Things I Learned in the Farm Room (Part 1)

I mentioned that all my blogging time is going into making labels for the various objects in the "Farm Room" at the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society museum. But I'm having fun and I'm definitely learning things!

One of the first things I learned is that contraptions like this actually existed:


(Click on image to enlarge)

The image above is from an 1898 Peter Henderson & Co. catalogue (reproduced in 2002)[1], which I bought to help me identify farming implements.

We actually have a wheelbarrow seeder in the Farm Room, although it's in two parts — the hopper is on one wall and the wheelbarrow on the floor along the adjacent wall — and it seems to be missing the chain that runs through the hopper, according to this video about "Antique Broadcast Seeders": https://youtu.be/ue-IMpTgvDs.



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[1] Turn-of-the-Century Farm Tools and Implements. Minneola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. (2002).

Another Car Crash at the Black Cat

An article titled, "Reckless Drivers and Speeders Draw Fines in JP Court," that appeared in the Hobart Gazette of September 23, 1948, contained this description of an accident:

A three-car crash on state route 6 near the entrance to the Black Cat restaurant last Saturday evening about 11 p.m., resulted in the arrest of William E. Finley, age 34, 2699 Gibson St., East Gary. Police investigation showed that Paul Verplank of Hobart, who was pulling a small two-wheel trailer on the back of his westbound car, was forced to stop when a large semi-truck suddenly stopped in front of him. Emil Skolak, age 33, 1705 McKinley street, Gary, who was accompanied by his wife Helen, and driving a new Lincoln sedan then stopped back of Verplank, and Finley, driving a Buick sedan, crashed into the rear of Skolak's car, which in turn hit Verplank's trailer.

When I found this, I thought at first that perhaps the mystery of the undated Black Cat crash photo had been solved … until I started searching online for images of the cars mentioned; namely, a 1947 or '48 Lincoln sedan and a Buick sedan (probably 1940s, maybe 1930s). The images I found didn't look like the cars in that picture. So the photo remains a mystery, and I can only conclude that the Black Cat was a popular place to have car crashes.


I am on something of a blogging vacation because I foolishly promised that over the winter I would label the agricultural implements and other tools in the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society museum's Farm Room (as several visitors have asked us to do), and I'm finding out that (a) there is much more stuff in that room than I ever realized, and (b) my knowledge of vintage tools is pretty vague. So my blogging time has been going into educating myself.

Photographers Who Fell Into My Lap

While looking for something else in the Gazette microfilm, I came across some information about a few photographers operating in Hobart in the 1940s.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Hobart Gazette, 5 Feb. 1948.

It was nice of the writer to package up Fred Ehlen's beginning and ending so neatly for me — if the opening of his studio circa 1942 was announced in the Gazette, I wasn't paying attention.


Next comes Herbert Hagenwald, Jr., who doesn't stay very long.


Hobart Gazette, 15 Apr. 1948.


And then Arthur Miller of East Gary (Lake Station), whose duration has yet to be determined.


Hobart Gazette, 8 July 1948.

I myself don't recall ever seeing any photos with the Hobart Studio or Loray Studio name. They may be out there somewhere.


I have also updated the entry for Roland Grabill to reflect that, according to his 1943 obituary, he closed his studio in 1938.

The updated photographer list is available here.