Greetings!

I hope the Summer has been going well for everyone. KVHS has been moving right along and I’d like to take a moment to share with you what’s been going on with the society.

Our loan has been closed on and the check signing took place Tuesday, June 16. Our representative, Dana Groves, from Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana drove out from the South Bend office to bring the check and officiate. Jim Guelcher from the Calumet office also attended (I’m including pic of the event). We were so excited we even let the KVHS lawn boy in the picture. Perhaps when the money starts rolling in we may even invest in a little better lawn mower for him. Dean Illingworth faxed over the final version of the work requirements for the stabilization, but we really need some more contractor recommendations. If anyone can think of a reputable contractor with experience working with historic buildings, please pass their names along to me. The lodge needs the stabilization completed as soon as possible so we can have our walk through for the KVHS annual picnic.

Speaking of picnic, here’s the details of our 2002 get together. It will be on Saturday September 7 and held at the same location as last year. The address is: 22 west 1050 south. 1050 south is 2.5 mile south of the SR 8 and SR 49 intersection in Kouts. 22 west is 2 miles west on 1050 south. We’ll have a sign out on the road again. This year our picnic will be a bring your own main dish and a side dish to pass. KVHS will supply the grill and location. We can figure on eating around noon, but you can begin arriving as early as 10:00. Jim Lambert has graciously offered to do the horse drawn wagon ride’s again and a volleyball/badminton net will be set up as well as horseshoes. We’re trying to come up with some sort of additional demonstration or presentation, so if any of you have any thoughts please let me know. If you are receiving this you are formally invited and you can bring guests that are interested in the historic or natural resource aspects of the Kankakee River Valley. I’m sure our Indiana Ghost Tracker friends can somehow fit into at least one of these category’s. We would like some idea of numbers, so please RSVP. We will have a donation jar out, so please drop something in to help us defray the picnic costs and finance our very worthy projects. Lets all pray for a nice, DRY day!

The Kouts Porkfest is on August 24 and the Kouts Chamber of Commerce has been kind enough to offer us a spot at the chamber table. We will have a small display and prepared to answer any questions and hopefully sign up oodles of new KVHS members. Thank you Kouts Chamber of Commerce!

A few months back Mary and I attended a Historic Communities of Northwest Indiana meeting at the Porter County museum in Valparaiso, hosted by Historical Society of Porter County. After the meeting we were looking around and discovered a booklet taken from stories told by Ira Fry. The booklet was titled "The Kankakee River" and after getting permission from Dave Casbon and Ira Fry we are reprinting it and giving it for a $10.00 or more donation to KVHS. Our KVHS edition will include pictures from Ira’s personal family photo collection. While transposing the booklet, I was throughly entertained and thrilled with Ira’s stories from his childhood about his and his family’s life along the Kankakee. Ron Foltman from R & B Printing in St. John is producing the booklet and we are very appreciative for his donation. While seeking permission to republish the booklet I discovered the Ira had a stroke last month, but fortunately he is recovering and when I talked to him earlier in the week he sounded very well. Ira has agreed to sign as many of the booklets as possible before the Porkfest. Ira’s address is: 105 E. Pennsylvania St. La Crosse, IN 46348 for those that may wish to send a get well card.

I got a phone call last week from Colleen Steffen, editor of the "Preservationist" magazine. The "Preservationist" is the bi monthly magazine published by Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. Apparently, word got back to them about our little ghost hunt done by Indiana Ghost Trackers at the lodge in early June and wanted to do a haunted house type story for their Halloween edition. Although we were a wee bit concerned about drawing attention to the lodge and inviting break-ins, we felt that the type of people receiving the "Preservationist" are not the type that would be likely to break-in. Colleen told me that they may do some more articles about our Collier Lodge restoration project later. This is really exciting news and it sure is a great opportunity for publicizing our project. Thank you Colleen and Historic Landmarks for all the help your giving us.

Speaking of publicity, the KVHS website should be up and running in the next week or so. The address is www.kankakeevalleyhistoricalsociety.org. I think next week is the earliest we may be up, but check in every so often. Jim Guelcher from the Calumet office of Historic Landmarks approached us with the possibility of sponsoring the preservation effort of saving the State Line bridge (#36) from demolition. Being the bridge crosses the Kankakee River and connects wildlife areas we felt that it was compatible with our mission and therefore should stand for its preservation. Many of Indiana’s great bridges are in a sad state and are threatened with demolition. If you go the Historic Landmarks website you can learn about many of our state’s threatened bridges. The National Trust for Historic Preservation lists Indiana Bridge’s as one of the eleven most endangered structures in the United States: www.nthp.org/11most/2002/bridges.html. Jim Sweeney, President of "Friends of the Kankakee", is also interested in working with us for the bridge’s preservation. Please let our legislators know your feelings about the destruction of Indiana’s beautiful and historically significant bridges and join with us in the preservation effort.

I think this pretty well covers everything coming up for the KVHS and its restoration project of the Collier Lodge. I’m going to include a membership application for those that haven’t signed up yet. We hope to see you at the Porkfest and the second annual KVHS picnic.