Contributed by Teresa Douglass, Genealogy Specialist

Congratulations to all Harrison County high school grads – you made it!

Here’s a look back at some past seniors from various schools throughout the county.

Visit HCPL’s Harrison County Schools digital collection to view more photographs.

Elizabeth High School, Class of 1952
Front Row (l-r): Evelyn Pearl Knear, Geraldine Kingery, Carolyn Edmonson, Geneva Stewart, Wilma Jean Saltsgaver, Mary Lee Miller, Erma Jean Mason, Mary Helen Conlee. Second Row: Mrs. Noble Wiseman (teacher), Carl LaDuke, Darrell Schoen, Edgar Lopp, Lawrence Gail Turner, James A. Wilson, Wanda June Brown. Third Row: William E. Weber, Paul Bierly, E. William Monson, Virgil Jawtok, Harold Hoke, Arthur Luther. Fourth Row: Alvin Wilson.

Laconia High School, Class of 1952
Front Row (l-r): Marilyn Johnson, Mary Ann Goldman, Ellen E. Lemmon, Mary Jones, Mary Lea Faith, Pauline Margaret Pindell. Second Row: James Sample, Alice Biddle, Phyllis Ann Crosier, Sherley Jean Boone. Third Row: Carter L. Adams (principal), Johnny Boone, Allen K. Denbo, Wayne M. Snyder, Floyd E. Stevens, Melvin King.

Lanesville High School, Class of 1952
Front Row (l-r): Marilyn Glietz Wiseman, Patsy Stanley Summers, Virginia Turley Clunie, Vilma Yeager Higginbotham, Joyce Carver Philpot, Lucille Blank Stewart. Second Row: LaVerne Lowe Smith, Jean Carver Baumgart, Louise Geswien Stilger, Loretta Schuler Marking, Lois Conrad Baumgartle. Third Row: Herman Prage (principal), William Baker, Harold Schneider, Louis Lindle, Sherman Thomas.

Mauckport High School, Class of 1949
Front Row (l-r): Nina Beanblossom, Clara Jean Love. Second Row: Dorothy Watson, Helen Singleton. Third Row: Herschel Frakes, Hugh Foster, Kermit Hayes, Verrelle Mackison, Gaylord Duley, Charles Goldman.

Morgan Township High School, Class of 1948
Front Row (l-r): Alliene McAfee, Wilmetta Chumley, Patti Ollis, Mary Catherine Fouts. Second Row: Patty Arnold, Roberta Herd, Helen Gettelfinger, Mary Catherine Fessell, Frieda Wolfe. Third Row: Marie Smith, Harold McIntosh, Herman Beuchler, Rita Gettelfinger. Fourth Row: Irvin Gettelfinger, Marvin Stemm, Jim Walker, Irvin Ferber, Merle McIntosh.

New Amsterdam High School, Class of 1946
Paul Cotner, Bobby Coffman, Verlo Hibbs, Paul Daily, Iva Haas, Corinne Watson, and Earl Finn.

New Salisbury High School, Class of 1951
Front Row (l-r): Joyce Dodds, Beulah Mae Walk, Virginia Southard, Nancy Fulkerson, Wilma Lone, Betty Adkins, Cordelia Rose Swartz, Pauline Arbuckle. Second Row: Nessie Clunie, Lanie Eversole, Charlotte Troncin, Pauline Byrn, Jeanie Rusk, Delores Wright, Jean Smith. Third Row: Charles Gaither, Thomas Chinn, Vaughn Adams, Charles Dodds, Eugene Higdon. Fourth Row: Ervin Wagner, Dallas Ray Richards, Tommy Burks, Donald Bruner, Wanda Toffolo (music director).

New Middletown High School, Class of 1951
Front Row (l-r): Billie Reeves, Ruth Gerdon, Norma Pendleton, Carol Luther, Sue Shawler. Second Row: Margaret Fisher, Daisy Lowe, Rita Lillpop, Wallace Shewmaker, Cleo Kirkham, Edmund F. Schneider (teacher). Third Row: Bill Pate, Dick Burger, Max Rupp, Sammy Wolfe. Fourth Row: Sonny Combs.

Corydon High School, Class of 1934
Front Row (l-r): Stanley Chinn, Charles Davis, Charles Gehlbach, Thelma Walter, Irma Kinter, Alliene Ehalt, Lewis Stoy, Virginia Wilson, Mildred Kiger, Georgia Brown, Claud Tindall, Charles Rowe, James Heaton, Carl Richert. Second Row: Farn Doll, James Benton, James Stepro, Audra Rowley, Clara Reasor, Mildred Marcilliot, Ruby Boston, Dorothy Hunter, Berneda Carnes, Edward Crosby, August Sell, Claude Krause. Third Row: Lucien Garner, Stanley Boxby, James Brengman, Hubert Miller, Oliver Rothrock, Forrest Gilham, Walker Overton, Dorothy Wells, John Frederick Jr., Loran Bussabarger, Ernest Neafus, Blaine Gilham, William Anderson, Alvin Smith.

The seniors are photographed outside the high school located on Chestnut Street. This brick building was constructed in 1928 and served as Corydon High School from 1928 until 1954. After this it became the Corydon Junior High School.

Contributed by Teresa Douglass, Genealogy Specialist

At the Clover Valley Poultry Farm and Hatchery near Ramsey, farming was combined with flying.

Chicks + planes = Free Bird? 😊

Clover Valley Hatchery and airport near Ramsey, Indiana.

George F. Pinaire began what became Clover Valley Poultry Farm and Hatchery in 1906 and developed it into one of the most modern hatcheries in the region. He was later assisted by his sons, William and Clifford. The Pinaires continued to modernize and expand the business, opening a second hatchery in Depauw in 1936, followed by additional branches in Milltown and Seymour, Indiana, and a plant in Bellflower, California. George Pinaire died in 1937, and his son, William, continued to manage the Indiana plants, while Clifford managed the California operation. A leading aviation enthusiast, William Pinaire, had a private pilot’s license and owned three planes. He established a 1,600-foot runway on his Ramsey farm (seen in the foreground of the photo, with a plane at far right), and in the late 1940s, he purchased an additional 16 acres to build another runway, 2,100 feet long. Pinaire offered to pay for flying lessons for his employees with the idea of possibly flying the hatchery’s chicks to market. His primary reason, however, was to simply show his workers “how much fun it is to fly.”

Check out more farm photos in HCPL’s Farms, Crops, and Animals collection.

Contributed by Teresa Douglass, Genealogy Specialist

This week has been National Library Week, so today we engage in a little shameless self-promotion and salute HCPL with a glance back at our humble beginnings. So hats off to the library and to its many patrons and supporters over the years!

Olive Griffin at the lending library in Griffin’s Dry Goods Store, ca. 1898.

Olive Griffin (1876-1958) peruses a book in the lending library that she conducted in the millinery department of her family’s dry goods store in Corydon. The collection of books in Griffin’s store served as a precursor to the Corydon Public Library, which Olive and other members of the Griffin family helped develop.  Visit HCPL’s Griffin Family Photos Collection.

1909 newspaper article about a benefit given to help establish a public library.

This 1909 newspaper article covers a tea held by the Women’s Literary Club of Corydon to benefit the establishment of a local public library. The tea was held at the home of one of the club’s members, and the admission fee was a donation of a book for the proposed library. The event was a success with the donation of 119 books. The article lists all who donated and the titles of the works they contributed.

See the Woman’s Literary Club of Corydon minute book.

This paragraph, taken from the above article, shows a deep appreciation for library supporters and their “wide-awake interest” in developing a public library that will “have reason to rejoice” over the library’s continued growth.

HCPL strives to meet and exceed these expectations, and we hope to continue giving our patrons reasons to rejoice!