H.C. Bass' Restaurant

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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

I've had this photo for years but didn't post it because I had so little information about it, and couldn't even definitely place it in Hobart beyond oral tradition. However, just recently I came across an article in the Index-Commonwealth of March 26, 1936, entitled, "Mitchell's Restaurant Sold to E. Gary Couple," which named the buyer as Henry C. Bass, "who formerly operated the Bass Confectionary and Lunch Room on Park Street in East Gary [Lake Station]." Not named in the article was his wife, Martha, who is standing in the restaurant's doorway in this photo.

The seller was Flora Belle Mitchell, who went by her middle name. She had been operating a restaurant in Hobart since 1930, perhaps earlier. She and her husband, Tymon, had left farming in Porter County (1900 Census) to open a restaurant in Valparaiso by 1910 — the "Farmers Restaurant," according to a 1911 directory.[1] Presumably Belle was involved in operating that restaurant, although she had some seven children to look after as well. After moving to Indiana Avenue, the Mitchells left Valpo in 1916 to relocate to Gary;[2] but the 1920 Census shows Tymon managing a hotel in Wheatfield, Jasper County. Tymon died in 1928. The 1930 Census finds the widowed Belle in Hobart, "cook and manager" of a restaurant, located at 231 Main Street per our 1930 directory. The 1936 article about the restaurant's sale gives its address as 216 Main Street.

And now I have spent so much time talking about the Mitchells that I shall have to leave Martha and the rest of the Basses for another time.

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[4/30/2022 update] I forgot to add that Ainsworth's vintage-car expert thinks that the car parked in front of the restaurant is probably a 1935 or '36 Pontiac.

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[1] Valparaiso, Indiana, City Directory, 1911. Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
[2] "Do You Remember the Day?" Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), 16 Apr. 1931.

Bloodroot Colony

Happy Easter from this colony of Bloodroot blooming in Big Maple Lake Park.


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Requiem for a Sign-Eating Tree

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The tree that had eaten the "NO HUNTING" sign down to "HUNT" by 2009 continued eating over the years until lately the sign just said, "UN." I was going to photograph it for an update, but I waited too long. Now tree and sign have both fallen, and how, I ask you, will the future generations of Ainsworth be told about "UN"?

There's been a whole lot of tree- and brush-cutting around here in anticipation of a big utility-pole-replacement project coming up. The tree people cut down numerous invasive species that were growing on my property, thus saving me some work.

Unidentified in Hobart, May 1928

I'm hopelessly busy these days, so I was delighted to get my hands on these two photos: handwritten notes on the versos connect them to Hobart, Indiana in May 1928, but beyond that — nothing. I don't recognize the people, there is nothing identifiable in the background; no basis for me to get involved in hours of research. Thank goodness.


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