Greetings!

I received a letter from Attorney Hugh Martz notifying me of the transfer of title of the Collier Lodge to the KVHS. This pretty well completes the requirements set by Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana for our stabilization loan for the building. The building will be used as collateral so there is no financial risk for KVHS members. Thanks Hugh!

On May 3rd a group of us met at the lodge to do a study of the building. Dean Illingworth, partner of Schmidt Associates architectural firm, drove up from Indianapolis and Dana Groves, our Historic Landmarks representative, drove in from South Bend. The "hit of the day" was Dean finding some of original support pylons under the building. I’m including a pic of us in the building during the survey. A work requirement outline will be sent out to contractors and after we choose the winning bid we can begin the stabilization of the lodge. We are still planning on being able to do a walk through during our KVHS picnic.

In a previous newsletter I included a pic of a mastodon jawbone owned by Ira Fry. Bill Mangold, state archaeologist, is on our newsletter e-mail list and he forwarded it to Dr. Christopher Schmidt, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Indianapolis. Chris is doing research on mastodons and after seeing Ira’s mastodon jaw bone he wanted to come up and examine it. On April 4th Chris drove up with two of his students to do the examination of the bone. Another feather in our cap for our society’s discovery and education mission. I’m including a pic of their visit.

The Kouts Chamber of Commerce has invited us to give a talk at their June luncheon meeting. Gary Overmyer is going to give the talk on our organization and its goals. The meeting is open to the public and will be held at noon on Tuesday, June 4th at Birky’s Restaurant in Kouts. The Kouts Chamber of Commerce has also offered us the opportunity to have a spot at the Chamber of Commerce table during the Kouts Porkfest on August 24th and be present in order to talk to the people about our society’s purpose and projects. Thank you Kouts Chamber of Commerce!

One nagging question in the back of my mind has been why the rich and famous picked Baum’s Bridge to go to? One night I woke up with the thought that Lew Wallace was the catalyst that brought them there. The next day I went to the library and checked out what few books they had on Wallace. It didn’t take too much reading to discover what a remarkable man Lew Wallace was. He truly was a "Renaissance Man." A list of his accomplishments includes: a successful attorney, Civil War General, Governor of New Mexico Territory, Minister to the Turkish Empire. The author of such famous books as: "Ben-Hur", "The Fair God" and "The Prince of India", holder of a number of railroad equipment patents, artist and poet. Lew Wallace was also a very, very politically active man. Wallace’s father was Governor of Indiana and Lew was a State Senator. It is believed that Rutherford B. Hayes and Benjamin Harrison owe their Presidencies to Lew Wallace’s influence and political maneuvering. The Indiana Historical Society is holding most of Lew Wallace’s correspondences and papers and is transcribing them as part of their "Wallace Project." I called Doug Clanin of the "Wallace Project" and after a few phone calls and e-mails they offered to work with us on further researching Lew Wallace and the Kankakee River connection. The IHS has asked us to submit an article to their magazine "Traces" and Bev Overmyer is working on one to send. We have also been in contact with Shaun Chandler Lighty of the "Ben-Hur Museum" in Crawfordsville. Both the IHS and Ben-Hur museum have offered us the use of their archives and have invited us down to help us with our KVHS research on Lew Wallace. Lew Wallace was a fervent Republican and after checking the known list of rich and famous people who visited Baum’s Bridge they were almost all Republicans or acquaintances of Lew Wallace’s political/business circle. I believe that the "boys" would come down to the Kankakee, hunt a little, fish a little and talk a lot. I’m starting to think of Baum’s Bridge as a sort of "Camp David" where the rich and famous came together and reached a number of decisions in a beautiful and comfortable setting. Both Clanin and Lighty have offered their assistance to help us further research the Wallace/Kankakee, rich and famous visits to Baum’s Bridge. To me it is very exciting to open up a new view of a historical subject not explored before.

Before I started this letter, I promised myself to keep it short. Obviously, I’ve failed in the "short letter" department. There is one more subject I want to mention and that’s the importance of membership. With the KVHS starting our next stage in the restoration of the Collier Lodge we need the support of a growing membership. As I have mentioned before, membership is one criterion in grant awards that is looked at. In order to restore and preserve the Collier Lodge and use it as a community/educational center we need help. The help comes from its membership. If your schedule doesn’t allow you to be an active member your contribution through your dues can go a long way to help us, but of course we wish for as many active member as possible. Whatever you can do will help us to accomplish us in our mission of preservation and education. The purpose of the KVHS is not simply to study the past, but to preserve and educate the future generations on the horizon. I am including a copy of our KVHS membership application. For those that have not yet joined, please do so. I also ask that everyone that can, please pass on a copy of our application on to a friend.