The Return of the Native (Founder Stone)

Mooresville's "Founder Stone" has returned downtown to Bicentennial Park, as reported in today's edition of the Mooresville-Decatur Times.

Mooresville Bicentennial Park & the

new location of the "Founder Stone"

(January 27, 2018 photos by the author)

(click photos to enlarge)

According to Times reporter Anthony Woodside, the founder stone has been placed at the back of the park closer to Citizens Bank's parking lot.  Originally, the stone (and affixed plaque) were situated on the northeast corner of Indiana and Main Streets closer to the intersection.

The "Founder Stone" at its original location

Northeast corner of Indiana & Main Streets

Downtown Mooresville

(October 29, 2007 photo by the author)

As we mentioned in a previous blog post, the stone and plaque were removed last year during construction of Bicentennial Park and had been stored in the town's highway department garage.

The founder stone (and plaque) were originally placed downtown as part of Mooresville's centennial celebration (in 1924).  The project was directed by Samuel Moore's granddaughter, Mary Ida Fogleman, to celebrate the town's founding and her grandfather's first wood-frame business built on the site in 1824.

Samuel Moore's Plat of Mooresville

(1824, recorded February 21, 1825)

There has been some talk around town (with which I personally agree) that the stone should have been returned closer to the front of the property, where it had originally sat for decades. That precise location is most historically accurate, since Moore's business building was situated at the front of the lot.  A commemorative marker should be placed as close to the actual historical site as possible to correctly document what the marker is memorializing.  In any event, that's where the town (and Miss Ida) intended the founder stone to rest when they placed it in 1924.

At least the stone's new location is on land Moore owned.  Samuel Moore originally owned all of the land upon which Bicentennial Park (and Citizens Bank) stand--in fact, he owned all the land originally platted for the town in 1824.

Originally, the stone and plaque were placed close to the intersection because pedestrian traffic would best see it at the front of the lot.  Putting it in the rear area of Bicentennial Park is probably intended to encourage folks to saunter through the park and leisurely absorb the historical components.  History is best absorbed at a strolls-pace.  Whether or not people will actually do the walking and see the stone and plaque--that's another thing altogether.  When it was in front, it was easily visible to both walkers and drivers from the Main/Indiana Street intersection.  So front clearly reaches a larger audience.

I'm pleased to see the "Founder Stone" return to its native turf, even if the new location is not historically ideal.  Local historical markers are essential reminders of a community's past accomplishments.  That history offers current residents a common heritage, which has a unifying effect upon townspeople.  Regardless of our diversity (and that diversity should be honored, too), we share in common the town's past stories.  We should be proud of them, because we're living our own historical tales here right now, which future residents will look back upon with (hopefully) approval (or at least bemused curiosity).  We are a direct continuation of Mooresville's collective historical experience.  As the town's bicentennial approaches (2024), Bicentennial Park (and the founder stone) remind us that our community's greatness is measured by what has been, what is now, and what will be.

Mooresville's Bicentennial Park: A Historical Perspective

Folks driving through downtown Mooresville have likely noticed the new Bicentennial Park located on the northeast corner of Main and Indiana Streets.

Mooresville Bicentennial Park (complete with traffic noise)

(December 5, 2017 video by the author)

(click video to play--it's in focus, really)

I've been asked a few times to explain the meaning of the sculpture.  I'm no art critic, but I'll have a go at interpretation.

Mooresville Bicentennial Park Sculpture

(December 5, 2017 photo by the author)

(Click pictures to enlarge)

The sculpture represents the flames atop the torch on the Indiana State Flag.

Indiana State Flag

(designed by Paul Hadley in 1916; adopted in 1917)

The town's motto is "Home of the [Indiana] State Flag," because Paul Hadley designed the flag, and spent much of his life, here.  So the sculpture commemorates that event.

From a historical perspective, the torch flame sculpture represents more than just the flag.  It symbolizes the eternal flame of human hope and progress, as demonstrated through one's hometown.  Mooresville's pioneers laid down roots here because they saw the potential of a bright, shining future, filled with prosperity, community spirit, social diversity, and the pursuit of happiness.  That future has been transpiring since 1824, and it continues to blossom, as the torch is passed from generation to generation of Mooresvillians.  The sculpture is an invitation to everyone living and working here to keep building upon what our forebearers created and established.  After all, future generations will look back upon us as part of their history, and we want to shine on brightly to them, as our predecessors shone.  We may now be facing 21st century challenges, but our pioneering spirit is the same as those who came before.

Bicentennial Park incorporates other aspects of Mooresville history, as we discussed previously in this blog.

Historical commemorations like Bicentennial Park are important because we need a sense of continuity, of belonging to something bigger than ourselves.  Each person who calls Mooresville home, whether in a residential or a business sense, contributes another brick in our historical edifice, which grows progressively taller and more majestic.  Bicentennial Park honors all of us by showing that the light of Mooresville cannot be extinguished--not by hard times or environmental disasters--so long as we are willing to make a stand to support our community.

Free Local History Postcards & Flashcards

While supplies last, Mooresville Public Library has FREE local history postcards and flashcards available to pickup in the Indiana Room.

Free is good!  Plus, you can do something really retro--snail-mailing an actual postcard to friend or family.  That's historical in and of itself.

A Likely Story

Although Indiana ("India") E. Parker Likely (1845-1928) spent nearly all of her life in Mooresville, she was born in Greenwood.  When she was an infant, her parents moved the family here.  She spent the next 80 years living in a house built by her uncle at 19 East Harrison Street.  India graduated from Indiana Female College with a liberal arts degree, and she devoted the majority of her life to learning, education, and civic participation.  Her husband, James Likely (1837-1914), was a Methodist minister, whom she married in 1879.

India was best known for the Likely Literary Club, Mooresville's oldest non-ecclesiastical, civic organization.  The club was founded in 1890 by Elinor Palmer Mills, a teacher who came to town four years earlier.  Elinor worked closely with India to attract local ladies interested in fine literature, intellectual stimulation, and community-enhancing projects.  In 1994 Morgan County historian Dale Drake wrote an excellent article about the Likely Literary Club that provided wonderful details about the group and its participants.

Click images to enlarge

To learn more about India Likely, you can't do better than reading her obituaries (click "view image" under "obituary file" and "other file").  In the outstanding history of Morgan County, Morgan County Scrapbook (Mooresville : Morgan County History-Genealogy Club, 1985-    ), longtime Morgan County historian Becky Hardin (1908-1995) included sketches about India and the literary club.  Another enlightening source is Clara S. Richardson's A Brief History of Mooresville, Indiana, 1824-1974 (Mooresville : Dickinson Printing Co., 1974).  These (and other) local history books are available to checkout from Mooresville Public Library's Indiana Room.  Richardson's book is also digitized.

Video Eight

Eight years ago today (January 9, 2010), Mooresville Public Library launched its YouTube channel.  Since then, the library has uploaded 799 videos and has 800 subscribers (at last!--more subscribers than videos!)  More tellingly, the library's videos have been viewed 1,206,333 times.  That's an amazing statistic for a small township public library that serves a community under 15,000.

Videos were part of the library's social media initiative, which began in January, 2010.  Suzanne Walker, MLS, who was then MPL youth services director, spearheaded the project.  A couple of days before MPL YouTube was launched, Suzanne asked me to create a book trailer that she could show to a library school class at which she was guest-lecturing.  I'd never heard of a book trailer, but some quick research and experimentation with now-defunct Windows Movie Maker software produced the following video.

MPL Book Trailer #1

True Ghost Stories, by the

Marchioness Townshend of Raynham

and Maude ffoulkes

I hope there's been some improvement in our book trailers since then.  Here's one we particularly like, using (also now defunct) Windows Movie Maker Live.  (We're now using Wondershare Filmora video editing software.)

MPL Book Trailer #322

A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman

What really makes these videos stand out is the soundtrack music.  The library has its own composer, who writes original compositions for its videos.  (He's willing to grant other libraries a free license to use his music in their videos, too, as explained here.)

The library's YouTube channel became the platform to which staff could upload videos for public viewing.  Over the years, MPL created book trailers, program trailers, promo trailers, local history videos, music parodies, readalouds, singalongs, readers' advisory blogs, puppet shows, how-to instructional videos, and probably some other types I've forgotten.  Check out these playlists to see examples.

Making library videos is relatively easy and inexpensive--otherwise, we certainly wouldn't be doing them.  Who has a budget for such things?  Last year we started a media blog to share some of our ideas to help colleagues make their own library videos, as well as sharing some of our experiences using social media or technology.  One approach we particularly liked is the use of "spokescritters" to promote libraries through video, blogs, and other social media.  Our "spokescritter" is Cauli Le Chat, MPL feline roving reporter (now retired).  Cauli's blog has been viewed 437,356 times.

MPL YouTube reached a million viewings last March and is now nearly a quarter million views closer to two million.  The wide variety and quantity of viewing material explains some of the appeal, but ultimately it's simply a matter of resonance.  Some videos connect with large numbers of viewers, who share their finds, thereby delivering more viewership statistics.  The result is a global footprint.  Through its videos, MPL has truly reached a worldwide audience.