2017 Mooresville Old Settlers Festival

This year's Old Settlers Festival will be held August 6-8, 2017 at Pioneer Park, which is located at 1101 Indianapolis Road in Mooresville, Indiana. Mooresville Public Library (MPL) will have a table in the non-profit organizations tent area.

As always, click the images to enlarge.

Old Settlers Festival

(Photo courtesy of Visit Morgan County Indiana)

The festival opens with the Old Settlers Parade through downtown Mooresville. The route begins at Mooresville High School and runs south along North Indiana Street, then turns east onto East Main Street to Samuel Moore Parkway.  MPL will have a float in the parade again this year (click here to see our previous floats).

2016 MPL Old Settlers Parade Float

Learn more about the history of the Old Settlers Picnic from our previous blog post and the following video.

History of Old Settlers Picnic (1870-Present),

by Mooresville Public Library

(MPL Treasure Trove Video #6)

Drop by our table, if you have a chance.

1919 Mooresville's "Ford Gals"

Heading to Old Settlers

Myrtle Keller (1895-1997), shown at the steering wheel in the 1919 photo above, served at various times as clerk, assistant librarian, and circulation director at Mooresville Public Library during the 1960s and 1970s, and she was on the library board of trustees during the 1980s. We've blogged about her many times before.

Watching the Old Settlers Parade (1970s)

(Allison's Amoco is in the background)

along South Indiana Street just north

of the High Street intersection

Mooresville High School Band performing in

the Old Settlers Parade (1970s)

Old Settlers rocking chair winners (for being

the oldest Mooresville residents) (1970)

MPL Old Settlers Festival Booth (Aug. 8-10, 2010)

At this year's Old Settlers Picnic & Fair (Aug. 8-10, 2010), Mooresville Public Library (Mooresville, Indiana) distributed 230 book bags filled with informational materials. Approximately 275 attendees visited the library's booth, and many commented that the library's Old Settlers parade float was one of the best (perhaps the best) entered.

The library also conducted four giveaway contests for which festival attendees signed up while visiting the library's booth. These were:

• Authentic, homemade Old Settlers picnic and snack reed baskets (donated courtesy of Baskets From Junior's Farm), for which 236 fair visitors vied; and

• Book and Music CD packets for young adults, children, and babies (courtesy of the MPL Youth Services Department and acquired through the Cook Endowment).

One Old Settlers picnic basket and five snack baskets were awarded to the lucky winners.

Authentic Old Settlers Picnic Basket

One of three Old Settlers Snack Baskets (handle style)

One of two Old Settlers Snack Baskets (no handle style)

MPL staffers Diane Huerkamp, Bob Gilliland, Shirley Martin, Meghan Adams, and Bill Buckley, along with volunteer Janet Buckley, ran the library booth during the fair.

Our thanks to Baskets From Junior's Farm for donation of the baskets (logo below designed by local artist Brian Mills).

2012 Old Settlers is August 5-6-7

The Old Settlers picnic and  festival is slated for August 5-6-7, 2012 at Pioneer Park in Mooresville, Indiana.  The festivities begin with the Old Settlers parade through downtown to the park on Sunday, August 5, 2012.

My colleague, Cauli Le Chat, has posted a humorous blog about Old Settlers.  She includes a couple of our related videos.  It's worth a look see, as Cauli would say.

MPL Evergreen Indiana Float in the 2011 Old Settlers Parade

This blog has many postings about Old Settlers.  You may search for them using the search line in the upper left-hand corner of this blog page, or check the past postings menu along the right side.

You may also find the postings by going to a search engine (e.g., Google).  Use the search terms Mooresville Public Library Indiana old settlers treasure trove.  See what you find.

2016 Old Settlers Festival & Parade

The 2016 Old Settlers festival in Mooresville, Indiana will be held on August 7-8-9 at Pioneer Park on Indianapolis Road.

Come see the library's float in the Old Settlers parade (Sunday, August 7 at 2 pm through downtown Mooresville), then join the fun afterwards at Pioneer Park when the Old Settlers festival gets underway (August 7-8-9). Visit the library's table there and get lots of free interesting materials.

Here are a few photos from our previous Old Settlers parade floats.  Click the photos below to enlarge.  The floats (from top to bottom) appeared in the 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010 Old Settlers parades.

2018 Old Settlers Festival

The 2018 Old Settlers Festival will be held at Pioneer Park (1101 Indianapolis Road) in Mooresville, Indiana on Sunday-Monday-Tuesday, August 5-6-7, 2018.  The festival opens at the park at 3 p.m. on Sunday, and opens at 5 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday.

 

Preceding the festival will be the Old Settlers Parade through downtown Mooresville at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 5, 2018.

This year, there will also be events held on Saturday, August 4, 2018, as mentioned in a newspaper article by Randy Haymaker (Mooresville-Decatur Times, Saturday, July 28, 2018), reprinted below:

Old Settlers update

• From Randy Haymaker
 
• Jul 28, 2018 Updated Jul 28, 2018
•     
• MOORESVILLE — Mooresville Old Settlers Queen candidates Brianna Card and Brooke Uhls will finish their fundraising events today.
  One of them will be crowned Queen of the event Sunday, August 5 at Pioneer Park.
  The 147th rendition of the Mooresville Old Settlers picnic and celebration will begin a day earlier than normal this year, with the Delta Theta Tau Flagtown 5 and 10 K race/walk at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4, and an acoustical music festival from 1 to 8 p.m. the same day — both at Pioneer Park. Food service will be available.
  The traditional outing is Aug. 5 to 7 at Pioneer Park on Indianapolis Road.
  The event began in 1870, when town founder Samuel Moore donated five acres to hold a reunion of pioneers. With the exception of years during World War II, the festival has provided entertainment, food, fellowship and fun ever since.
  Mooresville Lions Club has managed the event since just after World War II, when returning veterans restarted the festival. Profits from ride tickets and booth rentals are shared with the Mooresville park system and the remainder goes to charity throughout the year. No money is retained for club events, which are paid for through dues.
  Many other community and school groups participate and use the festival to raise money for charitable causes. Area businesses and agencies also provide marketing and information booths.
  The festival begins at Mooresville High School with the Veterans Parade at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5. Rides open following the parade, and the Kappa Kappa Sigma Queen coronation is at 7 p.m. The project raises money through a pancake breakfast, spaghetti dinner, bake sales and other events.
  The first contest was in 1964, and over the years, $100,000 was raised to help buy equipment for the Pioneer Park swimming pool.
  Entertainment on the stage begins right after the parade Sunday, followed by the queen contest and then music until 11 p.m. Performing Sunday will be the Spring Hill Christian Center, followed by Jim Harris’ band at 4 p.m. Mike Whitlock’s band will perform after the Queen Contest.
  Music begins Monday night at 6 p.m. with Steve Byrd, and the Free Wheeling America Band will hit the stage at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
  Discount carnival ride tickets, saving up to 30 percent of cost, are available at the main, Monrovia, Plainfield and Heartland Crossing branches of Citizens Bank, Allen’s Barber Shop, the office of Dr. Phil Wright, Hong Kong restaurant, Village Barber Shop and the Pioneer Park office.

"Old Settlers" Folk Song

Does your hometown have a theme song? As discussed in one of our earlier blog posts, Mooresville, Indiana received its unofficial "town song" when the Rev. Dr. Frank C. Huston wrote Mooresville in 1935. It is a fine composition, carefully crafted by a masterful composer who earned a worldwide reputation as a writer of gospel and popular tunes.

Janet E. (née Griffin) Buckley is a native of Mooresville, Indiana. She has spent much of her life there, and she was intrigued by the idea of composing a song that encapsulated the history and spirit of the community since its founding in 1824. She played clarinet for the Mooresville High School marching band (not quite as long ago as the town's founding), and, in recent years, she has learned guitar. Her spouse wrote the lyrics, upon which she made significant improvements, and her impromptu singing of the words gave the tune its melody line. Since neither received any music theory training, they "guess-timated" the musical notation using Finale software. They then asked their son, composer Danny Buckley, to write a more complete, musically sophisticated version.  The result, shown here and here, gives a rough approximation of what the song might sound like. If you can sing, give it a try, and see if it sounds good ("If it sounds good, it is good," said Duke Ellington).  Instrumental versions are available:

• Listen to "Old Settlers" (Instrumental Version #1) (audio file)
• Listen to "Old Settlers" (Instrumental Version #2) (audio file)

Following the song's publication, Janet suggested that the refrain lyrics "Left me here to sing you this song" should be changed to "Left me here to sing you their song," since it is the old settlers' songs (i.e., their life stories) that are being commemorated. Make the lyrical substitution and see what you think.

For professional quality musical compositions, the couple directs readers to the works of Danny Buckley, who will be graduating from Millikin University (Decatur, IL) next Sunday. You can hear his compositions by watching the library's videos on its YouTube Channel.

 

Here's a video featuring Old Settlers as its soundtrack:

 

"Old Settlers" (Mooresville, Indiana Folk Song) (MPL Treasure Trove Video 5)

 

"Old" Town Park

We happened across some photographs of "old" Town Park, which we thought you might enjoy. Click the images to enlarge them.

"Old" Town Park (looking west) (circa 1909) (photo by J. P. Calvert)

 "Old" Town Park (looking southwest) (circa 1885) (photo by J. P. Calvert)

Old Settlers Picnic (August 1885) at "Old" Town Park

(looking south) (photo by J. P. Calvert)

In 1877 town founder Samuel Moore donated land along the east end of South Street (adjacent to the east fork of White Lick Creek) to the citizens of Mooresville, Indiana to be used as a town park.  The annual Old Settlers picnic was held there until 1995.

In the top photo (ca. 1909, above), you can see the east end of South Street.  The road going to the right intersected East High Street.  Heading toward the right (in the photo), you would enter Mooresville; going to the left, you would encounter the Waverly Road. Today you may see the boy scout pioneer cabin (constructed ca. 1932) atop the hill among the trees (see photo below).

The middle photo (ca. 1885, above) was looking southwest across "old" Town Park from the hill approximately where the scout cabin stands today.  The Waverly Road appears to the left.

The bottom photo (August 1885) shows local citizens attending the annual Old Settlers picnic at "old" Town Park.

To learn more about the history of the Old Settlers picnic, click here.

Boy Scout Cabin (single-pin log construction) (ca. 1932)

Shelter House Built by Jake Mann in 1937

Jake Mann's Concrete "Signature"

"Old" Town Park Shelter House
(2009 photos by the blog author)

2020 UPDATE:  On April 8, 2020, a tornado flattened the shelter house in "old" Town Park.  It was replaced in early 2021.

Jake Mann's Shelter House Destroyed by Tornado

"Old" Town Park, April 8, 2020

(File Photo by Mooresville-Decatur Times)

New Shelter House Under Construction

"Old" Town Park (January, 2021)

(Photo by Lance Gideon, Mooresville-Decatur Times, January 26, 2021)

Mooresville, Indiana Local History Links

---

VINTAGE MHS YEARBOOKS (DIGITAL PHOTOS)

To see digitized MHS yearbooks from 1946-2017, please visit the Mooresville Public Library website.

Click the links below to see digitized vintage Mooresville High School (MHS) yearbooks, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons:

• 1909 Senior Annual
• 1911 ‘Levenite
• 1914 The Argos
• 1917 The ’17 Packet
• 1920 The Cauldron
• 1923 White Lick Review
• 1925 White Lick Review
• 1930 Arch Wisdom

The Wikimedia scans are of the images that appear in the yearbooks, with original text from the yearbooks extracted from the original scans and typed out (like ordinary text) for easier reading.

These yearbooks were also digitally scanned (showing the entire pages as they originally appeared in print) and stored on the Mooresville High School Alumni Association Facebook page, but access might be restricted to their authorized FB group members.  You can check those links, too, to see if you can access them (click below):

• 1909 Senior Annual
• 1911 'Levenite
• 1914 The Argos
• 1917 The '17 Packet
• 1920 The Cauldron
• 1923 White Lick Review
• 1925 White Lick Review
• 1930 Arch Wisdom

MEMORIES OF MOORESVILLE (VIDEO)

The Mooresville High School Alumni Association has uploaded the complete video, Memories of Mooresville (2011), to YouTube.  Click the player (below) to watch the entire video, or visit Mooresville Public Library to checkout a physical copy on DVD (learn more from this blog post).

Memories of Mooresville (2011)

by Andrew Marine Video Productions

(courtesy of the Mooresville Alumni YouTube channel)

---

TAKE THE DOWNTOWN TOUR

Take our "virtual" walking tour (click link below) of historic downtown Mooresville, Indiana.  Then, using this handout, walk the self-guided route yourself.

• "Virtual" Walking Tour of Historic Downtown Mooresville, Indiana
• "Virtual" Walking Tour (Video)
  
• Self-Guided Walking Tour of Historic Downtown Mooresville, Indiana
• Handout
  

 

---

FAMOUS MOORESVILLIANS

Do you recognize these famous folks who hailed from Mooresville, Indiana? Find out here.

 

---

Our 2016 Old Settlers Parade Float

Here are a few photos of the library's float in yesterday's (Sunday, August 7, 2016) Old Settlers parade.  Click the images to enlarge.

Dude! You've just photobombed my picture. Plus, our cat (Cauli Le Chat) chewed on that piece of candy you're about to pick up. Just saying.

 

MPL executive director Diane Huerkamp (right) once again carries the library banner in the Old Settlers parade. Janet Hensley Moritz (left) also carries the banner.

Miss Beth-on-Tuesdays (backseat, looking out) was tossing Indiana State Flags attached to candy sticks to the crowd. We heard a little boy say there was a penny also attached, to give it sufficient ballast.

Above is one of the Indiana State Flag candy sticks that Miss Beth was tossing to the crowd.

The library's 2016 Old Settlers float, designed by Miss Beth and Miss Sharon.

The boy in the yellow shirt is holding one of the Indiana State Flag candy sticks that Miss Beth tossed from the truck.

 

These banners were hanging on lampposts throughout downtown Mooresville.

Click the following links to learn more about the Indiana State Flag and its designer, Paul Hadley. 

Mooresville's 2016 Old Settlers Festival runs August 7-8-9 at Pioneer Park.

Old Settlers Picnic & Festival

The Old Settlers fair, held at the beginning of August in Mooresville, Indiana, began as a town picnic in 1870.

Long-time sponsor, Mooresville Lions Club,

created a decorative tile to commemorate

the 100th Old Settlers picnic

Old Settlers picnic gathering in August, 1885

(photo caption is off by a year)

2013 Old Settlers Picnic Festival & Parade

This year's Old Settlers Picnic/Festival is slated for August 4-5-6, 2013.  The Old Settlers Parade launches the festivities on Sunday, August 4, through downtown Mooresville, Indiana to Pioneer Park.  The parade begins at 2 p.m. at Mooresville High School.

Here are a couple photos of the MPL float from last year's parade (click images to enlarge).

The Library's 2013 parade float features MPL Bookworms Redefined as its theme.  Here's a sneak peek:

The festival is open from 5 p.m. until 11 p.m.

We've got lots of other photos from past Old Settlers.  Here are a few from previous blog posts:

• 2011 Library Booth
• 2012 Library Float
• 2012 Library Booth
• Our candidate for Grand Marshall
• Our recommendation for official town song