South Washington Street, 1936

This photograph of a delivery truck parked outside the Jerry S. Matracia wholesale fruit store at 125 S. Washington Street, Crawfordsville was recently added to the library's image database. Mr. Matracia and his wife, Josephine Guiliano Matracia, were Italian immigrants who owned the store for many years. The truck, a Studebaker Model 2M201, was the focal point for the photographer, but the background provides us with a rare look at the Joel Block circa 1936. The 2007 Silver Dollar Fire destroyed the building that housed the Matracia family business, but the Robb Grocery building is still standing today.

1914-1915 Mace High School basketball team

Every so often a nice picture comes our way quite unexpectedly! A few days ago, Paula Clahan arrived at the Reference/Local History Department and offered to let us scan one of her photos to share with the community (the photo is already on our Local History image database for the entire world to see). Inspired by the Carnegie Museum's opening display on basketball, Mrs. Clahan remembered that she had a photo of the 1914-1915 Mace High School basketball team. This photo was taken outside the school building on a cinder court. The young players have been identified as (from right to left): Wallace Fletcher, Vercil Crouch, Edward Clahan (Paula's future father-in-law), Harry Gutherie, and Cecil Clark.

Thanks to generous donations and loans from patrons such as Mrs. Clahan, we continue to build our collection of your heritage -- and will pass it on to future generations.