Our Newest State Byway: The Historic Michigan Road and Our Inseparable Ties

This old historic road that runs through Indiana, like a spine connecting the Ohio River with Lake Michigan, the Michigan Road, and I are old friends. We have a history tied to every facet of my life and it seems to be a road I can’t get away from, a road that pulls me back with it into the past and pushes me along with it into the future.

I did all my growing up on “Michigan Road Lands”; tracts of land the State of Indiana received as part of a treaty with the American Indians and sold to settlers beginning in the 1830s. We lived on portions of my grandpa’s farm located just a mile off the Michigan Road. I went to church at the LaPaz Church of God, along the road, until I was about 6 years old when we drove the Michigan Road to South Bend every Sunday to attend a church less than a mile off the road. I went to LaPaz Elementary School, located on the road, through 6th grade. And then I completed Junior and Senior High School along the road at Grace Baptist in Plymouth. And I drove the road every day to get there. Then I went to college and drove the road every day to get to South Bend.

After I graduated from college and got a job in Plymouth, just a block off the Michigan Road, I moved into an apartment in the downtown and had one of the best views overlooking the Michigan Road at 120 ½ N. Michigan. And then I walked along the road to get to work. In 1997 I met my future wife at a coffee shop on the road and in 1998 we were married at the Church of the Brethren in Plymouth-you guessed it-on the road. And we took a celebratory drive in the backseat of her dad’s VW with the top down, down the Michigan Road. A few months later we moved into our first home at 308 South Michigan, a house constructed in 1853 when the road wasn’t much more than a dirt path.

When we purchased our second home it seemed that our new connection to the Michigan Road was going to be tenuous at best. We were located a full quarter mile off the road, again on Michigan Road Lands. But then I looked into the history of our house and the man who built it, Robert Schroeder. Schroeder came to Marshall County with his father in the early 1830s to build the Michigan Road. His father built a cabin on the east side of the road a few miles north of Plymouth. Robert purchased the property in 1865 and built his house at the east end of the property, which is our home now. His grave, marked “first settler of Marshall County” is located in the Fairmount Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in the county, just north of our home along the road. It seems we can’t get away from this old road. And now we travel it with our kids to school and church on Sundays.

As much as my life is and was connected to the road, it should be no surprise that my ancestors were just as connected. My Dad and my Grandma Crothers Hochstetler went to the old LaPaz School like I did. My grandparents established the Garner Inn in 1949 at the road’s intersection with Highway 6 south of LaPaz. They traded their farm near Tyner for the inn and lived above it. My Crothers ancestors’ farm was located on the east side of the road on the north side of LaPaz; they built their home in about 1860 and it is still there today. My Barnhill ancestors traveled the Michigan Road from Indianapolis to Argos and established their farm on the west side of the road just north of town in the 1840s. Great x4 grandpa Barnhill started the Antioch Church north of his home on the Michigan Road; his home is still there but the church is long gone. My great grandparents, named Bryant, traveled the road north from Rochester and lived in a home on the east side of Michigan north of Argos, also still there today. My great, great grandfather Garner had a saddle and tack shop on the north edge of downtown Rochester, on the west side of the road; the building is still there. My great grandmother Garner had a dress shop in downtown Argos, on the southwest corner of Michigan and Walnut Streets. My great, great, great grandfather Moore had a dry goods and general mercantile on Michigan Street in Argos; both buildings are still there. My ancestors are buried in the old Argos, Fairmont, and County Line Cemeteries in Marshall County. I say all this to demonstrate that my family did their living, dying, schooling, and worshipping along this great old road, dating back to almost its entire history.

I first learned about the history of the Michigan Road in 1997. I had always thought it was just the road to Michigan. While working with a group of people from Plymouth to put the downtown on the National Register of Historic Places, I learned about the road’s story. I learned that it was the very first road commissioned by the State of Indiana which began as an agreement in the 1826 treaty with the Potawatomie Indians. In 1829 the road was surveyed and construction started the following year. The road stretched 270 miles from Madison to Michigan City, connecting the new state capital, Indianapolis, with shipping ports. The road led to the establishment of a number of Indiana towns, particularly in the north where the land was solidly wilderness. The road was the path over which the American Indian was removed from their lands and also served as a path to freedom for escaping slaves. Between 2005 and 2007 I placed both downtown Rochester and Argos on the National Register where the Michigan Road serves as their main street.

The fascination with the Michigan Road grew as I traced the route on a state map and longed to drive the whole route. I got the chance when I won a bet with my wife over the amount of snow each of us predicted from a blizzard on New Year’s Day, 1999. The winner chose a location to take a weekend trip. I chose Madison by way of the Michigan Road. It was after that trip I realized there needed to be a way created to celebrate the rich history of the road. I submitted one grant request for funds to survey the historic sites along the road and was turned down. I sat down with the state historic preservation office to establish a method to do this under another application, but it didn’t fit neatly into their standards.

I wrote a blog post on the Historic Michigan Road in 2008 and a fellow named Jim Grey found me and left a message. He wrote a piece on the road, to which I commented that we should work together to find a way to honor the road. On August 2, 2008, two guys who had never met before scheduled a meeting to “discover” the Michigan Road in Fulton and Marshall Counties. At that time we talked about finding some way to promote the history of the road. Several weeks later I attended the Indiana Byways Conference on behalf of the Lincoln Highway and realized this was the answer, and contacted Jim with the idea.

We held a meeting in Rochester in January, 2009, and invited as many people we could think of who could be interested in this endeavor in the northern part of the state. It was decently attended by several people who would become our committee members. We decided to hold another meeting in Logansport later that spring and at that meeting we organized and began a series of community meetings up and down the Michigan Road into 2010. Communities showed great interest and support for the project. In December, 2010, we submitted a 90+ page document nominating the Historic Michigan Road as a state byway. In May, 2011 members of our committee presented our case to state officials and on September 9, 2011 an order by the Lt. Governor officially designated the Historic Michigan Road a state byway.

It seems that the road and I are inseparable, like old friends, and it looks like we’ll have a long and happy future together.

Extreme porch make-over & insul(t)brick

Like most old farmhouses, our backporch is our "front door". We have a front door and I think visitors have used it once or twice in the 20 months we have lived here, but many more times than not people come to the back door on the porch. It was the door we first used to get a look at the house on Sycamore Hill and rarely do we use any other door to leave the house.

Our back door in town was essentially our front door too. The problem was that we had two of them and since one didn't function the first five years we lived there everyone got used to using the other. Then we put on a gorgeous new door, stone porch and pergola, and created an inviting entryway.....and since people were used to using the other door, well, it was at least nice to look at.

So we moved to Sycamore Hill and couldn't have asked for an uglier back door. There was a 30' long porch, 6' wide with a pocked and broken concrete floor, screened in openings that were full of debris, boards enclosing the top portion of the openings so you could only see as far as the gravel drive, and the house wall was the best....it was covered in insulbrick, which was a fiberboard material used for siding, usually over wood siding, installed during the 1920s-40s. It was promoted as a brick look with insulatory qualities. I call it insult-brick, because it is a bit of an insult.

Now, I'm sure somewhere out there is a good example of insulbrick that maybe should be preserved for posterity. However, our back porch wall is/was not such a location. It was dark grey-black and seemed to welcome mud-crafting wasps. But the ugly didn't end there. Right outside our back door, in the porch floor, was a "small pit" as the former owner described it, saying she fell into it one time while she visited her grandparents. The pit had wood boards over it and steel panels covering the wood. Out of curiosity just a few weeks ago I popped up a board. Small pit? That thing is 6' deep! It's a fall-out shelter!

So, we moved in and the porch became the repository for all the crap that we had to move out of the house to renovate it. Finally we emptied the porch of the junk after 6 months of living here. Then it sat. Then this spring I pulled off the two screen doors that certainly had seen better days, and the piece of plywood covering one doorway, and things just seemed a bit better. Then, in a fit of frustration and a bit of curiosity, I pulled out one screen and wood framing around it in one of the openings. The difference was like night and day. I had to be somewhere in an hour, but I started the demo that changed the face of the back porch from ugly to tolerable.


Then-what to do with that insulbrick? We plan to reside the house in a few years, but wouldn't a little primer and paint lighten things up? So I primed, and just a few weeks ago my dad painted, the porch. Wow. And then, though I'm not a big fan of outdoor carpet, I patched the concrete and covered up that mess with some fine synthetics which are waiting to be glued down. What a huge difference this has made on the old house. And the nice thing is that everyone has to use this door...so it's more than just nice to look at. The pictures are the progression from ugly this spring to about perfect this fall. The wife has decorating ideas, but a few pumpkins added about all the charm it needed. Now to paint the doors.

Art Saves Kewanna

I don't typically send out kudos here on HH, but I was made aware this morning that Kewanna, a small town in northwestern Fulton County, is the recipient of yet another great downtown "save" by their summer-resident artist.

Several years ago Diane Tesler, an artist from Virginia, started a preservation boom in this little rural farming community. Spending her summers in Indiana, and drawing inspiration from the countryside, Tesler has made significant investments in Kewanna. One of her largest projects was the restoration of the town's Odd Fellows Hall. She has just embarked on the restoration of the town's cool-looking (to me) Masonic Hall.

Having taken the leisurely drive between Culver and Logansport on Highway 17, I was introduced to Kewanna and Grass Creek over a decade ago. Today it is a drive I find opportunity to take as often as possible. The one building that always caught my attention was this great old lodge hall on the west side of 17 (photo of the "before")....I've even featured it before on HH. So, seeing a picture of it today come across the wire, with its true facade finally revealed from beneath a bad aluminum job from the 60s, you can imagine I was pretty pumped.

Hat's off to Diane and all the work she's done to preserve the buildings in Kewanna, and the Hoosier landscape portrayed in her work. Her website is: http://www.dianetesler.com/

The hot air behind wind energy

I am an environmentalist. A few right-wingers out there are salivating over the fact that I just admitted that, and no doubt it will come back to haunt me somewhere down the line. I remember the first time I said those exact words. It was in front of Republicania County's Drainage Board when I challenged the 19th century dredging philosophy still in use which was causing ever-increasing flooding in River City.

So, naturally, I would be the first to embrace massive wind towers across our Hoosier landscape, right? Well, much like the fervor behind the ethanol business only four short years ago (remember that? it was going to solve our dependency on foreign oil), I question the authenticity of any "get on the band wagon" energy plan. Naturally, any undertaking of such magnitude has to be profitable to work. But just like an ethanol plant shouldn't be plopped down just in any 'ol location.....neither should the newest commercial venture in dependency-free energy.

The wind energy debate landed in Republicania County and has risen to a boiling point since discussions about towers shooting up east of a lake resort community began several months ago. Now, I'm not opposed to wind energy towers.....but to somehow equate them to grandpa's windmill on the 'ol homestead is ludicrous. Grandpa's windmill couldn't be seen 3 miles away. Our wind energy ordinance requires that towers not be placed any closer than 1,000 feet from a home. Now, that's less than a quarter mile away (roughly 4 city blocks). Why should home owner's have the enjoyment of their property, and its cash value, be lessened just so a farmer (maybe, or maybe just a guy who purchased enormous tracts of land) and a large corporation can make some serious cash? These are massive commercial undertakings with little local benefit.

Top photo is off the massive wind farm stetching for miles along the South Dakota/Minnesota border. The photo above is the wind farm constructed along I-65 northwest of Lafayette.

My friends on the clean energy side of this debate need to come to terms with the prospect of a potential for windmills randomly placed throughout the county. SMART planning, something our county has failed to do since we adopted zoning in the 1970s, would create zones based on wind maps, and then make the commercial towers only acceptable in those locations with no deviation. 1,000 feet from any residence? That's even less than wind energy corporations' OWN standards. Frankly, there should be a push to place these near or in our industrial or highway commercial areas......this is far more appropriate in land use.

I've had several people ask me to weigh in on our county's wind energy debate, to which I've said that if I could trust our county to do the right thing, I'd be all for it. I've even looked out my windows and thought...hmmm.....1,000' could drop a tower very close....but I found a few acceptable locations that a wind farm could locate in my view. I fully support exploration in renewable energy, including wind, but there are appropriate places for any such initiative. This is not NIMBY, this is simply doing what is right, for everyone, all the way around.

9/11 Then and Now

A few days ago while driving in the central part of the state and listening to Hoosier Country the dj posed the question "do we need to be bombarded with images from 9/11?" His point was that it was in the past and the feelings that reliving that horrific day in American history could do more harm than good. In fact he commented that a number of psychologists recommended not watching 9/11 footage because of the anxiety, depression, and rage that may ensue.

I remember the week following 9/11 hearing similar comments. The footage of that darkest day was broadcasted 24/7 and helplessly we watched. But I think something remarkable came out of that in the days and weeks to follow. We became One Nation. We became compassionate and sacrificial. And yes, knowing we had a common enemy, we became determined.

But in the months to follow 9/11 the determination swelled into hatred in some American hearts. And a year after 9/11 it seemed that "the day that would change a Nation forever" had changed us, but not into the character developed in the days after 9/11. While I absolutely believe that fighting terrorism on an international scale had to be done, I wonder about the war at home.

Patriotism defined in this post-9/11 world is vastly different from what we witnessed in the days after the sky fell, and nearly opposite of the heartbeat of the Greatest Generation's defining moment. During the days of World War II the homefront was characterized by sacrifice, conservation, and neighbors caring for each other. Today, in the throws of this 10 year war, hearts beat with anger and selfishness. Too strong and generalizing? I don't think so, not after listening to the divisive rhetoric being spewed by politicians and pundits.

Think about the calls for sacrifice during World War II. Think about the propaganda several months after 9/11. The government and corporations were asking us to go out and spend our money. This was patriotism redefined. Fifty years ago we understood the value of collectively educating our children. Today patriotism seems defined by taking a knife to the throat of public education. Individualists did not build this country, as much as we like to think they did.....patriotism is not the dismantling of Social Security, public education, or government in general. In fact, I think it is quite the opposite. Even in my young, right-wing Rush days, I would never have been convinced that what is being proposed by today's conservatives is the right path for a great Nation.

As I thought about the question the dj posed, and having already seen tremendous replay of footage from September 11th, I thought to myself "God, don't let me forget"....don't let me forget the tremendous culture of heroism, compassion, and sacrifice our country experienced in the days following its aftermath. The 10th anniversary of 9/11 could be the cultural equivalent of a hundred years removed from that day. If it did indeed change us........God help us for what it seems to have changed us into.

Blueberry Memories...going with the theme

It may be the heat, or I may be getting lazy, but here are a couple of posts in fond reflection of the madness known as the Blueberry Festival. Congratulations to this year's parade Grand Marshal, a good friend and director of the Marshall County Historical Society & Museum.

http://hoosierhappenings.blogspot.com/2008/09/if-i-could-be-that-guy.html

http://hoosierhappenings.blogspot.com/2009/04/blueberry-hank-rip.html

Kristian Stanfill - Always (Live)

Why Jesus is the Answer...to Perry

You know me. I purposefully avoid politics as much as possible, but I do "enjoy" watching politics play out on the national scene particularly with a presidential election looming next year. But I will be honest...you could have asked me who Rick Perry was several weeks ago and I would have said "dunno". Maybe that is how people view Mitch outside of Hoosierdom.

But then came his announcement calling for a day of prayer in the Lone Star state and soon the hype on Perry escalated to a fervor in anticipation of his declaring a run for president. People were comparing him to Reagan and questioned if this day of prayer could distance him from the center of the GOP. Calling for the abolishment of the Department of Education, you would think, would push him even farther from center.

But I think people forget what race Perry is trying to win. Not only do you need to look far to the right, you better have some extreme ideas in this political climate. Perry is playing to the Tea Party and Evangelicals. Frankly, he could win with one or the other's support, but since there is no one in the Republican field courting evangelicals-I could go out on a limb here and say he may well have the nomination wrapped up. Perry will appear left of Bachman, assuming her shooting star hasn't fizzled by the end of the year, but still far right to gain Tea Party supporters that may come to realize Bachman is terribly unqualified.

People on the left are afraid of Perry. Maybe legitimately so, I don't know. The thing that makes me want to puke (yes, I'm using that strong of a word) concerning Perry is his political strategy. I think we are used to politicians invoking the name of God to score political points, but c'mon, seriously, Perry calls for a day of prayer one week prior to his big announcement? When asked what he would be asking prayer for he said economic prosperity. What? Where is that in the Bible, or is Perry a believer in the prosperity doctrine? And why wait until this stage of the game to ask for a day of prayer (obvious answer), why not 2008?

I feel so strongly that the church, and particularly Evangelicals, need to extract themselves not just from the GOP, but politics in general, if they ever hope to be the salt and light God called them to be. Christians falling victim to wolves in sheep's clothing, like Governor Perry, is proof of the warning in Scripture that God's children will be led away from the truth of God. The Church in America is at deadly tipping point and I believe that Christ has been calling for His bride to stop playing the whore to politics. If you're reading this and you are incensed, good. Spend some time reading through the Bible and let me know what from Christ's sermon on the mount runs parallel to Republican party politics. We've sold out to it and it is an anti-Christ-model agenda. What concerns me most is that it may take the nation's full embrace, and subsequent failure, of this agenda before the church can truly be broken.

The Back to School Blues

checking on her flower garden

I hated going back to school when I was a kid. It was like impending doom as soon as August 1st rolled around and I dreaded any time we drove past LaPaz Elementary. Then as I entered Junior High and High School, the impending doom began about May 1st when I preferred to just stay in school-even though I loved the summer.

Now that I have kids of my own, two very differently tempered kids but both with their father's sense of humor, I could feel the tension around the house this morning with it being the first day back to school. But it was dad and mom that had the blues. I think the boy was nervous-his first day at intermediate school, and my daughter, who got to celebrate her 9th birthday by going back to school...ughh, I think was looking forward to it.

learning to whittle

I have to admit that while settling into a new, much quieter, routine working from home is going to have some benefits, I had some uneasiness sending the boy off to that next stage of his life, and knowing my baby girl was turning 9 today pretty much did me in......especially when my wife sent a message that she was a teary-eyed mess after dropping the kids off. Hmm...what's changed?

This summer was rough, both emotionally and because our schedules seemed to be packed full of something going on all the time. We wrapped up our vacation last week and presto-the summer was over. Maybe it is all of the gray hairs I seem to have gotten over the last two years, the occaisonal aches and pains, too many funerals this summer, a high sense of weariness of the world around me, or knowing that my kids are growing up way too fast.....but it seemed to hit me hard today.

I pray that my kids do well. That they cling to God every step of the way and not let others define who they are. But mostly I pray that I don't screw them up too badly as we continue to move, quickly, through this life. The one thing that I've tried to do, having felt this way for a while now, is find an opportunity to grab both my kids together and give them a big hug and say that I have the best kids in the world and that I love them. It's about all we can do.

Kayaking the Eel River

Yellow, check. Sugar, check. Tippecanoe, check. Kayaking the Eel River, check.

In an effort to get to know Indiana's waterways, and to satisfy the need to hear water lapping the sides of my kayak, I headed out for a four hour trip on the Eel River with a few guys two weeks ago. The trip took us through northern Wabash County from Laketon, near North Manchester, to Stockdale at the Miami County line, near Roann. Had we known the trip would have been as short as it was, we likely would have stayed in to Mexico (Indiana, of course).

The hot weather of a few weeks ago was the perfect climate for kayaking. The water was cool and invited more than one dip and swim to the other side. The current was steady until we got to the dam at Stockdale, where the river widened out and slowed down considerably. This stretch of river offered pristine woodlands with virtually no development. Near the end of the excursion we crossed beneath the Roann Covered Bridge and ended at the historic Stockdale Mill. No tangles, no portaging, and very little in the way of scraping bottom. Perfect. We concluded the outing with a stayover at Chain of Lakes State Park-really nice camp site and not a long hike to the fresh coffee brewed at the campstore in the morning.

I hope to cruise down several more rivers in the coming years. I have my sights set on Wildcat Creek next so that my Facebook status can state I "tamed the Wildcat".

three years ago today.....

The first project out on my own was a National Register nomination for the Koerting House in Elkhart. It was designed in 1937 by Alden Dow, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's most accomplished proteges.

The owner made a mean martini, also a first for me.

Another anniversary to celebrate here on Sycamore Hill. It was three years ago today that I walked across the threshold of my former employer's office door for the last time. It was a rather anti-climatic moment considering it was the only job I had known since college and twelve of the best years of my life. Married, bought our first home, celebrated the births of both our children, good elections and bad...and a whopping 10 minute round-trip commute on foot.


But it was liberating as well. I had no job to go to and no real plans to work for myself. I had a small project a friend asked me to do for their organization a few months earlier, but it would hardly pay the bills. But that first day I didn't go to work a second little job came in, then a third, and then....well, I figured I would ride it as far as it would go even though an architect friend of mine told me a few weeks later that August 2008 was the worse time to be going out on your own.


She had it wrong, 2010 was the worse time to be out on your own. 2009 was a stellar year and 2010 was not. But all the way back in January I realized 2011 would turn out all right. Hence the business principle of averages. Thank God I remembered something from my previous degree, which finally was put to use.


Speaking of God, a number of people have commented about the faith I must have had to start my own business. Well, I'll let you in on a secret. I can't consider it a step of faith when I was pushed by God. There didn't seem to be a choice in the matter, so I want to give credit where credit is due and God certainly gets all the credit here. He made the decision obvious, and He has always been the one to provide.


I love what I do. Maybe my work wouldn't appeal to you, but having the opportunity to travel all over the state, working in large and small communities, with a lot of like-minded people has given me a little hope for Indiana. I've enjoyed the dozens of histories explored, the architecture revealed, and new creations that rise from the ground. I've enjoyed linking our stories together across the state to reveal what makes us unique. And I've enjoyed going to work some days in nothing but shorts or my pajamas.


So, here's to three great years....and hoping for many more (retirement age is now 80, right?).

700 in 4

All right, it's time to look back. July 20th and this post mark another milestone for Hoosier Happenings. This past week HH celebrated 4 years of rambling and this post makes the 700th dribble. Both seem a bit hard to believe.....hard to believe I've kept this up for the last four years and have found 700 things to post about.

It's foggy out right now....but in that cool beautiful sort of way. It's also a bit foggy inside. I started this post yesterday and have kept going back to it in my head and have started over several times. Yesterday was a strange day. We woke up to news that my wife's grandmother passed away. Which it then dawned on me when my family gathered together to celebrate my mom's birthday last night that it was also same day my grandfather passed away. Add to that the sort of surreal nature of having our church service in the park with storms looming and then I began to understand why the former ending of this post went the way it did. So I re-wrote it, again. What you won't know is what is Sunday or Monday's tone.

Anyhow, (I don't know that I've ever typed that before) I searched Bing.com for images related to 700. I got photos of Pat Robertson and the 700 pound man. Neither seemed to relate to what I wanted to express, though Pat has been featured on past posts. So I settled on a "looking back" photo. When I started HH in July of 2007 I tried to maintain some anonymity, as well as some class. Many of the posts were raw and a few hit some nerves, I know. And I don't apologize. And as for anonymity-well, anyone who knows me has already figured out who Hoosier Reborn is.

Strangely enough, I still run into folks who tell me that they read this, even though most experts would say blogging is dead. Just last week at the fair I had someone say that they read this all the time. That was news to me. And at my school reunion I had more than one person tell me to keep blogging. So I figure I have roughly the same number of readers as our local paper, so of course I'm obligated to put out the news.

Lately my posts have centered around places and culture in Indiana. Which that's cool and all-but I'd like to get back to more stories on faith and let loose with some political banter. But I feel rather uninspired with those topics because it just seems pointless. Then I go back to.....why did I start this thing in the first place. Well, mostly for myself I guess. But at the same time, I'd like to think that exposing the few people who do read this to new ideas on faith and politics might just help shape change. I'm certain this is how the Tea Party got its start.

Recently I saw someone's blog turned into a book....like a real, live, paper filled with ink sort of book. That concept seems a bit strange since books are becoming paperless like a blog; regardless, I wondered what if I took all of those 700 random stories and aligned them into their general topics-could they be book-worthy? Probably not. But it did give me a very different way to think of blogging and maybe helped redefine my purpose a little.

I appreciate everyone who reads this. I'd like to be a bit more edgy when it comes to faith and politics. I'd like to be a bit more in depth when it comes to culture and cover a wider range of topics. But more than anything I'd like to know that I've pricked the consciousness of those who take the time to read this. I am not a good writer by any stretch of the imagination....I'm not even sure that anyhow is a word.....but just like most hobbies, blogging has brought a great deal of satisfaction personally. We'll have another self-evaluation at 1000.

you did what? visited mausoleums?

Occasionally I have "firsts" even at 40+. Standing beside a woman in the Butler Mausoleum on Wednesday I admitted to another first and she seemed unable to believe I had never been in a mausoleum before. In fact, I think I said I was creeped out as we stood in front of one open, but thank God, empty, crypt.

My thinking is that I can't believe people have been.

But, there I was, standing toe to toe....well, sort of, with row upon row of folks who had passed to the other side. Thankfully they were sealed up tight in precast vaults with a piece of shiny white marble laid at their feet, or heads depending on which side of the aisle they were.

But, just like Pringles potato chips, I couldn't stop at one. No, in fact I visited four mausoleums that day, all in DeKalb County. Waterloo, Auburn, and Garret also have these apartments for the deceased. One we did not have the ability to go inside, the others I received the grand tour. Why would I do this? That's a good question. I was asked to survey their architectural design and make a few inquiries to their historical importance.

Now, maybe this goes to the whole look of surprise when I said I had never been in a mausoleum before, but for some reason the folks in DeKalb County jumped on the mausoleum bandwagon much earlier than most small towns in Indiana. One industrious fellow by the name of Frank Emerick (intombed in Butler's) promoted these for the Buckeye Mausoleum Company and the four were built between 1915 and 1922. And don't get the impression that these are small family vault style structures. These house 100+ deceased and one was so elaborate to even include a marble fireplace.....I guess if they get cold?

I'm not aware of, outside larger metro cities in Indiana, other structures like this from this early of a period existing anywhere else in Hoosierdom. These definitely are classy little places. Mosaic tiled floors, beautiful stained glass windows, tiled roofs, marble throughout, granite and limestone....these things were built with more pizazz than most churches or banks of their time. Still, I couldn't get over the urge to whisper and I stayed near the center of the aisle-just in case.

a"round" the barn

After being hounded by the Thursday morning coffee clutchers to clean the remaining hay out of our barn, I set to task this past Saturday. I summoned a couple of hired hands to make the process go a little quicker. Four hours later we had made a sizable dent in the last and final bay filled with hay. A little less than half the hay remains. 40 whole bales were removed, and about 240 broken bales were forked onto the back of a truck and hauled to a pile in the pasture.

That will be some kind of fire.

Within an hour one of the hired hands lost a leg through a few open floor boards. A short time later I lost a leg, and was fortunate to not lose my whole self through the hole I "discovered". We turned our attention to the southeast corner of the barn and began pitching hay down to the truck below. Once we had the bed filled with the first load I suggested the guys unload it and I would stay back and pitch more hay over the side beams so that it would be easier to get to. And then I said:

"Do you hear that?"

"it's a car going by"

long pause......I put my head down closer to the pile of hay

"no, it isn't fading out"

"it sounds like water running through a storm pipe" of course, there is no water out at the barn, and it was hot and dry that day

hired hand leans in for a listen

"it sounds like bees" he says calmly

"bees!" I exclaim, and back away

We quit working in that corner. The three of us loaded into the cab of the old blue pickup truck and headed into town for lunch. Covered in hay dust and sweat we sauntered into Taco Bell and ordered the XXL combo. Yep, we looked the part of Hoosier farmers.

And I'm really looking forward to having the barn cleaned out, bees and all. Though having a hive around for the orchard would probably be a good thing.

a Hoosier "crop circle"

For you city folk out there.....

The county 4H Fair is in full swing this week. There was the antique tractor parade and the country church orchestra peforming such songs as the theme to Star Trek-both events are always huge draws, but it was the "pig scramble" that had folks packing the grandstandsands Thursday night. So for the benefit of you city folk out there I decided to share what we allow our kids to do for fun on the farm. The goat dragging competition will follow. No pigs were harmed in the filming of this video.

a spectacular find INDEEDsville

While Mexico may win the contest for most noticeable sign along 31, the little sign marked DEEDSVILLE pointing east stokes my curiosity each time I pass by. I had a project to visit in Wabash last Thursday and wanted to Mapquest it for my own peace of mind to know how much time to allot. Oddly enough Mapquest routed me through Deedsville, along a county road. That seemed odd to me and knowing that Mapquest has gotten me lost before, I switched the route to stay on the highways and it added time. So evidently the quickest way to Wabash from my house is through Deedsville.
So I left a cushion of time when I left the house just in case this shortcut wasn't all that Mapquest claimed it would be and drove at a crawl looking for the county road marked Deedsville thata way. And this is what I found in Deedsville.

The little town in northeast Miami County was platted by a couple of fellows named Deeds and Leedy who persuaded the Cincinnati, Chicago, and Louisville (later the Nickel Plate) Railroad to pass through their land in 1870. I wonder why Deeds got the honor of the town being named for him. Why not a combination of the two names? Deedleedville? or just Eedville? The town never grew beyond its original boundaries but remained the little hub for the larger farming community. A fire in 1941 wiped out much of the commercial center of town, though a few buildings remain-one housing the post office, and school consolidation took away the towns identity-though a muddled piece of their school history remains on the east side of town.

Today the Rochester to Peru bikeway runs through the heart of Deedsville, right past the old grain elevator and within eyeshot of the post office. I guess if you've picked up a post card on your bike trip-this would be a great place to mail it from....hey kids! We're passing through Deedsville!

Of course, not far beyond Deedsville where the county road joined with Highway 16, the state had the route detoured. Trusting in my own navigational instincts I traveled county roads until I found my way to highway 15. On my return trip I followed a different route which landed me on a gravel road only to have the woods open up in front of me to reveal this spectacular find.

The bridge on county road 950 North crosses the Eel River. A little sleuthing revealed that it is the oldest Pratt through truss bridge in Indiana fabricated by the Pan American Bridge Company in 1903. It is a real beauty.

Define patriotism.

What is patriotism? I wonder if somewhere along the way we began to confuse, or maybe muddy the waters of our national understanding of what it means to be a patriot. I think most people accurately identify the men and women who serve in the armed forces as patriots. And I suppose love of country certainly has something to do with it.

But what are we in love with? Do we cheer for America as if it were our hometown basketball team on a Saturday night or the Colts on Sunday afternoon? Do we love the idea that we can buy anything we want or do anything we want? That seems like a pretty selfish mindset and selfishness would seem the opposite of patriot, which has to conjure up thoughts of selflessness and sacrifice. Do we wrap ourselves in the flag and treat patriotism as if it were some sort of cheap commodity to be identified with?

America has been heading down the wrong road for some time now, or maybe I should be more accurate and say that as a people we have been taking America down the wrong path. These freedoms that we enjoy and the corporate will to protect them is something entrusted to us from generation to generation. The ideals that set America apart from the rest of the world are packed with opportunity for good. But just as explosive are the possibilities for corruption, greed, and abuse.

Christians understand the term "freedom in Christ". It is used to describe the grace we are extended even when we make mistakes because we are God's own. Too often though freedom in Christ is abused as a license to do wrong, and unfortunately the rest of the world sees that and contemplates how we are any different.

I think freedoms come with great responsibility. In fact I think that "freedom" requires great restraint, compassion, discipline, ethics, tolerance, sacrifice, understanding, and maybe most importantly stewardship. I believe that these terms describe a patriot and acting in this way would then be "patriotism". So tell me, how do these words reflect Americans today? I know I've said before the greatest enemy of our democracy is capitalism without ethics.

I don't wholly accept that the America of my grandparents' generation, or of my earliest ancestors who landed in harbors along the east coast, was this land I long for. Comments like "returning this nation back to God" make me roll my eyes when I consider our past marked with slavery, segregation, or removal of the American Indians. The Church is who needs to return to God. No, instead I think that the ideals set out in 1776 are yet to be fully realized. If you ask me what I love about my country, I think that is it. It is the opportunity for good that corporately we possess. Not selfish ambition disguised as personal liberty, but the individual responsibility and freedom each of us has for compassion, tolerance, stewardship and all those others. I think in acting on those will we find true patriotism.

south of the border

Peru, Chili, LaPaz, Mexico......who hasn't driven up and down US 31 in Indiana and wondered if they somehow crossed the border? Or driven past this sign and said, hey, we're only a half mile from Mexico!

Yesterday while traveling, uh, south, I decided on my return trip I would make a short side-trip to Mexico. I remember doing this once before-a long time ago-and visiting this little town on Old 31, now, and maybe originally known as the Mexico Road. Mexico was founded in 1834 by the Wilkinson brothers who believed its location on the west bank of the Eel River was a profitable location to start a town. All of Mexico consists of about two downtown blocks and a handful of churches that want to let passers-by on US 31 know that they are welcome.

Do you ever get that urge while driving 31 to just pull over and visit a church? Evidently some of you do because I see this marketing plan used in a number of small towns.

There was a building that clearly was a bank on the southwest corner (1914), replaced by a newer bank on the southeast corner, now converted to the volunteer fire department's training facility. There was a small, well-kept little commercial block on the northeast corner; it has a small walk-up window like an old-fashioned Dairy Queen. The proprietor of this building came out to greet me. Not many folks stop and take pictures in Mexico, I'm sure. He asked if I knew what was going on with the building across the street. I told him I was a multi-millionaire and planned to drop some significant cash into it, then I said, no, just stopped through to take photos.

The block of commercial buildings across the street (northwest corner if you are keeping track geographically) had clearly seen better days but probably best represented the wealth of Mexico's past. What struck me was the main building, the joint venture between Mexico's Masonic and Odd Fellows' Lodges in 1889. They must have gotten along better than Kiwanis and Rotarians do today. The brickwork in the top of the building was unusual and maybe the most striking feature was the wood-crafted building sign board. Typically these were made out of some form of metal-usually zinc, or limestone. But the brotherhoods of Mexico chose to create their sign boards out of wood with raised wood details and carved wood lettering. Unfortunately a great deal of the wood details are falling victim to time and neglect. All four buildings in this business block were vacant and the curious proprietor told me most of them had some level of roof failure.

I personally don't like to see any community lose its architectural identity. If Mexico lost these, how would you know you were in Mexico?

correspondence of a square peg

June 1

Dear Sir,

Please be aware that your status with our unnamed state agency will need to be updated by the end of this month. Please go on-line and insert peg into hole.

June 8

Dear Unnamed,

Please confirm that you received my peg. Be aware that I have a square peg and it does not fit neatly into the round hole.

June 12

Dear Sir,

We received your on-line update, however the peg did not fit neatly into the hole. Please try again to insert peg into hole. You may wish to review our requirements for pegs at blahblahblah.com

June 14

Dear Unnamed,

I have reviewed the requirements at blahblahblah; these are not applicable to square pegs. Could you identify exactly how you wish for me to insert my peg.

June 16,

Dear Sir,

Please insert your square peg into the round hole. If you are having problems with this action, please contact Joe Blow at joeblow.roundpeg.

June 17,

Dear Joe Blow,

I have been asked to update my status with your unnamed state agency by inserting my square peg into the round hole. Could you please assist me in doing so?

June 20,

Dear Sir,

I have no record that your square peg ever fit into our round hole. Please insert the appropriate peg into the hole. JB

June 20,

Dear Joe Blow,

Attached is a certification letter from your unnamed state agency documenting that my square peg fit into the round hole. Please provide detailed information on how you wish for me to proceed.

June 22,

Dear Sir,

See my previous response. JB

June 23,

Dear Unnamed,

Please find enclosed documents stating that a square peg cannot fit into a round hole. Also enclosed is a document from your agency that states that my square peg qualified for the requirements of the hole and that I am a certified hole-filler for your unnamed agency. Please indicate if you wish for me to pretend to be a round peg.

The problem with certain unnamed state agencies is that they cost the taxpayer more by requiring only round pegs be used.....about 100% more! If Mitch is serious about reform of state government and saving tax dollars he needs to change the hole-filling requirements of his bureaucracy.

Legacy Makers

Few people made me feel more welcome when I moved to River City 15 years ago than a couple of older gentlemen and their wives. Both were civic leaders I had the great pleasure of working with over the years, and had the unfortunate opportunity to say goodbye to both in the last week.

News of the first one's passing came as a shocking sting since I had seen him only the week before and he seemed his normal jovial and mischievous self. Just before attending his funeral, word came of the second one's death. River City lost a couple of greats that week. For me, memories were brought back to mind with tidbits of wisdom sprinkled in.

Bill offered sage advice on politics.....but probably the wisdom imparted that stuck with me the most was his comment that he was so thankful he lost his re-election bid for city council 50+ years ago. I find some comfort in that. He also was a collector-of everything it seemed. Finally when his wife said it was time to clean out the basement and closets, our family was the recipient of many of his archives....well, old magazines and other "treasures". He would show up at my office with a box load of things and say "Betty tells me its time to clean out another closet". This happened every few months over the years and I have to say, we did end up with some pretty cool stuff. I think my favorite was when he showed up with a box of old cassette tapes that his son had recorded Prairie Home Companion shows on from the 1980s.

Jim had so many stories to tell....some of them true. And he wasn't from this politically correct generation, as he referred to me as the "little Hindu". I'm about as Anglo-Saxon as they come, but evidently didn't look so to Jim. I called his office once and complained about how the city fixed the flooding in the viaduct in front of our house. He asked me if it was because I didn't have anywhere for my camel to get a drink. I teared up once when I read a speech for my great aunt upon her being awarded the Sagamore of the Wabash. He took me aside and said he was going to have to toughen me up for politics.

Both were remarkable men of another generation, and different sides of the aisles. Both wanted what was best for River City and offered about all the encouragement I could have asked for. I wonder in those 91 and 83 years if there were rough edges that were worn down, if there were times when hope seemed lost, or opportunities to say "forget this". I mentioned to my wife the other day that for the last 15 years I've lived my life for everyone else and it was time to start thinking about us. She said that was contrary to the message on Sunday. Oh sure, bring God into this.....as if He's not on my case already.

Goodbye Bill and Jim. Thanks for making this outsider feel welcome and an integral part of a city that needs to live up to the legacy you left it.