Historical Memorials

The Flag Pole

A historical community site located in Mulberry was the flag pole. Many community
events used to center at the flag pole: the community Christmas tree, Veterans
Day memorial, the weekly town band concerts, and community movies. The town
Pump and watering trough was located near this site. From The Community Club
Minutes, it was recorded that Ora Hawkins was mostly in charge of the
arrangements for the annual Veterans Day memorial. Community Club would
canvass the business owners to see if they would like to have a summer concert
series or movies.

Either weekly free concerts or free movies were organized for the summer
months. The movie screen was hung at the flag pole, water tower, in front of the
church or lodge hall, facing the west side of the hardware store, or down at the
old ball diamond. They would close South Glick Street and make popcorn.
Bud Harshman can remember playing for the Community Band in Mulberry. He
played clarinet. He remembers playing with Cleveland "Gravy" Combs who
played bass drum, Sylvester "Vester or Lil Doc" Earhart played snare drum, and
their director was Karl Kraft from Kraft Music in Frankfort. The stage was at the
flagpole on a trailer as the permanent band stand was no longer there or they
would march in parades for community events all around. * Mulberry Community
Band at the Mulberry Homecoming; Vester “Doc” Earhart – Far Right
Joanne Dellinger played clarinet in two bands, Karl Kraft's band and the Beard
Band. She remembers playing with Gordon Merts who also played clarinet.
Madison Chester Peters, Joanne’s father played Coronet, Trumpet, Baritone and
Bass Horn. Chester was also called on to play Taps at memorials. The bands
played in local parades and played all around. Her sister, Mary Caroline Bennett
played trombone and also played for Freddie Shaffer's All Girl Orchestra, the
Mulberry School Orchestra, and for the Methodist Church Sunday School
Orchestra. This musical family played at home for fun; their mother, Sadie
Florence (Combs) Peters, played piano. Mulberry Community Band with
*Cleveland “Gravy” Combs, his daughter Mariam, Vester “Doc” Earhart, and Lloyd Neher Jr.
Lloyd Neher Jr. played the snare drum. He learned to play drums in the Mulberry
School Orchestra but learned more from Vester Earhart who was in the Mulberry
Band with him. Mulberry School only had an orchestra at that time and did not
have a band, so the Mulberry Band was another option for playing. Sylvester
Earhart was a neighbor to Nehers. He never married and was full of stories
about when he played the drums for a national touring circus. Vester told Lloyd
that he ran away to join the circus when he was 13 or 14 years old. He played
snare drum for many years in a nationally touring circus. Lloyd remembered
seeing the colorful circus posters on Vester’s back porch.

State Road 38 – The Jackson Highway

State Road 38 Runs diagonally through the business district in Mulberry, parallel
with the rail road tracks. SR 38 connects Lafayette (beginning at US 52 with an
interchange at Interstate 65 at Exit 168) and Richmond (ending at US 35). Long
ago, this was called Dayton Pike and then the Dayton Gravel. When it was
graveled, it required a toll to use. This road was also known as the Jackson
Highway, a main route from Chicago to Florida. Bud Harshman remembers
Montmorency to Route 10 was an extension of the same Jackson Highway
route. The Jackson Highway was a main route from Chicago to Florida. *Picture
taken from Russ Stair’s plane, 1931

East of the Clendenning Brothers Hardware Store was the Jackson Highway
Garage. It was a Chevrolet sales and service dealership named after the
Jackson Highway. The streets in Mulberry along Jackson Street were dirt. They
put oil put on them to keep the dust down. No housekeeper was happy about the
roads in town tracking up their floors. The Mulberry Centennial Book says that
there was much traffic from Chicago to Indianapolis, especially during the
Indianapolis 500 Race. Bud remembers that during World War II there was a 35
mile per hour speed limit on all county and state roads to conserve gasoline.
Before there was such a thing as a road atlas, there was a Blue Book for
directions. It included landmarks like trees or large rocks in the directions.
Montmorency to Route 10 was an extension of the same Jackson Highway
route. Bud also remembers when gasoline was rationed. Bud said, “An A sticker
got 4 gallons of gas and everyone could get one A sticker. You could get a C
sticker then for as much gas as you could justify.”
*Photo taken in 1931 from Russell Stair’s plane, a Waco 10 (1928)

State Road 38 - The Bataan Memorial Highway in Indiana

State Highway 38 Memorial Highway was memorialized after WW II to The

Bataan Memorial Highway. INDOT, or Indiana Department of Transportation,
says that it has been so named for more than thirty years. Leroy Good explains,
“State Road 38 represented the Indiana National Guard 38th Infantry Division that
helped retake the Philippine Islands in WWII from Japan. The 38th division was
one of the primary infantry divisions to capture Bataan.” Post war and industry
changed relations with Japan. *Map of SR 38 from Richmond, Indiana to Lafayette,
Indianais from Indiana Highway Ends www.illi-indi.com

LeRoy Good was drafted into the Army in 1942. He was not stationed in the
Pacific, like his friend John Bennett and other Clinton County servicemen, but
was involved in anti-aircraft in England then infantry in North Africa, Tunisia, and
Italy. Leroy recalled that in his four years of service he never got a furlough. Alice
Marshall had two small children with one on the way. Fred, her husband, was
afraid he would be called to serve in WWII. It worked out that Fred was needed
on the home front. Alcoa, his employer, was turning out propellers for military
use. Lloyd Neher Junior started working at his dad’s sawmill when he was
twelve. When he was fifteen he started working after school and on weekends as
everyone who was able was drafted. Lloyd Neher Sr. was not drafted because
his saw mill was needed by the government to send lumber up to Logansport in
order to make gun stocks. Jean Hufford graduated from Mulberry in 1944. She
remembers they did not have class sweaters, class rings, or senior pictures that
year during the war.

Anne Gordon shared her experiences during World War II. Anne was not in the
service but worked for and with the soldiers. Anne recently was honored by
Senator Lugar for her participation in an Indiana project to preserve and to add
to the oral histories of stories and pictures of soldiers for The Library of
Congress. Anne's contribution to the war effort was playing Bass and signing on
USO Tours with Freddie Shaffer and the Victory Sweethearts. She was recruited
for training to debrief soldiers that her group visited while on tours. She knows
that she reached soldiers through her skills of music and communication. Ann
shared her stories for when she was asked to do so by Joe Root, Director of the
Clinton County Veterans' Affairs. Joe Root recently was awarded by the
Frankfort Times as the Citizen of the Year for his dedication to the acquisition of
the new Clinton County Veterans Memorial on the south side of the Clinton
County Courthouse. The memorial bears 388 names, all of them military
personnel from Clinton County who died in battle defending this country.

SR 38 was widened and even raised to accommodate train traffic to travel under
the highway to the Subaru Isuzu Plant. *Subaru Isuzu, owned by Fuji Heavy
Industry, began production in September 1989. Isuzu pulled out in July 2004. In
April of 2007, Subaru of Indiana Automotive Plant, under a contact from Toyota,
started production of Toyota Camry’s along with its production of Subaru Legacy,
Outback, and Tribeca models. Subaru manufactures 120,000 automobiles giving
Toyota capacity for eventually more than 100,000 vehicles. They are located on
the north side of SR 38 just west of Dayton. *from Knight-Ridder Tribune Business
News 3/14/2000 and Automotive News June 26, 1989.

Nine Historical Site Markers

Nine Historical Site Markers were placed in Mulberry and area historical sites in
1976. This was an American Bicentennial project by the Federated Round Table,
an organization that used to meet from Mulberry.

The Slipher Church

The Historical Site Marker for the Slipher Church 1936 is located in the Fair
Haven Cemetery located on the south west corner of the intersection 850W and
550N. The church is no longer there. The Slipher Church was the first church in
Madison Township. In 1836, The Slipher church was organized on land donated
by the Steven Slipher family. The Slipher Church congregation was Reformed
Lutheran and they worshipped with the Lutherans, as was tradition in Germany.
In 1863, the Reformed membership built their first chuch and it was called Fair
Haven. It was located east of the Slipher church.

Weidner Institute
The Historical Site Marker for Weidner Institute is under the flag pole in the front
of the main entrance.

This is the site of the four-story brick building, the Mulberry Lutheran Home from
1931. Formerly this is the site of The Weidner Institute 1907 to 1927. It was
named for president Weidner of the Chicago Theological Seminary. Weidner
Institute provided religious as well as academic curriculum and many folks
attended from the area. Students went on to become teachers, missionaries, and
to work in the ministry. Weidner Institute was first named the Colburn Academy
in 1905 to 1907. Colburn Academy began in Colburn, Indiana then it was turned
over to the Chicago Lutheran Synod. Mulberry was chosen as the academy’s
new home.
Esther Friedman went to school and graduated from Weidner Institute in the
class of 1927. The Institute offered the primary grades and high school classes
as well as first and second year college classes so students from Mulberry had a
choice in where to attend school. Many staff workers used Weidner’s elementary
or primary classes. Esther said the teachers were excellent and very highly
qualified from the Lutheran establishment. Esther met her husband there,
Reverend Otto Friedman. Mr. Friedman told me he came to Mulberry in 1922
to attend the Weidner Institute. He studied there for five years. After six more
years of study elsewhere he became a Lutheran minister.

Weidner Institute operated until 1927. The building and grounds were then
converted for use as The Mulberry Lutheran Home. In 1977 the two-story
building was demolished to make way for the one-story building first called
Augsburg Village, and then renamed The Mulberry Lutheran Home. Presently it
is established as the Mulberry Health and Retirement Community.

The Fair Haven Church Basketball League Team used to play here. Clovis
Martin, father to Eugene Martin, played on it. The mothers or wives made the
basketball uniforms. There was a Weidner Girls Basketball team as well. Before
it burned down, a gym that was built for Weidner Institute was located near the
shelter house in the front of the grounds of the building. The gym was used by
Mulberry School before Mulberry School’s annex was added. *A group photo from
1912 was provided by Gene Martin. Back Row: Roy Doty, Charlie Peter, Clovis Martin, Elba
Bryan, Emerson Gable Front Row: Roscoe Smith, Cleo Bryan, Carson Lester, Orion Bryan, and
Ralph Rothenberger.

The Town Band Stand

The Historical Site Marker for the Town Band Stand 1875 to 1917, is located at
the center of town at the flag pole in front of the Telephone Building. Gene Martin
remembered as a young man, a citizen’s band would perform on a stage with
wheels. There was even a Calliope! The band either played at a green space
that was later the town building site or they played at the flag pole. “Once a week
usually on a Wednesday, they would begin to play in an evening after 7:00. This
was so the farmers could get all their milking and feeding done for the day. They
would park their cars along the business district and the young people would
walk with their sweethearts around the town and still be able to listen to the
music. The last song played was always The Star Spangled Banner and that
always meant to hurry back to their cars or their folks might leave them to walk
home!”

Russell Bryan, from his book Sense and Nonsense, remembers that “on band
concert nights, the steps were sprinkled with water to prevent people from sitting
on them and blocking the entrance for the customers.”

A. J. Earhart Residence and Warehouse

The Historical Site Marker for the A. J. Earhart Residence and Warehouse built
in 1877 is located on the south west corner of the intersection of First and South
Glick Street. A. J. Earhart’s Store was in the center of town and is now the
Southfork Restaurant and Pub. This two-story building was constructed in 1871
by Andrew J. Earhart and a Mr. Timberlake. It was a grain and livestock business
before the rail road came through Mulberry. In the Mulberry Reporter, July 24,
1958, it says, “Grain was bought from farmers and stored in the upper story to
which it was elevated by pulley through an opening in the ceiling of the lower
story. After a quantity was accumulated, it was hauled in wagons to Lafayette.
Behind it was a barn with stock pens for keeping cattle and hogs. They were
taken to Lafayette after they collected so many. “The Corner” was at the only
junction of the Jefferson road and the Hamilton & Dayton Gravel (now SR 38).
This was before any north and south streets were in town.”

Before A. J. “Andy” Earhart’s building, this was the site was Thomas Waldron’s
Store - the first store in town. It was owned by Thomas Waldron and was an
eatery, a general store, and later he added the Post Office from Winship’s Mills.
Maxine Bailey once told me that in 1856 the post office moved from Winship’s
Mills moved to Mulberry and Thomas Waldron became the Post Master in 1860.
Thomas Waldron was succeeded by Andy Earhart who took the business for
many years. Waldron and Weidner built Mulberry’s second store on the
northwest corner of Jackson and Main Street.

Mulberry Reporter

The historical site marker for the Mulberry Reporter office, 1890 is located at the
south end of the current Pizza King Building. The Pizza King is located on the
sout east corner of the alley and South Glick Street, one block from Jackson
Street. This was the Mulberry Reporter office, first location

. The Mulberry Reporter was established by William Clark, a teacher in 1898. He

was editor until his death in 1937. His son Raymond R. Clark became editor and
was joined by his brother Robert L. Clark who was assistant editor. The Mulberry
Reporter was published every Thursday. Mrs. Chester Peters, Sadie, worked for
the Mulberry Reporter. She would fold the papers and label them. Folks would
gather in a crowd at the Post Office on Thursday evenings to get the news from
their post office box. Some of the weekly columns were: Church news, Personal
and Social Items, Rossville News, Local News Briefs, Lutheran Home Notes,
Spotlight on Health, Mystery Farm, Community Calendar, Yesteryear, local
news, & a bit of national news commentary. Formerly, The Mulberry Enterprise
was printed by E. M. Frenck in 1885 for a few months.

The Interurban System 1903 – 1930

The Historical Site Marker for the site of the Interurban Depot 1902 – 1930 is
located at the parking lot south of Streamline Designs.

The Historical Site Marker for the site of The Franklin Telemetering for the
Interurban System of the Interurban Depot 1903 – 1930 is located at the east
end of Perrin and Jefferson Street.

The Historical Site Marker for the site of the Interurban Depot displays the
Historical Site Marker for the Interurban Station of the Terre Haute, Indianapolis
and Eastern Traction Company line that ran through Mulberry from 1902 – 1930.
The Interurban Station was a low one-story rectangular building that ran
lengthwise along side of the south side of Brandy’s Streamline Designs building,
with its front door facing Perrin Street. The Interurban electric passenger and
light freight train arrived and departed from the Interurban Station in Mulberry
every hour. Harvey H. Yauky was a ticket agent.

The tracks ran west to Lafayette and east to Frankfort. In Frankfort, the tracks
ran north and south through the courthouse square. In Mulberry, the tracks ran
west along Perrin Street east parallel to and two lots south of Gas Line Road
through the Mulberry Centennial park to the country. Many of the dirt streets did
not used to have street signs on them so Perrin Street was simply known as
Interurban Street. From an interview with Jim and Maxine Bailey in 1989, Maxine
told of her mother, Ann Harshman, using the Interurban line to go to work in
Frankfort. Ann also used it to go to business school. She said that by exchanging
cars at Union Station in Indianapolis, passengers could then go on to DePauw
University in Greencastle. Other passengers stayed on the Interurban to go to
Terre Haute. Ann could flag the interurban down from her farm in the country. A
substation, Franklin Telemetering Interurban System, an electric generator
system, provided electricity for the Interurban. It was located on the east side of
Jefferson Street south of Steve Griner’s Warehouse or “The Cheese Factory.”

After the line was vacated, the building became the S & B Restaurant. “Tip and
his wife Dale Johnson ran the S & B,” Bud Harshman remembers. Dale was also
a bookkeeper for the cheese factory when Bud was hauling cheese. Then it was
Dos Courtney who ran the S & B. As a child, Bud was taken to eat at the S & B
after church. He can remember that the whole meal, including the sides and
dessert, cost 35 cents. It was a popular spot after the ball games at the Mulberry
School. Depending upon who you asked, the S & B stood for either Soup &
Bones or Silver & Black (Mulberry School’s Colors at the time). Behind the S&B
restaurant and between the buildings was an icehouse for ice box sized blocks of
ice packed in sawdust.

Gene grew up on Haggerty Lane (CR 700N), on a cattle farm. He remembers

being on local cattle drives. His dad, Clovis Martin, and a friend would travel to
Kansas City and get western cattle breeds. The cattle would be shipped by rail to
Indianapolis then they were loaded onto an interurban electric train to Cambria.
From there, all his family and friends would drive the cattle from Cambria to the
farm on Haggerty eight to ten miles away. The cattle would be fattened up, led to
Mulberry, then loaded again on the interurban. A stockyard was on the east side
of Mulberry. The Interurban tracks went due east through town and the loading
area of the stockyard was about where the Mulberry Centennial Park shelter
house is now. The cattle were sent by rail to Indianapolis with Gene’s father
traveling along. He would travel with his cattle to collect his pay, then take the
Interurban back to Mulberry and walk the three miles back to his home.

Lora and Billy Layton live on the first farm east of Centennial Park on the south
side of Gas Line Road. Billy explains, “The interurban tracks once went through
the front yard, between our house and the road. My brothers used to shove a
hand car up and down these tracks that were left after the Interurban went out.
They’d go up the tracks about a mile. His brothers at the time were 18 and 26
but Billy just heard the stories, he was not yet born. The interurban tracks went
through the land where Gene Marshall lived on Gas Line at one time. The
concrete abutments are still visible. The line turned, angled off toward the
railroad tacks, and ran beside them to Frankfort, then on to Lebanon. The
vacated interurban rails were still in front of their house in 1936 and then the rails
came out in 1937 or 1938.

The Layton’s property abstract has interesting details from the past including
such things as a loan to borrow money for a cow – and when it was paid off! Lora
looked in their abstract and read about the interurban; “The mortgage and
warrant papers are dated March 2, 1903 and the going into receivership to May
9, 1932. There was a linear wooded area after the interurban was discontinued
in 1932 and the tracks removed in 1938. The Indianapolis and Northwestern
Traction Company sold the easement to the Public Service Company of Indiana
for the right of way for electric poles.

“Before World War I, more than 400 electric interurban cars arrived and
departed the traction terminal in downtown Indianapolis every 24 hours; they
ceased to exist by World War II.” William Hudnut, former Mayor of Indianapolis,
wrote in The Indianapolis Star, February 2007. Robert Reed’s book, Central
Indiana Interurban, says Frankfort was a significant stop. There were departures
from Indianapolis, Zionsville, Whitestown, Lebanon, and Crawfordsville before
pulling into the terminal station at Frankfort. Beyond Frankfort, the interurban
made stops at Mulberry and Dayton before arriving at Lafayette some 68 miles
from the point of origin in Indianapolis.”

“Those cars could leave Indianapolis at 10:00 in the morning and arrive in
Lafayette around 1:35 in the afternoon.” Russell Bryan wrote in Sense and
Nonsense: “The Interurban was without a doubt the most convenient public
transportation system we ever had. Each car was about as big as a modern bus.
The car was powered by electricity drawn from an overhead wire which was
transmitted to the electric motor by a trolley. The car was divided into three
compartments; one for baggage, one for smokers, and one for non-smokers.
Around the ceiling of the car were placards advertising various firms and
products. We enjoyed reading them. The seats and interior were furnished …
really plush to us country folks. In Frankfort, the line ran west of the fairgrounds
and through town on the west side of the square. The cars ran on rails like the
rail roads. The crew consisted of two men; a motor man and a conductor. On our
local line, livestock and freight could be shipped to Indianapolis by Interurban.” L.
L. Kyger wrote in the Mulberry Reporter, “the interurban’s last run passed
through Mulberry at 11:30pm on October 30, 1930. Agent, H. H. Yauky locked up
for the last time.”
Franklin Telemetering Interurban System 1903 to 1930 was in a small block
building south of the current Griner’s Engineering Warehouse. It was an electric
generator system that provided electricity for the interurban. In 1989, Marvin
Steckel explained, “My father John Steckel, with Albert Yount who was a banker,
and a couple of other men owned the company. The Electric Company bought
the electricity for Mulberry from the interurban. The transformers were in the
block building that held 66,000 volts.” Marvin can remember when they wired his
home, “My father had them run electricity out to our farm home (one mile and
one half west of town and on the north side of State Road 38.) On the weekend,
when the interurban came in to town, the lights would dim. The current coming in
on that high voltage line pulled the voltage down. Albert Yunt was president of
the Electric Company. When lightening came and knocked out the breakers that
shut the current off, he had to come down in the night and turn the current on.”

Winship’s Mills
Winship’s Mills Historical Site Marker is located at the north east corner of the
Mulberry Jefferson Bridge and north by ½ mile. Win Winship and son, Edwin
Winship ran a saw Mill and then added a grist Mill or “corn cracker” at this
location. The water from the Wild Cat Creek was used to power the machinery.
Winship’s Mills provided for and created a community. From an interview with
John Joe and Opal Clendenning by Dania Remaly in 1989: John Joe
Clendenning graduated from Mulberry High School in 1927.
The Clendenning name was likely French. His grandfather was Jon Andre
Clendenning. His great grandparents were Squire John and Mary (Brown)
Clendenning. Squire John came to Madison Township in 1830. They traveled to
England, then to Ireland. From Cork County, Squire John and his brothers
started a successful brewery. Squire John traveled further; coming to America,
meeting his wife, and settling just a few miles south of Mulberry. He became post
master and Justice of the Peace at Winship’s Mills from 1856 to 1860. He
presided over the settlement because before Mulberry was platted, Madison
Township was governed through Winship’s Mills. The Mills was a water powered
grist Mills established in 1829 by Edwin or “Win” Winship. Later a corn cracker
was added. Next Edwin Winship operated the Mills and became the first
postmaster, adding a post office and meeting room in 1853.
The Mills sat on the east bank of the South Fork of the Wildcat Creek, north of
the Historical Site Marker on the north east end of the Mulberry Jefferson Bridge.
The Mills are no longer there. From John Joe and Opal’s collection of documents
in Squire John’s time, there are receipts of fines, subpoenas, indentured servant
certificates, and quit claims from those who fulfilled their servant duties. There
are other letters and documents from Squire John who presided over the affairs
of the citizens at that time at Winship’s Mills. In 1860, Thomas Waldron was
postmaster and he had the post office moved from Winship’s Mills to Mulberry.

The Toll House

Site of the Toll House Site Marker – Located on the south west corner of the
intersection of St Rd 38 and Hamilton Road or CR 600W. The Toll House is no
longer there. The Toll House was located two and ½ miles east of Mulberry, and
on the north edge of Hamilton.

Earl and Ethel Landis were residents on the site of the Toll House for thirty five
years. Ethel Landis is presently in the Mulberry Health & Retirement Community.
The Toll Road was the Dayton Pike or Dayton Gravel. It is now SR 38. Gravel
Roads replace dirt and corduroy or planked roads. Gravel was spread or
maintained by farmers and folks working part time. The work could be arranged
to pay on one’s taxes. The toll was 10 cents. You had to pay the toll at the Toll
House so the arm would go up and you could go through. To get to Lafayette, it
would cost you another dime to go through the Toll house that was located on
the south west corner of 900E and SR 38. That toll house was recently torn
down to enlarge the intersection there. It was a busy intersection as the rail road
tracks nearby had a stock yard holding pen for farm stock and one could even
buy interurban tickets there.