Let us celebrate! We are solvent, sane, and still committed to our original goals – preserving and promoting the history of Franklin Township, Marion County, Indiana, U.S.A.! Our valued treasurer, Dana Crapo, assures us we have money in the bank, and no outstanding debts –although needed repairs to our building and reprinting costs for some of our publications do threaten. We have almost reached our 40th birthday. Only a few of the hardy souls who responded to Pat and Ray Gooldy’s call for a Township Historical and Genealogical Society are still among us. In honor of the nation’s Bicentennial we met on October 27, 1975 with charter memberships available until July 4, 1976. For almost 40 years we have tried to do as we promised when we first organized– to preserve and promote the history of Franklin Township, its families, its schools, churches and communities. Your attendance at this dinner speaks for the success of the venture.
Our Meeting House, the former Big Run Baptist Church, built in 1871, was given to us in 1977 upon the dissolution of the church’s dwindled congregation. We soon settled in. Their homemade pads to make the pews more comfortable are still in use. Our building and the Big Run Cemetery are on the list of National Historic Landmarks. We have grown in number, and many of us have Life Memberships in our Society. The Society Board meets on the first Mondays of March through December to discuss the business of the society such as investments, programs, and repairs to our building) to keep it for its own significance, and for its efficiency as a storage facility for our township treasures.
We welcome visitors at our Open Hours on the first Saturdays and third Sundays of March through December. These occasions provide opportunity for “show and tell” programs that featured vintage postcards, antique toys, and old farm equipment, as well as looking at our variety of collections. We host several school groups each year in spring and fall and have at least one township cemetery tour.
Special Events in 2014 included:
- Sponsoring an Authors Fair at the Franklin Branch Library in June. Skip Hess, popular columnist for The Indianapolis Star was our speaker, and the occasion provided local authors opportunity to display and sell their books
- Sharing in the Memorial Day program at Acton Cemetery
- Greeting the community and promoting our Society at Wanamaker’s Old Settlers Day
- Keeping spirits alive as we tell Ghost Stories at the meeting House in October
- Providing a booth at the Acton UMC’s Craft Fair, and
- Concluding with festivities in December that include Christmas in Wanamaker and the Meeting House Old-Fashioned Christmas.
We were able to provide Boy Scout Josh Wadsworth, Troop 107 Action UMC, with a project for his Eagle Scout Badge, which he earned in 2014. Several Society members, “saved from demolition” a WPA Outhouse on a Southport Road property development. The Cook Realty company allowed us to move it to the Township Historical Society grounds, where it remained until Josh decided to use its restoration as his Eagle Scout Project. We thank Society Member, Tommy Grimes, for moving the “humble but historic” structure and Josh and his troop for restoring it with a new foundation, new roof, and fresh paint. If you would like to know more about President Roosevelt’s Depression-era make-work projects, please see Sylvia’s book Humble but Historic available at the Meeting House or through our website.
Another thank you to Society Member, Alena Van Arendonk for the creation and maintenance of our beautiful website. From our calendar of events to the purchase of publications to the township history tidbits of information, our website keeps us firmly connected to the 21st century.
We sincerely thank our Society Officers and Board Members (some who have served for several years) for their tireless work. The Society has grown under our outgoing president John Kanouse’s leadership, becoming more community-oriented. “I have appreciated the Board’s good attendance at our monthly meetings, and thank the Civic League for their generosity in allowing us to use their community room,” John said. He and Carolyn, with a bit more leisure at hand, look forward to attending more Blue Grass music festivals! We celebrate our new officers who will assume their responsibilities in January 2015.
- President: Nancy VanArendonk
- Vice President: Ann Hansen
- Secretary: Alena Van Arendonk
- Treasurer: Dana Crapo
- Programs: Diana Hipple
- Historian: David Ostheimer
- Archivist: Marlena Linne
- Archivist: Carolyn Kanouse
- Directors: Evelyn Tandy (2015), Brenda Toney (2016), Joe Seiter (2017), William Clark (2018)
- Endowment Trustees: James Winton, Ben Shuman, and John Kanouse
And lastly, after much discussion, the Board voted in October to increase the cost of memberships in the Society. This is only the second time we have seen an increase in 40 years.
- Individual Membership: $20 a year ($40 a couple)
- Family Membership: $50 year
- Sustaining Membership: $100 a year
- Life Membership: $200/one payment ($400 a couple.)
Best wishes to all our supporters for a great year!
Submitted by Sylvia Henricks and Ann Hansen