News compiled by Ginny Leap from past issues of
Switzerland County newspapers
10 YEARS AGO
The Vevay Deposit Bank, which this year is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its founding, has a new owner. It is being sold to a regional banking firm based in Ohio. Ralph Tilley, president and chief executive officer of the Vevay Deposit Bank, announced the sale of the bank to First Financial Bancorp of Hamilton, Ohio. The sale, which is expected to be completed later this year, has a total value of $7.8 million, First Financial Bancorp officials said.
The Switzerland County Pacers boys varsity basketball team earned the championship of the Rivertown Classic tournament on Saturday with victories over Shawe and Rising Sun.
Indiana’s new governor, Frank O’Bannon of Corydon, was officially sworn into office during a chilly outdoor ceremony Monday in Indianapolis. In the audience for the event was teacher Kim Temple’s fourth grade class from Jefferson-Craig Elementary School. They braved the cold to witness a bit of history. Fourth-graders from all around Indiana were invited to attend the inauguration.
Nina Allen, daughter of Richard and Toni Allen of Fishing Worm Ridge, has been named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at Vincennes University. She is taking multimedia courses at Vincennes, which includes commercial art, as well as radio and broadcasting training.
Members of the Vevay Park Board were informed this week that they have been awarded a grant by the Paul Ogle Foundation. The grant will allow the necessary improvements to take place that will allow the Swiss Wine Festival to move to the riverfront beginning this August.
15 YEARS AGO
Greg Curlin of Vevay, teacher and FFA advisor at Switzerland County Junior-Senior High School, has been honored as one of 30 men and women selected to participate in the 1992-93 Indiana Agricultural Leadership Program (ALP).
Mr. and Mrs. Dalbert Whitham of Vevay celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on December 28th at their winter home in Okeechobee, Florida, while their children could be there to participate. Their wedding date was January 1st, 1942.
20 YEARS AGO
The animal shelter in Vevay was closed earlier this year, only several months after it was opened, due to a lack of funding. Efforts are again underway to open the shelter and make permanent arrangements for maintenance and funding. The shelter was intended to serve Switzerland County as a place where stray or mean dogs could be brought until they were adopted or disposed of humanely.
Mr. and Mrs. David Hankins of route 1, Cross Plains, were honored by their daughters and families Sunday, January 11th, at the Cross Plains Baptist Fellowship Hall for their 50th wedding anniversary on January 9th.
40 YEARS AGO
It started innocently enough. It had been raining a good deal but not really enough to cause any experienced river-folk to lose any sleep. Exactly 30 years ago today the Ohio River stood at 37.7 feet at U.S. Lock 39 at Markland. It was a long way from flood stage and the river, up for a brief while, was falling in Pittsburgh. Then the great flood of 1937 came. The great flood’s origin might be traced back to December 30th, 1936, when .98 inch of rain fell in Vevay. Then, raining 12 of the first 18 days of 1937, some 7.64 inches of rain fell, including 1.10 on January 10th, 2.22 on January 15th, and 1.25 on January 18th. However, if local residents thought that was rain they hadn’t seen nothin’ yet. It hadn’t begun to rain. Between January 18th and the flood’s crest Monday night, January 25th, local gauges showed 7.96 inches falling. That’s 16.60 inches of rain in 28 days. The river crested at 81.9 feet in Vevay.
A new five-member Switzerland County board of health has been appointed by County Commissioners with Dr. Noel S. Graves appointed as county health officer.
They took the old oaken bucket out of Vevay last month in preparation for the 1967 Jefferson County Invitational Tournament the past weekend, but the absence from the Vevay Warrior trophy case was short lived. Unwilling to part with the traditional JCIT symbol of supremacy, the Warriors came of age Saturday in two nip-and-tuck, pressure-packed ball games to win the trophy for the fourth straight year. The only team ever to win the bucket more than twice in a row, the Warriors upset tourney co-favorite New Washington, 80-72, in two overtimes Saturday afternoon and had enough left to whip Southwestern, 58-56 in the final game.
Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Bromwell of 700 East Main Street, Vevay, have announced the engagement of their daughter, Cathy Susan Ackerman, to Michael Fay Hart, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fay Hart of rural route 1, Vevay. Miss Ackerman is also the daughter of the late Marion C. Ackerman. No date has been set for the wedding.
50 YEARS AGO
Mr. and Mrs. Ulie Sigmon will observe their 62nd wedding anniversary on Sunday, January 13th, at their home on Liberty Street in Vevay.
Mrs. Wilma Allen of route 2, Vevay, has been employed by the Switzerland County Department of Public Welfare as a special worker. Her duties which began January 1st, will be to study homes for placement of children and as a child welfare worker.
The Christian Science Monitor recently carried a feature article on Mrs. Cogley G. Cole, Vevay attorney and prominent club woman. Written by Jessie Ash Arndt, woman’s editor of the Monitor, the story is highly complimentary of Mrs. Cole’s achievements.
Miss Edith Shaw, teacher of government and economics at Vevay High School, has submitted her resignation to the board of school trustees effective at the end of this first semester, January 18th. Her resignation is made due to the continued illness of her mother and the increasing difficulty of carrying on her work under present conditions, according to the school.
60 YEARS AGO
Doris Anne McNary was one of 15 girls recently named to Gold Peppers, honorary activities organization for junior and senior girls at Purdue University.
Mrs. Irene Brown and Rolland Curry, both former Vevay residents, but now residing in Indianapolis, were married Monday, December 30th. The ceremony was performed by the Reverend Fox, Methodist minister of Muncie.
Miss Loleta Saunders will assume her new duties here as County Nurse next Monday, January 13th, and will have her office in the Red Cross room on Main Street. She will reside at the home of Mr. and Mrs. A.J. Williams.
Mr. and Mrs. Elmer E. Hufford, one of Switzerland County’s best known and probably oldest married couples, will quietly celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary Thursday, January 16th, at the home of their daughter, Reverend and Mrs. David Kroger of rural route 2, Aurora.
Joe Krummel recently retired from active business after operating a meat market and grocery in Vevay for 45 years. His son, Charles, has succeeded to the managership of the store on Main Street and Mr. Krummel will devote his time to farming.
A six-pound son was born January 6th to Mr. and Mrs. James Levell (nee Juanita Sigmon) at the Whitlatch Clinic at Milan. He has been named James Ronald.
Raymond Osborn of Vevay, field examiner of Indiana Gross Income Tax Division, spent the weekend in Washington, D.C., where he was one of the Hoosiers who made the trip to attend the seating of William E. Jenner as Indiana’s junior Senator. However, due to a filibuster in the Senate they were forced to leave before the ceremony took place.
Mrs. Stanley Brown of Florence was painfully injured last Tuesday evening when her range oven exploded as she attempted to light it, causing burns on her arms and fingers.
A 7 1/2 pound son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Louis E. Scott on Monday, January 6th, at a Crawfordsville hospital.
John Harris of Vevay, flying instructor at the Charles Scott airport, was married Saturday afternoon, January 4th, in Sullivan to Miss Roberta Jane Burgess of Seattle, Washington.
70 YEARS AGO
Wilford Day and Viola Mitchell, both of this county, were married in Madison December 10th.
It has been reported here that the Recorder, 104-year-old Rising Sun newspaper, has been sold by J.L. Richardson to C.W. and G.T. Parks, and Mrs. Lena Hutchinson.
Mr. and Mrs. Jacob H. Harris, both members of Switzerland County pioneer families, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary January 31st at their home in Rising Sun.
Mr. and Mrs. Elmer E. Hufford, residents of Posey Township, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at their home there Saturday, January 16th.
Mrs. Rebecca Romerill, one of the county’s oldest ladies, celebrated her 90th birthday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Anna Brindley below Vevay, January 9th.
Mrs. Lena Carter has rented the room formerly occupied by the Slate Restaurant on Ferry Street and this week opened a restaurant there.
Gayle N. Hufford, former Switzerland County boy, and son of Mr. and Mrs. E.E. Hufford of Posey Township, has been named Superintendent of Joliet, Illinois, schools at a salary of $5,200 per year.
80 YEARS AGO
A still found by duck hunters last week was destroyed by Marshal Sam Smith as provided by law.
Bernard Jones, former Vevay man but now a resident of Cincinnati, was held up by Negroes last Friday morning shortly after he opened the grocery store in which he is employed at 1008 West Sixth Street.
J.P. Curry, who has had several of his prize-winning Rhode Island Reds entered in the state poultry show in Indianapolis last week, won the state and national cup on the best display in the entire show.
The one-story house owned by Charles Tietz was destroyed by fire last Saturday morning. The blaze was discovered and reported by Charles Cheever, but not in time to save the house.
An inspector from the state fire marshal’s office was in Vevay Monday and inspected the post office building which Minor Bakes is planning to remodel into a theatre.
Losing his nerve when he attempted to hold up Charles Sieglitz, Vevay jeweler, Saturday night, a youth turned and fled before his identity could be learned.
90 YEARS AGO
Vevay has a chance for a new industry. Wilbur Bear, of the firm of Bear Brothers of Madison, was in the city last week negotiating with the directors of the Union Furniture Company.
Edwin Ferguson of Moorefield was seriously injured last Friday evening when the automobile of Harold Farrell, in which he was a passenger, turned over near Madison. Mr. Ferguson and a group of Moorefield people were returning home from Madison where they had accompanied the Moorefield high school boy’s and girl’s basketball teams for games. Mr. Ferguson is the teacher in the grades and a referee for basketball teams.
Lucian Harris has resigned as cashier of the Rising Sun Deposit Bank and will become office manager of the J. W. Whitlock and Company.
Aaron Moreillon has completed his course in the barber college in Rising Sun and has returned home to Fairview.
100 YEARS AGO
Doc McGuire has gone to Cairo, Illinois, where he has accepted a position as cook on a towboat.
Misses Julia Knox and Ann Sutherland are attending the meeting of the state teachers’ association in Indianapolis this week.
Last week J. A. Works sold for Harold Cotton to J. Riley Green of Greenville, Texas the trotting stallion Lord Bourbon, for $600. Mr. Cotton left Sunday to deliver the horse, a fine animal which was bred in Switzerland County.
Ivan D. Saberton who for nine years has held a responsible position with the Carter Shoe Company in Vevay has resigned to take a position with a large shoe firm in Kokomo.
Frank Milhouse of Whittier, California, has remembered the editor of this newspaper, and several other Switzerland County friends, with some fine examples of English walnuts grown on his California ranch. (Editor’s note: Mr. Milhouse, grandfather of Vice President Richard Nixon, sold nursery stock here while a resident of Indiana.
Ed Kincaid, aged about 15 years, was accidentally shot with a shotgun last Saturday by James Pickett and he is now in a serious condition.
Professor Charles W. Oldrieve, the man who is walking on water from Cincinnati to New Orleans, arrived in Vevay Thursday evening having averaged 40 miles that day. Oldrieve is making the trip of 1,600 miles on a wager of $5,000, the trip to be completed in 40 days.
110 YEARS AGO
The Seniors gave a “pie social” at the high school building Tuesday night and music was furnished on mandolins and guitars.
Licensed to marry: James M. Twineham and Julia C. Wycoff; Charles A. Grenat and Katie Cotton.
Miss Gertrude Thiebaud of Shepardson College, Granville, Ohio, came to attend the funeral of her grandfather, John L. Thiebaud, leading druggist in Vevay. She spent the holidays with her parents in Peru.
A son was born December 6th to Mr. and Mrs. Mount Richardson of Posey Township.
120 YEARS AGO
Last week Mrs. Alexander Tilley of Craig Township fell and broke her right wrist.
W. P. Hall is now a salesman in the shoe store of Thiebaud Brothers.
Phillip Romerill has two little Misses at his home of exactly the same age.
Curtis Golay of Craig Township is very ill with pneumonia.
William Chassey and Temperance Smith were married December 26th at the home of the bride’s parents at Avonburg.
130 YEARS AGO
Joshua M. Craig and Miss Nannie Keene were recently married in Ghent.
George S. Pleasants is studying law in the office of J. B. McCrellis.
Last Thursday morning thermometers ranged from 17 degrees to 26 degrees below zero.
The home of Mr. Farrar near Quercus Grove was destroyed by fire.
140 YEARS AGO
A broom factory has been established in Vevay.
A big bridge will be built at Louisville.
150 YEARS AGO
A daughter was born Monday to Thomas and Eveline E. McCullough of Moorefield.
Dr. T. C. Gibney of Scott County, Kentucky, was frozen to death on Eagle Creek the night of December 22nd.
Captain J. C. Schenck left for Madison yesterday en route for the falls where his steamboat, Switzerland, is ice bound.
152 YEARS AGO
In a letter to the editor John F. Doan takes exception to an allowance of $40 to him by the county commissioners for superintending the erecting of Bryant’s Creek bridge. He states that $20 of the amount was paid to his assistant.
Married November 9th, Mr. Jacob Cole and Miss Martha Ann Cole.