Published by The History Press
Charleston, SC
www.historypress.com
Copyright 2020 by Tim Crumrin
All rights reserved
Cover image of Lou Johnson courtesy of Vigo County Historical Society.
First published 2020
E-Book edition 2020
ISBN 978.1.4396.7090.3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020934342
Print Edition 978.1.4671.4613.5
Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Dedicated to all my little ones over all the years, for all they bring to my life.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No book of history is the product of the author alone. Many others contribute. In this book, I have been fortunate to have had so many who aided and encouraged me along the way.
As always, the staffs of the Special Collections Department of the Vigo County Public Library and the Indiana State University Archives made the author feel welcome and were unstinting in their efforts to provide whatever materials were needed to support my research.
The thorough work of Vigo County Historian Mike McCormick provided a solid starting point and clarification to many of the chapters in this book.
My sincere thanks to my acquisitions editor at The History Press, John Rodrigue, who once again shepherded this work with his skills and understanding.
I cannot emphasize enough my gratitude for the support of the staff and volunteers of the Vigo County Historical Society. Marylee Hagen, Tanis Nicklasch and Susan Tingley were ever helpful, all while working to open the countys magnificent new museum. I wish to particularly thank Susan Tingley for suggesting several topics that appear in these pages.
To my great-niece, Lylah Crumrin, who more than once pointed out that her sisters name appeared in one of my previous books but not hers, I say here you are, Lylah Marie.
On the homefront, my daughter, Brynn, and grandchildren Tanner, Kyle and Daisey (mostly) understood that the book sometimes had to take precedent over going to the movies or swimming.
And, as always, to my wife, Robin Rohrkaste Crumrin.
INTRODUCTION
All towns have their hidden storiessome barely remembered, some unknown and some willingly forgotten. Terre Haute, Indiana, is the same. This book tells a wide range of those hidden histories, from sports to entertainment, from disasters to crimes and from innovators to those on the edges of society. How many know that Terre Haute once had two motion picture studios and was a center of aircraft innovation or that a product of the Wabash River was once the haute couture item in fashionable Paris?
Or that it can be said that Terre Haute was the epicenter of the soda pop business? That the most famous college basketball coach of all time first bestrode the college hardwood in the city? That two very different women conquered the worlds of art and entertainment?
Here, too, are the darker stories of the death cry of the gypsy and a man lynched from a bridge.
The hidden history of Terre Haute is no longer so hidden.
INNOVATION
THE SKIES ABOVE TERRE HAUTE
Terre Haute was home to two significant events in airplane design in the United States. In the decade after Kitty Hawk, it is estimated that two thousand people across the country tried their hands at building planes. Almost all followed the Wright brothers biplane designsbut not the Johnson brothers.
The work of the four brothers from Terre Haute, who succeeded in making the first successful monoplane flight in the United States in 1911, was innovative. The Wright brothers led to the biplane era, but the Johnson brothers experiments would show the ultimate superiority of the monoplane and lead to the modern era of flight.
Louis, Julius, Harry and Clarence Johnson were the redheaded sons of Danish immigrant Soren Johnson and his wife, Bertha. Soren Johnson immigrated to the United States as a young boy in 1855. He eventually became a blacksmith and settled in Terre Haute. His mechanical skills were passed on to his inventive sons.
Louis, the oldest son, was a naturally inventive young man. He built his own sled when his parents told him that they could not afford to buy one. When he and his brothers wanted a boat, they were told to build oneso they did. Tired of rowing the eighteen-foot boat miles upstream to harvest walnuts, Lou looked for a better idea. It was then that the Johnson boys began tinkering with engines. In doing so, they found their calling. The brothers began building a marine engine in 1904. They soon were building and selling inline marine engines. Many felt that they were superior to other models available at the time. A boat equipped with a Johnson motor could attain a speed of eighteen miles per hour.
In 1908, with the backing of the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce, they built a factory at Sixteenth and Hulman Streets in Terre Haute. They continued to look for other adaptive uses for their engines. They soon started adding them to bicycles and sold more than 2,500 motorbikes before 1920. Business was good.
Powered flight became a mania among many following the Wright brothers historic flight at Kitty Hawk. Newspapers of the era trumpeted each new flight development and lionized early pilots. The Terre Haute newspapers were no different, as they often featured breathless accounts about the daring men (and sometimes women) from around the world who conquered the air. The Johnson brothers were entranced at the thought of building airplane engines. They studied the mechanics of the Wright brothers early flying machines. Their experience with engines and speed led them to conceive the idea of building their own plane. Their plane, however, would be different from those of others. Harry Johnson later recalled that one of the brothers had seen a picture of the monoplane that Frenchman Louis Blriot flew across the English Channel in 1909. The idea of a single-wing plane intrigued them.
The brothers began serious work on the plane during the spring of 1910, testing out the engine and assembly designs. They settled on the monoplane model. It had a wood frame with silk-covered wings. During the first week of August, they moved the plane to a field near Black Hawk, southeast of Terre Haute. Wishing to keep their tests secret, they erected tents, but word soon got out and locals flocked to the area to see what it was all about. They spent two months testing all the elements of their design. Failures were followed by a meticulous reworking of the design. The brothers had no plans for a sustained flight. They wanted to test the machine. Their engine hit forty horsepower, and they were sure that they could squeeze out another twenty if they pushed it. They paid special attention to the wheels, as they worried they were too light to handle the strain of liftoff and landings. Finally, their creation (weighing 750 pounds, with a thirty-six-foot wingspan) was ready for the test. After two attempts, Louis Johnson revved the engine and moved slowly down the farm field in the gathering dusk of Sunday, October 9. The plane lifted about a foot off the ground and flew about twenty feet. The crew and pilot rejoiced.
