The above picture is of "Old Main" of Indiana State University. This is another building you will not be able to find on the current campus. After being built in 1888, when the original Normal School building burned to the ground. When building the new main building for the school the old foundation was used. By the time this new school building would reach its 62 birthday, the people in charge had decided to demolish the building. Thus ending the life of "Old Main."

The Light House Mission of Terre Haute was founded in 1890, by a parishioners of the First Congregational Church of Terre Haute. It is interesting that I get to blog about the Mission, because I actually have volunteered over 150 hours there. The Mission is currently under the direction of Rev. Tim Fagg. The Mission supplies over 400 meals each day, and 43,653 nights of lodging for those in need of shelter. Another thing the Mission does, is it supplies Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets for those in need of food during the winter season. Also, Toys for Tots teams up with the Mission and Salvation Army to supply toys for those families not blessed enough to be able to purchase gifts for their family. The mission's current budget exceeds one million dollars, which is about fourteen times its budget in 1988 of $70,000. Countless people have been touched through either the services they mission supplies or the volunteer work they have done at the mission, and in the years to come I know many more will be.

Called "the most modern baker in the U.S." the new Miller-Parrott Baking Company was opened in 1915. The owners of the business were the three Miller brothers (Henry, Christian, and Charles) and Burton E. Parrott. The miller brothers started their business in Terre Haute back in 1880, with a "Cracker Factory" on North Sixth Steet. The factory was acquired by the U.S. Baking Company, and would later become the National Biscuit Company. After managing the National Biscuit Company for many years, the brothers left the company to thus create the Miller-Parrott Baking Company. The Baking Company was known for its crisp soda crakers, bread, rolls, buns, cakes, pies, cookies, and sweet breads. It also it recongnized for supplying the troops in WWII with the C ration. In 1955, the company was moved to Seelyville, and in a lucky surprise the building was not demolished. The building now houses the Light House Mission of Terre Haute.

Originally named "The Prairie House," the Terre Haute House was built in 1838 by Terre Haute's own Chauncey Rose. It was not called the Terre Haute House until 1855. Well, in good Terre Haute fashion the building was demolished in 1927, thus bringing about the end of the "first" Terre Haute House. The "second" Terre Haute House was a ten story hotel, and was said to be "one of the finest structures ever erected in Terre Haute." It was up and running in mid 1928, and the elaborate Indiana limestone facade drew many eyes to its beauty. By 1970, the Terre Haute House was closed again. After being a home for many residential tenants, the building along with the rest of the block on Wabash Avenue was demolished. In 2007, a new Hilton Garden Inn Terre Haute House was built and opened taking place of the old site of both Terre Haute House one and two.

In 1925, ISU built the Women's Residence Hall. The building came under the direction of Helen Reeves in 1926 and she retained her position for twenty-one years. In gratitude of her service the college renamed the building Reeves Hall in 1959. Now, you might be asking yourself where is Reeves Hall on the campus. Well most people pass it everyday without even acknowledging it or should I say what is left of it. The only remaining pieces of the hall are the gate and some of the gothic style figures. The building was torn down just 29 years after is was renamed in honor of Helen Reeves. The great people of Terre Haute thanked her for her service, and then destroyed the building. Now the site is just some grass and a walkway, so was the demolishing of the beautiful Gothic styled building really needed my answer would be NO.

Built in 1934, the Federal building at 7th and Cherry will soon be the new ISU college of business. Since the building was no longer usable due to new security protocols, the building was transferred to ISU and a new Federal building was built on Ohio street. I recently visited the building and was surprised about the beauty of the building. Everything about the it shows that they spared no expense when they were building the Federal Building. An interesting fact about the building, though, is that just a few years ago the USPS added a office in the back part of the building. Now that the organization is cutting cost the office is now being closed leaving a vacant space. Hopefully the closing of the post office will not stop or effect the new growth that the college is giving to the building.

Most of the time when people think of hotels they throw at names like, Holiday Inn, Hilton, Days Inn, Hampton Inn, ect., these names have become known throughout the United States. Back in the 1920s, in Terre Haute the name that everyone knew was the Deming Hotel. It was the hot spot, it had its own barber shop, billiard room, banquet hall, ballroom, and a private parking complex. This great hotel was built by Terre Haute native Demas Deming, who is also known for the park he created, his donations to his business partners college Rose Polytechnic, and his general giving nature. If one wanted a fun night on the town for cheap all you needed to do was head down to the Deming. Every Saturday night, there was an orchestras that played for the dances the hotel put on. The entrance fee for the dance was 75 cents. Now, though the building is used as an apartment complex for the elderly and disabled, and is owned by ISU.

At the back of the amphitheater in Fairbanks Park is the Chancey Rose Memorial. It was created from the Terre Haute post and federal office building. This building was built in 1885 and the front was removed in 1932. It was not until 1936 that memorial found its home at Fairbanks Park when the WPA built the support structure. When the post and federal office building was demolished at least part of the building was saved. Not only was it saved, but it was used to honor a great man of Terre Haute and is still standing today.

After begin founded in 1816, Terre Haute's population grew to 66,083 by the 1920s. This was thanks to its great location and its coal mining. The population in 1920 was an increase of 56.8% from the population in 1900. Terre Haute did not stay in prosperity though, as the coal supply decreased in the late 1920s and with the unscrupulous activities happening in Terre Haute the population decreased and did not recover until the 1950s. This growth was due to the companies of Pfizer, Allis-Chalmers, Columbia Records, and Anaconda Aluminum setting up shop in Terre Haute. Even though Terre Haute was bringing in outside companies many other companies in Terre Haute were closing at the time. After reaching Terre Haute's highest population of 71,786 in 1960 another downward spiral occurred. As the downtown of Terre Haute began to deteriorate and with Columbia Records, the city's largest employer, making hugh cuts many people "voted with the feet" and left Terre Haute. This reduced the population of Terre Haute to 57,483.

In the early 1900s you could not just go to a pop machine and get a soda, instead you would go to the soda shop. When you sat down the soda jerk would mix you up a soda for you to enjoy. Now do you know where the inventor of the iceless soda fountain was from...well, he was from Terre Haute. In 1888, the Liquid Carbonics Manufacturing Company was founded by Jacob Baur a pharmacist from Terre Haute. This was the first liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Midwest. Jacob's company started testing its iceless soda fountain in 1903. It was obviously a hit, John Somerset said “the soda fountain is the most valuable, most useful, most profitable, and altogether most beneficial business building feature assimilated by the drugstore." The soda fountain's golden age continued until the 1950's when it developed a reputation of being "habit forming" or "intoxicating."

Have you ever asked the question, "Where does Wile E. Coyote get all of his explosives he uses to try and catch that darn Roadrunner?" Well, Terre Haute, Indiana was the home of the ACME Explosives Company. This was surprising to learn, because like most people I believed the company to just be a made up cartoon company. When you watch cartoons you can now know that Terre Haute, Indiana is the place where all of those explosives, anvils, and other traps come from that are used for the cartoons.

During my readings in the book An American Hometown, I came across the story of Ernestine Myers. She was born in 1900 and was considered to be one of the "12 Outstanding Women of the American Stage" by the age of 21. Her dancing was an exotic mix of acrobatic toe dancing with classical ballet, Creole and Oriental dancing styles. Not everyone enjoyed her dancing styles, she received many mixed reviews due to her unique style of dance. In 1922, she had planned to start a European tour, but her manager suddenly died resulting in her canceling the tour and returning to Terre Haute. After returning she opened a dance studio on Wabash Avenue where she passed on her love of dancing. She passed away in June of 1991. In Ernestine's memory Teresa Miles is continuing the dancing traditions at Teresa's School of Dance on Ohio Street. Before this blog entry you might have thought that no one in Terre Haute could dance, but at least now you know one famous dancer from Terre Haute.

Built in 1915, the Hippodrome is the oldest standing Vaudeville theater in America today. The acoustics of the building allowed the audience to listen to the acts without microphones or speakers. The floorboard was also built to resonate vibrations after the curtain fell. The Vaudeville theater began to ebb in the late 1920s and in 1949 became the Wabash Theater for motion pictures. In 1955, the Scottish Rite acquired the theater and opened its cathedral and museum in 1957.

This past weekend, I was walking in the mall, and noticed a few stores that were selling university apparel. I decided to stop and take a look to see what kind of cool stuff they had. I came to notice that most of the stores I looked at did not even have anything for the colleges in Terre Haute. They were selling stuff for IU, Purdue, and even the University of Illinois, but had nothing for ISU, Rose-Hulman, IVY Tech, or St. Mary of the Woods. Do the people and stores of Terre Haute dislike their own colleges so much that they refuse to buy and sell their shirts, hoodies, lanyards, and hats? If that has become the case it is no wonder why ISU is not running at its full potential. If the citizens of Terre Haute do not want to support the college, then who is suppose to? Who will form the partnership at the crossroads of America and bring about the change?

Located just northwest of Terre Haute is the oldest Catholic liberal arts college for women in the nation. St. Mary of the Woods was founded by a nun named Saint Mother Theodore Geurin in 1841. The campus is beautiful and the college received top scores by the Higher Learning Commission. I have heard many positive things about the college and I believe that the students and teachers are holding true to the schools moto "Virtus cum Scientia" meaning "Virtue with Knowledge United." I learned something interesting about the college last semester in my folklore class. Have you ever heard of the faceless nun? Well, she is a nun that lived at St. Mary's and was painting a self-portrait. She ended up dieing before she could finish the face of her painting. They say that every once and a while you will see a faceless nun walking around campus. That as long as her portrait remains unfinished she will walk the halls forever faceless.

Where is Terre Haute? It is sitting on the east side of the Wabash River in Vigo County. The river was a help with the growth of the city, since it was a major waterway between New Orleans and Quebec. The river is not a major use for transportation anymore, so many people do not even care or think about the river. The Hoosier Environmental Council is hoping that they can get local government and businesses to help with a river restoration project. This project will help clean up the rivers pollution and hopefully make it into a beautiful site for the Terre Haute citizens. Therefore, more people might appreciate the river for all it has to offer the city of Terre Haute, since it is a major asset the the city.

Here We Go

Hi, my name is Jerry Chapman and I am a student at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, IN. I am currently enrolled in a class in which I will research and discover many interesting facts about the city of Terre Haute. Throughout the semester, I will be sharing all of my findings with you. I hope that you find the post to be interesting and that you might learn some new things about the city of Terre Haute.