The Dormans at Home on a Summer Day

A great-grandnephew of John and Ella Dorman recently sent me this wonderful family photo:


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Image courtesy of James Dorman Greene.

It was taken circa 1907 at Summit Lawn, where the Indian Ridge Golf Course now operates.

Ella Dorman is standing at center. John is seated at right. The boy in the toy automobile is little Winston, who would not live to be named in the 1910 census. The boy standing behind him is probably his brother, Harold. The others are not identified.

It's summer, obviously — leaves everywhere; light clothing, shirtsleeves, and bare feet. Looking at the two American flags on display, I'm inclined to think the family is celebrating Independence Day.

Winston's toy auto is interesting, isn't it? It's probably a pedal car, resembling the full-size autos of the time (minus the headlights). Automobiles for adults were just beginning to be popular in this area. A little boy with a miniature auto suggests financially comfortable parents, who liked to give their children nice things.

The other boy is riding a tricycle of the penny-farthing style that was popular in the 1880s.

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From the same Dorman descendant comes this circa-1935 photo of the Summit Lawn house …


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Images courtesy of James Dorman Greene.

… and these portraits, also circa 1935, of Ella and John Dorman:




These images are from a complete copy of Rose Mathew Dorman's family history booklet, which I will soon substitute for the incomplete copy I posted earlier.

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.

Finally, a Golf Course

Late in June 1923, the golf course on the Dorman farm was nearing completion.


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Hobart News, June 28, 1923.

It was opened to the public on July 4, 1923 ("Local Drifts," Hobart Gazette, July 12, 1923).

John Dorman's Golf Course

This sounds like the beginning of what is now the Indian Ridge golf course.


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Hobart Gazette, May 18, 1923.

The previous day's News had said the golf course was already laid out (as an afterthought to the news about his tuberculosis-free cattle). One of these two reports had to be mistaken.


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Hobart News, May 17, 1923.

A Dorman Story

Today, courtesy of Leslie Dorman Hagerty, I am bringing you part of a mysterious pamphlet or book — it looks professionally typeset, but there is no title and we don't know when it was written or if it was part of a larger work (and how much preceding the first page was cut off). [Update: Courtesy of James Dorman Greene, you may view/download the complete booklet here.]

It relates some of the background and experiences of John F. and Ella (Waltz) Dorman of Summit Lawn/Indian Ridge. The writer was Rose Mathew Dorman, who in 1917 married John and Ella's son, Harold C. Dorman. Rose's article here seems to be addressed to her children (and maybe their cousins), and when she says "your grandfather" she means John F. Dorman.

A Dorman History by AinsworthIN on Scribd

Ainsworth Then and Now: Summit Lawn/Indian Ridge

Circa 1898, and 2015.



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First image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

I had intended to take the "now" photo in the winter, when the view wasn't blocked by all those leaves, but you know how it goes. The circa-1898 photo is not very clear, being a reprint from the Gazette souvenir edition of 1898 — how I wish we had the original. When I moved out here in 1990, there was still a house standing among those trees. I'm not sure whether it was the same house as in the 1898 photo; it was knocked down so long ago that I scarcely remember how it looked.

The stone pillars and walls remaining on the grounds may date to 1911, when "John R. Dorman … greatly ornamented his home place by erecting some tall stone posts" ("Ross Township Notes," Hobart Gazette 1 Sep. 1911).







The newspapers rarely referred to the Dorman place as "Summit Lawn," but I do find this in my notes from the Hobart Gazette of Sept. 13, 1907:

Dorman's Summit Lawn Stock Farm of Duroc Jersey swine captured nine firsts and two seconds, also sweepstakes making this the second year the same herd has done this. He showed against 5 different herds and breeds this year at Porter County Fair.

When I go back and read the 1890s newspapers, I hope to get a better idea of when John Dorman bought this parcel. The 1891 Plat Book shows it belonging to George Sykes, but John Dorman owned it by 1899 per the notes I have on hand, and perhaps earlier.


Another pillar, north of those shown above, has halfway collapsed. I have no idea when or why it got a horseshoe embedded in the cement:




Here is a picture of John Dorman in his later years, from an unidentified 1944 newspaper (clipped and pasted into a scrapbook by Minnie Harms).


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Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

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[7/18/2015 update] From the Hobart Gazette of June 15, 1928, here is an article describing the types and sources of the rocks composing these pillars:


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The description of pillars — their height and the four-sided pyramid topping them — matches the existing pillars, but I'm wondering why the article was not written until 1928 if the pillars were indeed erected in 1911. On the other hand, the article does not say they were recently built.

Indian Ridge Golf Club circa 1932

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Bought this postcard postmarked June 8, 1932.

So I guess this is a different bridge from the one in the 1931 postcard, that I was so impressed with. Prolific artist, that bridge-builder.

But what I really like about this postcard is the message on the back:

Indian Ridge and Pioneers

That Indian Ridge Golf Club postcard from earlier motivated me to check in the Indian Ridge file at the Hobart Historical Society Museum. Here are a couple things I found there.

The entrance, from a postcard postmarked 1934:


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All images in this post courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

In 1931 the Dormans hosted a ceremony dedicating a monument to 150 pioneers of Hobart and Ross Townships. The program for the ceremony listed the pioneers they had in mind.









*sigh* Most of these men had wives. But there were no women pioneers.

Leaving aside that little injustice, I notice some familiar names on this list. I've already written about, or at least mentioned, Morgan Blachly; Henry Chester and his father, Charles; Charles Gernenz; Horace Marble; William Potter; Cyrus Smith; Henry Nolte (there were two who could qualify as pioneers); and Patrick Sullivan.

Indian Ridge Golf Club circa 1931

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I just got this postcard from eBay. It is postmarked October 10, 1931. I've never been on the Indian Ridge golf course and I wouldn't have the faintest idea what part of it this photo shows. It doesn't look like any part that you can see driving past on State Road 51.

Two observations: (1) That bridge is a work of art. (2) You can see "Indian Ridge" spelled out against the ridge in the background.

No idea who the cigar-smoking guy is.

The Ambiguity of "Ainsworth Road," Part 2

George Norman, at Hobart, the Indian Ridge professional, is still concentrating his efforts on the permanent greens for the nine-hole outlay there. Indian Ridge is south of Hobart, on the Ainsworth Hobart road, next to the Dorman farm.

From The Lake County Times, Monday, June 14, 1926 (Hammond, IN) (emphasis added).

The Indian Ridge Country Club is still there, but the "Ainsworth Hobart road," which was also "Ainsworth Road," is now Grand Boulevard, State Road 51 and Lake Park Avenue.

I've never seen a town like Hobart for giving multiple names to the same street. It must be something in the water.