On January 25, 1978 I was working at Lee Wards Arts & Crafts store on Pendleton Pike in Lawrence. The first blizzard warnings were issued at 3:45 p.m. that day. We employees heard the warnings on the radio about the approaching snow storm, but had no idea what was really coming. Our manager wouldn’t close early and I was working nights, so we didn’t get out to our cars until after 9 p.m. I lived just west of Irvington on Grant Ave. in an old double that we were renting. That following July we bought our first (and last) house in Irvington.
My route home from Lawrence was usually on I-465 south to I-70 and then west to the Emerson Ave. exit and south to Washington Street and west to Grant. I knew that if anything would have enough traffic and possibly be plowed I should go the interstate. The only problem was no one was on the roads, if they had heeded the warnings. There were no lanes visible and no one to follow. The snow was blowing so hard I could barely see the front end of my car. I knew if I stopped I’d get stuck so I drove on and I can still see in my mind that big curve over Shadeland as I-70 heads west. All I could see was the roll of the landscape and I just tried to stay right down the middle of the road. It was the scariest drive I’ve ever encountered. Luckily I was driving a big heavy Plymouth Satellite and not the Ford Pinto we had traded in 3 years before which had absolutely no traction. When I finally got home and parked on the street in front of my house, I was so grateful to have made it in one piece. The wind blew up to 50 miles an hour during that blizzard and even though the temperature was around zero the wind chill was like 50 below. We already had 5 inches of snow on the ground and it snowed for 31 hours with a 15.9” additional snow fall. Visibilities would remain at or below one quarter mile for 25 hours — it was a total white out! The drifting was unbelievable — up to 20 ft. high in some cases.
That night the wind howled and snow was coming down sideways. Our old double didn’t have any heat registers upstairs where the 2 bedrooms were — we had discovered that 3 years before when we rented the place. We only paid $100 a month and my husband was still in graduate school so we couldn’t afford to move. Our daughter was only 4 years old and we kept a space heater in her bedroom. We didn’t have one that I remember in ours and no electric blanket either. My mother-in-law kept wanting to buy us one but my husband was so hot natured it was like sleeping with a grizzly bear. I remember that bedroom had 3 really tall windows (one facing north and the other two west) and the curtains would blow in the wind. It makes me shiver to think of it, but I was young.
We got so much snow that night and for the next day that everything, and I mean everything, was shut down — the roads were closed and everything was buried in snow drifts. The snow was up over our fence and other dogs kept climbing the drifts and getting into our yard trying to get friendly with our little Pekingese Trixie. Our only bathroom was on the first floor next to the back porch and if you left a wash cloth in the bottom of the tub it froze in place. We had to always put the space heater in the bathroom to keep things warm when we bathed. Food wise I don’t remember any issues. I always buy ahead and our pantry was full. I did hear later of people venturing out just to find some smokes. We didn’t smoke, so we were fine for those 3 days of complete isolation. I don’t think any stores anywhere were open unless the employees got stuck inside the night of the storm.
I have to keep busy myself, and being an artist, I had to do something. I had a wooden pendulum clock kit I had gotten at Lee Wards for our Christmas and I put that together. It involved staining the pre-cut pieces of wood and gluing them together. It still hangs on my living room wall.
Of course, all of us old enough to remember have heard stories of those who ended up stranded at their work place and having to sleep in chairs and raid the vending machines for food. Luckily we were all together and had food and shelter and each other.
Indianapolis was ill prepared for this blizzard — it had never experienced such weather. We had few truck plows or salt for the roads. From that point on Indianapolis got itself ready by investing in snowplows and stockpiling mountains of salt at the DPW.
The cleanup after the storm has memorable stories too. I remember in the parking lot at Lee Wards they posted signs to move all cars so they could plow. One old Chevy that apparently wouldn’t start was pushed up into the pile of snow and only the bumper was visible 15 feet above the parking lot. Remnants of that pile of snow were still around in April.
Here are some tragic facts from this once-in-a-generation snowstorm. According to the National Weather Service in Indianapolis, “The storm set records still in place to this day, including the most snow in one month at Indianapolis, 30.6 inches, and the most snow on the ground at Indianapolis, 20 inches. Throughout the Midwest, doctors and emergency personnel were forced to reach people on skis and snowmobiles. The governor sent National Guard tanks onto I-65 to remove stranded semis. A snowbank stalled a seven car Amtrak train in Putnam County. Indiana Bell was forced to halt all phone traffic but emergency calls. In Franklin, the Daily Journal published on pink paper, explaining that the color would help readers find their papers in the snow. The governor declared a snow emergency for the entire state the morning of the 26th. During the afternoon of the 26th, the Indiana State Police considered all Indiana roads closed. Seventy people perished during the storm.”
So as we moan about all the snow this winter just remember it could be worse — it could be the Blizzard of ‘78!
