and info from Quora.com)

Theodore Roosevelt, Huntington, New York, July 4, 1903

Mr. Chairman, and you, my fellow citizens, my old-time friends and neighbors, men and women of Huntington:

I thank you for having given me the chance of saying a few words to you this afternoon, and in greeting all of you I wish to say a word of special greeting to those whom none of us will object to my greeting. First, to the men because of whom we have to-day a country and a President – and to the men of the National Guard, wearing the uniform I have worn myself, for having come out to serve as my escort to-day.

And, now, men and women, in speaking to you to-day, I want not only to join with you in an expression of thankfulness for the nation’s mighty past, but to join with you in expressing the resolution that we of to-day will strive in our deeds to rise level to those deeds which in the past made up the nation’s greatness.

Each generation so far, in this country, has been blessed, first, with the chance to resolve, and to put into effect the resolution so as to conduct itself that the next generation in turn would have the opportunity to feel a like gratitude. It is a good thing, on the Fourth of July and on all other occasions of national thanksgiving, for us to come together, and we have the right to express our pride in what our forefathers did, and our joy in the abundant greatness of this people.

This is the last garden season for the current museum location. This year, the three beds and one urn are being cared for by six different individuals / families. Come see their unique beauty!

Tractors on the Tippecanoe

Winamac’s favorite ramble through history occurs every summer at the town park during the four-day “Power From the Past” show featuring antique steam engines, tractors, threshing machines, hay balers, a saw mill and much more - a whole collection of sights, smells, tastes and sounds to make memories and revive old ones.

Now, a new film documentary, Tractors on the Tippecanoe, has been produced by Anne Rebeck Scott to celebrate the tradition of the 47-year-old show. A premiere viewing of the film was held June 26 at the Isis Theater in Winamac.

The documentary was produced on behalf of Northern Indiana Power From the Past, Inc. which puts on the annual antique power show, and with the support of the Pulaski County Historical Society. Members of both organizations were invited to attend the premiere, an informal, blue-jean version of a Hollywood film opening, complete with antique tractors parked across from the theater.

Press Release for Anne Rebeck Scott / June 2024 / Prepared by Karen Clem Fritz

Press Release and Photos

Please Enjoy These Videos

Our YouTube Site

• 2024 Alumni Associaty meeeting of Star City & Pulaski Schools: a retruspective of Star City, Pulaski, & Fairview Schools. Research assistance provided by the Pulaski County Historical Society.
• 2024 Annual Meeting, featuring Catalina Tome', Curator of Paleobiology, Indiana State Museum and Historical Sites. The program was on Mastodons of Indiana;
• 2023 Annual Meeting, featuring Fred Zahrt, speaking on kit houses, both the industry and local examples.
• A trailer for the upcoming film, Tractors on the Tippecanoe.
• A workshop series, How to Research the History of Your Old House, presented by the Pulaski County Historical Society and provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities through Indiana Humanities and Indiana Landmarks.
• Itch's Room, his cobbler shop, tools, and a variety of historical items.
• A video on the interpretive sign at the Artesian Well, produced by the Pulaski County Tribe.
• A brief history of Vurpillat's Opera House
• 2021 Annual Meeting, featuring Brenda Gilsinger and the history of Pulaski (the town)
• 2022 Annual Meeting, featuring Shirley Willard from the Fulton County Historical Society, the history of the Potawatomi in Fulton & Pulaski Counties and the Trail of Death.

We will keep you updated (through links) of the progress being made on the long-awaited Courthouse renovation.

For more and up-to-date photos, visit: https://www.facebook.com/pulaskicountyindiana/photos

For an in-depth look at the project and all the work that has gone into it, visit: https://gov.pulaskionline.org/courthouse/

Many items of historic note have been found. This ledger contains delinquent tax records from 1872.

Below, left: Work in the Courtroom.

Center, Right: General demolition.

Left: Work on the retaining wall (the "absher").

Above: Getting down to the real basement floor.

Leadership

President: Ryan Harrison

Vice President (& Past President): Kathi Thompson

Secretary: Rhonda Wilson

Treasurer: Lin Morrison

Curator: Vacant

Terms Ending 2025

• Lenora Hoover
• Jolie Simmermaker
• Chris Zahrt

Terms Ending 2026

• Steve Morrison
• Mary Conner
• Vacancy

Terms Ending 2027

• Karen Fritz
• Janet Onken
• Courtney Poor

County Historian (currently also County Genealogist) Mary Conner