News compiled by Ginny Leap from past issues of
Switzerland County newspapers
10 YEARS AGO
The Switzerland County School Board voted unanimously Monday night to hire Elizabeth Jones as the next principal of Switzerland County Middle School, and although there are still some details to be worked out regarding her contract, Elizabeth Jones says that she is excited about her new challenge.
Switzerland County will honor its veterans with a Memorial Day service this Monday on the Switzerland County Courthouse lawn. The guest speaker will be Bill Berry, current Ninth District Commander of the American Legion.
The senior class of 1999 at Switzerland County High School will participate in commencement exercises this Sunday afternoon in the high school gym, bringing an end to their high school careers and the beginning of various opportunities for the future. The graduation will begin at 2:30 p.m.
Agent Ronald D. Sanders of the Jennings-Jefferson-Scott-Switzerland Agency was honored at an awards ceremony at the Omni North Hotel in Indianapolis April 29th for being selected as a 1999 Farm Bureau Insurance Career Agent.
The 106th annual meeting of the Patriot Alumni Association will take place at the Switzerland County Elementary School near East Enterprise this Saturday, May 29th. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m.
Molli Arvin Bovard of Vevay is serving as the director of the 1999 Mrs. Kentucky, America pageant. The competition will be held in Louisville on June 12th.
20 YEARS AGO
Linda L. Levell has been promoted to the position of assistant foreman of the second shift assembly operations at Grote Manufacturing Company. She currently resides on Arch Street in Vevay.
Reverend Edward F. Hankinson is to be ordained an Elder of the Missouri East Conference of the United Methodist Church on Friday, May 26th, at the Linn Memorial Chapel in Fayette, Missouri. He is the son of John and Nadine Hankinson of Quercus Grove.
Edie Hornsby, daughter of Lomon and Christine Hornsby, made the Dean’s List for the spring semester at Ball State University. She is a sophomore at Ball State majoring in speech pathology.
Angela Boone, daughter of Roger Boone and Mary Amos, route 3, Vevay, a junior majoring in English and Spanish education at Ball State was named to the Dean’s List for the spring semester.
Alice Kappes, a student at the College of Mount St. Joseph, in Mount St. Joseph, Ohio, was recognized at the college’s annual Honors Convocation on Thursday, May 4th. Kappes is the daughter of Louis and Judy Kappes of route 1, Bennington.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert R. Wagner of route 3, Vevay, celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on Monday, May 22nd.
30 YEARS AGO
Mr. and Mrs. Harlan D. Bush, Sr., were married 50 years ago May 18th in a ceremony performed in Shorthville, Kentucky.
Bonnie A. Cutter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold J. Cutter, route 1, Vevay, has been named to the Indiana Central University Honor Roll and Dean’s List.
Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Wiley, route 1, Bennington, will observe their 50th wedding anniversary with an open house June 3rd in the fellowship hall of Aberdeen United Methodist Church.
40 YEARS AGO
Darlene Hankinson, Edelweiss Princess of 1968’s Swiss Wine Festival in Vevay, will compete for the title of Miss Madison Regatta at a June 28th pageant at Madison’s Ohio Theatre.
Music City News, a national music trade magazine published in Nashville, Tennessee, is featuring a special article in this month’s issue about Switzerland County’s Gross Brothers and their success with their current record “Bimbo.” The paper predicts that in a few years the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Gross of Allensville will be one of the top country acts nationally.
Mrs. Mary G. Peelman of Vevay will be among the 29 members of the 1969 graduating class at Indiana University Southeast in Jeffersonville.
Switzerland County highways seem to be needing “deer crossing” road signs in at least two locations where a total of 23 deer have been struck and killed by automobiles over the past three years.
Wells-Fargo Company has bought out the Butterfield-Overland route and is heading for Vevay August 15th, 16th, and 17th. Having taken part in the recent spring festival in Vevay the stagecoach constructed by Denver Markland and several of the students at Switzerland County High School is expected to reappear for August’s Swiss Wine Festival. Markland was seen recently on the stage seat wearing buckskins, while driver Chester Griffith directed the team of mules Russell was “riding shotgun” atop the stage which was built entirely out of scraps.
50 YEARS AGO
The County Commissioners in their meeting Monday approved a petition from the Vevay Kiwanis Club to fence the Kiwanis Park, which is owned by the county and administered by the Kiwanis Club.
The office of the Agricultural Stabilization Committee was moved Friday from 411 Liberty Street to rooms in the Ricketts Jewelry Building at the corner of Ferry and Pike streets.
Three members, John Blodgett, Austin Lock and Harry Campbell, were presented with 50-year membership pins at a meeting of Pleasant Lodge 623 of IOOF at Bennington Tuesday, May 26th.
A son was born Tuesday in the Madison hospital to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Otter.
Mrs. Lillie Rider of Patriot has been appointed a member of the Switzerland County Welfare Board by Circuit Judge Paul Schnaitter. Mrs. Rider succeeds Mrs. A. J. Williams who retired when her term expired on May 30th.
60 YEARS AGO
A baby son was born May 29th to Mr. and Mrs. Stanton Schad of Bluefield, West Virginia.
The formal opening of the Buschmann Ice Cream Bar on Ferry Street will be held Saturday, June 3rd.
Wilbur Conner, 23, of East Enterprise, was painfully injured Monday when the car he was driving hit a tree on State Road 56 near Rising Sun.
Herschel Phillips of Aberdeen will receive his diploma as a graduate of the Indiana College of Embalming at Indianapolis June 2nd.
Miss Pauline Detraz of Vevay will receive an A.B. degree in anatomy and physiology at the commencement of Indiana University June 5th.
James David Heath of near Vevay won third in the Vevay team in the Farm Quiz over W.L.W. Saturday morning.
80 YEARS AGO
The first show boat of the season, Bryant’s, will make its appearance here June 15th.
Erection of steel for the Madison bridge over the Ohio River was begun last week.
A modern dairy barn is being erected on the Heady farm near Vevay.
A baby son was born last week to Mr. and Mrs. Matt White of Jacksonville.
Warren Elsrod of Center Square was seriously injured last week when he stepped down from a county road engine into the path of an automobile driven by Paul Stevens of near Center Square.
Charles E. Patterson, county treasurer, narrowly escaped death Thursday afternoon when he lost control of his automobile while returning home from Madison and it turned over twice near the Earl Shaw home. He was thrown through the top and sustained a fractured pelvic bone, splintered left elbows, and broken wrist.
The automobile of Alva Marlman of East Enterprise rolled down the Plum Creek fill Sunday when Mr. Marlman and Fred Landrum of Markland attempted to pass each other on the fill. Mr. and Mrs. William Couch of Patriot, Misses Jeanette and Anna McNeely, and Robert Conner of near East Enterprise, passengers in the car, escaped with minor injuries.
John W. Tilley, 76, saw the beginning of a new building on Ferry Street last week to replace the news stand which was destroyed by fire last November. It is not often that a man 76 years old feels sufficiently optimistic about the future to build a new building for his own business.
90 YEARS AGO
The Vevay Franchise League was organized in Vevay Monday afternoon by Mrs. O. B. Lewis of Indianapolis, state organizer. Thirty-two members were enrolled and the following officers were elected: Mrs. R. M. Copeland, president; Mrs. Nora Dupraz, first vice president; Miss Edith Golay, second vice president; Mrs. Lucille Shaw, secretary; Miss Afra Brindley, treasurer. In the evening Mrs. Lewis spoke at the corner of Main and Ferry streets to a large and interested audience answering the time-worn arguments against women voting.
James S. Wright has been appointed by Governor James Goodrich as a trustee for the Indiana State Sanitarium at Rockville.
Mrs. Harvey McClintock was seriously injured this week when she fell from a barn loft at her home in Jacksonville while hunting eggs. One arm was broken, the other sprained and she suffered a brain concussion.
Vere Graham, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Graham of Mount Sterling, has returned home from overseas in service with the Marine Corps. He was badly wounded and has undergone several operations on his wrist but is now improving.
H. T. Ebbinghause has been hired by the school board as vocational agriculture teacher in Vevay High School.
Charles E. Hall of Indianapolis, formerly of Switzerland County, who is the architect for the new church to be built at Caledonia spent the weekend here with relatives and met in conference with the building committee of the church.
Gene Chaskel of Florence has secured the agency for the Essex automobile and will drive one down from Detroit this week.
A little daughter of Edgar Griffith on Plum Creek is ill with infantile paralysis but her condition is not critical.
100 YEARS AGO
The Vevay Flour Mills, owned by Mrs. Sarah Brown and George W. A. Cole was partially destroyed by fire Thursday night entailing a loss of $9,000.
Bennie, little son of Sheriff Sparks Pickett and wife, fell while jumping last week and broke a bone in his right arm.
Mrs. Will Demann and daughter will leave the last of the week for Dayton, Ohio, to join Mr. Demann and they will make their future home there.
J. A.Works has leased the Lawrenceburg fairgrounds and will train a public stable of pacers and trotters there this summer.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Walter Sanders of Bascom, a little girl.
R. P. Cotton of Osgood has rented the Thiebaud property in this city and will move his family to Vevay in the near future.
Born to Charles Danner and wife of Scotch Settlement, a daughter.
120 YEARS AGO
Munce Graham has sold a flat boat to Pearce and Steele of Rising Sun who will use it for a blacksmith shop and float south next fall.
140 YEARS AGO
The body of a young lady was found in the river near Vevay Thursday by Orlando Rouse. She was identified as Miss Eva Jones of Florida, a victim of the United States and America steamboat disaster. The remains were sent to friends.
J. L. Thiebaud is having a stone sidewalk built in front of his drug store on Main Street.
The markets: Eggs, 15 cents dozen, butter 20 cents pound, chickens, $4 per dozen.
150 YEARS AGO
Our young friend, Edward Eggleston, formerly of this place, and a son of Joseph C. Eggleston, is preaching in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Good building lots are much in demand in Vevay.
A 16-year-old boy by the name of Sedam, living near East Enterprise, was killed instantly last week when he was kicked in the side by a horse.
Dr. T. C. Bale has gone to Nashville, Tennessee, on business.