The Harper-Carlson-Grabowski-Pike House

I came across this article, in the Hobart Herald of September 9, 1954, summarizing the history of the house at 6430 Grand Boulevard.


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According to the county records (which tend to be imprecise when you get back into the 19th century), the house was built in 1879: a date not inconsistent with this article. I am so curious to know what the author was told that led her to say that the house was built "sometime after 1863" — not that I doubt it; I'm just curious. I'm guessing she talked with old-timers to get this information.

The article doesn't mention William Blumenthal's brief ownership, but of course he was a mere passer-by, wasn't he?

Considering that the Grabowskis' addition to the house was begun in 1923, it's possible the old timers' memories were not serving them well if they thought it hadn't been completed yet by 1930.

The "Verne Manteuff" whose identification of a shoe is said to have been so important after the accident that killed the Grabowskis was LaVerne Manteuffel.

I want to get into more detail about some of the people mentioned in this article, and I will do that in future posts.


By the way, the photo at the top of my second image above doesn't relate to the house, but to a monument I posted about 'way back in 2010, which (according to the program John Dorman had printed up) was erected in 1931.

The Aurelia Building in Gary

I don't usually deal with Gary history, because it's a huge topic and there are thousands of people better qualified to talk about it, but this lovely structure has an Ainsworth connection.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of David Conley.

It was built by Teofil H. Grabowski, and named for his daughter, Aurelia. We can assume that the building went up sometime after Aurelia's birth in September 1922; that's as exact as I can get at this point.

It stood on the north side of West Fifth Avenue in the 900 block. In addition to office space, it held apartments: for example, the dentist whose sign we can see on the nearest corner, Samuel De Haven, appears in the 1930 Census in a rented residence at 902 West Fifth, and his office is listed at the same address in a 1929 city directory.[1] In the same directory, Dr. Sophie Solf is listed at 914 W. Fifth. The awning of the Fifth Avenue Restaurant gives its street number as 904.

I'm guessing the photo dates to roughly 1929 (although some of the businesses in the photo are not listed in the 1929 directory).[2]

The Aurelia Building is no longer standing. My source tells me that family members saw it as late as (approximately) 1967 as they were driving through the region. According to Lake County records, the Rally's restaurant now on the site was built in 1989. A few years after that, Aurelia Grabowski Conley came to the area for a brief visit and found her namesake building replaced, but she did get to visit her childhood home north of Ainsworth.


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[1] Polk's Gary (Indiana) City Directory 1929. Chicago: R.L. Polk & Co., 1929. Via Ancestry.com.
[2] Ainsworth's own vintage-car expert tells me that he can't see anything inconsistent with that approximate date in the vehicles on the street.

More Grabowski Photos (Calling All History Detectives!)

Teofil Grabowski's relatives in Poland have kindly sent us a few more photos of Teofil and his immediate family members. We do not have many details about these photos, but I'm hoping that might change once the history detectives who read my blog get their hands on them.

The first shows Teofil in a military uniform, possibly during World War I.


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Images courtesy of Aneta and Zenon Grabowscy.

In the lower right-hand corner is part of the photographer's imprint. The name looks like "Moffit" and the address "346 Morrison St." Unfortunately, our correspondents' original does not include the city and state. It could be a town in Indiana; or Chicago; maybe even New Britain, Connecticut; or near whatever training camp Teofil might have been sent to. (He shows up in the "Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940" on Ancestry.com, so he must have served in the military, but I don't have any details.) He was living in East Chicago, Indiana, when his WWI draft card was filled out.


The second photo shows a group at an orphanage that Teofil supported financially.



One ring marks Teofil, standing in the back row, with his mother, Marianne, seated in front of him. The other ring marks his daughter, Aurelia, in the front row. We don't know the name or location of the orphanage, but obviously it was Catholic. Aurelia was born in September 1922 and here she looks about six years old. That would date to photo to 1928 or so (which might explain why Wanda wasn't with them: she was at home with her new baby, Edwin).


The third photo we know nothing about.



A young-looking Teofil is marked in the front row. Based on the women's fashions, I would date this roughly to 1910, 1912, which would put Teofil in his early 20s. The Methodist Episcopal Church in the background is in the U.S., evidently, since its sign is in English, but that's all we can say at this point. In his early years, Teofil spent time in Indianapolis and South Bend, and probably in New Britain, Connecticut, as well; by 1916 he was in East Chicago. I can't even try to guess where this is.

President and Mrs. Grabowski

This photo, dating to 1928, shows Teofil and Wanda Grabowski inside the American State Bank in Gary, Indiana, at which time Teofil was the bank's president.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Aneta and Zenon Grabowscy.

To judge by the way the lobby is filled with flowers, this photo must have been taken on some special occasion — maybe a national holiday, or a significant event for the bank.

The bank's shell is still standing at 1710 Broadway in Gary, Indiana, and I believe that would have been the address in 1928, as that building was erected in 1924 per the county records. I have been looking through "urban explorer" videos on Youtube showing the interior of the bank building as it is now. Here is a shot of the lobby from 2017:


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From https://youtu.be/KbRs_VdM_pY; another video can be found at https://youtu.be/pfSQ60Qe3T0?t=541.

These videos spend some time looking at the massive round door of the vault, which may be the same vault door that you can see in the 1928 photo, in the center background behind the metal bars (still photo here).

The Grabowski Home

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Aneta and Zenon Grabowscy.

This photo shows the home of Teofil and Wanda Grabowski at 6430 Grand Boulevard in May of 1928. The handwritten caption translates (via Google) to something like "Spring — estate of T.H. Grabowski." The photo shows the park-like grounds in bloom, and right in the middle, there's Wanda (I'm guessing) with baby Edwin.

The photographer (was it Teofil himself?) stood southwest of the house, pointing the camera northeast. Behind mother and baby we see the driveway that goes down to Grand Boulvard/S.R. 51, flanked by three brick pillars, two of which are still standing. Further north are a couple more brick pillars, which haven't survived. In the background, above that bench in front of Wanda, I believe we are looking at John Dorman's stone pillars.

The Grabowski home was as close to Ainsworth as to Hobart, but the caption associates the property with Hobart — by then incorporated as a city — rather than with the tiny unorganized Ainsworth.

The Grabowski Family

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Aneta and Zenon Grabowscy.

This photograph shows Teofil Grabowski standing at the back, and his wife, Wanda, perching on the arm of the easy chair. In the front row are their two children: Aurelia Frances Wanda (born September 1, 1922), and Edwin Teofil (born January 16, 1928). The woman holding Edwin is Teofil's mother, Marianna, about whom I know nothing.

Judging by Edwin's apparent age, I'm estimating that this photo was taken in the summer or fall of 1928.

Since my previous post, I've done a little more online research and found an account of Teofil and Wanda's 1919 wedding (which got Teofil's first initial wrong):


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New Britain Herald (Conn.), July 31, 1919.

Writing in 1930 (after Teofil and Wanda had been killed in an accident), the same paper said:[1]

Admitted to the Connecticut bar more than 11 years ago Attorney Grabowski practiced in New Britain for several months before going to Chicago. He was also president and organizer of the Indiana State bank, now known as the First Indiana State bank of Gary.

But another article in the same issue said:[2]

Mr. Grabowski was born in Pennsylvania [this is incorrect] and was a resident of this city for several months after being graduated from a law school [in 1914]. Although he was admitted to the Connecticut bar he never practiced here.

I think the New Britain Herald was a little confused about Teofil's history.

I still don't have a clue what took Teofil from Indiana to Connecticut, or vice versa.


Wanda's parents were Antoni (or Anthony) and Francziska (or Frances) Cieszynski. Wanda was their eldest child, I believe, and had some eight siblings. The family ran a home furnishings and appliance store on Main Street in New Britain, which the New Britain Herald described in 1927:[3]

A. Cieszynski & Sons is a well known firm here having sold furniture to New Britain people for more than twenty five years. Anton Cieszynski the founder of the business is widely known in business circles. The store is managed by Mr. Cieszynski's son, Val Cieszynski who has filled the position as manager of the establishment since 1917. Joseph Cieszynski is also associated with the firm.

One of Wanda's sisters, Helen, became a dentist (1920 Census).

♦    ♦    ♦
Aurelia and Edwin Grabowski, orphaned by the deadly train accident in November 1930, left their lovely home north of Ainsworth forever. They went immediately to New Britain, Connecticut — traveling on the same train that carried their parents' bodies there for burial. (From Teofil's death certificate, it looks as if their Uncle Valerian Cieszynski came out to Indiana, to handle the arrangements and bring the children home with him.) Aurelia and Edwin would spend the rest of their childhood in New Britain, being raised by their maternal grandparents among numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins.

I have no idea what became of Aurelia. As for Edwin, however, I stumbled across what appears to be his death notice in the News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) of December 22, 1968:


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How like his father, in several ways.

He is buried in Bellevue, Washington.

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[1] "Double Obsequies for Crash Victims," New Britain Herald (Conn.), Dec. 2, 1930.
[2] "Mrs. T.H. Grabowski Killed in Indiana," New Britain Herald (Conn.), Dec. 2, 1930.
[3] "Cieszynski's Reopening," New Britain Herald (Conn.), Dec. 2, 1927.

The Big Grabowski

Since starting this blog I have gotten images from some faraway places, but this new collection sets a record, I think: it comes all the way from Poland, from relatives of Teofil Grabowski.

First, we have a young Teofil circa May 1914, as a new law-school graduate.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Aneta and Zenon Grabowscy.

Here is the announcement of his class commencement from the Indianapolis Star of May 24, 1914:



The "Indiana Law School" was, I believe, the Indianapolis College of Law, founded in 1898 and operating out of the Indiana Pythian Building in downtown Indianapolis — a predecessor of today's Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, according to Wikipedia.

From the 1920 Census we learn that Teofil came to this country from Poland in 1905 and was naturalized in 1911, but I can find no other information about him before 1914. After his graduation from law school in May 1914, he starts showing up in newspapers. In June 1914, he began practicing law in South Bend, Indiana.[1] So this photo, which (according to my source) shows Teofil in his law office in 1914, was probably taken in South Bend.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Aneta and Zenon Grabowscy.

I find a couple of mentions of him in a column called "News of Interest to Polish Citizens" that ran in South Bend News-Times: in the October 19, 1914, issue, he is making a presentation at a meeting of the Zygmunt Balicki Falcons Society (South Bend chapter); and in the October 21, 1914, issue, there is a reference to "Atty. Theophil Grabowski, 1044 W. Division st."

By April 1916 he had moved to East Chicago,[2] and was involved in local politics.[3] He remained there through the First World War (WWI Draft Cards).

In March 1919, I find him described as "Atty. T. [H]. Grabowski of Gary."[4]

The first reference I can find to his being president of the American State Bank in Gary shows up in an Indianapolis newspaper in September 1920.[5] I would have expected to find more news about that; but then again, I am working with on-line newspapers only since access to the microfilm at the library is still restricted (and my job is still taking up a lot of my time).

In the midst of all this professional and political activity, a momentous event in Teofil's personal life happened in July 1919, when he married Wanda Cieszynska in New Haven, Connecticut.[6] I wish I knew the story behind the romance of a Midwestern man and a New-England woman. Perhaps Teofil spent some time in New England between 1905 and 1914?

From what I've learned of him so far, Teofil seems a remarkable man: intelligent, ambitious, energetic, and active in supporting the interests of the Polish-American community. If his life hadn't been cut short by a tragic accident in 1930, who knows how far he might have gone?

There are more images to come in this collection.

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Unfortunately for the local historian working on-line, around the time that Teofil Grabowski established his country home north of Ainsworth, a professional baseball player named Johnny Grabowski was rising to national status in sports news. The baseball-playing Grabowski became a major-league player when he joined the Chicago White Sox in 1924. From that point on, I have had to wade through an awful lot of baseball news to find anything about our Grabowski.


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[1] "Teofil Grabowski was admitted to the St. Joseph county bar Friday morning, having made application several days ago and passed the examination. Grabowski came to South Bend from Indianapolis where he attended law school." "About Town," South Bend News-Times, June 28, 1914 (accessed at newspaperarchive.com).
[2] "News of Interest to Polish Citizens," South Bend News-Times, Apr. 17, 1916 (accessed at newspaperarchive.com).
[3] He was treasurer of the Young Men's Republic Club in that city ("Young Republicans at East Chicago," Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), Sept. 22, 1916 (accessed at newspaperarchive.com)). He was also chairman of the Citizens' League of East Chicago ("E. Chicago League at Meeting," Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), Jan. 24, 1917 (accessed at newspaperarchive.com)).
[4] "Crown Point News," Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), Mar. 27, 1919 (accessed at newspaperarchive.com))
[5] "Bank Teller and Cash Missing from Gary," Indiana Daily Times (Indianapolis), Sept. 11, 1920 (accessed at newspaperarchive.com).
[6] Ancestry.com. WEB: Connecticut Marriage Records, 1897-1968 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2019. Original data: Connecticut Vital Records — Index of Marriages, 1897-1968. Connecticut State Library. https://www.ctatatelibrarydata.org/marriage-records/: accessed 8 May 2019. I hope I have found the correct record, since the bride's first name is not given.

Having a Gas, in Ainsworth and Elsewhere

This page from the August 23, 1923 issue of the Hobart News is dominated by Carlson news. First off, Charles Carlson, gassing up his automobile in Ainsworth, luckily avoided a conflagration.


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"Local and Personal," Hobart News, Aug. 23, 1923.

The automatic shut-off mechanism for gas pumps hadn't been invented yet.

I suppose this gas-pumping Charles Carlson and the corn-selling Charles Carlson in the item above are the same person. The other "Carlson brother" would be Richard, whom we've heard of before. The 1920 Census shows Charles, age 42, living in the vicinity of what is now the Indian Ridge golf course (to judge by his neighbors) with his 79-year-old mother, Hedvig (widow of Swan Peter). But the old Carlson house and the land surrounding it was now owned by Teofil and Wanda Grabowski.

Which leads me to wonder about the location of the "Carlson grove … on the banks of Deep river" where the family reunion (mentioned in the middle column) was to take place. The Carlsons' land (shown here on the 1939 plat map) no longer bordered on the river. Perhaps the Grabowskis let the Carlsons use a grove on their land for the reunion.

Looking at those planning to attend the reunion, I recognize only a couple of names. Russell Koehler was the Carlson brothers' nephew, son of their sister Augusta. Tekla Ceander used to be Tekla Anderson … but I don't know how she was related to the Carlsons.

♦    ♦    ♦
Now, who might have been selling gasoline in Ainsworth? Here is Henry Paulus, owner of the Ainsworth department store, listed among the sellers of Red Crown gasoline:


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Hobart News, Aug. 30, 1923.

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To end this post, we have news of that elegant young couple, George and Pearl (Severance) Yager, who eight years earlier had fled Ainsworth and never looked back.


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Hobart Gazette, Aug. 24, 1923.

Death at the Rossow Crossing … Again

Two years after witnessing a deadly train-vs.-automobile wreck at the Pennsy crossing near his home on present-day Wisconsin Street, William Rossow was among the first on the scene of another, equally horrifying, at the same crossing.


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Hobart Gazette, June 22, 1923

This story establishes that it was indeed Herman Harms who bought the cottage being moved from New Street, although here its destination is given as the "H. & S. subdivision." So Herman, along with his father Henry, his father-in-law William Rossow, and his brother-in-law Ed Niksch (Miksch is a misprint) were at work on the house a short distance southeast of the Wisconsin Street crossing.

♦    ♦    ♦
An item in the next column to the right mentions the filming of a 1915 celebration in Hobart. That film still exists, I am told, somewhere in the archives of the Hobart Historical Society. It hasn't been digitized, and trying to run the original through a projector would be foolhardy. Someday, perhaps, when both the film and the money to digitize it are found, we'll be able to view motion pictures of Hobart in 1915.

In the right-hand column, we find T.H. Grabowski building an addition to his home — an addition that, fortunately, is identifiable on this current sketch from the Lake County Assessor's website.



This confirms what I conjectured: that the old Carlson house is at 6430 Grand Boulevard. Per the county records, it was built in 1879.

Finally, a new bridge was going up over the Deep River where Ainsworth Road crosses it, known as the Nolte bridge since the road passes through the Nolte property there. When I first moved out here in 1990, there was a metal truss bridge similar to the one at 73rd Avenue — I wonder if that could have been the 1923 bridge? It was replaced within about a year of my moving here, and I never thought to take a photo of it.

I am curious to know what sort of bridge was there before 1923.


Additional Source: "Two More Victims of Grade Crossing Saturday When Mrs. John Clark and Daughter Margery Meet Death," Hobart News, June 21, 1923.

On the Ainsworth Stone Road

We know it as Grand Boulevard or State Road 51, but to the 1920 census enumerator it was the "South Hobart Road to Ainsworth," and to editor of the Hobart News, writing in 1921, it was the "Ainsworth stone road." Edwin and Carry Humes had been living in a rented house along that road, with their four children, when the 1920 Census recorded them. In June 1921 they bought that house — the "Hettie Ryan residence," which was in Hobart Township, but since the plat maps don't show parcels of three acres, I don't know exactly where.

Further south on the same road, in Ross Township, the Grabowskis continued their improvements to the old Carlson place. My current theory is that the red brick house on the west side of S.R. 51, on the north bank of the Deep River, is the old Carlson place, but that's just my current theory.

Also, the Yellowstone Trail got re-routed through the heart of Hobart …


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"Local and Personal," Hobart News 16 June 1921.

… and a Buick report.

On His Toes!

John and Lillian Call had been living in a rented home in Hobart when the 1920 census came around and, I suppose, when their first child was born. In the spring of 1921 they bought their own house and their own lot, but it seems the two were not at first in the same place. It was easier to bring the house to the lot than vice versa … which is not to say it was easy to move the house.


(Click on image to enlarge)

Also, a little news of other people we know, including a new way to spell Grabowski, but we're going to stick with the old way. And Theodore Rossow's little daughter was sick. Who (I asked myself) was Theodore Rossow? I believe he was "Uncle Theodore" to our Minnie Rossow Harms, being her father's brother … only I don't know what his family was doing "southwest" of Hobart, since the censuses (1910 through 1930) show them living on their own land in Union Township, Porter County; the 1921 plat map of Union Township shows this Rossow farm in the northwest corner of Union Township, which is southeast of Hobart. Perhaps the "southwest" in the News item was a misprint.


To return for a moment to the Calls' house-moving — while the item above suggests it was expensive, we must go to a second item on another page to find out that it actually cost John much more than he'd expected:




Sources:
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 5 May 1921.

The Old Carlson Place Again

William Blumenthal of Chicago, having tired of being an absentee farmer, sold the old Carlson place. The buyer was Teofil Heronim Grabowski, a 32-year-old Gary lawyer who also served as president of the American State Bank at 17th and Broadway in Gary. Teofil had immigrated from Poland in 1905. He eventually married Wanda Cieszynski (about nine years his junior), and in 1920 they lived in Gary with Wanda's 18-year-old brother, Valerian, a student.

Teofil was evidently a person of great energy: soon after buying the old Carlson place, he set about remodeling the farmhouse, building chicken coops, and making other unspecified improvements. The Gazette explained: "We understand [Mr. Grabowski] expects to engage extensively in the chicken raising business. That is he expects to raise 'broilers' for an eastern market." The Grabowskis intended to live on the Hobart farm, while Teofil commuted to his Gary law office and bank presidency. And indeed they did so at least through 1923; we shall have to wait to see what happens after that.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ Gary (Indiana) City Directory 1923 (R.L. Polk & Co.), from Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
♦ "Improving the Old Carlson Place." Hobart Gazette 22 Apr. 1921.
♦ WWI Draft Cards.