Newsletter of the Historical Society of Ogden Dunes, Indiana,
Inc. Volume 4 Number 10
November 1996
[This is all of this issue that I happened to have in electronic form so far.] Chesterton Tribune, Saturday, 1 October,
1898
The report reaches here that number of wild turkeys have been discovered
in the sand hills between Dune Park and Millers. Wm. Westergreen, a noted
hunter and crack shot, is reported to have bagged several within the last
few days.
[Note that "between Dune Park and Millers" = Ogden Dunes. Millers is short for Miller's Station, what we call Miller today and Dune Park was just a little east of Burns ditch, not the Dune Park at Route 49 in 1996.]
Michigan City Dispatch, 21 September,
1899
Pete Got the Turkey.
One of the westbound trains arriving during last Saturday picked up a turkey
somewhere in Michigan which found a safe resting place on the pilot of
the engine. The locomotive was detached from the train at this point and
left at the clinker pit east of the roundhouse, where it remained until
Pete, one of the "hostlers," got ready to clean the firebox.
As the engine started for its place over the pits the turkey, having probably
recovered from its fright of the unaccustomed ride, make a break for liberty
and started down the tracks, bound for Canada and the sand hills. At the
same moment Pete saw the bird's flight and started after it, visions of
Thanksgiving dinners floating before his eyes in the dawn's early light.
Pete proved himself a good sprinter and is the owner of a fine turkey,
while some farmer in Michigan is the loser of one.
-- from the upcoming book Hoosier Railroad Stories
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The Hour Glass Newsletter
George Svihla, Editor
762-5184
Historical Society Officers
Naomi Svihla, President
Donald Kurtz, Vice President & Treasurer
Jane Sutton, Secretary
George Svihla, Curator
Peter Youngman, Historian
Board of Directors
Margaret Benninger
Evelyn Childs
Susan Clouser
Constance Richter
Norbert Scheff
John Skafish
George Svihla
Thomas Tittle
Peter Youngman
Memberships:
Individual
$10
Family
$15
Sponsor
$50
Patron
$100
Organization/Business
$100
Life
$500
Historical Society of Ogden Dunes, Inc.
115 Hillcrest Road - 101
Ogden Dunes, IN 46368-1001
PROGRAM November 16, 1996 2 P.M.
THE STORY OF THE DUNES SCENE PAINTED ON SILK BY ððððð ðððððððð
by MARGARET BENNINGER
The ððððð ðððððððð mention in our society's printed newsletter was due to a misunderstanding. I posted it here on-line as it had appeared in print. Over the years, I've gotten more e-mails inspired by this reference than anything else on our web-pages. It's nice to see that being found by the search engines makes a difference in amount of visitation. Unfortunately I know next to nothing about ðððððððð.
Margaret Benninger, who has since passed on, actually gave a talk on
Glenn? Hawkinson (or something like that.) Hawkinson was an artist who lived in
Tremont and also was a big dunes supporter. Margaret pronounced
Hawkinson as "ðððððððð" so I had my mom, who owned a ðððððððð dune scene,
take it to Margaret's talk. Benninger had a bunch of Hawkinson's works up on
display so we could tell immediately that it was a different artist.
George Svihla, who was our newsletter editor at the time, also assumed
that Margaret had beens saying "ðððððððð" at our earlier board meeting, which is why it appeared that way in
the newsletter. Someone mentioned later than ððððð ðððððððð
had lived in the Miller portion of Gary.
Here's something an earlier inquirer wrote to me: "I met a man out at Lake Michigan two weeks ago while I was doing an oil
painting. He told me about his grandfather whose name was ððððð ðððððððð. ððððð, he said had devoted a good amount of energy to painting
the dunes. Evidently ððððð was concerned about saving the dunes before
many people had even given it a thought. He used his art to call
attention to the problem." He knew more than we did.
Steve Spicer, who has very informative Web-pages about Miller, contacted the Lake Street Gallery's Joyce and passed along someone's following comment: "The only information I have on Mr ðððððððð is through information my
elderly parents have told me and I'm unsure how accurate that information
might be. My parents said that Mr. ðððððððð's paintings were displayed in
the Gary Memorial Auditorium just prior to the fire that swept through
that part of town. When the fire occured all of the paintings were
destroyed."
That's it. That's all we know. I wish each of you the best in your search for more info about ðððððððð and your paintings.
Apparently my above spiel was not clear enough in its original form, with the artist's name in there. I got yet another request for more information about the artist. I give up. I have removed the artist's name so that I can get back to local history.