Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 20, 1956.
Railroad Telegrapher Taps Out Goodbye
HOWARD DAVIS, of Wheeler, who retired Monday after 45 years as a telegrapher with the Grand Trunk railroad, taps out a final goodbye on the old ticker to his friends on the line. Davis began his work with the railroad when he was 20 years old.
Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on December 20, 1945.
TELEVISION, SUPERHIGHWAYS AND MR. AMSTUTZ
A man, the book says, is as young as he feels. If the vigor of an individual’s creative imagination and persistence of his faith in the future are criteria our nomination goes to Noah S. Amstutz as the youngest man in town.
Recently Casper W. Ooms, U.S. commissioner of patents, made a speech in New York from which we want to quote. “Recently,” Ooms, “an elderly gentleman, vigorous in his eighties, came to see me and announced himself as Noah Amstutz of Valparaiso, Ind., patent attorney. ‘Valparaiso,’ I said to him, ‘brings two things to mind. When I was a boy my father drove a single-cylinder Cadillac. We frequently drove to Valparaiso for lunch. We could just make it from the south end of Chicago in half a day, what with changing two tires on the way, eating luncheon, and returning in the afternoon.’ Then, I added, ‘There is a set of telegraph instruments in the Smithsonian Institution, but a man in Valparaiso sent a picture thirty miles by telegraph in 1891. Do you happen to know anything about that?”
“Amstutz beamed. ‘Those are my instruments,’ he said. ‘I gave them to the Smithsonian. Did you ever hear of my two-way television in 1895?’
“I admitted that I hadn’t and he offered to bring me the documents. A few days later I went through the voluminous scrapbook of this inventor, working on a facsimile transmission and television in the early 1890’s. His instruments were marvels of workmanship. His television circuit, I am convinced, with more delicate photoelectric pickups than were available to him, and some means of synchronizing his sending with his receiving instruments, would have worked. Here were years of labor spent a generation before these concepts were recognized by commercial development.”
The patent commissioner was using the example of the local inventor simply to illustrate the value of patents.
We would like to point out, however, that Noah Amstutz, who experimented with television a generation before the public had heard the word, now has another project. He is laboring diligently on behalf of the construction of six superhighways across the nation, east to west, north to south. It sounds like a gigantic, hopeless dream. But it is not nearly so sounded to the average man in 1895.
It is fortunate for the nation that America does have men of vision who at the same time possess the fortitude to persist in the face of opposition or worse, apathy. They are this country’s “young” men.
Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on December 17, 1945.
Monoxide Perils Lives of University Cagers
Gas Escapes From Faulty Bus Heater
May Postpone Game Tonight As Result Of Misfortune
The lives of 15 members of the Valparaiso University basketball team were periled Sunday by deadly carbon monoxide fumes escaping from a faulty heater in a charter bus, it was learned today.
Wally Warnke, reserved center and brother of Don, assistant to Coach Loren Ellis, was most seriously affected by the fumes. He was taken to the Holy Family hospital in LaPorte and placed in an oxygen tent. Today his condition is reported as fair.
Several members of the big Crusader team only recently recovered from attacks of severe colds and influenza.
According to M. E. Zimmerman, business and program manager at the university, the squad members are “in no condition” to play tonight’s contest with the Bowling Green Falcons and efforts are being made to have the game postponed.
Additional details of the Sunday misfortune may be found on today’s sport page.
Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County December 4, 1945.
Mayor Accepts Moose Gift to Valparaiso
Mayor Garrett D. Conover, who accepted a $1,100 iron lung on behalf of the city of Valparaiso, is shown in the center of the picture above as he extends his thanks to Arthur Curtis, governor of the Valparaiso Loyal Order of Moose, who made the presentation.
Formal ceremonies were held at the Moose temple last Tuesday night. Richard Dowdell, in the left foreground, is seen “modeling” one of three various sized metal jackets. Witnessing the ceremony in the background, from left to right are: Chester Anderson, Wallace Gray, Frank Bender, Harold Pence, Lawrence Young (behind Mayor Conover, Roy Hewlett, Wilbur Cowdrey (standing to Curtis’ right), Fred Butterfield, Thomas Brown and Edward Stoltz.
The portable lung, which can be adapted to the needs of small children and adults, is being housed in the Valparaiso fire station. It can be used in cases of drowning, asphyxiation, suffocation, electrocution and infantile paralysis.
Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on October 19, 1945.
City Hard Hit By Housing Scarcity
Scores Seek Houses, Apartments and Building Lots In City.
By HELEN KELSO
The critical shortage of houses in Valparaiso, typical of a desperate situation throughout the nation, is tied in a knot so tight that it will be spring before things loosen up, in the opinion of Valparaiso contractors and realtors, it was learned today in a city-wide survey.
Real estate dealers and apartment managers are turning down on the average of 20 to 30 calls for rentals daily, and a construction bottle-neck exists that promises no building program for Valparaiso before spring at the earliest. Listings of saleable properties are low, according to realtors, and in many cases exorbitant prices are being demanded by property owners. In the opinion of one realtor at least several hundred new homes are needed here.
One of the worst plights is that of the returned married veteran, who is literally finding himself a man without a home. Franklin Burrus, director of the Porter County Veterans’ Affairs office, said that he received daily calls from veterans asking help in locating homes; and that in only one case had his office been able to solve this problem.
“At least a dozen responsible out-of-town businesses are trying to find locations in Valparaiso,” N.N. Claudon of J.H. Claudon and Son Realtors, said. “We have a long waiting list of renters seeking five and six room homes. Inquiries for lots are also increasing and big farms around the city might prove desirable for future homesites, if subdivided. It is distressing to us we are not able to supply homes, especially to the boys returning from service.”
L.L. Brown, realtor, declared that he had had nothing to rent for two years, with the exception of several apartment houses, and did not see any likelihood for immediate improvement.
The demand for rentals at present greatly exceeds the supply, Brown said. “The public is beginning to get panicky. I personally know of one family that has been sold out three times this year, the last time within 30 days. I don’t believe building can catch up with the demand for five years. The same condition exists all over the United States.”
An example of the checkerboard of moves necessitated by the intricate housing situation, is the chain involving a returned serviceman, Charles Trump.
Trump and his family are at present living in the Byron Smith summer home at Flint Lake. Trump has purchased a home from R.C. Humphrey, 802 Lafayette. Humphrey is waiting to move into a home which he purchased from M.J. Stinchfield at 307 Weston, now occupied by R.H. Lanham. Lanham intends to move into an apartment owned by Stinchfield on Washington, which has just been vacated by Harry Albe, who moved to 825 Lincolnway. The moving process will be drawn out considerably by necessary decorating, etc., in the various cases.
I have more buyers than places to submit, Stan Serbenz, realtor, commented. What the people want nowadays and what they can get are two different things. I have numerous calls from out-of-town people desiring to locate in Valparaiso. Persons who can’t buy or rent are asking for lots, with the intention of building. There is some demand for acreage, also because of the sense of stability it affords.
Byron Smith of Smith and Nuppnau Co., reported that the present large demand for new homes could not possibly be met by construction companies for some time because of difficulty in procuring materials in all lines, particularly lumber. J.M. Krauss, Krauss Lumber and Coal Co., and George Bond, Indiana Construction Co., affirmed the long-term viewpoint for construction relief in the housing field.
Governmental release of surplus stock, possibly enough to supply the nation for more than a year, might give the lumber mills time enough to meet the situation, was the more optimistic hope held by Frank Clifford of Foster Lumber and Construction Co. The lack of materials and strikes are causing a desperate situation. If manpower were available right now to cut lumber, it would take six or eight months for proper drying, he said.
Valparaiso Technical institute, formerly the Dodge Radio school, is finding it tough in house married veterans, and almost impossible to accommodate married students with a child. The problem is particularly acute in this instance because approximately a third of the institute is enrolled in the school’s 18-month course.
School authorities have met the situation in several cases by renting or buying trailers, which are located in a trailer camp near the institute. Three couples are now on the school’s home or apartment waiting list and, with enrollment increasing daily, it may be necessary for the school to turn down some applications in January unless conditions improve, according to Mrs. Edna W. Davis. Plans are being drawn for a dormitory to accommodate single students, but when this project can be completed, with present shortages is enigma.
Valparaiso university has only a few married veterans enrolled and we have succeeded in housing the entire student body this fall without turning any away, Dr. Marshall J. Jox, of the university said. The university greatly expanded its housing facilities by purchasing seven private homes, which accommodate between 15 to 20 students each; and remodelling the building formerly occupied by the Dodge radio school into a girls’ dormitory, which houses 79 students, Jox said, explaining that men students were housed in scattered university residences in the school vicinity.
Moving of families into Valparaiso and out of the city is about even, according to Frank Ferguson of the Ferguson Transfer and Storage Co. there is a general upheaval of the population, Ferguson said, with many more families desiring to move than can find suitable homes. The particular need in Valparaiso seems to be for five or six room dwellings, he said Storage space is at a premium with numerous families placing their belongings in storage until they can find homes.
Hotel Lembke is turning away more than 25 transients nightly, a call to the hotel desk revealed. The Stiles apartments have been full for months with a long waiting list of prospective tenants and four or five daily inquiries, the resident manager said. Tourist homes and cabins in and around Valparaiso, are also booked to the hilt. Valparaiso university board and guild meetings scheduled for this week-end; and a homecoming celebration on the calendar for next week-end, are adding to the problem.
Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on October 2, 1945
Letters Go To Groups To Aid War Fund
One of the most important of the 23 collection units of the Porter County War Fund campaign this year is the club organization unit headed by Mrs. Neil Sheldon as chairman. This unit contacts by mail the leaders of all the known clubs and organizations in Porter county. Last year over $1,500 was contributed by 70 organizations and this year Mrs. Sheldon hopes that every club and organization will respond.
One of the first letters to be mailed by Mrs. Sheldon is as follows:
“The long-awaited day of Victory has come, and people over the world are looking forward to a new era of lasting peace and security. We must remember, however, that the cessation of fighting does not mean that the war is over. It is not over for the men who must serve in the armies of occupation; it is not over for the sick and wounded in our hospitals. Our boys here and overseas still need our help, and it is in answer to that need that the Porter County War Fund is being launched Oct. 1. Gen. Eisenhower has said that it is his belief that this drive, which will no doubt be the last, is the most important one so far; never before has it been so vital that morale be kept high.
“As you perhaps know, one-fifth of the funds obtained from your donations stay right here in our own county and is used for our Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Salvation Army. The remaining money goes to the National fund and is divided among the U.S.O., the United Seaman’s Service, the War Prisoner’s Aid, the American Field Service, and the 15 foreign relief societies.
“Your organization’s support is urgently needed. May we count on you to help finish the job. Be generous in Victory.”