Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 26, Number 213, Decatur, Adams County, 8 September 1928 — Page 17

OLD home edition WEEK

ADAMS COUNTY IS WELL MOTORIZED

WE THAN ONE automobile for EVERY FAMILY Assessed Valuation of Autos Is Higher Than I hat 01 Household Goods COUNTY’S FIRST CAR PURCHASED IN 1900 The assessed value of automobiles owned in Adams county is greater than the assessed value of household toads as shown by the figures in the office' of Jay Cline. Adams county assessor. fp until the first of last March. 3.581 automobiles, including trucks, were assessed by the township assessors. This included cars with a value of $25 or more. The assessed value of the automobiles and trucks in the county Is $705.27". an average value of $177.50 per car. The assessed value of househod goods is $666 813. First One Bought In 1900 In 1900. Decatur and Adams county saw the first automobile owned by a local citizen. John Smith, of North Third street, owned the fit st passengj er car and a description of it is con tained in another part of this paper. Il was on open air model, two sylinders and would disrupt traffic today if seen going down Main The local branch of the Indiana automobile license bureau has issued licenses to 5.642 passenger cars«nd to SuS trucks since the firstt of the year. This figure is higher than the number of cars assessed, but is accounted for in the fact that some of the cars having a license are classed with “other machinery" or "junk” on the tax duplicate. The 1920 government census Save Adams county 3,736 families, so the mwessor's figures show that every family in the county should have an automobile, that is. figuring on average. , In recent years, figures show that local automobile dealers have been selling about 3(10 new cars every year. Auto dealers in this city are the Adams County Auto Co.; The Hall Motor Co.; T. J. Durkins. W. H. Oettinger, Saylors Motor Co.; P. Kirsch & Son; W. D. Porter and Charles Hickman. The auto industry represents one of the chief commercial businesses in this city and county. _o DECATUR HAS TWONEWPARKS Legion And Rugg Memorial Parks Are New To Most “Home-Comers” Decatur has two small but beautiful parks which are new to most of 'he “home-comers." One is the Lesion Memorial Park and the other. Ragg Memorial Park. Legion Memorial Park is located on 'he site of what was once a cemetery, on Winchester street, opposite 'he Nickel Plate railroad station. The (cmetery was abandoned many years ago as a burial ground and a large number of the bodies buried there *as exhumed and burled in other Places. After the proper authority had been '"tained. the old tombstones and Pave slabs were removed and placed m a neat pile in one corner of the 'cnietery. The ground was leveled '"’. grass planted and walks built. A "ailing pool, the gift of the Cloverleaf teanieries, inc., was constructed in e park for the children, also. The act contains many beautiful shade trees. I>arl< ’ wl,ich was complet- . .. last spring, was named Legion ' ’"'"•fa! park, in recognition of the ‘ and work on the part of Adams In n si. 0 ' 43, of tbe American Legion, making the park a reality. Senl argP Cannon ’ a B> ft from Jesse Is former Decatur man who •food" | lVlng in Calitornia . and which ±LI the CoUrt >' a '*’ for. Legio. llaß bepn Ptoced in the Memorial park. It is planned the an' 6 benches 1,1 Um Park after Wha| SS las obtained a bette r start. Park known as Wat er Works Park t a aS . rellame d Rugg Memorial rounding The grounda Bur ' ’ater work, hfl Clt f “ ght plant and siderablv * been beautified con sown a anU neW graSß has been municipal swimming pool

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

was constructed In Rugg park about three years ago. The park was named Rugg Memorial Park In memory of Samuel Rugg, one of the founders of the city of Decatur, who donated : much of the ground on which public buildings were constructed, and now stand. In addition to the two parks named above, beautiful Bellmont Park, just east of the city limits, is sti.l main tained by Col. Fred Reppert, the owner. Bellmont Park is the scene of many family reunions each summer. For many years, a county fair was held at Bellmont Park, but they were discontinued two years ago. Sun Set Park, owned by the Zeser brothers, is located .three miles southeast of the city in a beautiful grove. This is becoming a popular place for picnics and reunions, also. SWIMMING POOL POPULAR PLACE Decatur Boasts Os One Os Finest Municipal Pools In Northern Indiana Decatui citizens are proud of their municipal swimming pool, located in Rugg Memorial Park, near the city light plant and water works. It is one of the largest and finest swimming pools located in a city the size of Decatur anywhere. The swimming pool was constructed by the city in 1926. St is 70 feet wide and 120 feet long. Its depth varies from a few inches at the north end to S’/i feet at the south end. An attractive and suitable bath house is located at the north end of the pool and cement walks and a high wire fence surround the pool. A supervisor of the pool, is hired by the city each summer, to protect the lives of the swimmers and give instruction to those who are unable to swim. Bryce Thomas was supervisor of the pool during the summer just ended. Miss Jeanette Clark was employed by the city to aid the girls in learning to swim, also. Every afternoon and evening, during the summer months.' the city , swimming pool is the mecca for hundreds of children and older people, seeking relief from the heat. The water is kept clean and healthful by a continuous circulation. The water used in the pool is sterilized by a boiling process, after which it is cooled and run into the pool. o Girls Turn Tables On Boys; In 20 Years To Be Dominant Sex By International News Service LONDON. —No longer do mischievous schoolboys pull girls pig-tails. The tables have turned, and the girls are now the teasers. . This is the opinion of Ernest G. Holland, who has just retired after 51 years of service as headmaster at the Highgate Council School. “It is certainly one of the most astonishing changes that has ever occurred in my experience." Holland declared. "Fifty years ago, and ever since, 'until recently, it has always been the boys who have played the deminant parts in school life. SJbw everything is the other way. The girls are aggressive and dominating.” Holland traces this change to feminine fashions. "In the old days,” he said, “girls were hampered by their clothes. They wore disproportionately long skirts, even as children, had long ridiculous hair in heavy plaits or an untidy mass, and had to effect an exaggerated shyness and modesty. Look at them now.

DECATUR AUTOMOBILE DEALERS There is no trouble buying an automobile in Decatur, as practically all the moderate priced cars are sold here by well known and reputable dealers. Ihe dealers and the cars sold follow:— DEALER NAME OF CAR Oakland A Pontiac Adams County Auto C 0.... GMC line ot Trucks W. H. Dellinger Chryslers — Plymouth Hupmobile A Reo T. J. Durkin Reo Speed Trucks Hall Motor Co Ford . Dodge Saylors Motor Co Graham Bros. I rucks Hickman Nash Co Nash Hudson & Essex P. Kirsch & Son International Trucks Imperial Chevrolet Sales... Chevrolet Means Buick Co. . W. D. Porter . > Adams county lias more than 4,100 registered automobiles and practically every make car is represented in the city. Local dealers have the new models on display now.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Saturday, September 8, 1928.

Memorial To Gene Stratton Porter To Be Dedicated In Decatur Sept 11

County Will Observe Lim-N berlost Day In Connection With Old Home Week Fete — Fifty-ton Boulder With Bro n ze Tablet Will Pay Tribute To Hoosier Author. A fitting tribute will, be paid to the late Gene Stratton Porter, beloved author and one of Decatur and Adams county's most illustrious citizens of all times, when “Limberlost Day" Is observed here next Tuesday, September 11, in connection with Decatur's Old. Home Week. The outstanding feature of the day's program will be the formal dedication of a huge boulder, known as Elephant Rock, which has been placed in the Adams county court house yard as a memorial to Mrs. Porter. Notable persons from all parts of the country, including statesmen, authors, poets, national and state officers of the Izaak Walton League and others, have accepted invitations to be Decatur’s guests on Limberlost ’ Day. The program has been arrang- I ed under the auspices of the Izaak t Walton league. Dr. Henry B. Ward, ( president of the University of Illinois , and national president of the Izaak Walton League, will deliver the prin- ' cipa? address at the dedication of 1 Elephant Rock. 1 Carl (', Pumphrey is general chairman for Limberlost Day. Gov. Ed Jackson and United States 1 Senators James E. Watson and Arthur 1 R. Robinson hawe sent word that they ' will be here for the event. The program for the day will open 1 with a band concert at 9 o'clock in ' the morning. A reception for the dis- 1 tinguished guests will be held at 11 ' o'clock. At 1 o’clock in the afternoon there wil. be a Limberlost parade of school children and other admirers ' of Mrs. Porter. Dedication of the Elephant Rock memorial will take place at 2 o'clock. 1 Charles L. Biederwolf of Indianapolis, president of the Indiana branch of ' the izaak Walton League, will be mas- ' ter of ceremonies. Addresses wi.l be • given by speakers of note. Historical Pageant Planned At 7:30 o'clock in the evening there will be a pageant, entitled “Adams County, Yesterday and Today," presented under the direction of Mrs. James R. Blair. The life of Gene Stratton-Porter, while she resided in Adams county, will be vividly por- | trayed in the pageant. Mrs. John H, Heller of this city, a cousin of Mrs. Porter, wil' portray the part of the author. Elephant rock, a fifty-ton boulder, was taken from the bed of the St. Mary's river a few miles southeast of Decatur. It belongs to the species of rock known as “gneiss,” and probably was deposited here during the glacial period, according to W. N. Logan, state geologist, who has analyzed the rock. ' A large bronze tablet, bearing an appropriate inscription, has been placed on the rock and evergreen shrubs have been planted around ft. Each night a large spotlight illuminates the memorial. Trail Passes Memorial Federal highway No. 27, which runs north and south through Adams county and on north to Rome City, where Mrs. Porter also spent part of her life, has been named Limberlost trail. This road passes directly by the form er home of Mrs. Porter in Geneva and the memorial in this city. Scores of tourists stop to X’iew the memorial ' here each week. Mrs. Porter came to Decatur as the bride of the late Charles Dorwin Porter many years ago. Mr. Porter

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was a member of one of this city's pioneer families. The couple look up their residence within a stone's throw of the Adams county ' court hous ■ and lived there for several years, until they erected "Limberlost cab in” at Geneva, eighteen miles south of here in Adams county. Cabin Built of Logs Less than a mile from Limberlost cabin in Geneva stretched that impenetrable swamp known to all the world as the “Limberlost.” The cab in was artistically beautiful, built of logs. It still stands in its original location in Geneva and every day during the summer months it is visited by many tourists. It was in that cabin at Geneva that Mrs. Porter commenced her marvelous efforts and there most of her best books were written. Her frequent visits to the Limberlost gave her a thorough understanding of nature. Into the swamps, witli camera and other paraphernalia, courageously and laboriously, day by day. year after year, she penetrated its darkest mysteries and with infinite patience learn-

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ed its secrets. This data proved to be the inspiration for the books which were destined permanently to enshrine her in the hearts of millions of leaders. o Earliest Form ot Bread h lien bread was first made, salt was probably the only other Ingredient used besides the flour and water, as there was no baking powder, and yeast was not used until brewing beer from germinated barley had become known. The Egyptians had perfected lH»tli baking and brewing 1.500 years before the beginning of the Christian era. o — Early Flyers Icarus was the sun ot Daedalus, a mythical sculptor of enrly Greece. The father and son were imprisoned, and to escape, invented wings and attached them with wax. They flew out of their prison easily enough, but Icarus flew too near the Sun and the heat melted the wax. bls wings came off. and he fell Into the *ea

ADAMS COUNTY FARMERS KEEP UP WITH TIMES Progress Is Shown In Agriculture Here Since Start In 1819 CHANGE MADE IN KIND OF CROPS GROWN The first farmers came to Adams county in 1819. Much of the land was covered with timber, which has since been cleared and converted Io farming. In 1884, there were 70,000 acres in limber and this amount has steadily decieased until now it Is less than 10,000 acres. When Decatur was founded in 1836. there was less than 100 farms in l Adams county. Now there are 2,328 farms. Farming is in a highly developed state in the county. Corn, oats, wheat, hay. and rye are the principal crops grown. Sugar beets, soybeans, potatoes, aYalfa. peppermint and truck are the leading special crops. Surplus oats, corn and hay find a local market. Dairy and hog raising are the principal animal industries although considerable attention is paid to horses. Poultry products are on the increase and find a ready market within the county. The price of farm land ranges from $75 to S2OO per acre, in addition to muck and peat, soils of five series are mapped in tire county. The Miami, Genesee, Grosby and Brookston series ate each represented by a silty clay loam type, and the C.yde series by the Clay Loam type. These are all upland soils and are well suited to the genet al farm crops. The area of Muck and Peat is veiy small and corn and vegetables are grown on the better drained areas. There are 142.1614 acres of land in Adams county I available for crops. During the last few years of agricultural depression, one often hears the remark made that, the reason for the unprofitable position that the farmer is now in, is due to the fact that he has failed to change his way

SECTION THREE EIGHT PAGES

and methods of farming during the last 40 or 50 years. Here in Adams county, is that true? Have our farmers kept up with the times? Undoubti edly anyone reading this article from beginning to end will be convinced that Adams county farmers have been very ready to take u pthe newer methods and ideas of farming. Everywhere in Indiana, Adams county is recognized as one of the best agricultural counties in the state, not only because of Jier fertile soil, but also because of her thrifty farmers who have kept in touch with modern times. First,’let us consider the condition of agriculture in Adams county 45 years ago. The fonollggwi f-htsoke years ago. The following paragraph taken from an old Adams county history printed in 1884, very clearly describes the county as to its status in agriculture almost 50 years ago: "The best prosperity a county can have is agricultural. Manufactures and mineral resources are desirable, but where they are the main dependence there will: invariably be a poor, ignorant, unenterprising class of citizens controlled by a few capitalists. Here in Adams county, property is quite evenly distributed, with the exception of a few large land owners; all are comfortably situated and all enjoying educational and social advantages. Adams is destined to remain an agricultural county, and it is best so. As a farming region it ranks among the best in the state. Possessing the advantages of a good climate, a soil of inexhaustible fertility, close proximity to the markets of Fort Wayne, Toledo and other cities, and excellen: railroad facilities, the county has already attained a degree of agricultural development such as is seldom found in a country comparatively new. Its wealth and prosperity are Steadily and rapidly increasing. When we consider that but two generation ago the red men were the owners of this region which now supports one of the most flourishing communities in the United States, we may well be astonished at the wonderful results which time and an intelligent industry have wrought. In many sections of our<country lands which have been occupied by white inhabitants as long, eThYWTT not one-half of the improvements and substantial evidences of leal prosperity that Adams county can show. Nature did much for this region, and a thrifty and progressive (Continued on Page 2—Section 3)