Goat-Powered Commerce

One day long ago, a peddler who carried his wares in goat-drawn wagons stopped along the old Lincoln Highway to trade, and perhaps to rest — and to be photographed — at the Tonagels' store in Ainsworth.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

This man, and others like him, traveled around the area selling whatever they could carry in their wagons. The most visible wares in this picture are those contraptions with sails and tails — weathervanes, I suppose. But the wagons look well stuffed with other goods.

The adults who bought from them may have known the peddlers' names, but the photos come to us from one who was a child at the time and knew them only as "gypsies."

In another photo, this peddler is joined by some people we know:



The tall, dark-haired man in overalls is Cecil Tonagel. Next to him is his father-in-law, Charles Rosenquist. Of the five children crouched beside them, we know only the middle one — Donald Tonagel.

The photo is undated, and we don't see any cars that would help us fix a date. The photo must have been taken after the Tonagels started operating The Pantry in 1935 but before Charles Rosenquist's death in 1953. Donald Tonagel, born about 1929, looks perhaps twelve years old here; assuming he's been identified correctly, we can date the photo roughly to the early 1940s.

The photographer stood out front of The Pantry, pointing the camera southwest toward the intersection of 73rd and S.R. 51.

Charles Rosenquist

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Here is Charles Rosenquist, father of Ruby Tonagel, riding shotgun in the Tonagels' delivery truck. We don't have a date on this photograph.

Charles died October 19, 1953, at the age of 81. His obituary gave a brief sketch of his life:

Rosenquist was born in Sweden, March 13, 1872, and came to the United States when he was 16. He was a farmer in the vicinity of Chesterton until 1938, when he retired and went to live with his daughter, Mrs. Ruby Tonagel, in Ainsworth. Rosenquist's wife preceded him in death several years ago.

Besides Mrs. Tonagel, he is survived by two other daughters, Mrs. Ester Fridh, South Bend, and Mrs. Hazel Young, Chesterton. Also surviving are a sister, Glenda Peterson, Chicago, and six grandchildren.*

Charles is buried in Chesterton Cemetery … as is his wife, I'm told, but unfortunately whoever added his record to findagrave.com did not include hers.

There was a Charles H. Rosenquist in Porter County, born ten years earlier than our Charles M., and we must not allow him to confuse us.**

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Eldon Harms, looking at this photo, remembered the delivery truck as being blue. He also said that the telephone number on the side ending in "3" may mean it was a party line, and a call to the Tonagels would ring thrice.

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*"Former Chesterton Area Farmer Dies in S.B. Hospital." Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.) 20 Oct. 1953.
**Any more than we are already, I mean.

Ainsworth Then and Now: The Pantry/Sharp School Services Again

1937 and 2015



(Click on images to enlarge)
1937 photo courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Taken on July 5, 1937, the top photo is two years later than the first then-and-now I showed you (though the "now" photos were taken the same day in both posts).

I like this photo because it shows you the emptiness of the northwest corner of that intersection (73rd Ave./S.R. 51). Now the fields have been filled up by the Christian Assembly Church and the John Wood Elementary School.


These next photos were taken from that northwest corner.




(Click on images to enlarge)
First and third images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

While the older photos are undated, we can be pretty sure they were not taken on July 5, 1937! I would say that they date a bit later than that: someone has had time to put up some directional signs that weren't there in the 1937 photo. The car is not clear enough to identify, but it appears to be a late-1930s or early-1940s model.

In the foreground of the first photo you will notice a gravel road, which is not the main north-and-south S.R. 51, but a shortcut that people would take if turning west onto 73rd Ave. from southbound S.R. 51 (or turning north onto S.R. 51 from eastbound 73rd) — much the same way that nowadays they cut through the church parking lot. The posts mark off an unused triangle of land between the shortcut and the main north-and-south S.R. 51. You can see a few of those posts in the 1937 photo.

Tonagel's Tourist Cabins

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that at last we have some photos of the tourist cabins that stood out back of the Tonagel family's store.

The bad news is that we probably do not (as I had believed) have a photograph of one of the cabins in the Cozy Camp, with Dacre Nelson lounging in front of it. Turns out that Dacre Nelson was a guest at the Tonagel place, and more likely that's where he was photographed.

So the search for images from the Cozy Camp/Chester's Camp must continue. In the meantime, however, let's get to those cabins out back of Tonagel's.

These first two pictures were taken from the southeast, with the photographer standing in almost the same place for both — but not on the same day. The first photo, undated, shows the cabins looking brand new. In the second, taken on July 5, 1937, the cabins seem to have a little wear on them.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.



I am told that these cabins were not built from scratch, but came pre-manufactured and only required assembly. They appear to be six- or eight-sided; each of those six or eight sides was a separate piece (with a matching separate piece of roof). The owner fastened the pieces together, and voilà ‐ a cabin!


Also taken on July 5, 1937, the next photograph shows The Pantry at left, and from the center toward the right, you can just make out those three cabins, behind the main building and the summer foliage.



The photographer was standing on (or near) the Lincoln Highway, just east of The Pantry.

If we judge by their chimneys, the cabins had a stove inside. They did not, however, have indoor plumbing. Guests in search of a toilet or a shower had to go to the main building (specifically, its east side, toward the back).


The camera was busy on July 5, 1937. Here's another shot from the same day:



Per notes on the back, the people are Cecil Tonagel, Esther Fridh, and Janice Fridh. (Esther was the sister of Cecil's wife, Ruby, and the mother of Janice.*)

The last photo from that day was taken from the west. It focuses on a swing in the area between the cabins and the back of The Pantry.



I suppose the swing could be used by the Tonagel family (who lived behind their store) or the guests in the cabins. The building in the background at right, I am told, is still standing, though remodeled; I would never have recognized it.

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*Relationship of Esther to Janice based on 1940 Census. Relationship of Esther to Cecil based on obituary of Ruby (Rosenquist) Tonegal's father, Charles ("Former Chesterton Area Farmer Dies in S.B. Hospital," Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso) 20 Oct. 1953).

Ainsworth Then and Now: The Pantry/Sharp School Services

A descendant of Cecil and Ruby Tonagel has generously shared a collection of photos with the Hobart Historical Society and the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society. So at last I have seen more than a corner of the Tonagels' store!

Here's a then-and-now:

1935 and 2015




(Click on images to enlarge)
Top image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

That is among the earliest photos we have of The Pantry, as the Tonagels named their new business.



And I'm pretty confident that 1935 marked the beginning of this business run by the Tonagel family, since the on-line research for my first post about the Tonagels turned up a Mobilgas ad suggesting that as late as July 1935 Cecil was still occupied as the manager of the Walnut Gardens, well east of Ainsworth on the Lincoln Highway … although I suppose he could have run two businesses at once.

In its early days, The Pantry was not so much a grocery store as a lunch counter and tourist stop, taking advantage of the traffic on the Lincoln Highway, which then passed right in front of it. Out back of the main building stood cabins that tourists would rent (and we shall see photos of those, too).

After the new Route 30 was put through, diverting the tourist traffic south, the Tonagels gradually changed the focus of their business to serving the locals.