From Chorus Girl to Crawfordsville Citizen

 Before she was a Crawfordsville resident, Margaret Peacock performed on the stage and screen as Margie Murphy.  Peacock was a dancer in film classics The Gold Diggers of 1935, The Gold Diggers of 1938, 42nd Street, and Hi Nellie. On the stage, she danced in "George White's Scandals" musical review.

In 1942, Murphy married William F. Peacock, dentist and son of the well-known Peacock family of Darlington. Margie lived in Crawfordsville from 1945 until her death in 1989. She was a member of St. Bernard's Catholic Church, Crawfordsville Country Club, and the Ladies Elks.

Did you know Margaret Peacock? If so, CDPL would love to hear from you.  We are interested in gaining more information about Mrs. Peacock's career as a dancer and about her life in Crawfordsville.

If you'd like to share stories or items pertaining to Margaret Peacock (a.k.a. Margie Murphy), please contact the CDPL Reference/Local History department at 765-362-2242 ext 117 or ref@cdpl.lib.in.us.

Images of America: Crawfordsville now available

The Crawfordsville District Public Library is pleased to announce the release of Images of America: Crawfordsville, a book of photographs, postcards, and other illustrations that tell the story of Crawfordsville's history since 1865. The book, a well-researched, detail-packed collection of archival photographs and captions, was written by Bill Helling, Head of Reference/Local History at CDPL. Helling has directed the digitization of the library's archives and creation of the many local history databases for many years. From the laying of the cornerstone for the Montgomery County courthouse in 1875 to mid-1950s views of city streets, from old Central School to the closing of Horace Mann School, from Bischof's Big Store to R.R. Donnelley, the book presents significant photographs in the life of our city in central Indiana. The book will be available locally as well as from major booksellers.

Kenyon Nicholson

The library has recently acquired a photograph of Broadway playwright Kenyon Nicholson to add to the local history collection. Nicholson was born in Crawfordsville, May 21, 1894, the son of prominent Crawfordsville photographer Thomas Brown Nicholson and his wife, Anne Kenyon Nicholson.  In 1916, Kenyon Nicholson wrote the script for the Montgomery County Indiana Centennial pageant with fellow Wabash College student, Harold Watson. Following graduation from Wabash, Nicholson served in France as a second lieutenant during World War I. After the war, he was a press agent for the Murat Theater in Indianapolis, and later served as assistant to Hatcher Hughes, a prominent playwright and instructor at Columbia University. He wrote eighteen plays during his career, including Honor Bright, which was written with famed Crawfordsville novelist and poet, Meredith Nicholson. His play, The Barker, was his most successful and was made into a movie three times. He died in New Jersey on December 19, 1986.

Christmas party -- but where?

Sometimes we come across photos that we can't place for certain -- even if we know the photographer (Hirshburg Studio of Crawfordsville), and several names have been written on the back of the photo. For example, here are some women who worked as telephone switchboard operators, posed by a Christmas tree and a Santa Claus. Are they in Crawfordsville? Where was this picture taken? When? Maybe you can help further identify this photo. The women are: Bottom Row (from left to right): ---, Thelma Johnson, ---, Barbara Westfall, ---, and Bertha Stark; Second Row (from left to right): Stella Hybarger, Gertrude Rafferty, Katherine Cope, "Santa," Carolyn Keeling, and Marie Mayer; Third Row (from left to right): Louise Carroll, Mildred Moore, Pearl Burkett, Mary Travis, Miriam Plank, Jane Scott, and Mary Galloway; Fourth Row (from left to right): Dorothy Holland, Pauline Hamm, Margaret Everhart, Anna Hartung, Ruby Rush, and ---. If you have any information on the people in this photo or the year/location of the party, please let us know! (e-mail ref@cdpl.lib.in.us or call at 765-362-2242 ext 117).

Bischof's Big Store

We have many historic postcards of Montgomery County, and we are happy to reveal our latest acquisition: an interior view of the Louis Bischof Big Store, which was a landmark in Crawfordsville for many years. Louis Bischof came to Crawfordsville at the age of 17 from Terre Haute, Indiana, and soon became a partner of Jacob Ferber who owned a store at the corner of Washington and Main Streets. In 1882, Louis Bischof bought his partner's interest in their store and started his own career as a storekeeper, which would span three more decades. Bischof eventually built a four-story building on the corner of Main and Green streets, opening in 1899, and in 1907 this establishment became "Bischof's Big Store." The store was a cooperative with more than 3,000 area stockholders earning annual dividends (as well as a 5% discount on their purchases). Bischof was a lifelong bachelor and natural salesperson who wore a red carnation every day, which he would buy on the way to work, for more than 40 years. His successful store contained everything in its basement and four floors -- and in mass quantity. This postcard dates from 1908. Bischof's eventually became Goodman's store in the late 1920s but burned to the ground in 1933 in one of the town's most disastrous fires.

Ben-Hur at the Strand Theater

You may already be familiar with the 1959 movie version of Ben-Hur starring Charlton Heston, but did you know it was already filmed twice before that as silent films, the first time in 1907, and then again in 1925? The 1925 film starred Ramón Novarro as Judah Ben-Hur.This version was a big hit for MGM, and its cost of $4-$6 million made it the most expensive silent film ever. Your library has preserved a part of a booklet that was circulated in Crawfordsville several weeks before this film was to be shown at the Strand Theater. The movie was shown twice daily for three days beginning on January 10, 1926. You can see a part of the cover here. To see the four-page booklet, view the .pdf at http://history.cdpl.lib.in.us/images/p025-7.pdf

The middle two pages of the booklet show pictures from the movie with captions describing the scenes.

Montgomery County Courthouse, c. 1900

A generous donation a few days ago brought several more important artifacts to our Local History collection. One particularly interesting item was a photograph taken in 1900, from the corner of Main and Washington Streets. The view is looking toward the courthouse, which was completed some 25 years earlier. The buildings seen in this phootgraph still stand today -- but the courthouse no longer has its tower. (If you are wondering where the Veterans monument is, remember that is was not erected until 1906.) This rare view of downtown Crawfordsville at the beginning of the 20th century shows a much simpler life. Automobiles existed -- but much transportation was still done with horses. And the streets are not yet paved! Notice the board walkways that cross both Washington and Main Streets. The woman crossing Washington Street toward the courthouse would have certainly appreciated the opportunity to keep her dress from being soild by the dirt in the street.

Compare the 1900 scene with one taken near the same spot in 1913. The horse carriages you see were merely for a parade. If you look more closley, you can see parked automobiles on the paved streets. Notice also the streetcar tracks that are visible along Main street, south of the courthouse. Crawfordsville sure had changed in a decade!