Monday, November 14, 2022
Monday, November 14, 2022
Lives of Locals Recounted in Final ‘Famous, Infamous and Unknown’ Program of the Year
Even the most knowledgeable of local historians could probably have learned something new at last week’s “Famous, Infamous, and Unknown,” the final installment of the year from the Shelby County Public Library’s Genealogy Department. Wilbur Shaw, Victoria Dennis-Sutherland and James Davison were subjects of the talk led by Donna Dennison, the library’s genealogy department head.
THE FAMOUS
Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Wilbur Shaw was born in Shelbyville in 1902 and remained here until he was 13. At age 9, he obtained a goat cart and entered his first race at the Shelby County Fairgrounds.
Dennison said that Shaw’s autobiography recounts how the goat was extremely fast, if he ran in a straight line. “So, when (Shaw) raced at the Shelby County Fair, he’s going around the corner and he sees people that he knows. He starts waving at them, but the goat keeps going straight. When he looked up, they were right next to the fence,” she said. Shaw managed to coax the goat to turn and to a second-place finish.
After Shaw’s parents divorced, he and his mother moved in with an aunt who offered a laundry service.
“Wilbur and his dog and his goat cart would be seen all over Shelbyville, picking up and delivering laundry for his aunt. He also delivered newspapers,” Dennison said.
At just 10 years old, Wilbur took a train to Indianapolis by himself and visited the famous track. He walked around asking crew members for chores to do, which they provided in an effort to “make him go away,” Dennison recounted from Shaw’s book. She initially recalled being reluctant to read about the topic of racing but found Shaw’s book “one of the best” because of his story-telling and writing skills.
Shaw later moved to Detroit and started selling batteries for electric cars. About half of vehicles were electric before 1915, when the Model T lowered the cost and increased the speed of the combustion engine. Shaw was not a fan of the slow speeds on electric cars and noted that “a lot of ladies” drove them.
He returned to Indianapolis and ended up with a second-floor space to build a racecar. When the project was completed, a hole was created in the back of the building, a ramp was built and the car was coaxed to the ground. Shaw took the car to the speedway, but he was ordered off the track. He then went to Lafayette for a race and wrecked on the first turn in qualifications, destroying the car he built. But he impressed industry professionals with his efforts and started fielding calls to drive.
He met his future wife in 1926 while his racing career took off.
“My favorite part (of the book) was about racing to the races,” Dennison said.
In the days before transporting vehicles to the track, the drivers handled the duty themselves, racing unofficially on public roadways.
“And that was before police radios, so they said as long as you get from one county line to the end of the county, then you’re free to go,” Dennison said.
Shaw finished fourth in his first Indy 500, in 1927. Later that year he received a call while racing in Milwaukee, Wis. notifying him that he needed to call home. He soon learned his wife had died in childbirth, the child dying as well.
He took a hiatus from racing but returned in 1928 when asked to attempt to set a land speed record in Daytona Beach, Fla., which, at 135 miles per hour, fell just short of the record.
Shaw went on to compete in several more 500 races, winning three times. He was the first to win it twice in a row (1939 and 1940). He still holds the record for being the last person from Indiana to win the big race.
Following a serious racing injury in 1941 and the halting of racing during the war, Shaw went to work for Firestone. While testing tires at the speedway, he realized the dilapidated state of the track. Shaw began searching for a buyer while plans were in the works to use the space for a housing development.
“Ford was interested, but they wanted it to be just for use of the Ford Motor Company. They didn’t want any racing done,” Dennison said. “And that’s not what (Shaw) wanted. He wanted this to be the greatest spectacle.”
Shaw convinced Tony Hulman, whose father owned Clabber Girl Baking Soda, to buy the track for $750,000. Hulman installed Shaw as president, and the track began to flourish.
But in 1954, just one day shy of his 52nd birthday, Shaw and two others were killed in a plane crash. He is buried in Jennings County. His grandparents are buried here at Forest Hill.
“A little mouse told me that there is one of his cars still remaining somewhere in Shelby County,” Dennison said. The vehicle’s location was not disclosed.
THE INFAMOUS
Victoria Dennis, better known by her stage name, May Howard, was born in Kentucky in 1841 and moved here at the age of six to live with her adult sister, Carrisanda McGuire, after both of her parents passed away.
“Alonzo Blair’s ‘History of Shelby County’ mentioned Victoria performing just whenever she could get the chance at Blessing’s Opera House,” Dennison said.
Dennis ran away at 14 years of age to attempt a career in performing arts. McGuire retrieved her, but she ran away again before again being located. At age 16, she joined the circus with her sister’s blessing.
During the Civil War, Dennis followed the troops to perform and eventually joined “Bill’s Big Show,” advertised as “4,689 pounds of women.” The 30 dancers in the show reportedly were required to weigh more than 150 pounds.
“She was really one of the top ladies. She stood out well enough that they started calling her ‘Queen of Burlesque,’” Dennison said.
She visited and often performed for Queen Victoria and other royalty. She married twice. Dennis reportedly never told anyone the name of her first husband, but it was “a horrible, awful union,” Dennison said. Some online sources say she was married briefly to Paul Dresser, who wrote “On the Banks of the Wabash.” After Dennis’ second husband, whose last name was Sutherland, died, she returned to Shelbyville, destitute, to again live with her sister until McGuire’s death.
“She was then given a room at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred McComas here in Shelbyville, and her room was a mess of trunks, costumes, newspaper clippings, and photographs of her with all kinds of notable people,” Dennison said.
Dennis-Sutherland also smoked and was known to use morphine. “She was very unstable, and the McComas’ left her alone,” Dennison said.
On Jan. 20, 1913, Dennis-Sutherland was taken to jail due to her mental condition. She died, penniless, the next day.
Records indicate Dennis is buried in City Cemetery but there is no marker or recording of her exact plot. “But, by using some imagination, the searcher may detect the faint outlines of a grave on the McGuire lot,” Marian McFadden wrote in 1968.
THE UNKNOWN
James Davison was born in East Tennessee in 1801 and moved to Shelbyville in 1821. He purchased 160 acres on the Big Blue River, 20 acres on the south side of the river and the remaining on the north side.
“When they started talking about establishing a town of Shelbyville, he gave 20 acres of his land on the south side of the river to become Shelbyville. It was 20 acres that flooded really badly, but we won’t talk about that right now,” Dennison said, laughing.
He eventually moved to Marietta with his wife and nine children. He then moved to Iowa, where his wife passed away. Davison moved back to Shelbyville, to Brandywine Township, and married again.
He lived a quiet farm life, but at age 76 was attacked and beaten by two young men with no apparent motive. Davison died two weeks later from the injuries.
The two young men were found guilty, one sent to the Indiana Boys School, the other sent to state prison, where he was later found dead in his cell. The state deemed the death to be from “natural causes,” but the boy’s father was able to secure the body and see that his son had been beaten, Dennison said. Both of those boys, Stephen and John Smith, are buried at Ray’s/Wray’s Cemetery in Shelby County.
Davison had been buried in the same cemetery in 1877, but in 1881, the Shelbyville Common Council agreed to have his body exhumed and moved to City Cemetery, where he was given a large, prominent stone still in place today.
“It is right in the very center of City Cemetery, on the exact property he gave to the city of Shelbyville,” Dennison said.
The popular “Famous, Infamous and Unknown” series will likely continue next year, Dennison said. “I would say I've only scratched the surface with who we can cover.”
Bird Store and Sanctuary Relocates to Larger Space
The Bird House and More, LLC has flown the coop and resettled in the Bel-Aire Shopping Center on Shelbyville’s east side. Although the move was supposed to occur Saturday, the weather forecast convinced owners Gary Floyd and Karen Martin to be early birds and start a few days prior.
By Saturday morning, the bulk of inventory had been transferred from the former East Broadway location, just one-third the size of the new space. It is the third local retail spot for the company that houses a rescue and a store.
“We started out as a family business and decided we wanted to start in the pet industry,” Floyd said in an earlier interview while at an Exotic Animal Expo. “We kind of veered toward birds and then into reptiles, as well.”
Both Reptilia and Aves are hanging out in cages and tanks throughout the store, some of them permanent residents through the sanctuary. Boarding, DNA testing and grooming services are offered and, of course, there are plenty of related products.
The Bird House and More is open noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. all other days of the week, except Wednesdays, when it is closed.
NOTEBOOK:
The following Shelbyville High School students were named November “Bears Best” for demonstrating the character trait responsibility: Amanda Wade, Jakayra Owens, Samuel Schoentrup, Grant Roberts, Ricardo Zamora, Yexalen Dioses, Grant Plue, Bella Matney, Miriam Garringer, Karina Calderon and Miguel Cazarez. Lead custodian Kelly Jones was named SHS Staff Member of the Month.
HOOSIER NEWS: Indiana State University must reduce expenses by at least $12 million for the 2023-24 budget, ISU President Deborah Curtis announced Friday. Also, while ISU has been able to reduce expenses the past few years without layoffs seen at other institutions, “… at this time it is likely that this will no longer be possible,” she stated in an email that went to the campus community Friday morning. The fiscal year 2024 budget begins next July 1. ISU’s current 2022-23 general fund budget is $173.6 million; it included $4 million in budget reductions and use of budget reserve funds of $4.4 million to provide a balanced budget. Enrollment has been declining in recent years, exacerbated by the pandemic. This fall, headcount enrollment stood at 8,658, compared to last year’s 9,459. Overall enrollment was down nearly 8.5% this year; last year, it declined 12.6%. (Terre Haute Tribune-Star)
NATIONAL NEWS: Disneyland on Friday added two new characters in wheelchairs to its iconic “It’s a Small World” attraction, saying it wanted a “more accurate representation of diversity around the world.” The animatronic dolls are among some 300 costumed dolls representing singing children from many nations featured in the attraction. One is in the Latin American section of the boat ride and the other appears in the finale. The dolls were unveiled on the first day of Disneyland’s Christmas season. Each year, the park adds special holiday decor and Christmas carols to the ride, which opened at the Anaheim park in 1966. The new characters will remain after the seasonal decor is removed sometime in January. (AP)
Local Senior Group Visits Costa Rica
Locals participating on a recent trip to Costa Rica included (front row, left to right) Susan Coers, Ruth Anne Hopkins, Karen McNamara, Cheryl Everhart, Sherry Ponsler, Linda Otts and Paul Otts and (back row, left to right) Bill Hopkins, Don Mohr, Bonnie Mohr, Sharon Callahan and Cheryl Stillabower. | submitted
by Carol McDaniel, MA
Pulling back the curtains at our hotel in Arenal, Costa Rica, I saw one of the most beautiful sights of our trip to Costa Rica: Magnificent Arenal Volcano was fully framed in my window. Clouds had not yet engulfed the summit. All day long clouds slowly drift in and out, hiding some or all of the volcano due to the volcano’s own ecosystem. While the volcano seemed very close, we were several miles away.
Costa Rica has a very diverse ecosystem, meaning that the seven regions of the country each has its own patterns of weather. We visited the rain forest, the cloud forest, the mountainous areas, etc., and experienced a marked difference in each location.
This diversity allows for spectacular differences in plants and animals. For example, in Cano Negro we boarded a canopied riverboat called a panga to cruise the river looking for indigenous wildlife. We discovered a river teeming with creatures such as caimans (smaller versions of crocodiles), along with two kinds of monkeys, the white-faced monkey spoiling for a fight with those same species of monkeys on the opposite side of the river, and the howler monkey. Their howling is extremely loud, guttural and very scary. Dozens of these monkeys lined the river banks swinging from one low-hanging branch to another, constantly monitoring possible foes and warning others to stay away.
The second most wonderful sight for me was the mother sloth with her baby. Mother hung upside down from a high branch with baby sitting on her stomach. She was almost completely camouflaged by her coloration, but our boat captain spotted her and guided the boat as close to the shore as possible for us to snap photos. During our visit, we also saw exotic birds such as the quetzal, colorful and vocal parakeets and rare butterflies.
Iguanas are plentiful in Costa Rica. Along the riverbank, bright, iridescent green males waited patiently on logs to romance their plain, brown ladyfriends. Iguanas are cold-blooded, so they seek the sun. In Florida, if the temperature drops below a certain degree, say 40 degrees, Iguanas will actually drop to the ground from a tree as if dead until the weather turns warmer. Of course, that never happens in Costa Rica where the temperatures are tropical year round.
Coffee and pineapples abound in Costa Rica. We saw the farming area where these crops are grown and harvested. The local tour guide at a coffee plantation made us aware of the close attention growers must pay to the different stages of coffee production. It is highly labor intensive, hands-on work. The factory we visited still used machinery created 100 years ago.
Pineapples are most abundant in Costa Rica. This country is the biggest producer of the fruit in Central America and exports most to other countries, especially America. We learned about the quality levels and which levels are shipped to various places and how the pineapples are harvested.
We had the opportunity to swim or get our feet wet in the Pacific Ocean on one of our overnights. The beach was clean and many of us were happy to find shells on our visit. One person even found a Sand Dollar.
The beauty about being on tour is that many stops are educational in nature. For example, we spent time in a factory that still produces carts. When motorized vehicles were not even a twinkle in someone’s eye, 2 or 4 wheeled carts were the only mode of transportation other than walking or riding a horse or mule.
Training horses allowed crop producers to take their bounty to town in carts to sell to the locals. Carts were used to haul the crops and had to have wheels, so the local vender made a living creating or fixing wheels. Specific woods make up pie-shaped wedges that are held together by steel bans to make the wheels. Once the bans have been formed and fired, they are put around the wedges, then decorative painting begins.
The finished product might take a year and cost thousands of dollars, depending on how fancy the buyer wants it painted and how big the cart. The carts are still in use today, but mainly for parades and other special occasions.
These highlights are just a fraction of what we experienced on our extensive journey through Costa Rica. If you want to make memories of your own, come and travel with Shelby Senior Services. Call 317-701-5984 for details or email me at mcdee94@yahoo.com. I can send you a 2023 schedule of trips.
This Week in Shelby County" works by George L. Stubbs Sr. are owned by the Shelby County Historical Society (Grover Center) and used with permission.
THIS DAY IN SHELBY COUNTY HISTORY
News around Shelbyville and the surrounding area as reported on or about this date in history. Selections are curated from the Shelby County Public Library Genealogy Department.
20 YEARS AGO: 2002
Moral Township Volunteer Fire Department Chief David Riggins announced the department was in the final stages of completing a Fit-Trail at the station located at London Road and I-74. The fitness area, open to the public, was a wooden fitness trail that combined scientifically designed exercises with walking or jogging. Individual exercise stations with apparatus were spaced along the path. When the land was acquired to build the fire station/government center, Trustee Linda Johnson and the township board shared a vision to create an area where friends and families could gather.
30 YEARS AGO: 1992
J. Lee McNeely, Shelbyville attorney, was named chair-elect of the 300-member House of Delegates of the Indiana State Bar Association. McNeely was partner in the McNeely Sanders Stephenson & Thopy firm. He had entered the practice of law in 1965 after receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1962 from Wabash College and his doctor of jurisprudence degree from Indiana University in 1965. McNeely had served as Shelbyville City Judge and as Shelby County Attorney.
The local Rotary Club hosted its first auction. Tim Barrick was the event organizer. One item on the block was a basketball signed by the 1954 Milan team. Basketballs signed by Purdue University coach Gene Keady and Indiana University coach Bob Knight and an Indianapolis Colts jersey signed by quarterback Jeff George were also available. Anyone interested in purchasing a Geo Metro or a Nissan convertible could bid “above cost” for the vehicles.
40 YEARS AGO: 1982
Vandals broke 14 classroom windows overnight at Triton Elementary School. The broken windows allowed rain to enter several classrooms and some classes met temporarily in the school’s multi-purpose room while the rooms were mopped and cleaned.
50 YEARS AGO: 1972
An Ames newspaper ad announced the store at East 44 and I-74 would pay customers 25 cents for cashing any Christmas Club check there.
The Rams, coached by Maurice hart, finished the junior football league undefeated. Members of the team were Chris McNew, Kevin Graves, Brian Moholleck, Greg Pohner, Keith Webber, Kyle Lockridge, Joey Miller, David Norman, Jeff Porter, Terry Kitchin, Mike Gordon, Doug Hart, Steve Grillo, Marty Corley, Barry McKenney, Mike Hasselbring, D. McNew and Todd Branson.
60 YEARS AGO: 1962
A local resident who the newspaper called “a noted fisherman” was reportedly “nonplussed” after he tried to be a good Samaritan and swept up some of his neighbor’s leaves while cleaning up his own yard. He was called the next day and told by the neighbor to “leaves my leaves alone.”
A crowd estimated between 300 and 400 attended the Shelbyville High School basketball preview at Paul Cross Gym. Coach Denny Blind said, “All of the boys showed lots of hustle and desire.”
Mayor Elmer McNay invited the public to review plans to remodel the Public Square with Harrison St. running straight through the center. A large, detailed map prepared by assistant city engineer Ernst Rehm would be on display. The mayor said no action would be taken to remodel the Square until Spring in order not to interfere with the Christmas sales promotion planned by local merchants. The state highway commission had approved the plan to run State Road 9 through the center of the Square and had agreed to assist in paying for the work. Tentative plans were to move the Joseph Memorial Fountain to the front lawn of the Porter Memorial Pool.
70 YEARS AGO: 1952
Toys on display at the J.G. DePrez store for Christmas included Terri Lee dolls, a Cinderella cleaning set, Ride ‘em Cowboy suit, calliope clowns, “hewn” American logs and Holgate toys.
Dorothy Fischer, the wife of Shelby County farmer Charles Fischer, received a telegram from the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair at Toronto announcing her husband as world champion for his 10-ear sample of Indiana certified seed corn. Fischer had already left to attend the Canadian expo and was unaware of the award. He had been accompanied by Frank Lux and his father-in-law, Carl Roell, to the show.
80 YEARS AGO: 1942
The U.S. Senate met to discuss lengthening the work week from 40 hours to 48 hours for the duration of the war, The Shelbyville Republican reported.
The Shelbyville Christmas committee decided to dispense with the use of colorful light for the duration of the war. Santa’s first visit here would be Dec. 5. Recorded Christmas music would again be played in the downtown section throughout the Christmas shopping season. The committee was composed of John Schoelch, Gus DePrez, Chester Sandman, Frank Gibson, William Carney, Joe Smith and Allen C. Bennett. Store owners agreed to keep their stores open until 9 p.m. through Dec. 23 and until 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
90 YEARS AGO: 1932
A chickenhouse owned by John Sullivan near Gwynneville was raided. The thieves had used chloroform on the 100 chickens before the theft.
The Goodyear airwheel tire was on display at Sandman Bros. The tire was 12 feet tall and four feet wide.
Newly-elected Senator Frederick VanNuys had been a former resident of Shelbyville, The Republican reported. he began his law practice here in 1900 before moving to Summittville in Madison County. VanNuys had been associated with Judge Glessner, father of O.J. Glessner, who had his office on East Broadway.
100 YEARS AGO: 1922
Several Shelby County threshermen left on the train to attend a convention in Chicago.
U.S. Navy recruits visited with young men in Shelbyville. They reported that members of the Navy could attend trade school without charge and also earn a wage.
OBITUARIES
None today