Merrillville Then and Now: 73rd Avenue West of Broadway

Circa 1909, and 2024:


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Second image from Google street view.

"Main Street," also known as the Joliet road, had not yet become the Lincoln Highway when this photo was taken sometime before July 17, 1909. The road is dirt, but electrical wires (or are they telephone?) run along it.

We are standing more or less abreast of the Merrillville school building (now the Merrillville History Museum).

The Burge-Underwood house would be to the left, but just out of range of the camera. The first house visible on the left is the Floyd Pierce home, according to A Pictorial History of Merrillville. The next house is the Coffey (or Coffee) house. I do not know what families occupied any of the other houses.

On the right, of course, we can see the steeple of the Methodist Church.

In the distance on the right, I believe you can see a couple of businesses: the Stoltz general store, and next to it the Old California Exchange Hotel:


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The verso includes a postmark, thank goodness, and a friendly message from Howard Walter of Merrillville to Ruth Casbon of Valparaiso:


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It's interesting how he spells the town's name; is that evidence that he pronounced it "Valpo-RISE-o" rather than "Valpo-RAYS-o"?

Howard and Ruth were both about 16 in 1909. Howard was one of the Walter brothers of Merrillville.

Ruth was the daughter of Thomas and Ella (Downs) Casbon. She had been named Mable Ruth but preferred her middle name. She spent her early childhood on a farm in the vicinity of Deep River. Sometime after the 1900 census the family relocated to a Porter County farm, where the 1910 Census, and by 1920 they lived in the city of Valparaiso.

In January 1924, Thomas and Ella held a party to celebrate Ruth's engagement to a man named Joseph Albert Bancroft,[1] a native of Chesterton about 4 years older than Ruth. He had previously been married, in 1914, to Fay Smith (Indiana Marriage Collection); that marriage lasted at least through June 1917 (WWI Draft Cards), but must have ended in divorce at some point, since Fay lived to marry again.[2]

Ruth Casbon and Joseph Bancroft were married in April 1924:


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Hobart Gazette, 2 May 1924.

The marriage was not happy, apparently, as the couple were divorced within two years, according to a Chesterton newspaper item posted to Joseph's Findagrave.com entry.

Joseph moved to Michigan and married again. Ruth resumed her maiden name and lived out the rest of her life as a single woman in Valparaiso. She died in 1989.

For some surprising background information about Ruth, I refer you to the Casbon expert.


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[1] "Local and Personal," Hobart News, 31 Jan. 1924.
[2] I have come across a record of a 1907 marriage in Lake County between a Joseph N. Bancroft and a Lillian Miller, but the record does not include enough information for me to say that this was or wasn't our Joseph.

Merrillville Then and Now: 73rd Avenue at Madison

Yet another view of the Walter Bros. garage, from a postcard I bought a few months ago. The photographer, C.R. Childs, stood along present-day 73rd Avenue and pointed his camera east toward Madison.


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Here's a screenshot from Google street view, 2024:

Image courtesy of Google Maps.

In spite of its stylish design, which I totally love, the back of the postcard is not helpful for purposes of fixing its date …



… but we know it dates to 1913 or later, since the photo is captioned "Lincoln Highway."

I consulted the Ainsworth vintage-car expert for further help, and he tells me:

There are a couple of cars (like the one closest on the right) that appear to be Model T Fords (not new looking). Ford's last year for gas headlights was 1914. Headlights were electric after 1914 and the car on the right appears to have gas lights. Walter Brothers sold Buicks and the truck in the doorway could be a late teens Buick delivery truck. The cars on the highway fit the 1916/1917 timeframe.

So I'm estimating the date of this photo to be circa 1917.

Concerning the starting date of the Walter Bros. garage business, A Pictorial History of Merrillville says this:

Like their father, Ernest "Cheese Henry" Walter, the three sons, Howard, Leslie, and Clarence, were capable business men who undertook their enterprise in 1917 when they were only 18, 20, and 21 years of age, respectively.

At first, the young entrepreneurs operated out of Elbert's Garage, an old wooden building; later they relocated to the Keilman building on the southwest corner West 73rd Avenue and Madison Street [i.e., where this photo was taken].

But in the on-line local newspapers, I found this 1913 item:


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Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), 2 Dec. 1913, p. 6.

This seems to say that they were already running a car-rental business in 1913, at which time Howard (b. 1893) was 20, Leslie (b. 1895) was 18, and Clarence (b. 1897) was 16.

I also found this 1915 item:


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Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), 10 Apr. 1915, p. 7.

So they were selling Fords and Overlands already.

But I found nothing to specify where their business was located at any particular time.

Comets at Sunset ca. 1972

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The Ainsworth vintage-car expert tells me that the cars in the foreground are 1972 or 1973 Mercury models, while the cars in the background are Comets.

On the back of the card, Art Hill is bragging about the "NEW TOWN of Merrillville" — the town was officially incorporated in 1971.




I think the photo was taken at sunset. The photographer was facing south-southwest. Could you get that artistic-looking sky in that direction at sunset? It would be a chore to get up at sunrise just to take a picture. No, it was sunset, and after taking the photo the photographer went to get something to eat at the York Steak House in Southlake Mall.

Here's a present-day view of the same building (more or less), which was built in 1972 per the county records:


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Image from Google street view.

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I monitor collectibles for sale on Ebay that relate to both Merrillville and Hobart. The difference between what turns up in my searches for each is striking. Most of the items relating to Merrillville involve commerce in the 1970s through 1990s. A lot of the collectibles are ticket stubs from performances at the Star Theater. On a few occasions I have come across items that go further back. But those are rare treats.

For Hobart, it's the opposite. Postcards from the first half of the 20th century are so abundant that I find myself passing up images that I already have an original of (unless the message on the back is particularly interesting) and I've even found things even going back to the 19th century. And yet the two towns are roughly the same age. Merrillville, I believe, was much smaller throughout much of its history, until the population boom of the 1950s. And, again, it wasn't officially a town until 1971.

Merrillville today seems a sprawling anthill of commerce and traffic. It doesn't have a downtown on a human scale, the way Hobart does. It doesn't have a central figure, like a mayor. It doesn't have an emblematic topographical feature, like Hobart's Lake George.

If you want to buy a car, though, you have a lot of choices in Merrillville.

Does it sound like I'm maligning Merrillville? Heaven forbid, after the hundreds or thousands of hours I've spent in its library and its historical museum, not to mention its Menards and Meijer! Also, part of Deep River County Park is technically in Merrillville. So how could I not love it?

The Y&W Drive-In Theater

Here's the entrance to the Y&W Drive-In in August 1953, and roughly the same area in Sept. 2015:



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It's not an exact duplicate shot — that would have required me to walk out into the weeds, and I wasn't in a weed-walking mood the day I took that photo.

The top image comes from a slide, one of five that I bought some time ago. They came to me with no date; that I had to determine based on the movies on the marquee. Here is the corresponding ad from the Gary Post-Tribune of Friday, August 14, 1953:



These two movies would run together through Thursday, August 20. Our photos must date to sometime during those seven days.

The Y&W had its grand opening on May 29, 1953. Here is its ad for that event, from the Gary Post-Tribune of Thursday, May 28, 1953:




And scans of the other four slides:









… No, we don't know who those men are.

The slides themselves are now the property of the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society.

Merrillville Then and Now: Old Mill Building

Now comes the sad news that the "old mill" building at 73rd and Madison will probably have to be demolished.

Last summer I took a photo of it for a then-and-now that I never got around to posting, so here you go:



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Top image courtesy of the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society.

The first photo is undated and shows the building as some point during its long use as a restaurant. You can view the original at the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society museum.

The second dates to August 2013. The building was standing empty then, but still had the signage from its days as the Old Mill Restaurant.

Merrillville Then and Now: C.C. & L.R.R. Depot

Circa 1909, and 2014.



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Not exactly illuminating, is it? The former railroad is now a bike path, and all traces of the depot are gone.

Someone tried to explain its location to me as we looked out the front window of the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society Museum on 73rd, just west of Broadway. "It was behind that second evergreen," she said.



Let's hope those evergreens never get cut down.

The postcard is postmarked Dec. 1909, meaning that the depot had but a short time to bear the name of the Chicago, Cincinnati & Louisville Railroad. By July 1910 it would be the Chesapeake & Ohio RR depot.


Here's the verso:



I believe the sender was 19-year-old Hattie Nasshahn McCarty, writing to her brother, Emil (about 22 years old). The Nasshahn family lived in Merrillville — from when, I'm not sure, as I can't find records of them earlier than 1900, but an infant sister, Lydia, who died in 1885, is buried in Merrillville Cemetery, as is their father, Emil Sr. (d. 1891), their mother, Elizabeth (d. 1911), and another sister who died in childhood.

The family earned a mentioned in A Pictorial History of Merrillville, which states that the widowed Elizabeth and her children ran a grocery out of their own home, "located on West 73rd Avenue across from the old Iddings house and adjacent to the Perry Goodrich home."

In 1908 Hattie married Frank McCarty, a railroad telegraph operator — I do wonder if he is one of the men pictured on the postcard! Sometime between 1910 and 1920, the McCarty family moved to Noble County, Indiana, where Frank and Hattie lived out the rest of their lives. As for Emil, he lived, married, fathered, and died in Oregon.


Sources:
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ Clemens, Jan, and Merrillville/Ross Twp. Historical Society. A Pictorial History of Merrillville. 1976, updated 1991.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society. Ross Township Cemeteries. 1995.

Merrillville Then and Now: Old School Building

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Historical images in this post courtesy of the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society.

The first image dates to circa 1902. Here's another view from the same general time, from a postcard postmarked 1908:



What's surprising to me is how little we know about this building — for example, when the present structure was built. The very first brick schoolhouse went up here, or near here, in 1865:



Jan Clemens, in A Pictorial History of Merrillville, says this original schoolhouse was on the same site as the present building. Among members of the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society who have an opinion, the belief seems to be that the 1865 school was just slightly to the south.

We don't know when (if) the 1865 school was demolished and the present one built — or was the original one heavily remodeled, maybe? Jan Clemens states: "The brick building that housed the Merrillville Primary School was also used for town meetings, church school, and church services. In 1896, it became the nucleus of the town's first high school and more rooms, some gables, and a bell were added," which sounds as if it were the 1865 building being remodeled to look like the circa-1902 images.

A plaque in the museum suggests that the full second floor was added in 1917.

I believe the last year this building served as a school was 1970. Then it became the Merrillville town hall. After the town government moved to the Merrillville Town Complex at 7820 Broadway, it offered the old school building to the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society (formed in 1967), which opened its museum in 1995.

Merrillville Then and Now: Stoltz's Store

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Top image courtesy of the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society.

No date on the earlier photo, but by the looks of that truck, maybe 1940s?

The original building still stands at 40 W. 73rd Ave. It went up in 1905, according to Jan Clemens' A Pictorial History of Merrillville, as a combined store and home when John and Margaret (Gerlach) Stoltz went into the grocery business in partnership with her brother, Carl Gerlach. The Stoltzes later bought out Carl's interest and operated the business on their own. After John Stoltz died in 1945, Margaret continued the business, with the help of her daughter and son-in-law, Mabel and Joe Derrenbacker, for another five years.

Per Jan Clemens:

The Stoltz store advertised fresh meat — a claim that was a bit of an understatement, for upon request for chicken, Margaret would go out back, kill a bird, come in carrying it with the blood still flowing from the headless fowl. On one occasion a customer good-naturedly inquired, "Are you sure it's fresh?" The fresh meat advertisement also included beef which Margaret butchered by herself in the rear of the shop.

In 1950 Margaret's family sold their building and business to Ray Bohne of Gary.

The Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society has a couple nice photos of the interior of the Stoltz store. According to handwritten notes on the back, these photos date to circa 1917; in the first one, you will notice a calendar showing the month of January that is consistent with 1920 (or 1913).


Left to right: Margaret Stoltz, unknown, Alice Mundell, unknown, and John Stoltz.


Left to right: Mabel Derrenbacker, Margaret Stoltz, and Anna Schmitz.

Merrillville Then and Now: Walter Bros./Brugos Automotive

Late 1910s and August 2013.



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Top image courtesy of the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society.

We are on the south side of W. 73rd Avenue, just west of Madison Street. So that dirt road in front of the Walter Bros. Garage is the Lincoln Highway.

No one in the photo is identified. Naturally, you'd expect the Walter brothers to be in it, but I don't know which they are.

The 1920 Census lists the three garage operators as Howard (25), Leslie (23) and Clarance (22). They live in the household of their parents, Earnest and Louesa. Last on the list is daughter-in-law Maud, née Shearer, who married Leslie in June 1919.

Merrillville Then and Now: Demmon's Store/Law Office

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Top image courtesy of the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society.

Here we are looking at the north side of E. 73rd Ave., just west of Broadway. A handwritten caption on the first photo reads, "Demmon's Store about 1900"; however, according to A Pictorial History of Merrillville by Jan Clemens, the store was built in 1924 by Walter Demmon. The later date is more consistent with census records, as in 1910 and 1920 Walter described himself as a farmer; not until 1930 was he a "merchant" selling "retail groceries."

Per Jan Clemens:

Besides being a retail establishment, Walter's store had restaurant facilities and was more aptly described as an ice cream parlor. Many young people made the awning-fronted building their "hangout" because it was just across the street from the school. Neva Shoup, sixteen years of age, who lived down the street, next to the Methodist Church, in her capacity as "soda-jerk" kept the customers satisfied with her repertoire of ice cream delights.

The January 1920 census enumeration lists Neva Shoup as 11 years old, the daughter of Arthur and Clara Shoup who farmed in Ross Township.

The Demmon store closed in 1972.

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Here is a photo of Walter Demmon and Tillie Schnabel on their wedding day, February 7, 1906:


Image courtesy of Suzi Emig.


Sources:
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ Clemens, Jan, and Elaine Denta (ed.). A Pictorial History of Merrillville: Stories, Illustrations, and Photographs of Pioneer Buildings. Review Printers, Inc. (1991).

Merrillville Then and Now: West from the School

Circa early 20th century, and 2013.



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Top image courtesy of the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society.

We really do not know the date of the first photo. Unless the photographer climbed a tree, the view must be from the upper part of the building that now serves as the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society museum — originally a school. I believe it was built in 1896, but I could be mistaken. The road in front (73rd Avenue, aka the Lincoln Highway) appears unpaved; if only I knew when it was first paved, that might help me date it.

The church is still standing, now serving as the township trustee's office. I'm told that the white frame building in the left foreground of the 2013 picture (the insurance office) is in the original picture as well — I'm guessing it's the second house in the left foreground of the original. Several other houses look similar between the two pictures. I leave it to someone else to figure it all out.

Merrillville Then and Now: Old Methodist Church/Township Trustee's Office

Circa 1918 and 2010.



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The first image, from a postcard postmarked 1918, shows the old Methodist Church on what was then apparently called Main Street (aka the Lincoln Highway), now called 73rd Avenue. The church was built in 1879 and served the Methodist congregation until they built their new church on 68th Street in 1948.* After that, this building housed the Merrillville fire department, and now it's the Ross Township Trustee's office. (This information from A Pictorial History of Merrillville by Jan Clemens.)

Here's the reverse of the 1918 postcard:



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*That church too has since been sold, I understand.

Merrillville Then and Now: Lincoln Highway near Broadway

Circa 1930 (roughly) and 2010 …

First we have the intersection of Lincoln Highway and Broadway, or so the caption on the photo says, but I never would have guessed; it's so different. I'm told that Broadway really did not extend south of the Lincoln Highway at that time.



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The circa-1930s images are courtesy of the Merrillville-Ross Township Historical Society.

Then we have this photo, taken a short distance west of the first. The photographer stood just west of Madison Street, facing east. At least, that's the best I've been able to figure out.