Readers' suggestions
Readers voice appreciation for articles on city's treasures
By Peter Ciancone

Terre Haute's Top 40, the Tribune-Star's series devoted to showing the community our own selections about what makes us unique, has been a big hit with readers.

During the run of the series, readers voiced their appreciation of articles featuring the city's treasures.

From legends such as Larry Bird and historic figures such as Eugene V. Debs, products such as the Coca-Cola bottle and Square Donuts, to places such as Hulman Center and the Sycamore Building, the series helped us all understand a bit better the many things to which our community can point with pride.

Since publication of the series, readers have asked for bound versions of the Top 40 to keep as collectors items.

It touched the nerve that craves a chance to brag about Terre Haute in the face of what many believe is a negative image of our community.

Some of the comments we received chose to dwell on the negative. People are entitled to their opinions.

Whatever else might be in need of repair, the Top 40 showed there are at least 40 good reasons Terre Haute is a unique community with more than its share of strengths.

During the series, readers asked about what would follow.

At the end, the Tribune-Star asked for reader input to tell us what we omitted - which parts of the community we need to feature as a part of a series about our assets and what raises this community above its peers.

Some of the responses, in retrospect, are forehead slappers. How could we not have mentioned Chauncey Rose or Max Ehrmann? What about the Woman's Department Club?

Others suggestions, such as our Vigo County Public Library system, the Bemis company, Vigo County Historical Society or the Terre Haute Symphony, the longest continuously operating symphony in the state, are unique more because of the excellent quality than because we have an entity that other counties lack.

Read the results of our request for additional Top 40 nominees below and in the column at right.

Tribune-Star reporter Peter Ciancone can be reached at (812) 231-4253 or pete.ciancone@tribstar.com


Terre Haute's Top 40 was an interesting series. The columns included a wealth of local history which always is helpful in giving readers a sense of community. I don't disagree with any of the choices. However, I think two more are worthy of inclusion: the Vigo County Historical Museum at Sixth and Washington streets and Max Ehrmann, Terre Haute poet, prophet and philosopher.
The museum, serving local and out-of-town visitors since 1958, is often recognized as one of the three outstanding county museums in the state (along with those in Lafayette and Fort Wayne). Although it is in need of expanded space, its collection of local history items and displays is awe-inspiring.
Max Ehrmann is best known for his prose poems "Prayer" published in 1903 and "Desiderata" in 1927. He was honored locally in 1972 on the 100th anniversary of his birth and again in 2002 on the 75th anniversary of "Desiderata." One still sees "Desiderata" used in many ways. Three years ago Random House of New Zealand published yet another edition. The publisher labeled it "a survival guide for life" and that is what is has been for 78 years.
~ Dorothy Jerse

Following your suggestion in the Saturday, September 17th edition in which you encourage readers to give you feedback, I should like to point out that you have overlooked mentioning the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, the oldest continuous symphony orchestra in the state of Indiana. And you would be remiss to not mention the Woman's Department Club which was formed by combining 11 local clubs into five departments in 1902. It is the oldest continuous club in Terre Haute.
~ David Mitchell

I write in response to your request for input as to "what unique Terre Haute features did we leave off of our "Top 40 list." With all due humility, and readily confessing to some prejudice in the matter, I respectfully submit that "Memorial Hall" should be at the top of any list. It is considered by many to be our most precious link to the earliest history of Terre Haute.
The building is the oldest building still in use, not only in Vigo County and west-central Indiana, but every place in the United States west of Ohio, so far as I can determine.
Built in 1834 when Ohio Street was a dirt road, there were hitching racks and watering troughs around the courthouse, the population of this newly platted town was 900 people, and the National Road from Cumberland, Md., had not quite yet reached this far west. Seventh and Wabash where the Terre Haute House now sits was a wheat field. There was nothing east of Third Street except a few log cabins. The main part of town was west along the river. It was originally built as the State Bank of Indiana, and it served Terre Haute well until 1868 when the bank was reorganized as a National Bank, the predecessor of today's First Financial Bank. The building was sold into private ownership. For a while it housed the "Olde Curiosity Shop" (an antique store) and later was the "Palace of Music," operated by Lorenz Kussner. The Kussner family lived upstairs, and legend has it that their young daughter, Amalia, drew many sketches of early scenes she saw from her upstairs window. Amalia later moved to New York where she married into the DuPont family (Charles DuPont Coudert), moved to Europe and became a world renowned miniature portrait painter and painted all the crowned heads of Europe.
In 1910 our Vigo County Civil War Veterans purchased the building for their Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Headquarters, calling it Memorial Hall. It became a great repository of Civil War artifacts and memorabilia.
Succeeding generations of war veterans took over the building in subsequent wars, but it was finally abandoned in the early 1990s. My son and I acquired the building, just in time to save it from the wrecking ball, and completely renovated it, new roof, new wiring, new heating and air conditioning, new stucco on the outside, new plastered walls on the inside, modern toilets, but preserving the original facade, and even the interior in large measure, and we have every intention of preserving it in that manner forever. We proudly call it the Kesler Law Building, and have never turned anybody away that comes by asking to see it.
A Justice of the Peace office use to be next door many years ago, and lots of couples come by telling us that they were married in this building - the Justice of the Peace would bring the couples over to perform the ceremony in the glory of Memorial Hall.
The GAR Veterans installed in the dome 17 beautiful leaded glass art portraits of early bankers who served in this building, and all the local veterans who were generals and/or regimental commanders in the Civil War, truly a Hall of Fame for early Vigo County. Memorial Hall is on the National Register of Historical Places.
~ John A. Kesler Sr.
Terre Haute

You did a great job. I am sure you will receive many letters like mine. Thanks for asking for feedback.
I will not take exception to any of your 40 selections. Rather I would ask that you add a 41st. We have in Terre Haute a very fun, friendly group of people who do make the city a better place to live. The German Oberlandler Club has been around for 38 years! It has maintained a beautiful clubhouse on Lafayette Avenue since 1975. In 1981 the first Frances Sanders Memorial Scholarship was awarded by the Club to an ISU student. Each year thereafter the Oberlandlers have given a memorial scholarship to an ISU and a Rose-Hulman student.
Since the 1974 Oktoberfest the Oberlandlers have fested Terre Hautians at least twice a year with food, refreshments, music and Gemütlichkeit. In addition the Club has participated in local events like the ISU Homecoming parade, the Clinton Little Italy parade, the Ethnic Fests and the recent Streetfest.
The Club has donated to local playgrounds, sponsored youth soccer teams and funded a public pavilion at Fairbanks Park. It has also provided a meeting place for the Terre Haute Gold Club and several other active groups in the city.
This is a collection of fine, interested citizens. They are butchers, bakers and candlestick makers and deserve to be included in the top institutions of Terre Haute. Please think again and expand your list.
~ P. Streeter
West Terre Haute

This is not an opinion it is just a great story about your article or at least one of them. The way I remember it, the story of Theodore Dreiser was the first story of the 40. I think it was run on Sept. 2nd. On the following Wed. I rec'd a long-distance call from a man in Cincinnati wanting to meet me at the Sullivan Co. Historical Museum. He was wanting to know more about the Dreiser family. He thought Theodore was born in Sullivan. To make the story a bit shorter we did meet and I took the Terre Haute paper about Mr. Dreiser and gave it to him. Also showed him the book Clayton Henderson wrote about Paul Dresser and he took time to read a bit out of the book. I now have Mr. Tom Ewing and Clayton Henderson writing e-mails to each other. SOOO you never know what happens in the background after your story has appeared in print. This is to let you know what happened in this case.
~ Jack Buckley
Past president
Sullivan County Historical Society

Thank you for your recent article about Columbia Records. I worked there many years and must say it was "home" to me. I started out in the skin wrap area (where albums were shrink wrapped) and still remember the heat from the drying ovens plus having to grab the albums as they came down a belt and pack them in boxes. I had always been a secretary and going into the factory environment was frightening for me. I worked the afternoon shift (3-11) and from the first day, I felt that management really cared about you as an individual. I worked with many fine people in the manufacturing plant and when a job posting went up for a secretary in the office I signed it. I received encouragement and support from Sam Ferreira and Gus Streit and every one of the girls I worked with. Going from the factory to the office wasn't usually done because of the difference in pay but I was a single parent and needed to be home with my son so I was given the opportunity to transfer. Once in the front office I worked for George Blair. The one person who stands out in my mind is J.K. Lemry. Mr. Lemry was the kindest, most caring person I have ever worked for. His dedication and loyalty to his workforce is to be commended. When I had a death in the family, everyone was supportive and extremely kind. When my son was sick and in the hospital, Columbia Records was my family. When the news came that the manufacturing operation was being moved, I knew my job was going to be eliminated. On my last day at work, Mr. Lemry came down to my office and gave me a hug and both of us were very close to tears. For months afterward, every time I drove by the plant, I would break down and cry. I had lost the family I had come to love as my own. I recently saw Mr. Lemry and was happy to know he still remembered me. He is still kind, considerate and caring. After many years of working at other manufacturing facilities in Terre Haute, I decided to come to ISU. I have once again found a "home." The atmosphere of caring about a person as an individual is as close to what I had at Columbia Records as I have ever found. Some of the other manufacturing facilities in TH could stand to take lessons from Mr. Lemry and ISU. I just wanted to say a big "thank you" to Mr. Lemry and all the people I worked with at Columbia Records. Because of you all I was able to support my son and provide a decent living for us both during an extremely difficult period in my life. I especially want to thank the girls I worked with in skin wrap. You took a scared young woman under your wing and made working hard fun. You taught me responsibility to do the best job I could. You protected me from the harsh realities of difficult working conditions in temperatures over 100 degrees in the summer. Now as I look back on my working life, Columbia Records holds a place of honor as does ISU.
~ Shirley Barnard Thomas
Brazil, IN

Good story on the microbrewery. As someone who grew up across the border in Casey, Ill., and went to ISU, I come back home from time to time and on one of my trips a couple of years ago, I discovered Champagne Velvet. It's a very good beer, and if a newspaper reporter doesn't know his beers, I don't know who does
My dad told me that in the "olden" days, Champagne Velvet sponsored a baseball team that was pretty good.
Again, great work.
~ David Hanners, reporter
St. Paul Pioneer Press

I really enjoyed reading about our history of Terre Haute. My ancestors all came and settled in this area, and it is interesting to see how there life was and to walk in their steps. I would like to be able to keep all the top 40 articles and keep them with my family information. Will there be a compiled booklet of these stories made, and will we be able to buy one? If I was thinking ahead of time, I would have cut them all out. Thank you in advanced for checking this out for me.
~ Anna Marie McClure

Thanks for the Terre Haute Top 40 Series. My wife and I moved here in 1988 and love this town. We found that many who lived here seemed to focus a little more on what they didn't like about the community as opposed to what was great about the community. You and I have exchanged e-mails before about the paper sometimes focusing on the negatives (I suppose because they are "newsworthy" or likely to sell papers).
The Top 40 Series was positive and highlighted some of the things that are great about the community. Great series, thanks for focusing on the positive.
~Jeffry A. Lind
Terre Haute

I wanted to comment on what a wonderful idea of the Terre Haute's Top 40 stories that were a part of the newspaper these past weeks. I was not privileged enough to grow up in this city. Yet, these top 40 stories gave me a great opportunity to gain more knowledge and history of the people, places and things, as well as to share this historical information with my children (who are privileged to grow up in this lovely town). Thank you ever so much for allowing me to look forward to reading the paper, rather then dreading what news will be next, being so the rising costs of our economy, nature disasters, hometown political situations, as well as other devastating news that doesn't bring a smile to one's face the first thing in the morning. I am not able to tell you honestly what was missed out, or what should have been kept off the list, for I truly thought the collection was amazing. Very detailed and very interesting of all 40 people, places and things! To think, the Coca-Cola bottle was designed here in Terre Haute! Amazing! I would have never of guessed that creation would come from this town. In all, Thank-You again for the 40 articles! It was fun reading!
~ Wendy Fuller
Terre Haute

Ehrmann may be city's greatest, most positive link to world

I am writing in response to Terre Haute's Top 40. In your article entitled "A look inside our city's uniqueness" you state, "The idea is to pinpoint things found or that link the rest of the world to Terre Haute in a positive way." Max Ehrmann, Terre Haute's philosopher and poet, has succeeded in this effort and continues to do so more than sixty years after his death.
Enclosed you will find the latest printing of "The Desiderata" along with supporting information on the Daniel Pearl Foundation and Children International Summer Villages (please note back cover of book.) Also enclosed is a copy of the letter from Major Merrill Moore dated July 20, 1942, which can be found in the archives at DePauw University. Dr. Moore is the psychiatrist mentioned in "About Desiderata" at the end of the book.
I have had the pleasure of visiting Terre Haute three different times to complete research on Max Ehrmann and in 2002 to attend the celebration in his honor. I read the Tribune-Star via the Internet. Max Ehrmann may be your greatest and most positive link to the world.
Please keep the book as my gift to all of you who worked on Terre Haute's Top 40. Finding a way to live together peacefully, understanding and accepting our differences was Mr. Ehrmann's hope - Mr. Ehrmann should have been included.
~ Ann Daley
Green River, Wyo.

More Top 40 Responses ...

Are there plans to publish "Terre Haute's Top 40" as a book? I would be interested in buying a copy.
I live in Wisconsin, but read the obituaries online every day, as my mom and dad were from Clark County, Illinois, as well as other relatives from Terre Haute. I enjoyed the articles, and think a book would sell well.
~ Kay Drexler

I read the Top 40 article every day and enjoyed each one. Having grown up away from Terre Haute, I learned more about my adopted home town. I was aware that the people and places mentioned were noteworthy, but I discovered through the articles the history and reasons for their place on your list. Well done!
~ Connie Atkinson

I think TREES Inc. should have been on your list. This organization has done much to improve Terre Haute. TREES' projects have included the Third Street Beautification project, Adopt-A-Street-Tree project, and the Daffodil project, to name a few. TREES has sponsored Earth Day festivals, awakened environmental awareness, and improved the looks of our main thoroughfare making it more appealing to prospective businesses and persons driving through town. TREES has also encouraged us to take pride in our city's appearance. Terre Haute has become a Tree City USA because of TREES.
The Holly Arboretum in Deming Park is also unique.
ISU Summer Stage, Community Theatre, and the Terre Haute Symphony should have been on the list. These things may not be unique, but other communities have colleges (three of ours were on the list), singers/songwriters, historic neighborhoods, famous sons, and sports figures, too - all of which made the list. And don't forget the Children's Museum and the Vigo County Historical Museum. We have a lot to be proud of.
You probably could have condensed St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, the Sisters of Providence, and Mother Theodore Guerin into one item and left square donuts and the Carmelite Monastery off the list. (We hardly know the Monastery is here, they're so quiet!)
Thanks. I enjoyed the series.
~ Lorie McMullen
Terre Haute

I truly enjoyed reading the about the "Top 40." I did notice in my opinion some items were missing under "Places": the Wabash River, the Community Theatre and the Historical Museum. These are three very important places to this community and disappointed they did not make the list.
~ Mary Caye Pfister
Pfister and Co. Inc.

LEFT OUT: Inland Aquatics. When Morgan Lidster started this business he partnered with the Smithsonian Institute. He proved a hypothesis that had been written about but not proved. Many people from the Institute have been to Terre Haute to work with Morgan and he's been to D.C. to work with them. Check it out.
WHY INCLUDED: the Head Shop. I realize that they have good recordings, etc., but why be proud of a "head shop?"
~ Ann Bloxdorf
Terre Haute

I enjoyed the Top 40 series very much. I'm not sure what I'd take out, but I think the symphony and the Community Theatre belong in the list. I'd also add the Wabash River and the Spring Mill Bread Co.
~ Ellen Cunningham

The talk about the "top 40" indicates you have struck a gold mine.
Anyway, does the Trib Star plan to publish the Top 40 in a book/binder format that can be used as part of promo packages about our community?
~ Rod Henry, president
Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce

In response to your invitation to offer suggestions for things that might be added to your list of the Top 40 of Terre Haute, I would like to call attention to one of the great treasures that Terre Haute enjoys, namely the magnificent array of stained glass windows in our downtown houses of worship.
Chris Botti, president of Botti Studio of Architectural Art, has told us that it is not necessary to go to Europe to see the stained glass windows there, that we in Terre Haute have all the major methods used in producing them represented right here. The windows are priceless; Botti estimates that those in St. Benedict Church, alone, are valued at more than $8 million.
Terre Haute is unusually blessed in that we still have so many of these windows still extant in such a small area. Other cities have lost their churches, and consequently the beauty of their windows, by way of migration of the congregations to the suburbs, but ours have remained.
I believe this art treasure would be well worthy of your recognition and bringing it to the attention of your readers.
~ Char Minnette

On the Terre Haute top 40 please do not forget the Vigo County Public Library and the great philanthropist Chauncey Rose.
~ George F. Von Spreckelsen

I first saw Terre Haute in 1924 at St. Anthony Hospital. Your Top Forty articles were interesting to me and brought back many memories. However, there is so much history natives like me could tell you about which the perspectives of your excellent reporters couldn't begin to touch. In spite of reading that Terre Haute brags about its communist associations I cherished all the articles. It was a big disappointment to read that the wonderful Sisters of Providence, who gave me my excellent educational background, has turned into a political organization pushing ideas not productive to my country. Sorry about dwelling on the negative, but it seems everything these days has to be turned into some political propaganda designed to denigrate this country. Maybe the disappearance of that once great edifice turned eyesore in the center of the city will diminish the gloom and doom and spread the spirit of welcome truly in the hearts of Terre Haute, Indiana.
~ Frances Burke Dodd
Albuquerque, NM

In regard to your Terre Haute's "Top 40" under "Places," I find it outrageous that the Vigo County Historical Museum was ignored.
This facility has provided endless facets of service for 47 years to this community. Countless civic-minded people both past and present have worked long and hard to provide Vigo County with a key to its history.
~ Patricia J. Meyer
Terre Haute

While I enjoyed your features of Terre Haute's Top 40, I was disappointed that the Woman's Department Club of Terre Haute (W.D.C.) was not one of your features.
The history of W.D.C. dates back to 1920 when 11 cultural clubs, the oldest dating back to 1879, merged to form W.D.C. The W.D.C. incorporated in 1922 and purchased its present club house at 507 S. Sixth St. in 1931.
The W.D.C. was the sponsor of the first symphony orchestra performance and also the sponsor of the first showing at the Indiana Theatre. The W.D.C. has been the sponsor of the Cotillion for 48 years.
The W.D.C. currently has six departments with various interest, with the senior departments having a membership of more than 160 and the junior department having more than 80 members.
The junior department participates in many civic projects and the senior departments are making the change from primarily social activities to civic projects as our finances will allow.
We are proud to have established this past year a $1,000 scholarship given to one of our junior department graduating seniors.
The W.D.C. has been active in the community for 85 continuous years and deserves to be recognized.
Please consider publishing a lengthy feature story on the W.D.C. in the near future.
~ Ruth Ann Tooloose
President, W.D.C.
Terre Haute

Enjoyed your series of the Top 40 articles about Terre Haute, then and now. I have listed below a few additional topics that could have been written about and are part of Terre Haute's history. These are not in any order of importance.
1. Community Theatre
2. Banks of the Wabash singers
3. Woodlawn and St. Joseph's cemeteries
4. Highland Lawn Cemetery
5. Calvary Cemetery
6. St. Benedict Church
7. St. Joseph's Church
8. Immanuel Lutheran Church
9. St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
10. Woman's Department Club
11. Elks Lodge
12. Country Club
13. Veterans of Foreign Wars
14. AP & S Clinic
15. Union Hospital
16. Terre Haute Regional Hospital/ St. Anthony's Hospital
17. Terre Haute Symphony
18. History of the airport - first was Paul Cox Field
19. Wabash River
20. Deming Center
Of course there are some you chose to use that in my opinion could have been skipped, but that is neither here or there. I enjoyed all of them.
A good addition to the paper.
~ Peggy Roloff
Terre Haute

As for your "Top 40" and Terre Haute - Vigo County, overall, an Indiana governor said and he was so right: The best thing that can happen to Terre Haute is to plow it under and plant corn and give the county back to Sullivan County where it came from.
As for ISU, it's a second class school and always will be.
~ J.D. Gramme
Terre Haute

I have enjoyed your Terre Haute's Top 40 series. I realize that in order to add anything you would have to omit something else, so I have a suggestion; make Top 40 an annual series, instead of just doing it once.
I would also suggest that you work with the Convention and Visitors Bureau to produce copies of your Top 40 to be distributed at local hotels and motels.
~ Mike Matherly
Terre Haute

My friends and I enjoyed your "Top 40" series very much; we did question the inclusion of Headstone, but maybe we don't know enough about it to make a critical judgment. We did appreciate the articles on St. Mary-of-the-Woods and the Sisters of Providence. The Sisters have been a unique and wonderful influence on this area since 1840.
In our opinion you should have run another five days on the Vigo County Public Library. Our local library system with its five branches is excellent. The reference staff is most helpful at Main, and the libraries and staff at West Branch couldn't be better. I'm sure that's true of the other branches, too.
~ Charlotte Norris
West Terre Haute

I along with countless others have most certainly enjoyed the Top 40 series in your newspaper. As a Terre Haute native, who has always thought this was a good place to live and especially a good place to raise our children, I thought it was a positive piece of journalism and one in which your staff can be proud to have published.
The one place that I was surprised and perhaps disappointed that did not get mentioned was right in your own back yard, the Vigo Public Library System, which has served this community for well over a century, and has always been at the pinnacle of good service, as the latest in information resources and a meeting place for educational and community events. The Main library and its four branches (Plaza North, Meadows, Southland and West Terre Haute), plus its delivery services to senior adult and child care facilities and homebound persons make materials available throughout the county. And the best part is they are offered free of charge.
The library offers a great service to the folk of Vigo County and I encourage you, if you decide to look at another group of assets and good things in our area, to consider your neighborhood and the whole community's friend, the Vigo County Public Library.
A longtime reader,
~ Diane Moore
Terre Haute

Left off: Chauncey Rose, Community Theatre, Vigo County Historical Society, Chesty potato chips, Hawthorn Park, Thompson Thrift, Hyte Center
Should have left off: Square Donuts, Headstone
~ Judy Dukes

Phone call responses:
Ivy Tech
Hamilton Center
Woman's Department Club, Debutante Ball, downtown at Terre Haute House
Terre Haute Symphony "How did you miss that?"

Anonymous submissions:
Chauncey Rose, and the dispensary he built one year after his death, Rose Dispensary. (It served the poor with medicine and treatment.)

Woodlawn Cemetery

Max Ehrmann of Terre Haute, poet and philosopher

Isn't it great that my hometown, Terre Haute, Indiana, can be so proud of all its communist natives, including Dreiser and Debs and such.

What a wonderful list! I have enjoyed every one of them.