Conner Prairie - A Glimpse Into Life in Indiana in 1836

In keeping with our interest in living history, we decided to make a visit to Conner Prairie in Fishers, Indiana, as part of a recent vacation.  I didn't really know what to expect, but I can only say it was so much more than I thought it would be.  There were areas meant for young children that we skipped, but what we saw we enjoyed immensely.

Conner Prairie got its name from William Conner, whose home is still in its original location.  Other buildings in the park are authentic buildings, but mostly brought from other areas of the state. A quilted wall hanging in the home represented a map of the area.

  We concentrated on two portions of the park although we did also visit the area representing the Lenape (Delaware) tribe which lived in Indiana in 1836 which is the year the park represents.

After leaving the Conner home, we made a quick visit to the loom house which was an exhibit of weaving, spinning, dyeing and various fiber arts.  Outside the house was a simple display where guests could give weaving a try.

We made our way to an area called Prairietown which is a small sort of town with one main road.  The walkway was bounded by rustic fences.  On days when the weather permits, there is also a balloon experience.

Our first visit was to the blacksmith shop where the smith was busy making flint strikers.  It appeared to me that the strikers and other items made in the little town were available for purchase in the gift shop in the main building.  All the workers in Prairietown were dressed in period costumes and worked in 'first person', thus knowing nothing about modern times.

Nearby was a bake shop where pies and other baked goods were being produced.  While not actively cooking, the proprietress was getting her ironing done.

The shopkeeper across the street had all sorts of trade goods and other items desirable  to folks in a small prairie town.  In addition to his goods he had an amazing little hand truck made entirely of wood! The store was also the site of notices of interest to the townsfolk.

Not far from the store was the village school. School was in session when we arrived.  The school master was very strict.  Parents had to pay a few cents a day for each student for the school term of three months from December to February, including Christmas day!  Can you solve the riddle in the center of the chalk board?  He showed us an interesting way to use the number pyramid to learn addition and multiplication facts.

The nicest house in town was the residence and office of Dr. Campbell.  It appeared he made his own remedies.  Dr. Cambell had an interesting stethoscope which was basically a wooden tube turned on a lathe.  I'm pretty sure I know someone who could make one of those!

The herb house was just across from the doctor's place.  Drying herbs hung from the ceiling, ready to be used to cure local residents.

The village pottery was nearby. The potter was busy turning out mugs, inkwells and other useful items for the town.  The kiln was outside the shop.  His wheel looked really heavy, but turned amazingly easily when he moved it with his feet....and just kept turning.

The last shop we visited was the carpenter shop, which of course of great interest to my woodworker.  We went there last because I knew once we were  there, we'd never get any further before closing time. Mr. McClure, the carpenter was busy turning a rolling pin on his treadle lathe.  He also had a fine collection of molding planes.

Once we left Prairietown, we headed to the Civil War section of the park.  Apparently there was only one battle in Indiana during the Civil War.  This exhibit was about that raid.  It was also done in first person.   The exhibits in the store and the home were well done with video portrayals visible from the windows of the buildings to tell the story.

We loved the museum enough to go there two days in a row so we could see everything.

Going to Church in Indianapolis

From the time my family moved to Indianapolis until the time I left there, we attended church in two different locations so today while out being nostalgic we stopped at both of the old buildings.  The oldest building can be seen at this link.

The newer church was completed in about March 1957.  It was special to me because I was the first person baptized there.  The exterior of the building was made of Bedford limestone from Indiana.  Each block of stone had to be individually faced.  Most of the work of facing and laying the stone was done by my father and about 4 other men.  They all had other jobs, but came faithfully after work to do the stone until it was complete.  It was a large, 2 story building and took many hours of work.

   The stonework has become discolored, but they eventually plan to pressure wash it to make it nice again.  The facing marks on the stones are visible.


  When we stopped by there today to take a picture of the building, we were pleasantly surprised to find someone there who was willing to allow us to go inside to see the renovations they had made and remember the good old days.

  When the building was sold in the late 70s or early 80s, it was purchased by a group which called it Mother Sanders Temple affiliated with the Church of God in Christ.

The original chapel portion of the building had an area on the second floor with large windows overlooking the chapel.  It was used as a 'cry room' for mothers with fussy babies who wanted to observe the service without disturbing other worshipers.

We could not take pictures of the bottom part of this room as the old chapel is now being used as a day care center, and of course, we couldn't take a picture that might have any of the children in it.

In that same room, our guide, Lucy, pointed out that the original sound system is still there.

The pulpit area is gone.

The half wall still exists between the old chapel and the cultural hall, but the upper half now has folding doors that open horizontally rather than the doors that opened in the middle to the top and bottom.  The old cultural hall is now the chapel because it has more room.  Permanent overflow seating has now been installed on the stage of the hall as well.  In lieu of stained glass windows, they have used colored paper to create a stained glass effect.  The end furthest from the chapel now has a sort of low stage area with places for choirs, musicians, etc. to perform.

One of the pictures in their chapel is of their founders, Mother Sanders and her husband, Pastor Sanders.

The kitchen has a nice commercial stove in it now.

The old Relief Society room at the end of the building is primarily used as a food pantry.  The baptismal font is still there and is still used.

The original steeple has been removed from the building.  The congregation has big plans to build a large new part of the church in front of the old one which necessitated removing the front entrance to attach beams for the new building.  They don't want to have a mortgage for the new addition, so it is slow going to raise the money.  Therefore, the front area is very unfinished.

Here you can sort of see where they have attached the new portion to the old building.

Two pictures of the new portion they hope to complete someday.

It was good to see that the old building is still being put to good use.  Lucy commented that they have never had any problems with the stone structure, so Dad and his friends must have done a good job!

Back Home Again in Indiana

When our family first moved to Indianapolis back in 1951 when Dad started working for Eli Lilly, we first lived in a rented duplex at 3025 N. Delaware Street.  My memory says it was a large duplex with a big, fenced back yard with an alley behind it for garbage collection. 

Today, on a nostalgic trip back through time to revisit our old homes, I find that my memory was perhaps playing tricks on me.  The large duplex, which we called a 'double' was quite a bit smaller than the other old homes on the street.  I remember a sidewalk in front of the house, with a another sidewalk leading from the main sidewalk up to our porch.  I remember that small sidewalk having a couple of steps up from the street where I sat and played with worms sometimes.  Today there was no sidewalk leading up to the house, although I guess that could have disappeared over the years.  There were only some small stepping stones. 

When I lived there, the Oborn family lived in the adjoining duplex.  Now the neighbors tell us the other side is occupied by the son of the current owner.  The fenced back yard is no longer fenced, and it appears a garage might have been back there at one time, but only a bit of the foundation is left.  The alley is much the same as I remember.

The most astonishing thing about the current house is the trees.  On the other side, a large branch of a tree appears as though it rests on the roof.  According to the neighbors, a large storm a few weeks ago was responsible for the demise of the large tree branch which now blocks the rear door of our side.  The building is not nearly as large as I remembered.  The large yard is clearly also not large.

House front.  We lived on the right side which is currently for rent.  You can see the stepping stones if you look closely.

House back with large tree limb blocking rear door on our side.  The remains of a garage foundation are visible.


When I was about four, my parents were prepared to buy their first home which was quite an exciting day for our family although I recall feeling sad and knowing I'd miss the place.  Our next home was at 3449 N. Adams Street.  This house also had a large backyard where I could play.  We even got a dog which we named Candy.  It was a nice house, just right for our family of three.  It had a kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom and two bedrooms upstairs and a mostly unfinished basement except for one room finished in knotty pine panels.  The house was at the end of a dead end road then.  We had neighbors on one side and the other side went down into a little ravine where we had a little garden.  I could walk around the edge of the ravine to get to the next street over, which was a through street, so I could get to school.   We had happy times in that house.  After a time I got a brother!  Because he was small, he got my upstairs bedroom and I had the lovely knotty pine room in the basement.  The basement  also included a coal room and a furnace room.  The washing machine was also in the basement.  Eventually we knew it was time to leave the little house because I got a new sister and the house was getting crowded.

House front.  Living room to the left and bedroom to the right.

House back:  Bedroom to the left and kitchen door to the right leading to a small patio.  Coal was brought to the rear of the house and delivered right into the coal room until the house was converted to oil heat.

Back yard looking from the house to the ravine. 

I think there was no carport when we lived in the house.  The large back yard was not as large as I recalled.  The back fence was gone and the overgrown brush possibly made it seem smaller.  Sadly, the house was empty and appeared to be abandoned.  The front door was padlocked, but a look through the windows confirmed it was empty.  Broken glass and empty liquor bottles were evident all around the home.  I was sad to see the disrepair.

I suppose it was around 1956 or 1957 when my parents realized we needed to move to have more space, so they began looking for a new place.  They found one, but the home was not finished.  They must have agreed to finish the house as part of the deal, because we spent many hours there finishing and painting walls and other finishing work on the house.  I think it must have been about March of 1957 when we finally moved in to 5010 Glenmar Lane.

It was called a tri-level house.  A hallway bisected the house from front door to back door.  To the left of the front door was a living room with dining room and kitchen behind it, all on the middle level.  To the right of the front door and the hallway was a small stairway that led up to three bedrooms.  A larger stairway led to the basement level beneath the bedrooms which became our family room, laundry and food storage area. It was also on a dead end street.  Until more houses were built at the end of the street, we could pick wild strawberries there.  We had a nice garden area behind the house.  There was a medium sized Sycamore tree in the front yard.  We also had a pretty redbud tree.  We children spend a good bit of time picking up rocks in the yard before a lawn could be planted.  The driveway had a turnout with a large wild cherry tree next to it that we liked to climb.  At first the driveway was gravel, but later it was paved with 'blacktop'.   Another sister was born while we lived there so us three girls shared a room.

All of the trees I remembered are gone now and part of the garage is obscured by a large bush that I don't recall having.  Otherwise, it looked pretty much the same, although the blacktop appears to have reverted to gravel.  The large window in the middle was our living room.  The bedroom upstairs on the right was mine and my sisters' and the one on the left belonged to my brother.

It was when I was about 12 that my family once again decided we needed more space, so again my parents started looking for another place.  This time they found a new subdivision where they could choose their own lot and house plan, but the house was not quite finished when we had to move out of our other home, so the builder offered to finish the garage first and put a lock on it, so we moved all our belongings into the garage and then went on vacation to visit our grandparents.  When we returned home, the house was finished enough to move in to.  There were still a few remaining things to do, so it seemed we always had members of various building trades around for a few weeks until everything was completed.   What luxury!  I had my own room!  My brother had his own room as well and my sisters shared the fourth bedroom.    It was pretty much a new neighborhood, so most of the trees had been removed by the subdivider to make it easier for him.  Trees in the neighborhood were all small ones planted by the home owners.  We lived at 5464 Mark Lane.

Over the years, the neighborhood has become shady and full of lovely trees.  It is still a well-kept neighborhood.   I lived in this home during grades 8-12, after which I moved away for college and really never lived at home again for any great length of time.

A few years later, my family moved to their last Indianapolis home at 6637 Albion Drive.  This home still appears to be in good repair.

In late 1984 or early 1985, our family's time in Indiana ended as Dad retired and they moved on to the next part of their lives, but we'll always remember the song we learned to sing there:

Back Home Again in Indiana

Back home again in Indiana,
And it seems that I can see
The gleaming candle light, still burning bright,
Through the Sycamores for me.
The new-mown hay sends all its fragnance
Through the fields I used to roam.
When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash
Then I long for my Indiana home.