Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 35, Number 178, Decatur, Adams County, 29 July 1937 — Page 26

DECATUR LADY RECALLS EARLY DAYS IN CITY Mrs. Hattie Obenauer Recalls Interesting Events Os City 1 Mrs. Hattie Obenauer, prominent Decatur lady, during the celebration of the Decatur Centennial celebration held here last year, wrote the following interesting recollection of the city in its earlier , days. The story follows: One of my early recollections is | walking down First Street onei summer morning. I was a smallchild and all my impressions were • vivid. We were moving to a new , home across the river: we now ■ call It the homestead. Each mem-1 ber of the family wanted to help I in some way. So my grandmother! carried a large glass lamp which ’ it would be difficult to pack and [ place in one of the wagons, and I was trusted to carry a tin lantern, both necessities at that time. The morning was hot and when we turned from Jefferson into First, going north, we passed under the welcome shade of big locust trees. They had been planted on each side of the street and were nearly! a foot in diameter. When in bloom the fragrance was pleasant. Theyl were not in bloom then but we en-| joyed the shade. It was a familiar street to me. ; On the east side my Aunt Kate and Uncle, Dr. and Mrs. Chamber lived and across the street Mr. Lamer, father of Mrs. John Burke. On the corner was Mrs. Mite's house. We crossed Madison Street. A vacant lot and then came the large two-story house of Mr. Jacob King, father of Mrs. Bain and Mrs. Huffman. On the east side was Mr. A. J. Hill, father of Mrs. F. V. Mills, and next to that another big white frame house where Mr. James Patterson, grandfather of Dr. Patterson lived and then Dr. and Mrs. Van Simcoke and on the corner on the west side, Dr. Trout, Senior, father of Dr. Dallas Trout, had his home and separate office set in a large yard with blooming shrubs and flowers. There we turned and went east but the locust shade continued on north past the old Methodist church on the corner of Jackson Street Behind the trees and picket fences, were pleasant homes and

yfcr tie» —. ■,. . • jwa •St? «K&&- : <- Bftftfe. *1 w , k gfe-i/ jk- < * . Anhi' wwßsWMMsjgk-- .<$ P. A. Kuhn, says: SAVE P. A. Kuhn Chevrolet Co. North Third St. — Second & Jackson Sts. — West Monroe St. DECATUR

flowers and vines. Second Street contained the few business houses of the town and also some of the best residences. The locust trees stood lu front of the houses and flowers and orch- • a rds at the side. ' Third Street had trees In front lof the houses but Fourth Street ' and beyond had few houses In I those days. It was in this part the • 'maple trees were planted when the town grew west. , In early Decatur the streets 1 were muddy. The sidewalks were of wood and often out of repair. Only a small part of the year was i walking or riding a pleasure. ! Adams County was covered with ! closely growing timber. The land ’ j was level. After heavy rains water I stood on the ground. It required a i generation of hard toil to clear 1 the land for farming and cut' ' through roads. A second generaI tlon toiled to ditch the land. The i timber furnished money to pay for I that. Since the land is cleared, 1 ditched and good roads cross evI ery part of it, we find it a pleasI Ing topography, gently rolling, in I places with small streams lending la variety and enough woods, most--Ily second growth, to add to the beauty of the land. In that early time the woods and the mud were discouraging. I can remember how anxious my father was to secure our first railroad, the Cincinnati, Richmond and Fort Wayne, now a division of the Pennsylvania R. R. He said, “It will get us out of the woods.” And it did. He worked ! very hard going for months by buggy or on horseback over bad roads, plodding from farm to farm to secure favorable action for an election for a county subsidy. This secured, he acted as director from the county on the railroad board of directors without pay until the time of his death, a period of about thirty years. Character Os Early Settlers Our early settlers were not only as a class, intelligent people but brought with them from comfortable homes in eastern, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas ideal and familiarity with good styles of architecture. Decatur had many large houses for the size of the town, well designed and well built. Mr. Dayton Nuttman built three houses we would be proud to see erected in Decatur now. One I first knew as the home of a Mr. Riddle stood on the corner now occupied 1 ' by Mr. A. J. Smith’s house. It was ; a large two story frame house . painted white with green shutters, •ilt was destroyed by fire long ago. I The second still stands on First

Street and was many years the I home of Mrs. Billie Miesse Phillips, j recently deceased. They were the same style architecture. Ills third ( third house Is now the Elk's home, , on North Second Street. The same I general arrangement but much larger, taller and grander. What j a house it must have been at that 1 time! It would be interesting to, know who was his architect. The grounds were large one-half block inclosed with a picket fence. A glass greenhouse or conservatory opening from the dining room on the south side. The lawn was 1 planted with flowers and ever- 1 green trees. I remember seeing blue hyacinths growing in the grass forty years after they had 1 been planted. At the rear of the ’ bouse was a stable and a vegetable garden and an orchard. When Mr.. j Nuttman moved to Fort Wayne j Ihe sold it and it passed through , several hands and in 1867, Mr. 1, Jesse Niblick, Sr., purchased it and it was the home of his family over fifty years. Another large house I was fam- « iliar with was the home of my * uncle, Mr. Joseph Crabbe, on the ( southwest corner of Second and . Jackson streets. It had only a ] quarter of the block in the grounds j but it had the orchard at the side r and rear, the stable, the vegetable • ( garden, the flowers and shrubs and the two-story white house with | green shutters. I remember espe- 1 * cialiy the fire place in the sitting j * room, between two large windows. ’ On the mantel were glass candle J 1 sticks with pendant prisms. I im- tl agine the prisms caught and held ‘ my fancy. In late years when the 1 s Interurban Company acquired the c ground, the house was purchased £ and moved to North Fifth Street where it still is a beautiful home. I There were about a dozen other I large houses in the village and a l number of smaller houses and cott- v ages with trees and attractive 5 flowers and vines. I I Rugg's First Brick House Mr. Samuel Rugg built the first 1 i brick house in Decatur. It stood a-, j bout where Schmitt's meat mark- e et now is, not on the corner. Many q interesting facts are told about a Mr. Rugg. When my father was a ' 5 young man, Mr. Rugg was county 1 ■ recorder and he was deputy re- 1 1 corder and lived in the Rugg home.; ] Mr. Jesse Niblick, Sr. was also a 1 boarder and several other young < men. On Christmas, Mr. Rugg pre- 1 sented each of the young men with 1 a Bible. They were alike, small, 5 < fine paper, good print, well bound < in leather with email bronze clasps. ■ ’ When I went to college, my fath- ; t er gave me his Bible. It has Mr. I Rugg's inscription "David Studa-j'

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT THURSDAY. JULY 29, 1937.

[baker 1852.” It Is certainly preI served. Court House Unpainted The county recorder's office at ! that time was In one of the small [brick buildings on the county square. The court house was a plain tin- [ painted two-story building located [ where Dr. Frohnapfel lives. A very good picture of this building is in Mr. Snow's History of Adams County. Jn the Public Square, as it was called, were three building. Two small one-story brick buildings, facing Second Street, having four rooms each. Two of these rooms were allotted to clerk, recorder, auditor and treasurer. At the south west part of the square, where the “Peace” monument stands, was the sheriff's residence of frame and joined to it a hewer log jail, also tw’o stories in height. In front of the offices and about Ute square w’ere the universal locust trees. Founders Generous The three men who founded Decatur were men of vision and generous in gifts to the county and village. Among the gifts was much of the land for the town and also land for the parks. The land from Marshall street to the junction of Third and Fifth Streets. The land from the junction of Mercer and High Streets, including, and beyond the hospital. They gave a lot for each of the three existing churches, Legion park, which was given for a seminary but utilized for a cemetery and that broad street, designated as "Market Street” and intended as such. It now has the west side cut off and the remainder is called South First Street. Os my father’s stories of Mr. Rugg, whom he admired, was this, I liked best. Mr. . Rugg was in the U. S. land office in Fort Wayne when the following story, which was going the rounds, was told. How Root Township Was Named On the completion of the building the New York and Erie Canal in New York state, then considered, a great engineering feat, a banquet was held in the city of Albany and Governor Roop of New Y’ork was called to reply to the toast "The Army and the Navy” and then repeated “The Army and the Navy.” Ex-governor Clinton the most popular after dinner speaker in the country, sat next to him and prompted, “May they never want.” Making a fresh start, Governor Root shouted, “The Army and the Navy, may they never want," and stopped. Again Clinton softly prompted, “And never be wanted.” Root again shouted, “and never be wanted,” and sat

I down. It was the shortest and beat speech of the evening. The story caused so much laughter that Mr. Rugg named the first township in Adams county for Governor Root and so this Root township received 1 its name. BIRD MYSTERY TO BE SOLVED Biologist Expects To Find Mysteries Os Barn Swallows Gulfport, Miss., July 29—(U.R) Banding of barn swallows inhabiting Ship Island, near here in the Gulf of Mexico, may solve a “mystery," according to Thomas J. Burleigh, associate bioligist of the U. S. Bureau of Biological Survey. Why it is that these birds nest on Ship Island and other outlying islands, but do not live on the mainland along the Mississippi gulf coast, is what puzzles Burleigh. He pointed out that they might be the same type that nest in Northern Arkansas, nearest known winter nesting place of barn swallows. The barn swallows in Ar- , kansas are known to go north to Labrador, where they have definite breeding places. Banding of the birds was del cided to determine whether the | Ship Island barn swallows also join the others in their northward fight. o More Than 5,000 Are Employed In Plants Salem. Ore., July 29—One of the most striking industries in the United States is the match industry. More than 269,000.000,000 j matches were manufactured in 1935. If these were distributed to ev-l ery man. woman and child in the

fl ” TH E TeW flfl U S HERE! — the Universal "Z" —. the leading 1938 . / t - model for certain! — and, if history repeats itself, as it has - ' 4 ,j many times with M-M Twin City Tractors, the UNIVERSAL •' -.--. "Z" you buy now will be a truly modern performer for * many years. It’s,as far ahead of the parade as was the * fiC Jt.* ■?* A famous Twin City 12-20 in 1919. ‘ ? ■ - “ .* « The Z is built “ VISIONLINED" so you can see all the ' jobs you're doing far better — and assures the utmost in — *Wb power and economy on all drawbar, belt, power take-off, fl power lift, row crop and hauling jobs the year around — fl '’--M for more years. Full 2-3 plow power. fl * . *' , The Z’s Economy Engine has far fewer parts and is jfl * ' distinctly different. All parts, such as magneto, .governor, X ! water pump, oil pump, oil filter, etc., that are usually hung flfl . on the side of the engine, are built-in features on the Z. ■fl ' This assures easiest accessibility and best operating vision jr ® \ z ■ ever offered. No conventional cylinder head or base.pan. fl fl } , J* t? » PractickMy the whole engine can be serviced from the side fl. fl )J-w — crankshaft runs on ball bearings — burns regular Efl gasoline or distillate with maximum economy. ' “•* - ■ -1* 'xTSfe-. • ' ffl' 1 ? !! 3k« t fll Ik ‘ ' ’Il KrSlraßwss®* ‘ -gjHtSr yr 1 . i.a Wi- - ' V MlNHtA^Sgoh* ll SEE YOIJR M M DEALER PREBLE OIL COMPANY PREBLE, INDIANA DEALER FOR ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES.

state park features pioneer viu. m k "MT W : , f • 'V- . ■> " f ! t USKdS Jt-J 1 1 ® ■"*’ ■I I ,i* •> M Hr. " I ' "-IfEK>Aikil I >J J, 3 ” “At****-'<3l . ■■ ' ... — —

The Immense water wheel, fur- ( < nishing the motive power for the j grist and saw mills, is a never- ( failing attraction for visitors to, Spring Mill state park. This state park, located on Road 60, just east • of Mitchell, was established in I 1927 and covers an area of 1.19* 1 acres. Os major interest is the restored ' pioneer village with the stone I three-story, mill building in which ' wooden gears turn the ponderous i stones that grind corn into meal | i today just as they did generations ago. Log cabins and houses, faithful reproductions of those which housed this once-flourishing settlement and an interesting i

country, each would receive 2,900. Twenty-four companies represented the United States match industry in 1935, which, according to the Department of Commerce, was valued at 130,440,480. The in- 1 .dustry furnished employment to 5,075 persons, with wages slightly more than $4,500,000. Approximately 68 per cent of the matches produced in this; country are the strike-flnywhere

"collection of pioneer relics and I implements add to the visitor’s enjoyment. The park includes thirteen underground caverns, two of which, Donaldson Cave and Twin Caves are best known. Boat trips may be taken into Twin Caves where the ' formations are unusually beautiful. Streams in these caverns are inhabited by a rare species of blind fish whiclj have been the subject of much scientific study. Like other Indiana state parks. Spring Mill has large areas of forest in which the botanist will discover many species of plantlife

kind. Strike-on-the-box matches ac- ( count for 10 per cent and matches in the book constitute the rest. — Dental Patient Hypnotized London (U.R) A demonstration of the powers of hypnotism was held at a hospital here when a woman [underwent the extraction of two I [teeth without being conscicats of pain. For some days previous to the operation, the woman had under-

| and the naturalist will find enjoying refuge ami The limestone forma!: to the region are of the geologist. Here too the vlsitoi «;!| winding, shady trails < amping areas in a'• ed sections, complel. a iM houses, cooking ovens. watei ami sanitary fa, cial arrangements Imv> ■ for trailer parking. Spring Mil! has no h.c ! f, ties as yet but meals ar.- s. in the pioneer atmosphere of Bl Tavern, located neai -St, building in tile village

' goiif treatment from a ft ! and arrived in the in a responsive state. Civic Hall Goes on Block Ktl Honolulu.— (U.R) — Civi. ' iuins have become a druc <.n 1 market here. Howevei sl'i.<ioi hall brought sl.4' ’ - iff's sale, with all 0b... fIS thrown in ac good measure. fl