Author: Joe Engler

The old Turner Hall at 720 SE 8th St was demolished last week.  For many the Central Turners was where they learned to swim or practice gymnastics.  With another iconic building now in the history books, VCHS takes a look at what this German club was all about.

Evansville Turnverein was established locally in July 1853 and was affiliated with the Berlin Turner Society.  The German translation is literally “gymnast club.”  An article in the 1980s described the club as “midway between the YMCA and a county club.”

In 1909, the German club bought the old Kingsley ME Church at the corner of 8th and Gum and remodeled it into its new quarters.  In a few short years the club opted to erect a new building.  After a couple iterations, plans were worked up by A J Capelle in summer 1913 for a new building that would occupy the same location.

In September 1913, the church was torn down, and in October ground was broken on the new Turner Hall.  It was was made of brick with stone trimming including a large stone inscription of “Central Turnverein” over the entrance (seen in picture below).  The estimated cost was about $26,000.

The first floor included a dance hall and gymnasium separated by folding doors for enlarging the space when needed.  Turner Hall also had a white enamel pool in the back.  The basement held dressing rooms as well as a rathskeller and billiards room.  A full list of activities accompanied the club’s grand opening in mid April 1914

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At some point around 1950 the front was remodeled covering over some of the details of the original facade.  A dining room addition to the side was also probably added around that time.

The club prospered for years, but began to struggle with membership in the 1970s when many of its members flocked to the suburbs.  The club was on the verge of closing in 1981, but rebounded quickly looking to bring in new members.  That success was short lived though as the financially strained Turners filed for bankruptcy in March 1983.

When the club closed a handful of suitors came for the property.  In February 1984, WNIN planned to move in to the building but the bank stalled on the project.  The TV station would wind up in the old Carpenter Home a year later.  Next, Krieger-Ragsdale looked to move its printing plant and bought the property.   Retrofitting the building was not viable so the company relocated elsewhere, and the old Turner Hall was sold to Christian Fellowship Church which operated its Impact Ministries out of the facility.  That nonprofit served the Center City community for years until it closed last August 2014.

After the Turners lost their home, there was some mention of the club continuing to meet, but nothing more recent was found of the once grand German club.  As for the building, it is still listed as belonging to Christian Fellowship Church, but nothing was found to justify tearing down the 100-yr old landmark.

In case you missed it, here is a slideshow highlighting the walking tour yesterday.  ThanksThis drug should be taken empty stomach and it starts working within an cialis online mastercard icks.org hour. It could be a side-effect of prescriptions and dysfunctions related to diminished androgens or substantial estrogens levels. low priced cialis And levitra free sample icks.org by the way it’s perfectly all right to take this pill around three to four hours prior to the procedure. Many illegal medications do not follow set size, shapes generic uk viagra and colors. to all those who braved the weather for a great turnout!

North Main

The Knotty Pine at the northwest corner of Main and Virginia
dates back to around 1894. It was built for J August Ritter who relocated his confectionery here from W Franklin St.
Ritter was a manufacturer and wholesale dealer in candies. He and his wife Henrietta lived upstairs.

Around 1914 the store became Becker’s Confectionery. It continued for a number of years until the mid 1940s when it became Stewart’s Confectionery.

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Around 1950 the building became a restaurant. Todd’s Cafe was open 24 hours and specialized in plate lunches. It was around this time Shirley Todd, the proprietor, built an addition in the rear along Virginia St.

About 1958 the restaurant became Dottie’s. Service around the clock was continued by its new owners Harold and Dorothy Townsend.

In 1962 the restaurant became the the Knotty Pine Cafe as most will remember it.

The Knotty Pine operated at the corner for nearly half a century. Economics forced the restaurant to close around late 2011.  It was torn down last week.

The new Water Works was built from 1898-1900 after the original one closer to downtown became obsolete.  The land where the plant resides today was purchased in 1895 and has been in service ever since.  There was however a fiasco in 1904 that almost saw the new structure become short-lived.

A cave in at the Water Works emerged around New Year’s Day 1904.  It was near the intake and was only 50 feet away from the river-facing wall.  The collapse ate out the ground and caused cracks in the building.

Almost immediately, the old West End pumping station was prepared for emergency use.  The original Water Works on Riverside Dr, which had been abandoned since the new one became operational, was also considered.

Additional cave ins occurred January 9 and the dry well, and caisson were abandoned.  A new trench along the route of intake pipes was proposed. There was some concern that water supply to city would be affected, but the water department assured it would not.

The administration brought in an expert engineer from St Louis.  Walter Luddington designed an interlocking steel piling to seal off work around the dry well.  The cave in kept growing larger and mud passing into pipes January 27 forced the Water Works to post a worker at the old plant and the West End Station too.  The Courier was very against the administration and demanded who would pay for the repairs and reported an incident where the Akin-Erskine mill had its machines clogged by muddy water.  Contrarily, the Journal-News downplayed any problems and said the muddy water was due to high flood waters and not the present issue.

On January 30, Cincinnati Water Works offered to send Evansville a pump boat, but their boat was in disrepair and would need fixing.  To make matters worse, the river wall of the Water Works was showing signs of settling, and it was claimed that the auxiliary stations were incapable of handling the whole load of the city.  Nonetheless superintendent Charles Thuman remained optimistic that the Water Works would soon be restored.

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On February 3, a section of the basement caved in and pipes broke at the entrance to the caisson.  This would most likely cause the intake to choke, and it was feared the plant would have to shut down.  The outer wall sank 8-12 inches, and a collapse was expected .  The next day the roof was braced, and the plant was closed to the public.  Things seem to worsen as the Cincinnati pump boat was delayed by ice, and Luddington was called back from St Louis to build new intakes.

The deteriorating condition caused Evansville’s mayor to issue a proclamation to conserve water February 5.  When the building settled the next day carpenters stopped working, and excavation for intakes halted.  The Courier claimed the administration was asleep at the wheel as the city engineer was off to Mardi Gras, whereas the news didn’t event make the front page on the Journal-News.

On February 10, the river wall was knocked down with a battering ram and the greatest threat of collapse was managed.  That day Chandler School was closed as water pressure there (and over much of the city, really) was low.

The Water Works station officially closed February 13, and the old Water Works plant and the West End Pumping Station were used.  On February 15, the plant was attempted to go back online, but it didn’t work.  Problems were compounded when ice broke off the West End Pumping Station and again when the tunnel shaft began to cave during the next week.  During a fire at Babcock & Seitz February 25, it was discovered that there was no water pressure.  Pump boats from Cincinnati and St Louis were utilized, but the damage was significantly more than it should have been.

The Water Works plant was back online March 5 after having been delayed by high wind.  A temporary intake was utilized with a more permanent design to be implemented at a later date.  All in all, the bill to fix the collapse neared $50,000, but with the building being so new Evansville citizens were perplexed as to how something like this could happen.

 

Brown’s Fine Foods at 1301 West Franklin St was Evansville’s largest grocery when it opened.  Vernon A Brown plugged his store as a “master market”–a grade above a supermarket–and heavily advertised its grand opening, which took place on September 19, 1946.

 

Brown’s new store boasted a clean interior with bright displays.  The buzz about the grand opening saw 3,000 avid shoppers waiting outside for the doors to open. People lined up at 6 a.m. and by 8 a.m. the crowd extended a block down Franklin St and another block down Fifth Ave.  Police were summoned and the police chief ordered barricades

 

Then it went bad…
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The anxious shoppers trampled down barricades, pushed back a human wall of policemen, and threatened to cave in the glass front.  Brown conferred with the police chief and agreed to close the doors until the crowd thinned.  Attempts to let a small number of shoppers were stopped short as the crowd again swelled.  Trucks were eventually called around 10 a.m. and formed a funnel to control the flow into the store.  The rest of the day finished smoothly.

 

Ultimately no one was hurt, but it was one of the more intriguing store openings in Evansville’s history.

The store was closed some years later, and the building now serves as a training center for the local Sheet Metal Workers Union

Losses

	Melzer Soap Works Destroyed by fire Oct 2014 will likely be razed
	Steierer Saloon / Service Glass Razed after a new metal warehouse replaced old brick store
	Geier Saloon / Lanhuck’s Bar Demolished after a car hit the structure in March damaging the building
	Faultless Caster office Razed June after busted water pipes flooded building
	107 N Fulton and 101 N Fulton Left structure partially demolished and right completely gone marks two historic Mesker buildings lost
	Bullocks Tavern Razed along with other buildings near Deaconess back in August likely for a parking lot
	Other notable losses Kessler house – 305 E Columbia Old Mater Dei offices and homes along Harmony Way Homes near St Joe and Delaware razed for CVS

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WINS

	Greyhound Bus Station Restoration well underway and blue panels are showing the old station’s beauty
	Willard Library addtion Victory garden in the rear of the lot is a tasteful addition to the historically-minded library
	Sterling Brewery reuse TBD but likely reuse for offices is an encouraging sign for an area in need of revitalization

IN THE AIR

Owen Block Fate is hanging by a thread for the old townhouses at Second and Chestnut