Read The Post If this link does not work, go to the website (www.pulaskihistory.net) and scroll down until you see the post. It will be the one on top.

(That was for GPS purposes; the building is in the town of Pulaski, at the corner by the bridge.)

We are working toward opening again in March 2022. In the meantime, we are building a new website with an interactive component. Please take a look (and pardon our dust as we are under construction!). HERE

A brief history of Vurpillat's Opera House is available on our YouTube channel. Check it out HERE.

Also on our channel:

A letter from Dick Rogers, formerly of Winamac but now living at Alhambra, Calif., was read by Ralph E. Horner at this week's meeting of the Kiwanis club. It was through a gift by Mr. Rogers, in co-operation with Winamac citizens, that the park on the Tippecanoe River opposite the town became public property this summer. Along with acknowledgement of this co-operation, Mr. Rogers enclosed the following sketch:

My recollections on the Winamac Park go back to the time when I was a boy, in the 60's. At that time, it was known as the Peninsula and was covered with underbrush, vines, wild grapevines mostly, fox grapes, red haws, as well as some very large walnut and red oak trees.

A few years later, W. C. Barnett, the owner, sold the large trees referred to above, to a furniture company. They sent men there to cut them down, dug up the walnut stumps, loaded them on flatcars, even to the smallest limbs and roots, shipped them to their factory. From that time on it was a cow pasture.

In the early '60's, my older brother and myself spent many a happy hour in the Peninsula, watching the red, grey and black squirrels, pheasants, doves, red birds, and all kinds of birds that inhabited that county at that time, a few wild pigeons nested there every summer. We carried many sacks of walnuts and butternuts from there for winter. About this time there was a drove of wild turkeys roosting in the large trees. People who saw them said there was from fifteen to twenty in the drove. Later Uncle Dan Dilts, Wayne Nimrod and a few others got after them and killed quite a few of them.

A good many years after that, when the Peninsula was known as Nye's Park; Uncle Dan was at my house one evening. I asked if he knew what became of the remainder of the drove of wild turkeys roosting over there. He told me there were just seven left and that there came a very cold winter, a very severe long cold spell. The river was frozen over so solid that people were driving up and down on the ice with horse and sleigh. He said one day it moderated a little, a small skiff of snow fell that evening--he called it a good tracking snow--and he thought the next day would be a good time to try for a turkey.

Early next morning he took his shot gun, crossed the river on the ice over to the Peninsula, and found where the turkeys had roosted the night before. They had flown across the river over into the Terry woods. He took their trail. They crossed the river again on Island Number Two into the Kistler woods, from there they took an easterly direction, going from one bunch of timber to another. Along in the afternoon they turned south, a little later turned back west. As it was getting late, he thought to crowd them, thinking by so doing so he might get a shot at them. He said he had followed them about fifteen miles, ran them into a large wheat field on the Milton Venard farm in Harrison township, where Mr. Venard had just set up a new McCormick's reaper that morning, and had cut around the field two or three times. There he said he lost them. He said he never saw or heard anything of them after that.

In a conversation at Star City recently, Hackett's ford up the river was mentioned. F. B. Buck, the Star City druggist, recalled an interesting reminiscence about the ford. Years ago, when he was a boy living in that neighborhood, he hauled the first brick across that ford from Stott's brick yard for the first brick business block erected in Winamac--the building now occupied by Wm. Frieske's tailor shop. At that time, H. L. Hoffman was doing business in a one-story frame building on the site of his present handsome large business block, and the Freeman hotel on Main Street was doing a flourishing business.

Now that we have your attention, we don't have $100 to give away as a prize. BUT, we'll mention your name if you can correctly tell us where the first brick block building was (or is today)! Send us an email!

From The Francesville Tribune July 13, 1972, Written January 1, 1971

This is a continuation of the poem, begun in the Newsletter dated June 2020. You can find past editions of the Newsletter HERE.

Plan your visit to the Indiana Historical Society today! Information here.

$80 per room/timeslot | $65 members

On February 22, learn about financial incentives for preservation during a free webinar presented by Indiana Landmarks and the Wabash Valley Trust for Historic Preservation.

The talk is free with RSVP. Make your reservation online using the form below, by visiting lafrehabincentives.eventbrite.com, or by calling 812-232-4534.

Historic Madison, Inc. offers “Save That Sash” a historic window workshop, June 17-18.

Indiana Landmarks and Indiana Humanities announce a new round of Historic Preservation Education Grants. The program funds educational projects up to $2500. The local match may be entirely in-kind, making them especially ideal for small, volunteer organizations. Contact Suzanne Stanis with questions or to discuss ideas. Application deadline is February 28.

Help the Association for Preservation Technology and PlaceEconomics by completing this survey on the value and importance of trade and craft skills in historic preservation. The Campaign for Historic Trades is an initiative to broaden and expand training in the field of historic trades.

President: Ryan Harrison

Vice President (& Past President): Kathi Thompson

Secretary: Janet Onken

Treasurer: Lin Morrison

Terms Ending 2022:

Terms Ending 2023

Terms Ending 2024

Gardeners: Kaity & Tina Stacy

$30 Individual

$40 Family

$80 Sustaining / Corporate

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