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August 30, 2010

Mark Bennett: ‘Our Town’ blends Bird, Coca-Cola, blues into city history lesson

Mark Bennett The Tribune-Star The Tribune Star Mon Aug 30, 2010, 05:00 AM EDT

. — Longtime Hauteans who watch tonight’s “Our Town: Terre Haute” will likely spot two apparent omissions.

Social justice icon Eugene V. Debs isn’t featured, and nobody mentions the city’s decades-long smell problem.

There is a reason for both gaps.

Aside from those, the one-hour documentary covers Terre Haute’s history pretty much wall-to-wall, from its founding to the construction of the new Union Hospital expansion. The WTIU-produced show premieres at 8 p.m. today. That Bloomington-based PBS station will rebroadcast “Our Town: Terre Haute” at 9:30 p.m. Friday, and at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Viewers in Terre Haute can see it on Time Warner Cable Channel 10.

Debs, a Terre Haute native who ran for president five times on the Socialist Party ticket, will be the subject of a WTIU feature in the near future, said John Winninger, senior producer of the program. So, WTIU will save details on Debs’ remarkable life for that upcoming piece.

As for our smell issues, which have subsided in the past few years because of plant closings, few people around town mentioned it to the WTIU crew, Winninger said. Thus, that old stigma is not highlighted.

But, otherwise, “Our Town” does indeed look like our town, and includes great narratives from Terre Haute historians Mike McCormick, Marylee Hagan and Dorothy Jerse, as well as reflections from key figures of local institutions. (You may not realize the city can claim fame for having America’s first pay toilet.)

Winninger provided a preview copy to the Tribune-Star, and the show is entertaining and a good lesson in local history.

It’s almost all there — the birthplace of the Coca-Cola bottle, the infamous “red light district” with dozens of brothels, minor league baseball, the Hulman dynasty, the “Sin City” gambling busts, Mayor McMillan’s football face mask invention, Rose-Hulman Ventures, Blues at the Crossroads, Clabber Girl, Heinl’s Flower Shop, the Saratoga Restaurant, the Terre Haute Symphony, and the local colleges. The graphics and old photographs are fascinating and elegantly displayed. Tom Roznowski’s rendition of “On the Banks of the Wabash (Far Away)” — the state song, written by Terre Haute songwriting legend Paul Dresser — is a gem.

Most Hauteans know bits and pieces of the history presented in “Our Town: Terre Haute,” but few of us have seen it all blended into a single TV episode, with Larry Bird following St. Mother Theodore Guerin, Chauncey Rose and Madame Brown. It’s a worthwhile hour of tube time.



Mark Bennett can be reached at (812) 231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.

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Copyright 2012 News From Terre Haute, Indiana. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Mark Bennett B-Sides

• MARK BENNETT: Proposed trail would give river development momentum, reacquaint community with Wabash

  Terre Haute and the Wabash River were like strangers living next door to each other.

  February 12, 2012 5 Photos  

• MARK BENNETT: Super Bowl luck? His is mostly bad

  I’ve learned to take a Seinfeld approach to Super Bowls.
  In a flash of clairvoyance, Jerry excitedly reminded buddy George Costanza that “if every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.”

  February 2, 2012 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: Not-so-casual observers

  In the minds of many adults, the most upstanding generation of young people was, ironically, their own.

  January 29, 2012  

• MARK BENNETT: On the banks of the Wabash, a sculpture

  Paul Dresser remembered his hometown at its best. Terre Haute should remember him the same way.

  January 26, 2012 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: A reminder for electorate: You get what you vote for

  In the rear-view mirror of our lives, some days loom larger than we expected.
  For many Hoosiers, the date Nov. 2, 2010, probably fits that category.

  January 19, 2012 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: Keys to the future

  Steve Witt fielded a jarring phone call in October 2007.

  January 15, 2012  

• MARK BENNETT: Hall-of-Famer Larkin delivered more than clutch hits

  A logjam of kids swelled behind the first-base dugout in Riverfront Stadium.

  January 12, 2012 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: Polian, Colts and Terre Haute were good for one another

  Sentimentality seems alien in a discussion of Bill Polian.
  That emotion rarely influenced his decisions in 14 seasons as the day-to-day boss of the Indianapolis Colts. He surely felt it, but seldom submitted to it. The NFL is a business, after all, with winning as its bottom line. Polian knew how to make that happen, and did. Anyone or anything threatening to divert the Colts from title contention could not linger. When it came to that mission, Polian functioned with all of the sentimentality of Joe Friday.

  January 5, 2012 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: In this day and age, pure quiet is hard to find

  It’s hard to emulate JFK — this JFK, at least.

  December 18, 2011  

• MARK BENNETT: Rose professor’s bit part in classic holiday movie leaves a major memory

  Most of us see a bit of ourselves in “A Christmas Story.” Mike Kukral does so, literally. The 1983 movie grew into a holiday classic because so many of its poignant, awkward and hilarious moments seem to have been pulled straight from our childhood memories.

  December 15, 2011 6 Photos  

• MARK BENNETT: Ferrell’s love of Old Milwaukee shines light on Old Terre Haute

  Will Ferrell didn’t walk through traffic at Seventh and Wabash for nothing.
  Well, actually it might have been for nothing. Apparently, the comedian just likes Old Milwaukee so much that he came to Terre Haute, unannounced, one morning last September to film wacky commercials for the beer.

  December 8, 2011 2 Photos  

• MARK BENNETT: Holiday season makes going to the mailbox fun again

  Ants decided to set up a colony in our family’s mailbox last summer.

  December 1, 2011 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: First impressions: City benefits from hearing visitors’ views of community

  The town should blush.

  November 27, 2011  

• MARK BENNETT: When it comes to retail, Thursday is the new Friday

  The new Thanksgiving dinner tradition?
  Turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie served at a family tailgating party in a big-box store parking lot on Black Thursday.

  November 24, 2011 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: 'The Way We Worked' exhibit explains how work became a cornerstone of Americana

  Young steelworkers, like Robert Bruno’s dad, often took dates to the railroad yards, watching train cars rumble past in blue-collar Youngstown, Ohio.

  November 20, 2011 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: He told tales of great-uncle Mortecai Brown, but Fred Massey's story is worth hearing

  Fred Massey loved to talk about his family.
  His wife and daughters, his parents, his brothers and sisters. And, his great-uncle, Mort. Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown, that is, the Hall of Fame pitcher who led the Chicago Cubs to their last World Series title in 1908 with an amazing curveball and without an index finger.

  November 17, 2011 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: Guess where the newest THPD headquarters is?

  The city election involved lots of debate over a new headquarters for the Terre Haute Police Department.
  But is Raleigh, N.C., really a fitting location? The 750-mile commute for the cops would be dreadful.
   

  November 11, 2011 3 Photos  

• MARK BENNETT: Mayor’s progressive vision today has ties to leader long ago

  Going backward rarely works as a leadership strategy.
  Political groups often insist they’re primed to “take back America.” While their intent is to reclaim lost turf, the ultimate goal is to go backward — to a different time. Life isn’t “Back to the Future” or any other movie, though. The best policy for worthwhile living is to do things right today that make tomorrow better.

  November 10, 2011 3 Photos  

• MARK BENNETT: ‘It’s giving with care, and without judgment’

  Let’s avoid the P-word today.
  Just for some clarity, we’ll offer its dictionary definition: “The state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor.”

  November 3, 2011 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: Pull up a telescope and see a show at Rose-Hulman observatory

  Once in a lifetime. The phrase gets uttered often. Sometimes, it’s an assumption, as in traveling to Europe or getting tickets to see the Cubs play in the World Series. Occasionally, it’s definite.

  October 27, 2011 3 Photos  

• MARK BENNETT: Year of the River inspiring new ideas

  The Wabash River inspired the state song. That’s impressive.

  October 20, 2011 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: The significance of writing: T-S columnist Mike Lunsford pens third book

  Our nerves buzz with anxiety for different reasons.

  October 16, 2011 2 Photos  

• MARK BENNETT: Movie’s portrayal of fatherhood’s issues lives up to its name

  For three summers, I had the good fortune to watch and listen to Tony Dungy day after day.

  October 13, 2011 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: Could a new champion for public schools be emerging?

  Deep down, millions of Hoosiers would wear the label “advocate for public schools.”
  Yes, many have their complaints, criticisms and a few “you-know-what-they-really-need-is” suggestions. But, in their heart of hearts, they want to see their alma maters and hometown public schools succeed and progress.

  October 6, 2011  

• MARK BENNETT: In Prairieton, renovation gives new life to old park

  There wasn’t much leg room in that Radio Flyer wagon.
  Our sons — two years apart but squashed together inside its fading wooden rails — always fidgeted until the black wheels started rumbling over the uneven WPA-era sidewalks running through Prairieton.

  September 29, 2011 4 Photos  

• Rekindling a dream on the river

  Mark Twain probably would grin at the sight of John Cornell, Jim Foster, Dan Remaly and their raft.

  September 22, 2011 4 Photos  

• MARK BENNETT: Just another Terre Haute celebrity sighting

  At some point, this stuff becomes routine.

  September 14, 2011 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: Everyone has a role in this American story (see VIDEO)

  We stood atop a hill in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, and I do mean rural. Cars, trucks, SUVs and RVs kept pulling into the parking area. Groups of people climbed out of their vehicles and into the suffocating July heat. Then, they too stood on the hilltop, staring down at a grassy clearing in front of a woods.

  September 8, 2011 4 Photos 1 Video  

• MARK BENNETT: It’s time for us to rekindle our volunteer spirit

  Hoosiers exhibit generosity.
  Terre Hauteans, in particular, displayed that virtue after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the local flooding in 2008. They donated blood, money, food, clothes and — most significantly — their own sweat and time.

  August 25, 2011 1 Photo  

• MARK BENNETT: What would Debs think?

  Pretend it’s the year 2111.

  August 14, 2011 3 Photos  

• More Mark Bennett B-Sides Headlines

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