New Bookstore Construction Begins

No matter where your stand on the new $5.2 million construction project on the downtown Barnes & Noble bookstore has begun. The building will have 2 stories and will be 28,000 feet on Fourth and Fifth Streets and south of Cherry Street. This building will also house ISU Foundation Offices. The bookstore will have longer hours, cater to non-students and students alike, and has been said to be a new destination point for people downtown. I personally believe that if something's not broke, why fix it? The bookstore I've been going to for the past 3 years is perfectly fine to me and I could think of many more useful ways to spend $5.2 million dollars.

ISU Makes a Dream Come True

J.D. Miller, an elementary and special education major at ISU learned he had cancer in February of 2008. He went through remission, a relapse, and a stem cell transplant in March of 2009, only to find out the cancer was back and this time it was worse than ever. He was told he had only a few weeks to live. Miller had been taking classes via distance education and substitute teaching in Greencastle when he heard the news. To him, it seemed like his dream would never come true. That's when Indiana State University stepped in. One October morning in 2009, Dean Brad Balch and other faculty from the Bayh College of Education visited Miller in the living room of his home. There he was asked to put on his cap and gown and was presented an honorary bachelor's degree in education. Miller and his family were then presented with a framed diploma on behalf of the university's president, provost, and registrar. "I am excited to be an Indiana State alumnus. This means so much to me," Miller said. ISU also established a scholar in honor of Miller which will be presented to an education junior or senior who has been nominated by the faculty and established him or herself as a leader at Indiana State University.

The Paitson Bros.

The more I read about Terre Haute the more surprised I am about my ignorance to the history around me. While I have shopped at ACE Hardware for many years, I never stopped to think about the history behind the store, let alone realize the little print on the outside sign saying "Paitson Brothers". Robert and Stanley Paitson were operating their first hardware store, gas station, and auto repair shop on Locust and 1st Avenue in Terre Haute in 1927. Even though their store closed in 1979, their family name continued on and still thrives today in Terre Haute. One store named after the Paitson brothers is at 25th and Rose Street. This is a hardware store. Many have probably shopped there not knowing the history behind the Paitsons, me included. The other is a contractors building for heating and cooling. Either way, I'm sure the brothers would be happy to know the town of Terre Haute has not forgotten them.

Bayh Family Dedication

On April 16th, Indiana State University dedicated the College of Education to the Bayh family, who the building is named after. Evan Bayh's great grandmother Kate Ward and grandfather Birch Evan Bayh both attended Indiana State Normal School. Birch also founded the Student Athletic Associaton at ISU. Evan launched the school's 21st Century Scholars Program. This helped Indiana State University in moving from 40th to 9th in in the nation in students pursuing higher education. During the dedicaton, ISU president Dan Bradley presented an honorary doctorate in honor of Senator Evan Bayh's mother, Marvella Bayh who attended Indiana State Teachers College and passed away in 1979. "This would mean the world to my mo," Evan Bayh said. "This means the world to me. It will allow me to go home and tell my kids that her memory lives on in some significant way."

Washington High School Closing

Washington Alternative High School, a place of history, is undergoing some changes. The city has decided to close the building and relocate the students into Terre Haute South Vigo High School. In order to do this a daycare is being built onto South Vigo, allowing the students from Washington to bring their children to school. What will be done with the building is still unkown. We can only hope that Terre Haute doesn't do what they do best and tear down the building and all of the history that it contains as well.

The Deming Hotel

While taking a tour around Terre Haute in my English 305 class, I was happily surprised to see the old Deming Hotel lobby still looking as beautiful as it did in the 1920's. Although in my opinion the rest of the building could use a lot of work with it's appearance, I was still happy to see that Terre Haute had decided to preserve something so special. I was interested to see what the rest of the Deming Hotel looked like in the past. It was just as beautiful as I expected. I found pictures of the ballroom, dining room, lobby, writing room, barbershop, billiards room, and an actual key that was used for one of the guest rooms. For those who don't know, the Deming Hotel opened in 1914. It was built a fireproof building with 250 rooms and 200 bathrooms; Terre Haute's largest hotel and one of the largest in Indiana. The first name on the guest register was John Holmes who worked for Eli Lilly at the time and it's first manager was Billy Cochran. Guests at the hotel usually had dinner at 7 pm and dancing at 10 pm in the lovely ballroom where house bands and orchestras played. The building was purchased by Indiana State University to be used as a men's dormitory and later as a conference center. In 1979 it was renovated into apartments for the elderly and disabled which it is still being used for today.

A Monster Among Us

In this empty space there used to sit a house; a house where some very unusal things had occurred. More than likely passerby's who see this empty lot have no idea the devastating history behind it. In 1987 a house sitting here belonged to a 30 year old man named Bill Benefiel. Benefiel captured dozens of women, taking them back to this residence and torturing them. He would glue their eyes shut, shave them bald, sometimes cut off their fingernails and torture them until death. He got away with this for a long time before being disovered by the now retired Police Chief Gerald Loudermilk and detectives Greg McCoy and Joe Newport. Bill Benefiel was accused of murder in 1988 by Judge Michael Eldred. The defendant claimed that he wanted "to die as soon as I can." A family friend of mine, Chris Gambill was a part of his defense attorney attempting to give him life in prison rather than the death penalty. Benefiel stated that he did not agree with or intend to help them. Bill Benefiel was sentenced to death on November 3rd, 1988. Knowing the history of this lot on South 13 1/2 Street makes me slightly eery of traveling past it like I have so many times on my way to campus.

The Neighbor I Never Knew

As I was reading a particular entry in "American Hometown" for my English class, I suddenly realized something. I was reading about my own home. Not only the home I am living in now, but all the houses in my neighborhood. Darrell D. Donham was the man Roznowski was discussing in this part of his book. He built a home on 465 Barton Ave, just one block north of the home I've lived in all my life. Suddenly he began speaking of the homes one block south of that house, describing the walkways, porches, and layouts of the houses. He was describing my house to a tee! This intrigued me to see what house it was that Darrell Donham had built.



This wood frame house is still standing along with the detached garage Mr. Donham built to keep his pickup truck in that he wished so badly to have. Finding out that Darrell's son occupied this house until his death in 2006 makes me regret not meeting this man who lived so close to me, although I still feel priviliged that I now know the history behind this house that I've been driving past for 21 years.

Ellen Church Marshall

Although Ellen Church Marshall wasn't born in Terre Haute originally, she spent many years here working as the director of nursing at Union Hospital. Ms. Marshall was a historical figure in this town because she was the very first airline stewardess. Before her career at Union Hospital, Ellen was a nurse and an early female pilot. The United Airlines refused to hire her as a pilot for them but took her advice when she suggested hiring nurses as stewardess in order to calm passengers fears. Upon arriving in Terre Haute, Indiana Ellen met her future husband, Leonard Briggs Marshall. He was the president of Terre Haute First National Bank. Sadly, Ellen passed away on August 22, 1965 after falling from a horse while riding. She was buried at Highland Lawn Cemetery in Terre Haute.

Terre Haute KISS Army

Bill Starkey, a resident of Terre Haute, was only a young boy when he first realized his love for the band KISS. He would stay up late watching their concerts and was lucky to have a father working in the record distribution in order to get his beloved KISS records. Starkey and his friends remained true KISS fans throughout their highschool years. They would go to Terre Haute North and pass out bootleg tapes of the band while wearing their homemade KISS t-shirts. The avid fans noticed they never heard any KISS songs on the radio. They found out the reason for this was a man named Rich Dickerson, the program director for West Terre Haute's WVTS. Although Rich played many rock songs similar to KISS ones, he refused to play any of the band's songs. He did not like them and did not feel his job was to promote them. This upset Starkey and teenage friends who decided to constantly call the station requesting KISS songs and referring to themselves as the KISS Army. They used the word army because they believed calling themselves KISS fans sounded too weak. They drew a logo on a sheet of paper and brought it to the radio station, not knowing at the time that this logo would eventually form thousands of T-shirts and patches.

The KISS Army and Dickerson would frequently joke with eachother on air and was beginning to get noticed by the Terre Haute community. Fans from all around were hearing of the KISS Army. When KISS came to Terre Haute on November 1st, 1975, at Hulman Center, Bill Starkey was called on stage to recieve a plaque from KISS, where he was allowed to hand the band his own banner. When the band began playing Starkey noticed the drummer for KISS had his banner draped across his drumset for the whole concert.

Suddenly, the KISS Army exploded into something that Bill Starkey had never imagined it would. He has since met with the band several times and the KISS Army has even been mentioned on "The Daily Show" and enlists U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. When meeting with KISS fans who had traveled to Terre Haute to see the band, Starkey had the chance to ask the individuals why they chose to come to Terre Haute to see KISS perform when the fans replied that they had to come here because "..this is Terre Haute, where it all began.."

The Ghost of Burford Hall

Before even attending Indiana State University, I can remember hearing stories about a ghost taunting people in one of the living quarters there. Knowing how silly urban legends are, I found it hard to believe. It wasn't until I started researching this legend that I became skeptical. The legend goes that a girl attending ISU came to Burford Hall after partying one night, went to the bathroom to puke, and ended up dying there of alcohol poisoning. Hence, the ghost was dubbed "Barfing Barb". For many years, students at Indiana State University have reported strange things occuring at Burford Hall in the wee hours of the night. One young man reported that he had gotten up to use the restroom around 3:00 AM on a weekend. As he was walking to the restroom, he heard someone vomitting. He looked beneath the stalls but saw nothing. This happened again as he was leaving. A few years later a number of girls on the 4th floor of Burford Hall all reported the same thing; hearing a hideous laugh, vomiting in the restroom, and the sound of a flushing toilet. This would supposedly happen in sequence many times over their stay in this living quarter. Along with these strange reportings, the ghost of Burford Hall has also been said to turn off alarm clocks, unlock doors, and moan. Many believe this legend was made up by professors in hopes of scaring students away from excessive drinking. Either way, I prefer to steer clear of the infamous Burford Hall.

Booker T. Washington High School

As I continue doing all of this research on the history of Terre Haute, it has become apparent to me just how much I've been surrounded with my whole life and had no idea about. Throughout my high school years some of my best friends were attending Booker T. Washington High School and I knew nothing about it. I didn't realize that it was built as a school for African Americans following the Plessy vs. Ferguson case that allowed for "seperate but equal" public accomodations. Unfortunately, the seperation took place while the equal part took a little longer. This school still stands today on South 13th St. in Terre Haute, Indiana and is now open to students of any race, color, or nationality.

Terre Haute Tots

Over the course of their season, the Terre Haute Tots (a minor-league team) played 63 games at home. These all took place at Memorial Stadium, a stadium which was originally intended to be a multi-use stadium but soon turned into one of the nation's finest minor league baseball stadiums. The Terre Haute Tots were only Class B minor leaguers, but that doesn't mean they never got their chance to shine. On Wednesday, April 26th, 1926, the St. Louis Cardinals, on their way to play the Pittsburgh Pirates the next day, had arrived in Terre Haute to play an exhibition game they had arranged with the Tots. After their expected slaughtering of the Terre Haute Tots, they would then sleep on the overnight train and arrive at Forbes Field the next day to play the Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately for them, the Tots had other plans. At Memorial Stadium at 3:00 PM, the game between the Cardinals and the Tots began. The game was close early on. Expectedly the Cardinals took a slight lead in the middle innings. Slowly that slight lead changed to a huge lead, needing just one more inning to play until the game was ended. No one expected what was about to happen in the 3rd inning. The Terre Haute Tots quickly scored three doubles and two singles, tying the two teams. The fact that the pitch-hitter for the Tots ended up striking out to end the game is far from the most memorable part of this game. Later that same year, the St. Louis Cardinals that were ever so close to being beat by the Terre Haute Tots went on to win the World Series against the New York Yankees, a team that had legendary players such as Babe Ruth. There was only one umpire that called the entire game that took place that spring day in Memorial Stadium. His name was Charles Jensen and I was surprised to find out that the place he called home is right around the corner from the place I call home now.

Indiana Theater

The Indiana Theater is one of the few buildings in Terre Haute that has been restored over the years and is still in use today. This 89 year old building was created in 1921 by Frank Lloyd Wright who has 18 other theaters that are still standing today in the United States. The Indiana Theater has 1,600 seats and is decked with a "Spanish baroque" theme, consisting of 38 hand-carved sculptures and a cascading fountain on a lobby landing. The final cost was $750,000, which is between $50 to $90 million in today's money. When this theater was first created, the workers were required to wear Spanish costumes and during many movies (which were silent at that time) live peacocks would flock about the 54-foot-wide stage. Throughout the years, Indiana Theater's stage gave way to many big bands and operettas, eventually showing movies with sound. The movie screen, which can be raised for live performances, is the second largest screen in the state of Indiana. The theater has been refurbished to look exactly as it did when it was first built. It is still open to private movie and stage shows and many other types of functions such as weddings or reunions.

History on Campus

Not many students can look outside their classroom window and see the home of a former presidential candidate for the United States of America. At Indiana State University, we are a part of those few students who can. Just outside of the College of Business and Education stands a big white house that was once owned by Eugene V. Debs. The former American union leader built and moved into this house in 1890 with his wife, Kate. He was sent to prison in 1919 for protesting against World War I in his famous anti-war speech. While in prison, he ran for presidency his fifth and final time, but lost the election. When he was released years later, Debs arrived back to this house in Terre Haute and was given a tremendous welcome by thousands of people right outside. This house now serves as a museum and has been restored to look as it did when Eugene Debs lived there.

The Coca-Cola Bottle

Many have no idea that the first Coca-Cola bottle was made in Terre Haute, Indiana. A man named Chapman J. Root opened a glass company in Terre Haute in 1901 called Root Glass Works which used to stand on the northeast corner of 3rd and Voorhees Street. It was here that he chose the Coca-Cola bottle design out of 11 other choices. The infamous Coca-Cola bottle design that was chosen was constructed to resemble a Cocoa tree pod.

Coca-Cola continued to play a major role in the Root family business which is now called Root Organization. Along with their huge contribution to the Coca-Cola business, the Root family also donated $1.5 million for the construction of Root Hall, an office building and classroom which still stands at Indiana State University. Although Chapman passed in 1945, a bottling plant of the Root Glass Company is still standing in Terre Haute today at 924 Lafayette Ave.

A Hautian's Point of View

It's hard to believe that I've lived in Terre Haute for 21 years and am only beginning to learn about the history of it. I've never thought much about the negative ways that people view this town until I began college. Suddenly, I was meeting people from many different areas and being asked frequently where I was from. The responses I got when I told them I was from Terre Haute was never a positive one and I have since gotten used to being referred to as a "Hautian". I hope by doing this blog that I prove being a "Hautian" isn't so bad afterall.