March 6, 1976: ‘Learned The Hard Way’ First Woman Planner Recalls Formative Era In Past Of Valparaiso

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 6, 1976.

‘Learned The Hard Way’

First Woman Planner Recalls Formative Era In Past Of Valparaiso

By MARY HENRICHS

MRS. PAUL C.F. VIETZKE was the first woman appointed to the Valparaiso Plan Commission and she served for 17 ½ years during which the number of community residents and businesses mushroomed.

The City Plan Commission was organized in 1948 with Dr. Alfred H. Meyer, chairman of the Valparaiso University Geography and Geology Department, as president. A master plan was published in 1951 while Elden Kuehl was serving his first term as mayor.

In January, 1952, newly-elected Mayor John Wiggins appointed a new commission, retaining only Alfred W. Rader, who represented the City Council and who was immediately elected Plan Commission president.

Mrs. Vietzke was one of Wiggin’s appointments and she served until June, 1969, when she resigned because of other public service obligations she had undertaken.

PULLING OUT some well-kept scrapbooks of newspaper clippings from her early years on the commission, Mrs. Vietzke laughingly recalled the community row over the proposal to build a municipal parking lot on the northeast corner of Franklin and Jefferson.

Discussions began in October, 1952, when the city wanted to offer a $60,500 bond issue for purchase of the property and construction of the lot; and the Plan Commission was asked to rezone the land for parking.

“It was a big thing because it was the first proposal for a city lot and $60,500 was a lot of money then,” commented the 1956 Porter County Woman of Distinction as she paged through letters-to-the editor and new reports of heated meetings.

Litigation halted progress until June, 1954, when the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that the city could legally issue bonds for a parking lot. In the meantime, a municipal lot had been opened on the northwest corner of Lincolnway and Michigan where the City Water Department once stood.

ANOTHER MAJOR confrontation occurred in 1952 when the late Justin Shauer asked for rezoning which would allow him to construct the city’s first outdoor movie theater on U.S. 30 near Lincoln Hills. Although many residents in the area objected to the project, the Plan Commission recommended that the Board of Zoning Appeals allow the varianceーa recommendation which the board rejected. Shauer later sought similar zoning on Campbell Street near Cooks Corners and was also turned down before he was eventually able to build the present 49er Drive-In Theater.

During the early 1950s, “I was the token woman vice president of the Plan Commission, and those men were so surprised that I was able to preside when Al Rader was absent,” chuckled the former president of the American Association of University Women and of the Valparaiso Woman’s Club.

The “token” label certainly didn’t last. She was elected first (and, so far, only) woman president of the commission in January, 1960; and she served as first woman member and president of the Board of Zoning Appeals from the mid-1960s until her resignation from both planning units.

Returning to memories of the early 1950s, Mrs. Vietzke spoke enthusiastically of the late Milfred Eggerding, VU geography professor, who “gave us a continuous course in planning”. Eggerding advised his fellow commissioners on individual zoning decisions and led them in producing the 1954 revision of the master plan without the help of paid consultants.

ACCORDING to Mrs. Vietzke, Eggerding urged the commission not to allow Lincolnway to become entirely business east of Morgan Boulevard. Planners wanted to preserve some of the stately old houses lining the thoroughfare; “but the houses became unkept and businesses began to crop up.” She recalled that the used car lot at the southeast corner of Lincolnway and Valparaiso was presented to the commission as proposed private parking for a neighboring business but was never used that way after rezoning was approved.

Mrs. Vietzke also noted that rezoning at the northwest corner of Lincolnway and Locust was sought for a photography studio but a gasoline station was built. From those two cases, “we learned the hard way that we must consider the worst possible uses which would be legal under a particular type of zoning” before approving rezoning.

The East Lincolnway business district beyond Roosevelt Road was annexed to the city in November, 1953, and Mrs. Vietzke recalls that the Plan Commission felt frustrated in trying to assure orderly development of the area. “The businessmen fought setback lines” and the city did not have authority to issue building permits as it does now.

Another heated battle involving the Plan Commission, the City Council, and the public occurred in 1954 when, after five months of volunteer study and work, the Plan Commission presented 18 zoning proposals to the Council which quickly rejected 12 of them. The commission was trying to establish zoning areas before requests for specific uses were made.

IN THOSE DAYS, “we spent most of our time trying to correct problems and dealing with immediate requests. We were trying to establish some good advance community planning.” We lost many battles but we won some,” smiled the lady whose scrapbook indicates that many sharp verbal exchanges took place over the above incident.

Subdivisions were just beginning to appear around Valparaiso in the late 1950s. Forest Park additions had only started north of Northview Drive, for example. Because of population growth, the city planners encouraged the county to organize its own plan board. However, once the County Plan Commission was operating, it took away the two-mile jurisdiction over which city planners had had control beyond the city limits. Mrs. Vietzke remembers. Still looking indignant in 1976. Valparaiso’s first woman planner said, “The city should have something to say about areas it will eventually annex.” The Valparaiso Plan Commission has never regained jurisdiction over border areas.

A big boom in apartment construction occurred during the 1960s, after many years on which no apartment had been built in Valparaiso; and Mrs. Vietzke said the commission, while feeling that the community needed such housing, tried to be strict with developers and to have orderly growth.

TWO MAJOR ISSUES of current interest to the community were also of concern during Mrs. Vietzke’s tenure on the Plan Commission: “We had a man speak to us about the Indiana 49 by-pass in the 1950s”; and the Porter County fairgrounds came before the commission for rezoning in 1968.

On the latter question, the Fair Board asked the commission to change the fairgrounds zoning to commercial, feeling that such zoning would increase the value of the land. The planners, however, favored the more restrictive zoning already in force because they hoped that a lower price might enable a public agency to purchase the fairgrounds. Both Plan Commission and City Council rejected the rezoning request. After Mrs. Vietzke left the Plan Commission, the fairgrounds was rezoned, “it was appraised at a high price, and nobody has bought it yet.”

At the time Mrs. Vietzke resigned from the plan Commission, she was president of the Porter County Family Service Association, an organization she helped found in 1968 and one on whose board of directors she still serves.

She is also current president of Church Women United, a member of the Visiting Nurses Association board, and a member of the countywide Community Development Study Committee which serves as a clearing house for ideas and proposals on community needs ranging from the Youth Services Bureau to highways and ambulance services.

April 7, 1976: Go Western In Bicentennial Project

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on April 7, 1976.

Go Western In Bicentennial Project

By MARK HUMBERT

Decked in western attire and toting six-shooters, three Porter County Sheriff’s deputies will go about their normal duties beginning today, reflecting the past as Bicentennial police.

Patrolmen Walter “Chip” Yanta, William McGhee, and Robert Herring will be participants in a public relations project undertaken by the sheriff’s department through which some of Porter County’s past will be represented.

The three men will make public appearances and with Capt. Lawrence Pennell ー dressed in his modern-day uniform to show contrasting styles ー will make presentations about the history of law enforcement and Porter County before civic groups and school children.

Some of the first special events in which the men will participate will be the Law Enforcement Week program at Southlake Mall, and Fourth of July parades in Chesterton and Hebron. The three also plan to escort the Bicentennial wagon train through Porter County. They will continue to wear special uniforms until the end of the year.

In a news conference Tuesday, when the three men first publicly displayed their traditional western garb, Sheriff Jack J. Bradshaw Sr. explained that his group of Bicentennial officers is the first in Indiana but he picked up the idea by reading about a similar five-man group organized in the Seattle police department.

The men are dressed from head to toe in western clothing depicting the 19th century ー including replicas of six-shot firearms and holsters, purchased individually by the officers who volunteered for the program.

Their clothing ー two western-type shirts, hats, vests, boots, two pairs of pants and a special sheriff’s star ー was purchased through donations from local businesses. Cost was about $200 per man. Donations of four more shirts and pants are being sought.

“We chose costumes from the 1800s because Porter County was organized in 1836,” Bradshaw said. Calling cards printed for each officer in the program notes the organization of the county in 1836, the first sheriff, Benjamin Saylor and the present sheriff, Bradshaw.

Bradshaw noted that when he took the idea to members of his department they were generally receptive to it. Yanta, who coordinated the fundraising for the program, said every merchant contacted by the sheriff’s police was willing to donate. More sponsors are being sought so the men can obtain additional pants and shirts, Yanta said.

Research for the program was completed by Bradshaw and the four officers involved by visiting the library and Porter County Historical Museum archives and by speaking to former sheriffs Mike Crampton and Les Hineline.

“The presentations will be short and each man will speak to a specific topic he has researched,” Pennell said. “Some of the historical data included will be the date the county was organized, the first baby, the first sheriff and the first judge. We will tie in the history of the county as it relates to law enforcement.”

Most of the programs conducted by the men will be done in their off-duty time ー one reason Bradshaw said he selected volunteers from three different shifts.

They will also wear the uniforms on duty. When they make a traffic stop they will display their regular police identification and hand a motorist their Bicentennial calling card, which also briefly explains their appearance.

“There are no legal problems with the uniforms,” Pennell said. “The men are already authorized to make arrests in plainclothes and in four states west of here sheriff’s uniforms are very similar to the ones worn by these three men.”

The three have also practiced using their new firearms.

Patrolman Robert Herring said he volunteered because he believes the benefits derived from good police community relations created through the project will outweigh any ridicule.

“It gives me a chance to tell about our department,” Herring said.

Yanta and McGhee said the same idea led them to volunteer.

One thing none of the three volunteered to do was ride a horse. Only Herring has ever ridden one.

CONTRAST BETWEEN old and new is shown by modern uniform worn by Porter County Police Capt: Larry Pennell and western outfits of )from left) patrolmen Robert Herring, Walter Yanta and William McGhee. Yanta shows his replica of .44 caliber six-shooter as four officers involved in sheriff’s police Bicentennial project stand in front of old Porter County Jail.

(V-M: Jay Jarrett)

March 6, 1976: Father Encouraged Sons’ Experiments Early Experiences As Inventors Hone Urschel Brothers’ Talents

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 6, 1976.

Father Encouraged Sons’ Experiments

Early Experiences As Inventors Hone Urschel Brothers’ Talents

By JOE URSCHEL

IN ADDITION TO MYSELF, this story relates to my two brothers, Kenneth and Gerald, and to my father, William Urschel. Each in his own way contributed to the building of Urschel Laboratories.

Our father’s factory was only a few feet from the back porch of our house and for us children, much of our life began in the factory. One of my earliest memories relates to the time when I was such a small child that it was necessary for me to stand on a box to reach the table of a large band saw which contained no safety guards. I complained to my father that the foreman had put me out of our shop because he discovered me operating this band saw. My father replied that I would have to operate the band saw when the foreman was not around. My father expressed no fear that any of us children would get injured with the machinery. We did not get injured.

My father permitted us to do what we wanted to do and encouraged us in every way to investigate all kinds of technical pursuits. Consequently, we did many things that children ordinarily do not do. Sometimes we worked together on projects, but usually we worked as individuals.

THESE ARE SOME of the things we did when we were children: built our own cameras and made our own paper for making photographic prints; assembled a large mineral collection and studied the crystalline structure, chemical composition and uses of each of the minerals; built and operated radio transmitters; stung wire through the neighborhood for telegraphic message sending; made explosives by the bucketful and used these for making fireworks and in firing homemade cannons.

We also made a boat with side paddle wheels which were operated from cranks inside the boat; made our own diving gear and walked around on the bottom of Flint Lake; manufactured and sold a product for transferring photographs on newsprint to cloth; built crude musical instruments; made etched printing press; used a large chemistry laboratory in our basement and performed college-level experiments; developed a prospecting kit and went prospecting for gold in South Dakota; built many kites and model airplanes; learned to fly full-sized airplanes; built our own still and made booze; built a large number of pieces of furniture; and even went so far as to develop a special metal alloy and cast some beautiful counterfeit coins which were deposited in slot machines and thereby traded for real ones.

In the factory, we were first paid an hourly rate for our labors at about the age of eight. By the early teens, we had learned to operate all the machinery in the shop. We had learned to make drawings, to make patterns in the pattern shop, and to make castings in the foundry.

Then our father began to train us to become inventors. We would be sent off into separate rooms with our drawing boards and after attempting to solve some mechanical problems, we would then compare drawings to see who had the best solution. In the beginning, father always had the best answer. As time went on, we gradually improved our skills, and the time finally came when we would sometimes all reach the same solution. Today, almost all of the machinery we built is the result of inventions by my brother Gerald and me.

Brother Kenneth was not interested in machine design. Instead, he went on to develop other skills that have become invaluable to the success of our company. He is in charge of office and plant layout and is in full charge of pricing of all parts and machines.

IT WAS NOT ALL complete freedom in living and working with our father. There were certain rules of the game. We were encouraged to strive for perfection and only shoddy workmanship was not tolerated. The greatest sin we could commit was to make a copy of what someone else had made. When we designed a machine, we were not permitted to discover how other people had built similar equipment. We were not permitted to simply improve on what others had accomplished. Consequently, our radical approach to machine design caused our equipment to become highly successful. Competitive machine designs disappeared from the market.

The years of World War II taught us something about our ability to manufacture. At the beginning of the war, we were instructed from Washington that we must stop building food processing machinery and that we must convert completely to making machines for war. Suddenly, we were faced with a type of competition that we had not previously known. We were furnished drawings of machines and parts and were asked to bid against other machine shops for each job. The lowest bidder got the job.

We sadly discovered that we could not bid successfully on things that were easy to make. It seemed that too many people wanted these easy jobs. We learned that we could bid successfully on things that were extremely difficult to make. Many of the jobs we obtained were jobs in which one or more other shops had completely failed to produce acceptable parts.

A reputation was established for producing the highest quality workmanship and we soon had all the work that our shop could accomplish. We went on to build much shell loading and assembly equipment, testing devices, and experimental aircraft engine parts. Suddenly, we were ordered from Washington to stop building war machines and to begin building equipment for the food dehydration industry. We were placed on a high priority basis for building this kind of equipment throughout the remainder of the war.

OUR FATHER did not enjoy manufacturing and, therefore, manufactured only a few of his minor inventions. His major patents were licensed to three large manufacturing companies. These inventions consisted of green bean processing equipment, continuous vegetable peeling machinery, and various kinds of harvesting machines.

My brother Gerald and I began to invent machines for the cutting of food products into various shapes and sizes. These machines operated at extremely high speeds. Outstanding accuracy was required in making the parts.

Other manufacturing companies were not capable of making parts for these machines. It was necessary that we build them. To make this possible, we built more factories and purchased more machine tools. Finally, buildings covered all of our land on South Napoleon Street and it was necessary to move to a new location.

To build a completely new plant, it was necessary to go looking for money. We had never borrowed any money and discovered that no one would lend us any. It was necessary to wait a few years until our profits accumulated to the point that the building of a new plant was feasible.

The first section of the new plant was built on North Calumet Road in 1957. When the plant was finished, we had used all the accumulated funds. More plant and machine tools were needed. All our profits were used to expand the operation. The plant grew from about 19,000 square feet in 1956 to 90,000 square feet today.

THERE NEVER WAS a wish to grow to become a large company. What happened was that food processors brought their problems to us and we invented more machines to fill these needs. Today, people are bringing their problems to us from all over the world.

Enclosed in the plant is a food laboratory which is busy every day working with food processors to develop new foods for a hungry world. During the last few years, this laboratory has worked with pharmaceutical houses in the clean cutting of many kinds of animal glands for the solvent extraction of various drugs to cure human ills. Most of the world’s  processed food is cut with Urschel machinery for canning, freezing and freeze-drying.

Also, Urschel machines process almost all of such foods as potato chips, frozen French fries, catsup and peanut butter, as well as a part of the nation’s snacks, candy, cereals and many kinds of baked goods. Forty-five per cent of this machinery is shipped to foreign countries. Some of the newer customers are found in China, Russia and the Arab countries.

In 1963 the company installed a computer to control its manufacturing operation, for writing its payroll, for its accounts payable and receivable, and for many other uses. After learning the possibilities of the use of computers, the company decided to go into the computer service business.

In January, 1967, Indiana Information Controls, Inc., opened its doors for business. Its first bank customer was First National Bank of Valparaiso. It has been  necessary to expand the size of the building twice since it was built. It now covers an area of 15,000 square feet. It processes the work of 55 banks in Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, as well as processing the payrolls and other records for 170 organizations.

Two hundred fifty acres of land on North Calumet was purchased by our father many years ago. It was our desire to develop this land with high quality construction in a setting of green lawns and trees. In 1969 Urschel Development Corporation was established for this purpose. Development is proceeding as planned.

Retouched photo of William Urschel’s factory which he built in 1910 at 158 S. Napoleon. He told us that he drove every nail in the two-story frame structure, said William’s son, Joe Urschel, who loaned this picture to The Vidette-Messenger. William is at left and his brother Clay is at right. Factory was built for manufacturing gooseberry snippers which removed both stem and blossom ends from berries.

March 6, 1976: Park Establishment Preserves Natural Laboratory Dunes National lakeshore Stems From Work of Decade

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 6, 1976.

Park Establishment Preserves Natural Laboratory

Dunes National lakeshore Stems From Work of Decade

By J.R. WHITEHOUSE

National Lakeshore Supt.

IN 1916, Steven Tyng Mather, the first director of the newly created National Park Service, recommended the establishment of a national park on the south shore of Lake Michigan in the area known as Indiana Dunes. The region is an unusual complex of exceptional sand dunes, marshes, bogs and sand beaches.

In geologic times, melting glacial ice created a huge lake, whose waters lapped against the shore, creating a prominent ridge, known as the Calumet Beach ridge. This natural feature is evident just north of U.S. 12 from Michigan City to Gary, in the form of the oldest dunes in the region. As the water of prehistoric Lake Michigan receded, waves and winds created new dunes. Between these dunes and the ridge, an alluvial plain developed into marshes and bogs. Finally, as Lake Michigan came into being in its present form, wind action created foredunes that rise to heights of 200 feet.

Dr. H.C. Cowles and other biologists of 50 to 70 years ago developed theories of succession and plant distribution based on observations in this area. Their theories, propounded before the term “ecology” became a household word, are today’s natural laws for the science of ecology. These circumstances, alone, have made the Indiana Dunes internationally famous. The themes and evidences of plant succession will provide an outstanding interpretive opportunity for National Lakeshore naturalists and visitors of the future.

JOSEPH BAILLY, a French Canadian, was the first settler in northwestern Indiana. He built a trading post along the Little Calumet River in 1822. Although somewhat altered, some of the structures still remain. The homestead is located within the Lakeshore region and offers outstanding potential for historic interpretation to visitors.

It was not until 1923 that Indiana Dunes State Park, encompassing 2,200 acres of dunes and marshland and three miles of beach, was established.

The National Park Service, during its Great Lakes Shoreline Recreation Area Survey in 1957-58, identified the Indiana dunes as possessing exceptional value. The Advisory Board on National Park Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments supported this proposal in 1958 and in subsequent meetings in 1959, 1960, 1963 and 1965.

Located adjacent to Gary and Michigan City and only 35 miles from Chicago, the lakeshore presents a rare opportunity to improve the environment of millions of crowded city dwellers and to insure the enjoyment of this unusual area for future generations.

ABOUT SEVEN MILLION people today live within a 50-mile radius of the Indiana Dunes. It is predicted that the population living within a 100-mile radius will reach 12 million within 15 years.

With the 1905 beginning of the Gary industrial developments, the area was plunged deep in a struggle between recreational, residential and industrial interests. Location, terrain and resources were favorable for all, but space was insufficient to supply the maximum needs of many. Before any federal action could be taken, World War I intervened and two communities, Ogden Dunes and Dune Acres, became solidly established in the heart of the region.

Sen. Paul H. Douglas of Illinois, on May 3, 1961, introduced to the 87th Congress a bill “to provide for the preservation of the Indiana Dunes and related areas.” On Oct. 21, 1963, Sen. Henry M. Jackson introduced a similar bill on behalf of himself and Sens. Douglas, Clinton P. Anderson, Vance Harke, Birch E. Bayh and others.

At the beginning of the 89th Congress, bills were introduced by Congressman Roush of Indiana and on Jan. 9 Sen. Jackson introduced Senate Bill 360 which was passed by the Senate on June 21, 1965. The resulting Public law 89-761 of Nov. 5, 1966, provided for the establishment of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. This act authorized the appropriation of $27,900,000 for the acquisition of land and property. It provided that homeowners could, under certain conditions, retain use of their property for up to 25 years. The National lakeshore consists of approximately 6,000 acres, which, combined with the State park, provides a recreational facility of 8,200 acres.

THE PURPOSE of the act was “to preserve for the educational, inspirational, and recreational use of the public certain portions of the Indiana Dunes and other areas of scenic scientific and historic interest and recreational value.”

A Citizens Advisory Commission was established to offer advice or recommendations for the Secretary of Interior on matters relating to the Lakeshore. The Secretary of Interior was authorized to formally establish the National Lakeshore whenever, in his opinion, sufficient acreage was acquired to be efficiently administrable.

On Sept. 17, 1972, Secretary of Interior Rogers C. B. Morton officially established Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in a ceremony at the lakefront attended by Mrs. Julie Nixon Eisenhower, the Indiana Congressional delegation, and members of many citizen groups, including Save the Dunes Council, which had worked diligently over many years for that objective.

The National Park Service, in carrying out its mandate for the management of this area, has purchased and removed more than 300 structures from the Lakeshore area. Many more residences have been purchased and are being occupied by the former owners under the “reservation in use” provision of the act.

A SMALL BUT DEDICATED staff is engaged in providing environmental education and interpretive programs for visitors from an improvised Visitor Center in a former church building located at Kemil Road and U.S. 12. Temporary parking facilities have been constructed in three locations to provide visitor access to the beach. Horseback and hiking trails have been constructed. Park Rangers provide protection for the visitors and the fragile natural resources.

Intensive long-range planning is underway to assure that future developments are consistent with the intent of the legislation and appropriate for the needs of visitors now and in future generations.

Extensive research is being conducted both by NPS and scientists from local universities to assure that sufficient information is available for adequate management and protection for the area’s fragile natural resources.

Visitation has increased from 8,000 in 1969 to more than 86,000 in 1975. Total annual visitation is expected to exceed 1,000,000 before 1980.

LEGISLATION was passed in 1974 to add $7.6 million to complete the land acquisition program. Additional legislation, to add approximately 4,000 acres to the Lakeshore, is still before Congress.

Construction is underway on a beach house, access roads, trails and picnic areas at West Beach. The exterior of historic Bailly homestead is being restored and new facilities are being planned for the Mt. Baldy dune area.

The Visitor Center at Kemil Road and U.S. 12 has been remodeled, providing more audio-visual facilities; and the former Nike missile base on Mineral Springs Road has been rehabilitated to provide housing this summer for 40 members of the Youth Conservation Corps. Plans also call for an administration building and an environmental education building in that area.

March 6, 1976: ‘Everybody Worked For Me’

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 6, 1976.

‘Everybody Worked For Me’

By MARY HENRICHS

“EVERYBODY IN TOWN worked for me at one time or another,” Frances (Fanny) Philley said with a warm smile as she reminisced shortly before her 85th birthday (March 5, 1975) about her 45 years of operating the Premier Candy Shop in the Premier Theatre Building on Lincolnway.

Mrs. Philley and her husband, the late Wallace Philley, who died in June, 1950, opened their soda fountain, homemade candy, and popcorn (carmel and regular salted) store in 1922 when the building was constructed. The quality of its merchandise can be judged by Gene Hart’s comment years later, “The best English toffee in the world died with Wally.”

Mrs. Philley still has records showing that during the years in which they sold popcorn, the Philleys purchased it by the tonーliterallyーwith monthly orders ranging from 200 to 300 pounds.

For many years, the store remained open until 9 p.m., furnishing popcorn and soda fountain products to theater goers. Mrs. Philley said the hours explain the large number of former employees because high school girls were hired to help after school.

“I’M ALWAYS RUNNING into people who say, ‘I used to work for you,’” she grinned.

Our employee who came to stay, however, was Miss Helene Winters who joined the Philleys in 1934 and who was still working at the store when it closed, July 1, 1967.

“We stayed open during the depressionーbarely. Then, the theater began selling its own popcorn and candy so we started offering lunches in the 1930s,” Mrs. Philley remembers.

Miss Winters did the cooking, specializing in homemade pies, with two or three flavorsーsuch as apricot, chocolate, or lemonーbeing offered each day.

The many Valparaisoans who lunched regularly at Fanny’s (through the years everyone forgot the official name and the shop was universally known as “Fanny’s”) knew each day what the featured entree would be before they entered the doorーmeat loaf on Monday; spaghetti, Tuesday; creamed chicken, Wednesday; and macaroni with tuna, Friday.

In 1975, a man stopped Mrs. Philley on the street to say, “I wish I had some of that creamed chicken on biscuit.”

MRS. PHILLEY REMEMBERS that when the shop began serving meals, a meat loaf lunch which included potatoes and cole slaw sold for 25 cents. During the last six months of its operation, the store charged 90 cents for the same meal.

“Coffee was a nickel when we started and it nearly broke my heart when we had to go to 15 cents,” she smiled.

Commenting on other changes through the years, Mrs. Philley noted that when the Premier Candy Shop closed, it was the only restaurant in the block between Washington and Lafayette on Lincolnway. When the Philleys went into the lunch business, four other restaurants operated in that blockーFarmers, American, Rainbow, and Belmont.

“People had a good time in the store. There was always lots of courting and matchmaking going on there. Neal and Dorothy Fry met in  our place. So did Claude and Charlotte Sweeny,” Mrs. Philley grinned.

A locally famous “dice game” which provided many happy memories also went on in that store at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. every week day, including 9 a.m. Thursdays was when the store was closed to the public.

March 20, 1976: Lineman on U.S. 30

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 20, 1976.

Crewmen for Northern Indiana Public Service Co. had to row their way to work site in sunken area on U.S. 30 west of County Road 500W. Normally Don Labadie (top), journeyman lineman, and Steve Dommer, apprentice lineman, would have used a truck boom to reach roadside area, but adequate footing was not available for vehicle to be useful in tying in new cable.

(V-M: Ken Dowdell)

March 19, 1976: Tops In County’s Science Fair

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 19, 1976

Tops In County’s Science Fair

By RUTH ANN McWHORTER

MALDEN ー Students from five of the six townships in the county school system won first place awards at the County Elementary Science Fair held at Morgan Township School Thursday.

First place winners included, from kindergarten to sixth grade; Matthew Thomas, Morgan Township, whose exhibit proved that plants need light (the ones in the dark died); Timmy Albrecht, Kouts, whose exhibit by Dawn Radice and Christi Sowder, Boone Grove, whose exhibit also investigated the properties of air; Bruce Snow, Kouts, who investigated oldtime and modern cleansing agents; Barbara Nadolski, Washington Township, who found that a plant would grow better under a white light bulb than under a colored bulb; joint exhibit by Amy Ehrhardt and Kim Lyon, Union Center, who found that water is not the only substance that can be used to extinguish fires; and a joint exhibit by Julie Herma and Michelle Wallace, Kouts, with an exhibit on how genetics affects one’s ability to roll one’s tongue.

In the class projects, winner in the primary division was project of Union Center second grade class of Kathleen Glenn (blue room) which investigated “what is hibernating under the snow?” Winner is the intermediate division was Kouts sixth grade class taught by Lia Ann McCormick, whose class investigated whether there are differences in brands of gasoline.

The Kouts class, which includes 23 students, did a lot of research on oil and gas products prior to beginning their exhibit, reported science teacher Gerald Gearhart. The students learned that the more refined oil products are, the more they evaporate (as an example, asphalt, which is at the bottom of the refinement process, evaporates very little). As a consequence, the students believed that the beter gas, which is more refined, would evaporate faster.

For their experiment, the class divided regular grade gas into categories of expensive (more than 55.9 cents a gallon), medium (53.9 to 55.9 cents) and cheap (less than 53.9 cents a gallon).

They found that, on the average, the expensive gas evaporated faster, and was thus better refined and more combustible, and also gave better mileage in their lawnmower. Gearhard said the class worked on the project for more than a month.

Award for the outstanding class project went to the Union Center sixth grade class of Robert J. Bobos, which found that charcoal produced the most ash, of about 33 substances burned by the class.

Outstanding individual exhibits were by Boone Grove students Karin Herrick and Vincent Regan. First grader Karin investigated how the spinning of a top is influenced by different factors (attachment of paper clips, pastings protruding slips of paper to the top, and by spinning it on a rough surface ー sandpaper). Vincent explained in an elaborate exhibit why fuses are important.

Second place ribbons at the fair were awarded to Mark Sinar, Boone Grove, first grade; Matt Maxwell, Boone Grove, second grade; Arthur Womack, Union Center, third grade; and Brad Wandrey and Greg Yergler, Kouts, sixth grade.

Class projects receiving second place were second grade Kouts class of Janet Robertson and fourth grade Union Center class of Marilyn Dodrill.

Third place awards went to Jennifer Herma, Kouts, first grade; Jan Herma; Kouts, second grade; Mary Jo Knoblock, Boone Grove, third grade; Kathleen Fitzgerald, Boone Grove, fourth grade; and Vincent Lazar, Boone Grove, sixth grade.

Third place class exhibits were both from Kouts ー second grade taught by Sue Ann Pickard and fifth grade taught by Gloria Nightingale.

Project of Union Center sixth grade class taught by Robert J. Bobos was judged outstanding class project at Porter County Schools Elementary Science Fair held at Morgan Township School Thursday. Luann Jipping (left) and Allan Jones (right) accepted plaque for their class. Trash can incinerator in foreground of photo is part of class exhibit, in which various materials were burned to determine which created the greatest amount of ash. Purple ribbons for outstanding individual student projects at fair were awarded to (sitting) Karin Herrick, first grade, and Vincent Regan, fifth grade, both of Boone Grove School.

March 6, 1976: Mechanical Revolution Alters Country Way Of Life More Machinery, Increased Yields Cut Farm Numbers

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 6, 1976.

Mechanical Revolution Alters Country Way Of Life

More Machinery, Increased Yields Cut Farm Numbers

By JACK AYLESWORTH

THE LAST CENTURY has seen far greater change in American agriculture than all of the previous centuries combined. We have seen the transformation from muscle powerーboth animal and humanーto motor power. As a direct result of this shift, U.S. farmers have increased their productivity to a point never before reached.

In Colonial times almost everyone was a farmer by necessity, since a farmer produced little more than enough to feed himself and his family. By 1950, one farmer produced enough food and fiber for himself and 15 other people. By 1976, his productivity had increased to a point where he produced enough for 51 people.

As farm worker productivity increased, the number of farmers decreased. In 1920 Porter County had 1,791 farms. In 1973, there were only 661 farms.

THE REFINEMENT of the internal combustion engine made its application for farm power more useful. Whereas the first common gasoline (or kerosene) tractor pulled two 14-inch plows at about three miles an hour, the large 1976 models can pull 10 16-inch plows at six miles an hour. This is a tenfold increase in the amount of production from the operator.

Even greater increase has been made in harvesting. When corn was harvested by hand, it took a man with better than average ability to harvest 100 bushels of corn per day. With today’s large combine, one man can harvest 9,000 to 10,000 bushels in one day. This is a hundredfold increase.

The changes in farming from muscle power have altered life on the farm in many ways. No longer is it necessary for neighbors to join with each other to go from farm to farm threshing wheat and oats, shredding corn, filling silos, sawing wood for winter fuel, butchering hogs and cattle for meat, and raising barns. Each farm is more nearly self-sufficient with regard to labor.

IN THE EARLY 1900s, livestock, dairy products, and grain were the major items of farm output in Porter County. In 1976, farmers in this area raise mostly corn and soybeans.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, electric power lines spread along almost every county road in Porter County, bringing modern conveniences to both the farmer and his wife. More replacement for muscle power.

The Federal Rural Electrification Administration permitted groups of farmers to farm cooperatives to build lines and bring electricity to isolated areas where public utilities did not find it economically feasible to provide service. The REA provided low interest loans for construction and cooperatives purchased their electricity from public utilities. Electricity was a major factor in enabling farmers to shell, dry, and store corn in large quantities.

NO STORY OF AGRICULTURAL progress is complete without credit being given to the role played by the land grant colleges such as Purdue University. In 1862, under Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, grants of public land were made to finance construction of agricultural and engineering collegesーone in every state. Most of the grants were for western land and the property was sold to gain funds for colleges in other states. These schools not only educated engineers, farmers, and farm leaders, but they also performed research on all phases of agriculture.

The County Agricultural Agent serves as a vital link connecting the research being done at Purdue with the practical application on the commercial farm. He advises farmers to test their soil and use proper amounts of plant food, to use improved tillage practices, to use new varieties of crops and livestock, and to form their own organizations such as the Farm Bureau and cooperatives.

One of the most important products of education and research at the land grant colleges was the development of hybrid corn. This probably doubled the corn production in the U.S. and it is proving to be a valuable export. One of the pioneers in the production of hybrid seed corn was Porter County's own George Chester who applied Purdue research at the commercial level and who produced and sold hybrid corn for many years under the name of Chester Hybrids.

Emil Kuehl was photographed before 1920 using horse-drawn corn planter on his Morgan Township farm. Photo loaned by Vernon Dinse.