TERRE HAUTE — Last week’s column introduced the topic of Vigo County orphanages and discussed the St. Ann Orphans Home for girls, the Rose Orphans Home, and the Glenn Home (also known as the Vigo County Home for Dependent Children). Jennifer Krockenberger’s three enlightening Web sites tell viewers all about these institutions, and can be found at stannsorphanshome.homestead.com/index.html, roseorphanshome.homestead.com, and glennhome.homestead.com. Her Web sites are detailed and instructional for any one wanting to know the history of these institutions, to see old and recent photographs, to search the censuses of each facility, or to connect with former residents of the homes.
Jennifer started her work in 2004 when she created her first Web site as a tribute to the Glenn Home, the last orphanage in Vigo County to close. An adoptee herself, who was never actually a resident of an orphanage, she is still keenly interested in the history of these institutions and the genealogical challenges that adoptees are up against when seeking their biological roots. She relates that searching for, and finding, her biological roots was a “life-altering experience,” Her story about her own experience is on her Web site www.bondedbyfate.com.
About 4 years ago, Lost Creek County Trustee Rick Long also became interested in the Glenn Home. He received a phone call from a man dying of cancer who was a former resident of Glenn Home. The man stated that he wanted to be buried in the Glenn Home Cemetery. As a township trustee, Rick is responsible for maintaining each cemetery in Lost Creek Township, but he wasn’t aware that there WAS a cemetery at Glenn Home. Meanwhile, Jennifer Krockenberger had found a map showing a cemetery on the property, but no one could locate it in the woods.
The search went on until April 2007, when the Glenn Home children’s cemetery was discovered with the help of several people, including members of Rose Hulman’s Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity that now occupies the old Glenn Home property and buildings. A single grave has been found, but there is death record evidence that at least 20 children are buried there. (See the Web site for the names of these children and a photo of the one known grave).
As the man responsible for all the township’s cemeteries, Rick Long wanted to honor those buried in the Glenn Home cemetery. But because the actual burial ground is in the woods and covered by thickets, it was decided to place a memorial to the orphans in a more public and accessible location. The Chamberlain Cemetery, located behind the old Glenn Home property on Old Maple Avenue, was selected.
So on Saturday, in the Chamberlain Cemetery, the Lost Creek Township board will dedicate a memorial stone to the memory of the children who died as residents of Glenn Home and to the legacy of the thousands of children and staff who once resided there. The dedication ceremony will be at 1 p.m., and will be brief. The public is invited. Due to the absence of parking in and near the cemetery, a shuttle bus has been set up. Those wanting to attend the dedication should park in the lot of the Victory Christian Church on U.S. 40 east of Seelyville to be taken by bus to the Chamberlain Cemetery. The bus will leave for the cemetery at 12:30 p.m.
Prior to the dedication ceremony, former residents and staff of the Glenn Home are invited to tour the campus from 9:30-11:30 a.m. by the fraternity. This event is not open to the public. Contact Lost Creek Trustee Rick Long at (812) 877-3415 for further information.
History
Genealogy: Vigo orphanage Web sites offer great detail
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GENEALOGY: Columnist seeks info on families from Dana
Perhaps someone out there can help me with something I’ve been working on for quite a few years
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Early Terre Haute theater includes Billy Emerson
Traveling theater troupes performed in Terre Haute before the village was incorporated on Jan. 26, 1832.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: Radiant heating — a hot idea
This week’s Historical Treasure is a bit out of season, but a wood stove will help drive away the morning chill and you can make breakfast on it.
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LOOKING BACK: 1987: Record-breaking temps hit Vigo
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSON: Emperor Constantine changes the world
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GENEALOGY: Library archives contain tons of information
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Historic efforts to open Center Street from Cherry to Swan
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LOOKING BACK: 2002 — Valley drenched in wettest spring in 107 years
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star. -
HISTORICAL TREASURE: Some history wreathed in hair
From the unfortunate occurrence of Prince Albert’s death in 1861 came the social mores of proper mourning practices and accoutrements witnessed and endorsed by the admirers of Queen Victoria in her reign-long state of grieving.
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LOOKING BACK: 1987: League of Women Voters reorganizes
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: Here comes the bride
The newest major exhibit at the Historical Museum, which opens Tuesday, showcases wedding gowns worn by Vigo County residents.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Downtown changes featured in early 1927
During March and April of 1927 – about 85 years ago – the owners of interests in four major downtown Terre Haute theaters were negotiating to transfer their interests to representatives of Paramount Studios.
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GENEALOGY: Genealogy isn’t for the easily embarrassed
The saying goes, if you’re easily embarrassed or afraid of what you’ll find, don’t start doing genealogy.
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BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSONS: The long, lost, last — the 27th —Amendment
Our very last constitutional amendment — the 27th Amendment — was ratified this week (May 7) in 1992 when Michigan became the 38th state to approve it.
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BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSONS: The Haymarket Square Massacre
One unhappy byproduct of the Industrial Age was the growing discontent of its industrial workers, who constantly agitated for better pay and more humane working conditions.
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LOOKING BACK: 1962: Stands packed as Wiley takes county track title
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and the Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Death of Terre Haute jeweler gains national headlines
Terre Haute sought national publicity in 1910 through “Boosterism,” lauding the city’s significant advancements during the decade ending Dec. 31, 1909.
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GENEALOGY: Cemetery Committee to conduct restoration workshop
The Wabash Valley Genealogy Society’s Cemetery Committee will conduct an all-day cemetery restoration workshop on Saturday at the Smith Cemetery near Youngstown, Honey Creek Township, Vigo County, Ind.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: Harmonious history
In 1923, a group of singers calling themselves the Harmony Four entertained regularly over the radio and at civic and various club events.
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BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSONS: Cleveland observes Lincoln’s funeral
The death of America’s greatest president, Abraham Lincoln, resulted in an outpouring of national mourning, the apex of which came in late April of 1865 when a specially outfitted train carried his body on a thirteen-day, 1,700-mile, eleven-city funeral procession from Washington, D.C., to his home and final resting place in Springfield, Ill.
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GENEALOGY: Many people can trace ancestry to Titanic
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, which occurred on April 14-15, 1912.
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LOOKING BACK: 1987: ISU bowling team at nationals again
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Sullivan County mine explosion kills 8 in 1878
Shortly after 4 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 21, 1878, an enormous explosion rocked the Handford Brothers mine about one-half mile north of the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad depot in Sullivan County.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: A common feature, but memorable
As an absolute architecture nerd, I tend to look at buildings noticing the odd ball things such as door hinges and door locks in addition to admiring the overall building.
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BRUCE'S HISTORY LESSONS: MLK’s letter written from a jail cell in Birmingham
This week (April 16) in 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. sat in a jail cell in Birmingham, Ala., having been arrested for violating a trumped-up court order that prohibited him and his followers from conducting various protest activities, most of which you can read about in the First Amendment.
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LOOKING BACK: 1962: Swope celebrates 20th anniversary
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: 1955 Babe Ruth League championship team to be feted
Currently in his 25th year as a college baseball coach, Rick Heller is in the midst of his third winning season at Indiana State and has embraced the university and the community.
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GENEALOGY: Long-awaited 1940 census is now available for the public
The long-awaited release of the 1940 census took place on April 2.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: Memories baked from scratch
On my Historical Treasure hunt, I was drawn to a pasteboard barrel 28 inches high and 18.5 inches across with the words “Calumet Baking Powder Bakes Best, Received Highest Award” on one side and “Calumet Baking Powder Always Pleases, Try It” on the other.
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BRUCE'S HISTORY LESSON: Thomas Jefferson's flights of fancy
Thomas Jefferson, born this week (April 13) in 1743, is — deservedly so — in the pantheon of American heroes.
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GENEALOGY: Columnist seeks info on families from Dana
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