Weekly View » Steven R. Barnett

100 Years Ago: Nov. 6-12

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 06:08:01 +0000

From The Indianapolis Times, Thursday, November 11, 1926: Downtown streets were bedecked with flags today and most public offices were closed in commemoration of the eighth anniversary of Armistice Day. At Keith’s Theater, the 11th Infantry band from Ft. Benjamin Harrison gave a concert proceeding a ten-minute historical sketch, The Signing of the Armistice, given by the Marion County posts of the American Legion. The first scene depicted the receipt of a message by Marshall Foch on November 7, 1918, which opened negotiations for the signing of the armistice four days later in the Forest of Compeigne. The second scene, November 11, 1918, had Marshall Foch reading the terms of the armistice to the German representatives and the signing of the document. The audience gave a great ovation when pictures of General John J. Pershing were projected on the screen.

100 Years Ago: Oct. 30-Nov. 5

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 05:08:41 +0000

From The Indianapolis News, Wednesday, November 3, 1926: The extremely light vote in yesterday’s election will result in the automatic removal of the names of approximately one-half of the eligible voters from the registration rolls in Marion County, representing all political parties. Before these voters can vote at the next general election in 1928, they will have to register again when the period of registration is open that year. The poll list of persons who voted Tuesday will be the basis of voters eligible to cast ballots in 1928 without further registration unless they move out of the precinct in the meantime in which case re-registration will be required. Going into Tuesday’s election, there were 179,487 persons on the county registration books. In the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction, 92,469 persons voted leaving 87,018 whose names will be removed.

Salvage Corps

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 05:09:30 +0000

October is Fire Prevention Month in commemoration of the Great Chicago Fire that began on October 8, 1871, when Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, according to legend, kicked over a lantern that started a fire in the straw strewn about the barn that quickly consumed the structure. The blaze spread to other buildings and houses and over the next couple of days the conflagration nearly razed the entire city of Chicago. Insurance losses were staggering, a few paid claims in full but many companies failed or paid only partial amounts.
Fire is unforgiving, reducing anything combustible to ashes, and what the flames didn’t touch, water and soot ruined. Prior to the Great Chicago Fire, insurance companies organized the Fire Insurance Patrol to reduce losses. Two or three men would go into a burning structure with tarpaulins, covering the contents to protect them for salvage and then posting a guard to prevent looting after a fire. While the extent of this inferno thwarted salvage efforts, the city’s fire Captain Bill Bullwinkle subsequently reorganized the Fire Insurance Patrol. In 1886, the Underwriter’s Association of Cincinnati, Ohio adopted Bullwinkle’s model and created the Underwriter’s Salvage Corps to protect a building’s contents during a fire from smoke and water damage and to secure the structure after a fire. A private company, the Salvage Corps, was authorized to work with the city fire department on an equal basis. Herman F. Newman, a city firefighter, who began a salvage operation in 1879, was named superintendent of the Corps. He later came to Indianapolis in 1900 and helped in organizing the city’s first salvage corps.
When local insurance companies declined to provide financial support, the Merchants’ Salvage Corps was formed by the Indianapolis Merchants’ Association and the Manufacturers’ Association with Newman as its superintendent. Operating out of a building at 109 E. South St., the corps maintained a two-horse wagon carrying six men and a driver with another wagon carrying tarpaulins. A typical blaze required the corps to use from fifteen to thirty covers to protect a structure’s contents from fire and water damage. After five years of saving property from loss, Newman closed the salvage corps because of the continuing lack of financial support from the insurance companies. The need for a salvage corps soon became apparent when a fire occurred on an upper floor of the Badger Furniture Co. building, 14-20 E. Washington St. At least half of the loss from water damage in this fire was preventable if tarps had been spread across the stock of furniture and bric-a-brac on the building’s lower floors. A similar situation occurred several years later when water, being poured on a fire at Kipp Bros., 37-41 S. Meridian St., came through the upper floors and flooded the store. A salvage corps could have protected $50,000 (2025: $1,757,418) worth of goods from considerable water damage.
After years of debate, the Indianapolis Salvage Corps was incorporated in August 1913 under the auspices of the Merchants and Manufacturers’ Fire Insurance Bureau with expenses paid for by the fire insurance companies. Once established, the men of the salvage corps were trained as life savers first and then using waterproof covers to protect an owner’s belongings from fire, smoke, and water. When it became fully operational in July 1914, the Salvage Corps was housed in a building at 225 E. Pearl St., later moving to 422 E. New York St., and consisted of a superintendent, two squads of five “cover men” each, and two motorized wagons to carry the men and about 400 covers. In one of its first runs, the Salvage Corps was credited in saving the furniture and many antique pieces when fire consumed the third floor and roof of the home of Joseph Munchhof, 2046 N. New Jersey St. In warehouse fires, the Salvage Corps would remove as much of the building’s contents as it could and cover the rest with tarpaulins to reduce the water damage.
During the ‘20s, the work of the Salvage Corps together with fire prevention efforts by the Chamber of Commerce and improvements in fire protection reduced the per capita fire loss from $5.75 to $1.42. Fire insurance rates also saw a slight reduction for frame dwellings with shingle roofs in this same period, but the most significant rate change was for frame dwellings with approved fire-resistant roofs where rates were reduced by half. The chamber was an early advocate in the movement to eliminate wooden shingle roofs which accounted for many fires. The change to fire retardant roofing drastically reduced the number of roof fires and the need for the Salvage Corps to spread tarps.
Fires were often a daily occurrence in the downtown business district until frequent inspections and compliance by establishment owners with safety suggestions dramatically reduced fire hazards. Similar fire prevention education and adherence to the slogan, “Clean Property Seldom Burns,” along with the introduction of automatic sprinkler systems, greatly curbed blazes in the industrial and warehouse districts.
In the early 1930s, the Indianapolis Fire Department formed a salvage corps at Station 14, Kenwood Ave. and 30th St., covering a portion of the city’s northside not served by the Indianapolis Salvage Corps. Similar salvage corps were established at fire department stations in Irvington and Broad Ripple, expanding the area of protection.
The perfection of firefighting techniques, an emphasis on fire prevention, and fire-resistant building construction led the Indianapolis Fire Department, in October 1944, to assume the duties of the Indianapolis Salvage Corps because “fire losses have been reduced to the point where maintenance of the corps is no longer necessary.” With its successes, the Salvage Corps passed into a chapter of the city’s history.

100 Years Ago: Oct. 23-29

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 05:08:16 +0000

From The Indianapolis Times, Tuesday, October 26, 1926: Investigations into Indiana political corruption involving elected Republican officials and the Ku Klux Klan continued before the Marion County grand jury and the special U. S. Senate committee chaired by Senator James Reed. Declaring they had “God’s plenty” to tell the jury, former Marion County Klan cyclops George Elliott and former Indianapolis police inspector Harvey Bedford were called because they might be able to throw some light on alleged agreements between various politicians and D. C. Stephenson in return for the ex-Klan chief’s political support. Lake County politician and former Klan official Ralph Bradford “spilled the beans,” telling the committee of a secret Klan conference in Washington, DC attended by Indiana Senator James Watson, Imperial Wizard Hiram Evans, Indianapolis Mayor John Duvall, and others to oust Walter Bossert as Indiana grand dragon.

100 Years Ago: Oct. 16-22

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 05:08:02 +0000

From The Indianapolis Star, Sunday, October 17, 1926: A radio controlled “Ghost Car,” operated without driver or passenger, will make its first appearance in the Midwest during a week-long series of demonstrations around Indianapolis as a feature of the second annual radio show. One of the most unusual inventions of the radio age, the “Ghost Car” is stationed a couple hundred feet in front of a second car which is officially known as Station 2XAX, a licensed radio station. Through a series of radio wave impulses sent from the rear car, the “Ghost Car’s” motor is started, its gears are shifted, the horn is blown, the lights are turned on and off, and the car is run forward and backward, all by radio control. The “Ghost Car” can be seen daily from 10:00 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. at various locations.

100 Years Ago: Oct. 9-15

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 05:08:41 +0000

From The Indianapolis Times, Monday, October 11, 1926: Today, the Marion County grand jury began investigating charges that politicians and high officials were involved with D C. Stephenson, former Klan grand dragon, in corrupt political deals when Stephenson was “the law in Indiana.” Criminal Judge James Collins instructed jurors to make a thorough investigation of reports that Stephenson, who is serving a life term in Indiana State prison, is now ready to talk. Prosecutor William Remy, who is leading the investigation, announced that Stephenson will be called before the jury, but others will be called to testify first so it will be known what corroboration or facts must be obtained from him. “Everybody will be given a chance to tell what they know, but nobody will be permitted to use this grand jury to whitewash anyone or to throw dirt.”

100 Years Ago: Oct. 2-8

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 05:08:59 +0000

From The Indianapolis News, Saturday, October 2, 1926: The Indianapolis Airport will be established at once on 234 acres of level ground in Mars Hill that has been leased by the Indianapolis Airport Corp. The tract selected is a half-mile square, bounded on the east by Holt Rd, on the north by Minnesota St, on the south by Raymond St, and on the west by the Drexel Gardens Addition. The site is accessible to the city by streetcar and a spur from the Pennsylvania Railroad. Kentucky Av will provide bus and truck access. Today’s announcement completes the work done over several months by members of the Chamber of Commerce to give Indianapolis an airport worthy of the name and worthy of the city it will serve. The 113th Observation Squadron of the Indiana National Guard will supervise the airport’s operation.

Treading the Boards

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 05:09:46 +0000

From Broadway to Hollywood and into living rooms via radio and television, performers from Indianapolis have entertained audiences for generations. Locally, theatergoers have enjoyed live stage productions for over a century with talented actors bringing the house to tears or roaring laughter. Among these Indianapolis performers for over three decades was George Willeford, one of the city’s most accomplished actors who hit his mark in over eighty-five major plays and in numerous other productions.
George William Willeford was born in Indianapolis on November 27, 1920, to William W. Willeford and Marie Sophie Schmidt Willeford. His father was a receiving clerk for G & J Tire Co. and the family lived on the east side of the city at 248 Dorman St., across from Highland Park, later moving to 57 Brookville Ave. (N. Ewing St) near Sherman Dr.
Willeford attended Minnie Hartman School No. 78, 436 N. Sherman Dr. and learned to play the violin from Charles Bromley, director and instructor of the Masters’ School of Music. He was the “kid violinist” on a Saturday afternoon show on radio station WIRE. Willeford continued his education at Arsenal Technical “Tech” High School where he won a regional violin contest and was a member of the cast in Big Hearted Herbert and Naughty Marietta.
Following his graduation in 1939, Willeford was awarded the Indiana University Hoosier Music Festival Scholarship in violin and enrolled in the School of Music. While at IU, he was a member of the Pro-Music Club, the Student University Symphony Orchestra, and the Glee Club. Willeford also was the student director of radio music. He performed with the IU Theater, co-authored the Jordan River Revue, and was a member of Theta Alpha Pi, national theatre honors fraternity. Willeford was also a member of Alpha Mu Omega fraternity.
Willeford joined the U. S. Navy V-5 program (Naval Flight Preparatory School) at IU. and when he received his B.P.S.M. (Bachelor of Public School Music) degree in 1943, he was commissioned an ensign in the United States Naval Reserve, on April 29, 1943. Four months later, he married Helen Marie Burton (27 Mar 1921-10 Sep 2000), a fellow School of Music student, at her family home in Sandborn, Indiana on August 22, 1943. The couple went to Norfolk, Virginia where Ensign Willeford was stationed. They would become the parents of Eileen Marie Willeford (20 Apr 1945-7 Jul 20 25) and Stephen “Steve” Warren Willeford (13 Apr 1948-23 Jul 2003).
Willeford was discharged from the service on February 8, 1946, and returned to Bloomington, Indiana where he pursued a Master’s degree and resumed acting with the University Theatre as a cast member in William Saroyan’s Time of Your Life. He continued to perform in plays and skits while directing the University Radio Ensemble. As a staff announcer for WTOM radio, Willeford gave the play-by-play for IU football and basketball games. He briefly was a salesman and announcer at radio station WITZ in Jasper, Indiana, returning to WTOM as assistant manager in 1949. The following year, Willeford was vice president of Collegiate Record Bar, Inc, a store handling over 125 different labels.
In the summer of 1951, Willeford was named program director for Indiana University’s laboratory FM radio station WFIU and later he was appointed program director of the IU Radio and Television Service. In 1956, Willeford wrote a 45-minute fictional drama dealing with civil rights on a college campus that was performed over a Sunday program on WTTV, Channel 4. He also was co-host of “Sunday Morning,” a television show airing on WTTV. Willeford came to Indianapolis in the fall of 1957 to host “Standout,” a program airing on WLWI, Channel 13, posing “the questions to Hoosier personalities.” He made his home in Irvington at 440 N. Irvington Ave.
At WLWI, Willeford was host of a daily movie show and later he had a five-minute spot called “Critic at Large” where he appraised plays, movies, books, and “anything else that strikes his fancy.” He also made his dramatic television debut as a “bad guy” in an episode of ABC-TV’s “Rifleman.” Willeford was the weekday weatherman, whose offbeat wit made the routine report palatable, and his Saturday night show, “By George,” was a program of talk, comedy monologues (written by him), and guest nightclub comedians and vocalists. In addition to being a TV personality and emcee, Willeford returned to the stage as a seaman in the Avondale Playhouse production of Mr. Roberts and continued with the show for a week in Detroit.
Willeford was the moderator in WLWI’s high school quiz show, “Exercise in Knowledge,” and his “hair trigger humor” kept the program on a quick pace. However, in August 1965 it was announced that “a schedule shakeup” at WLWI made Willeford’s “services no longer necessary.” He continued to perform in Avondale Playhouse productions like Affairs of State in the candy-striped tent at the Meadows Shopping Center and playing the violin Saturday evenings at the Italian Village restaurant. He also joined the Paul Lennon Ad Agency and was with the advertising department of WIFE radio. Willeford later was the advertising manager for Greater Indianapolis, a monthly magazine of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce.
Starlight Musicals at the Hilton U. Brown Theater on the Butler University campus also provided Willeford with opportunities to “tread the boards.” He appeared in supporting roles in Oklahoma! and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Willeford also played the tycoon in the “naughty” comedy, Any Wednesday, and the errant husband in The Seven Year Itch on the stage of the Booth Tarkington Civic theater. He often appeared in special performances of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as a violinist or narrator.
In 1970, Willeford won the Civic Theatre’s best actor gold award for his role as the convict Joseph in My Three Angels. He also joined the Butler University faculty as professor and chair of the drama department of the Jordan College of Fine Arts, while continuing stage performances at the Black Curtain Dinner Theater in 1923 Skidoo, a revue written by, directed by, and starring George Willeford, and as a member of the Athenaeum Players of the Athenaeum Turners Theater, playing Lt. Cmdr. Queeg in the Caine Mutiny Court Martial.
Throughout the 1970s and into the early 1990s, Willeford could be found directing and performing at any venue in Indianapolis that had a stage. A prolific author of musical revues and comedy sketches that entertained countless audiences, Willeford became professor emeritus in 1986 and the following year he starred as Benjamin Franklin in the Civic Theatre’s production of 1776. In 1988, the Encore Association presented Willeford with the E. Edward Green Award, honoring his many years of service to community theater. Willeford was a “talented, hard-working, dedicated, sarcastic, irascible, demanding, opinionated, and interesting” individual. One of his last roles was Grandpa Joad in the Edyvean Theatre’s production of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.
George Willeford died in Community Hospital East on July 15, 1994, and was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery. He was a member of Grace United Methodist Church and the IU School of Music Alumni Association. Willeford built model ships in his spare time.

100 Years Ago: Sept. 25-Oct. 1

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 05:08:44 +0000

From The Indianapolis News, Saturday, September 25, 1926: The sixth annual concert of the Educational Aid Society for Colored Orphans will take place at Shortridge High School’s Caleb Mills Hall Tuesday evening. An “All Hoosier Cast” of more than forty musicians of exceptional ability include 150 singers representing the colored schools that will be the background for the community sing of patriotic tunes. Among the ensembles performing are the Mt. Paran female quartet singing negro spirituals, the Mitchell chorus, and the Y.W.C.A. quintette. Several individual piano numbers will be given along with vocal soloists. The Educational Aid Society was organized to meet the problem of the institutional children when they leave the Colored Orphans’ Home by providing scholarships. While the benefit concert raises $1,200 (2025: $22,288) annually, churches, lodges, clubs and white and colored citizens contribute annually to the Society.

100 Years Ago: Sept. 18-24

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 05:08:43 +0000

From The Indianapolis News, Thursday, September 23, 1926: A city-county public building with 400,000 square feet of floor space was proposed by architect William Eldridge yesterday before the Indianapolis Engineering Society as a solution to Courthouse and City Hall overcrowding. A six-story office style building with inside courts and wings, costing $4,500,000 (2025: $83,579,176), could be built on two-thirds of the market square. The proposed sale of the Courthouse would pay off its debt and provide some of the new construction funds. The Engineering Society recently suggested the market house be abandoned in favor of regional markets in the outlying parts of the city and City Hall might be turned over to the State as a museum. The plan would retain Tomlinson Hall and remodel its ground floor into the main auditorium and the second floor into a balcony floor.