Turner Hall razed

Turner Hall 1914 shortly after it was completed
Turner Hall 1914 shortly after it was completed

The old Turner Hall at 720 SE 8th St was demolished last week.  For many the Central Turners was where they learned to swim or practice gymnastics.  With another iconic building now in the history books, VCHS takes a look at what this German club was all about.

Evansville Turnverein was established locally in July 1853 and was affiliated with the Berlin Turner Society.  The German translation is literally “gymnast club.”  An article in the 1980s described the club as “midway between the YMCA and a county club.”

In 1909, the German club bought the old Kingsley ME Church at the corner of 8th and Gum and remodeled it into its new quarters.  In a few short years the club opted to erect a new building.  After a couple iterations, plans were worked up by A J Capelle in summer 1913 for a new building that would occupy the same location.

Sketch of the new hall for the Turnvereins
Sketch of the new hall for the Turnvereins

In September 1913, the church was torn down, and in October ground was broken on the new Turner Hall.  It was was made of brick with stone trimming including a large stone inscription of “Central Turnverein” over the entrance (seen in picture below).  The estimated cost was about $26,000.

The first floor included a dance hall and gymnasium separated by folding doors for enlarging the space when needed.  Turner Hall also had a white enamel pool in the back.  The basement held dressing rooms as well as a rathskeller and billiards room.  A full list of activities accompanied the club’s grand opening in mid April 1914

Great picture during the 1937 Flood showing detail of the building's original entrance (Courtesy 1937 Flood book)
Great picture during the 1937 Flood showing detail of the building’s original entrance (Courtesy – Over the Banks of The Ohio:  The Flood of 1937)

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At some point around 1950 the front was remodeled covering over some of the details of the original facade.  A dining room addition to the side was also probably added around that time.

The club prospered for years, but began to struggle with membership in the 1970s when many of its members flocked to the suburbs.  The club was on the verge of closing in 1981, but rebounded quickly looking to bring in new members.  That success was short lived though as the financially strained Turners filed for bankruptcy in March 1983.

As the hall looked in recent years when it served as Impact Ministries
As the hall looked in recent years when it served as Impact Ministries

When the club closed a handful of suitors came for the property.  In February 1984, WNIN planned to move in to the building but the bank stalled on the project.  The TV station would wind up in the old Carpenter Home a year later.  Next, Krieger-Ragsdale looked to move its printing plant and bought the property.   Retrofitting the building was not viable so the company relocated elsewhere, and the old Turner Hall was sold to Christian Fellowship Church which operated its Impact Ministries out of the facility.  That nonprofit served the Center City community for years until it closed last August 2014.

After the Turners lost their home, there was some mention of the club continuing to meet, but nothing more recent was found of the once grand German club.  As for the building, it is still listed as belonging to Christian Fellowship Church, but nothing was found to justify tearing down the 100-yr old landmark.

View along Gum St.  Turner Hall sat where the street bends at 8th
View along Gum St. Turner Hall sat where the street bends at 8th

Lecture to Discuss Life and Times of Benjamin Bosse

 

Lecture to Discuss Life and Times of Benjamin Bosse

On Thursday, August 13, 2015 6:30 p.m. at the Evansville Museum, Jeffrey A. Bosse will discuss the life and times of Benjamin Bosse.  The author of the book When Everybody Boosts Everybody Wins: The Untold Story of Evansville Mayor Benjamin Bosse, and the great-great nephew of Benjamin Bosse,.Jeff Bosse, will detail the life of the dynamic man who led the city from 1914-1922.  In his talk, Jeff Bosse will not only look at the successes of the Bosse administration, but also scandals and allegations during his time in office.

Benjamin Bosse enjoyed successful careers, as a businessman, a church leader, a politician, and a public servant.  Despite coming to Evansville penniless, by the time of his death he had been the president of more than 25 local businesses and a shareholder of more than 40, including the Evansville Courier, the Vendome Hotel and the world’s largest furniture manufacturing company.  During his terms as mayor, the city acquired Garvin Park, Bosse Field, the Coliseum, and the Market House.  He chaired the campaign to bring the University of Evansville to the City and he increased the city’s parks from 220 acres to more than 700 acres.  Benjamin Bosse was also responsible for bringing Evansville its first major north-south highway.

Jeff Bosse is a graduate of Bosse High School, Vanderbilt University and Northwestern Law School.  He has practiced corporate, real estate and estate planning law in Evansville since 1975 and is the president and founder of Bosse Title Company.  Jeff has been active in our community and his industry for many years.  He has been the president of the Evansville Museum, the United Way of Southwestern Indiana, the Vanderburgh Community Foundation and the Indiana Land Title Association.  He was the second person in the United States to receive the National Title Professional designation from the American Land Title Association and he is the recipient of the lifetime meritorious service award from the Indiana Land Title Association.
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This lecture is FREE and presented in partnership with the Evansville Museum.  For questions about the program or the Vanderburgh County Historical Society, please contact VCHS President Chris Cooke at 812-455-5121 or ccooke@evansville.in.gov.

Facebook Event Page for Bosse Lecture

VCHS Bosse Cover

North Main walking tour 6/18

In case you missed it, here is a slideshow highlighting the walking tour yesterday.  ThanksThis drug should be taken empty stomach and it starts working within an cialis online mastercard icks.org hour. It could be a side-effect of prescriptions and dysfunctions related to diminished androgens or substantial estrogens levels. low priced cialis And levitra free sample icks.org by the way it’s perfectly all right to take this pill around three to four hours prior to the procedure. Many illegal medications do not follow set size, shapes generic uk viagra and colors. to all those who braved the weather for a great turnout!

North Main

Knotty Pine meets its end

Knotty Pine around the time it closed
Knotty Pine around the time it closed

The Knotty Pine at the northwest corner of Main and Virginia
dates back to around 1894. It was built for J August Ritter who relocated his confectionery here from W Franklin St.
Ritter was a manufacturer and wholesale dealer in candies. He and his wife Henrietta lived upstairs.

Entry for J August Ritter's confectionery from the 1899 city directory
Entry for J August Ritter’s confectionery from the 1899 city directory

Around 1914 the store became Becker’s Confectionery. It continued for a number of years until the mid 1940s when it became Stewart’s Confectionery.

Todd's Cafe 1950
Todd’s Cafe 1950

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Around 1950 the building became a restaurant. Todd’s Cafe was open 24 hours and specialized in plate lunches. It was around this time Shirley Todd, the proprietor, built an addition in the rear along Virginia St.

About 1958 the restaurant became Dottie’s. Service around the clock was continued by its new owners Harold and Dorothy Townsend.

In 1962 the restaurant became the the Knotty Pine Cafe as most will remember it.

1964 ad for the Knotty Pine Cafe
1964 ad for the Knotty Pine Cafe

The Knotty Pine operated at the corner for nearly half a century. Economics forced the restaurant to close around late 2011.  It was torn down last week.

Waterworks Collapse 1904

Water Works collapse
Water Works collapse 111 years ago

The new Water Works was built from 1898-1900 after the original one closer to downtown became obsolete.  The land where the plant resides today was purchased in 1895 and has been in service ever since.  There was however a fiasco in 1904 that almost saw the new structure become short-lived.

Water Works postcard c1900
Water Works postcard c1900 (Courtesy Thomas E and Gina Topper Collection, EVPL)

A cave in at the Water Works emerged around New Year’s Day 1904.  It was near the intake and was only 50 feet away from the river-facing wall.  The collapse ate out the ground and caused cracks in the building.

Almost immediately, the old West End pumping station was prepared for emergency use.  The original Water Works on Riverside Dr, which had been abandoned since the new one became operational, was also considered.

Water Works
Cartoon of the Water Works asking for help January 8, 1904.  The building at right is the original Water Works that was abandoned when the new one was built

Additional cave ins occurred January 9 and the dry well, and caisson were abandoned.  A new trench along the route of intake pipes was proposed. There was some concern that water supply to city would be affected, but the water department assured it would not.

Water Works
Continued problems for the new Water Works plant

The administration brought in an expert engineer from St Louis.  Walter Luddington designed an interlocking steel piling to seal off work around the dry well.  The cave in kept growing larger and mud passing into pipes January 27 forced the Water Works to post a worker at the old plant and the West End Station too.  The Courier was very against the administration and demanded who would pay for the repairs and reported an incident where the Akin-Erskine mill had its machines clogged by muddy water.  Contrarily, the Journal-News downplayed any problems and said the muddy water was due to high flood waters and not the present issue.

On January 30, Cincinnati Water Works offered to send Evansville a pump boat, but their boat was in disrepair and would need fixing.  To make matters worse, the river wall of the Water Works was showing signs of settling, and it was claimed that the auxiliary stations were incapable of handling the whole load of the city.  Nonetheless superintendent Charles Thuman remained optimistic that the Water Works would soon be restored.

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Water Works
Cave in in the basement of the Water Works February 3, 1904

On February 3, a section of the basement caved in and pipes broke at the entrance to the caisson.  This would most likely cause the intake to choke, and it was feared the plant would have to shut down.  The outer wall sank 8-12 inches, and a collapse was expected .  The next day the roof was braced, and the plant was closed to the public.  Things seem to worsen as the Cincinnati pump boat was delayed by ice, and Luddington was called back from St Louis to build new intakes.

Water Works
Braced wall at the Water Works

The deteriorating condition caused Evansville’s mayor to issue a proclamation to conserve water February 5.  When the building settled the next day carpenters stopped working, and excavation for intakes halted.  The Courier claimed the administration was asleep at the wheel as the city engineer was off to Mardi Gras, whereas the news didn’t event make the front page on the Journal-News.

Water Works
Water Works collapse on the west (river-facing) wall

On February 10, the river wall was knocked down with a battering ram and the greatest threat of collapse was managed.  That day Chandler School was closed as water pressure there (and over much of the city, really) was low.

The Water Works station officially closed February 13, and the old Water Works plant and the West End Pumping Station were used.  On February 15, the plant was attempted to go back online, but it didn’t work.  Problems were compounded when ice broke off the West End Pumping Station and again when the tunnel shaft began to cave during the next week.  During a fire at Babcock & Seitz February 25, it was discovered that there was no water pressure.  Pump boats from Cincinnati and St Louis were utilized, but the damage was significantly more than it should have been.

The Water Works plant was back online March 5 after having been delayed by high wind.  A temporary intake was utilized with a more permanent design to be implemented at a later date.  All in all, the bill to fix the collapse neared $50,000, but with the building being so new Evansville citizens were perplexed as to how something like this could happen.

Water Works
The collapse at the new Water Works left residents wondering who would foot the bill and why the new one was even built

Brown’s grand opening

Browns (c1949)
Brown’s Master Market

 

Brown’s Fine Foods at 1301 West Franklin St was Evansville’s largest grocery when it opened.  Vernon A Brown plugged his store as a “master market”–a grade above a supermarket–and heavily advertised its grand opening, which took place on September 19, 1946.

Browns Supermarket - interior (1946)
Interior of Brown’s new store

 

Brown’s new store boasted a clean interior with bright displays.  The buzz about the grand opening saw 3,000 avid shoppers waiting outside for the doors to open. People lined up at 6 a.m. and by 8 a.m. the crowd extended a block down Franklin St and another block down Fifth Ave.  Police were summoned and the police chief ordered barricades

Browns Supermarket - grand opening (1946 Sep 19)
Crowd of over 3,000 for Brown’s grand opening (9/19/1946)

 

Then it went bad…
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The anxious shoppers trampled down barricades, pushed back a human wall of policemen, and threatened to cave in the glass front.  Brown conferred with the police chief and agreed to close the doors until the crowd thinned.  Attempts to let a small number of shoppers were stopped short as the crowd again swelled.  Trucks were eventually called around 10 a.m. and formed a funnel to control the flow into the store.  The rest of the day finished smoothly.

Browns Supermarket - grand opening (1946 Sep 19) 2
Brown writing “CLOSED” on the storefront to diffuse the raucous crowd
Browns Supermarket (1946 Sept 19) 2
Trucks in front of the store to control the grand opening crowd

 

Ultimately no one was hurt, but it was one of the more intriguing store openings in Evansville’s history.

The store was closed some years later, and the building now serves as a training center for the local Sheet Metal Workers Union

Oscar A Bippus Training Center
The old Browns Supermarket now covered and being used as the Oscar A Bippus Training Center

2014 Year In Review

Losses

Melzer Soap

Melzer Soap Works

Destroyed by fire Oct 2014 will likely be razed

Fulton Ave, 401 N - front (2010 Jul 13)

Steierer Saloon / Service Glass

Razed after a new metal warehouse replaced old brick store

Columbia St, 321 E (2011 Dec 30)

Geier Saloon / Lanhuck’s Bar

Demolished after a car hit the structure in March damaging the building

 Faultless Caster - office (2011 Dec 08) 2

Faultless Caster office

Razed June after busted water pipes flooded building

Fulton Boys

107 N Fulton and 101 N Fulton

Left structure partially demolished and right completely gone marks two historic Mesker buildings lost

 20140627_073237

Bullocks Tavern

Razed along with other buildings near Deaconess back in August likely for a parking lot

 20140519_090114

Other notable losses

Kessler house – 305 E Columbia
Old Mater Dei offices and homes along Harmony Way
Homes near St Joe and Delaware razed for CVS

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WINS

 12-14-Greyhound-panels

Greyhound Bus Station

Restoration well underway and blue panels are showing the old station’s beauty

 20140220_162654

Willard Library addtion

Victory garden in the rear of the lot is a tasteful addition to the historically-minded library

20140923_082627

Sterling Brewery reuse

TBD but likely reuse for offices is an encouraging sign for an area in need of revitalization

IN THE AIR

Owen Block - detail (2010 Jan 18)

Owen Block

Fate is hanging by a thread for the old townhouses at Second and Chestnut

Aster Nut Products Co

Aster
Aster Nut Products Co on the alley behind Main St

The building was originally built for the Evansville Tea & Coffee company in 1924.  A storefront was built at 1004 Main St at the corner of William St (now Sycamore St) and a factory was built behind it across the alley (the building in the picture above).

Storefront
Storefront at 1004 Main St

Around 1946 the Aster Nut Products Co moved in. It was the only manufacturer of peanut butter within 150 miles.  They also boasted that no stock was kept on hand and that all orders were made fresh.

factory
Girls working in the factory 1946
cashew butter
Aster’s unique cashew butter — I wish I could still get this

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Store front
Store front prepped for the holidays December 1946

During a natural gas shortage in 1977, Aster Nut Co had the unfortunate honor of being the first company to have its gas service cut off.  The company had used their allotment for the winter and had to operate in the cold.

Aster Nut Products closed sometime around 1978 not long after the FDA seized contaminated food from the company.  The building later became the Jewett Davidson Co in the 1980s

Main St, 1004 - side (2012)
“Jewett Davidson Company” on the side with the paint fading

Side of building 1004 Main
Side of building 1004 Main

Miller’s Club House

millers club house
Miller’s Club House

The Crockford Club House first opened June 7, 1891 with John Miller & Samuel Weil proprietors. The two, who operated a saloon in the city, invested over $12,000 into the pleasure park located at the end of the Washington Ave line. Patrons could take a short streetcar ride to get rest and relaxation from the city. The Crockford had a large clubhouse with a tower, shown above. Large grounds around the clubhouse offered croquet and lawn tennis, a bowling alley, and summer houses. The club reopened in 1892 with only Miller listed as the owner, and the name Miller’s Club House first appears.

sketch of new clubhouse
Sketch of Miller & Weil’s new clubhouse (Evansville Journal May 24, 1891)

Despite advertisements touting an upscale reputation, the clubhouse became a noted gambling club. It was located across from the old Tri-State Fairgrounds, and on the 2nd floor there was a large room for guests to watch the races.

1910 sanborn
1910 Sanborn view of the club house.  The house at left is one of the residences in the 1100 block of Washington Ave

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The pleasure park was largely a failure. It reopened several times but ultimately closed in 1907 when it could not get a new liquor license.

F Grote Manufacturing bought the land in 1912 and planned to build a new plant along the Ohio Valley Railroad (US 41 now traverses where the RR tracks once crossed Washington). Even though detailed plans were published in the paper, it is not clear if the plant was ever built. The company was never listed at the new location in the city directories or articles, and 1920’s bungalows soon replaced the old Miller’s club house.

Within the past ten years, the houses that replaced the clubhouse were also torn down. A combination McDonald’s/gas station now occupies the half block.


View Larger Map

HIDDEN HISTORY – Old Central ME

If you look closely at the corner of Franklin and Mary beneath the sign of Central UMC, you’ll find an interesting bit of history.

Cornerstone of the old Central ME Church still on display

Cornerstone of the old Central ME Church still on display

This was the original cornerstone of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church which was built in the early 1900s. The Ingle Street Methodist Episcopal church relocated from downtown just a few blocks away to here–the old North Side.  The new church designed by famed architects Harris & Shopbell was completed in 1905.

Old Central Methodist 1907
Old Central Methodist 1907

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The church quickly outgrew its new quarters and within 20 years a new edifice was needed. The old church was torn down and the present structure was built in 1924.  The old cornerstone was put on display under the sign where it can still be seen today.

Central Methodist today
Central Methodist today

Central ME on HistoricEvansville – http://historicevansville.com/site.php?id=centralmethodist