Sunday, June 16, 2024
Memorial Service Held for Long-time Morristown Community Advocate
Approximately 350 gathered at funeral services for Henry Albrecht, 62, at Morristown High School yesterday. Many more stood along the procession route to Asbury Cemetery. Albrecht was Morristown Town Marshal for 33 years and served 39 years in Shelby County law enforcement. He was also a member of the Morristown Volunteer Fire Department for 44 years and a Morristown High School graduate. | photo by ANNA TUNGATE
Library Program Reviews Local Prohibition Attempts
The third time was not the charm for prohibition advocates in Shelby County. Donna Dennison, Head of Genealogy and History at the Shelby County Public Library, last week walked through each of the county’s failed attempts at banning alcohol.
The library program was part of a series of prohibition-themed events to accompany the arrival of “Hoosiers and Their Hooch: Perspectives on Prohibition,” a traveling exhibit on loan from the Indiana State Historical Society, displayed in the Carnegie East Wing gallery through June 30. A kick-off event at Capone’s Downtown Speakeasy two weeks ago attracted 30 people in era costume.
“Because of this one display, we’ve kind of gone crazy, but we’re having fun with it, and this has been a lot of fun to research,” Dennison said.
Before statehood, Indiana was part of the Northwest Territory, which passed an ordinance prohibiting the sale of liquor to soldiers and Native Americans. That was extended when the state’s first constitution in 1816 banned alcohol sales on Sundays and “to drunks” anytime.
In 1830, the Indiana Temperance Society formed, advocating total prohibition as a cure for child and spousal abuse, political corruption and workplace inefficiency. The first state law prohibiting drunk driving (of stage coaches) was passed in 1843. In 1855, the first statewide prohibition bill passed, but it was repealed just three years later.
By the late 1800s, temperance groups were at work locally. In 1887, a group of Blue Ridge women took matters into their own hands by removing alcohol from a saloon and pouring the casks out. Dennison cited newspaper articles that said men in the town took straws from a nearby soda fountain and drank the liquor from the streets. In Waldron, a saloon set to open in 1893 was thwarted by an arsonist. The fire burned the saloon and adjacent buildings to the ground. The arsonist was never found.
In 1909, Shelbyville voted to become dry in a second prohibition attempt. A date was set to be the final day for alcohol sales.
“Saloons did a big business that day,” Dennison said. “Bartenders kept busy until they ran out of liquor.” The day also featured numerous alcohol sales by the quart. But by 1911, local judges had stopped enforcing the law, and local prohibition was rescinded and rules established regarding the purchase of alcohol permits. The short-term law still served to chill the business.
“Before 1909, we had 21 saloons in Shelby County, and 18 were in Shelbyville city limits,” Dennison said. “After 1911, I could only find two saloons in city directories.”
A few years later, the 18th Amendment established prohibition nationwide.
“I saw several quotes that said the enactment of this law made everybody an outlaw,” Dennison said.
She cited several incidents during this era.
In 1925, a car with “FPD” insignia was spotted in town. “Word got out that the Federal Prohibition Department was coming. People were throwing and spilling their alcohol into the road and pouring it down gutters,” Dennison said. “They were doing everything they could to get rid of their alcohol quickly.” Turns out, “FPD” was the Franklin Police Department, and they were only here to pick up a bootlegger and take him back to Franklin.
Loitering laws were created to prevent “pocket bootleggers” on street corners, and numerous confiscations were made, including one in which 1,800 pounds of corn sugar was dumped by police into Blue River.
In 1932, the third and final prohibition was called off, with the federal government losing billions in tax revenues and millions lost enforcing the law, Dennison said.
The next free themed event is set for Thursday, June 20, 7:30 p.m., when The Strand will host the 1931 American pre-Code gangster film, “The Public Enemy,” featuring James Cagney and Jean Harlow.
Next Tuesday, June 25, 7 p.m., the public is invited to attend a Roaring 20s fashion show in the Main Library. The show will feature library staff and patrons wearing period garments reflecting society’s rapid movement and change. Meanwhile, Dennison will introduce each segment of the show and provide commentary.
NOTEBOOK:
HOOSIER NEWS: A scoreboard longtime Indiana University basketball fans will recognize is getting back in the game. The scoreboards originally hung in the IU Fieldhouse in the 1960s, then moved to Simon Skjodt Assembly when it opened in 1971. They hung over both ends of the court until IU installed a new video scoreboard above center court. The scoreboards ended up keeping score and time in the Mellencamp Pavilion for IU football practices. Finally, in August of 2020, IU auctioned the scoreboards off. Steve Engel, a manager at The Upstairs Pub, knew he wanted one. Engel said he paid a little more than $9,000 for one of the scoreboards at the auction. It’s 18 feet long and weighs 800 pounds. In the on-going construction at The Upstairs Pub, the height of the roof had to be raised by six feet to accommodate the scoreboard. Crews used a crane to hoist the scoreboard over the building and into a hole in the roof in what will be the West Bar. The scoreboard is not the only IU artifact going above the new bar. When IU sold off sections of the basketball court used from 1928 to 1960, Engel grabbed six of them. Engel said the project is scheduled to be finished sometime in late August. Engel said the other scoreboard up for auction was bought by a fan, who installed it in his home in South Carolina. (Indiana Public Media)
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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.
2014: For 2012 Shelby County high school graduates going to college, one-third had attended Ivy Tech, 21.2 percent opted for IUPUI, 10.6 percent went to Ball State, 9.7 percent to Indiana University and 6.4 percent to Purdue University, a recent national higher education report said.
2004: The Indiana Department of Education reported Shelbyville Central Schools had a banner year for grades 3-8 in standardized testing. Coulston Elementary was one of eight schools nominated in the state for the National Blue Ribbon Program, recognizing academic excellence through dramatic gains. Loper Elementary was designated a four-star school for performance and attendance. Hendricks had the highest average test pass rate in the city when combining math and English scores. Shelbyville Middle School had the highest percentage of students passing ISTEP in the Metro South area.
1994: Water Dance Apartments purchased an acre of land from Shelbyville Central Schools that was part of a parcel that was going to be a new vocational school. The board had planned to build the new school until the Indiana State Board of Tax Commissioners killed the project because of its cost.
Hubler Ford hosted its grand opening in a new facility at East State Road 44 and I-74.
1984: A fall opening was planned for the Shelbyville-Shelby County Animal Shelter on Hale Road. The city was still raising funds for the project. They had recently placed “Barney” bassett hound collection containers in 30 locations, which had brought in about $400 of the needed $30,000. “Currently, stray dogs are being kept in the old shelter, which is literally falling in,” The Shelbyville News said. “That building will be torn down soon, and a second building that is part of the old shelter will be used as a temporary location for strays.” Volunteers would staff the new shelter so the county’s only animal warden could stay on the road and answer complaints.
1974: Col. Harlan Sanders signed autographs and participated in the new Salvation Army center dedication on East Washington Street. Young Sunshine Club members met him and got his autograph.
1964: Ronald Weaver, 21, was critically injured when his car crashed through barricades on E. Michigan Road and into a large hole that had been cut into the pavement for street repairs. Weaver was taken to Major Hospital and then Robert Long Hospital for surgeries.
1954: Rev. Roscoe Wolvington, pastor of Shelbyville’s First Presbyterian Church, was elected to represent more than 300 Presbyterian churches in Indiana at an annual state conference. Rev. Wolvington had been in Shelbyville since 1949 and had headed the site committee for the Brownstown Youth Camp, which had recently been completed.
1944: A local man was arrested for drunk driving after running into a Shelbyville woman on her bicycle at the corner of Harrison and Mechanic Streets. The woman was uninjured.
Miss Marian McFadden, of Shelbyville, was named assistant librarian at the Indianapolis Public Library. McFadden had been with the Indianapolis system for 10 years. She had degrees from Smith College and Columbia University. She was a Shelbyville High School alumnus.
1934: Herman Lambert, R.R. Hays, Annie Adams and Minnie Copple were named play supervisors for city parks for the summer. A man and woman would be on duty each day. The women would be on duty until 7:30 p.m., the men until 9 p.m. on weekdays and until 10 p.m. on Sundays.
Construction was underway on a sunbathing section in an area outside the northeast corner of Porter Pool. The area would be enclosed by a fence, with an opening leading to the pool. The construction of a solarium was designed to “give the sun bathers more privacy, so that they may bask in the sun’s health-giving rays away from the direct view of onlookers,” Bill Neu, manager and lifeguard, told The Republican. Benches, chairs and ground covers would be furnished, and a radio was installed for entertainment.
A woman who had stolen a $4.98 dress from J.C. Penney was sentenced to 53 days in jail.
1924: Maurice Lux, son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lux, met President Calvin Coolidge at the executive offices in the White House and shook the President’s hand. Lux was in Washington along with several other farm boys and girls as part of a Purdue University program.
An automobile that had just been filled with gas and belonging to Ray Socks was stolen from in front of the Alhambra building. The car was later found abandoned near the Amos Road viaduct with damaged fenders and bumpers and nearly out of gas. Police said they suspected “joy riders.”
1914: Several locals reported a “large circle of vapory substance” surrounding the sun. “Some thought that a terrible storm was on its way and that darkness would soon envelop the earth,” The Republican said. “Others forecast earthquakes. In fact, there were so many dark things predicted that one could almost hear the whisper of the witches as they passed through the air.” The paper said “the fact of the matter, as well as we could learn,” was that the weather could be changing within the next three days. “Wait and see,” it predicted.
OBITUARIES
None today.