March is Women's History Month, so we are featuring relevant books (as well as audiobooks and movies) on our display "rounder" in the library's grand hall, across from the circulation and adult information desks. Any of the items displayed may be checked-out using your Evergreen Indiana library card.
Did you know that famous Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916) was a sign painter in Mooresville during the mid-1870s? Here's where he worked.
The Perce Building (Mooresville Moments #4)
by Mooresville Public Library
(click video to play)
The building at 25 South Indiana
Street in downtown Mooresville was built around 1865 by Dr. B. H.
Perce. It is the oldest business
structure still standing.
Originally two stories, a third floor was added in 1869.
From the time of its construction
until about 1900, the first floor of the Perce Building was used as a carriage
and paint shop. It was at this location
that the famous Hoosier poet, James Whitcomb Riley, worked as a sign painter
when he moved to Mooresville in the Spring of 1874 to live with his aunt and
uncle, Jim & Ann Marine. In addition
to sign painting, Riley wrote articles and humorous quips for the local
newspaper, the Mooresville Enterprise, as well as for other Morgan County
newspapers. When trade was slack, Riley
would slip around the block to hang out with local photographer and Civil War
veteran Jarvis P. Calvert at his art and photography studio on East Harrison
Street.
The Mooresville Masonic Lodge was
located on the second and third floors of the Perce Building beginning in
1869. From around 1900 to 1920, the
first floor and rear sections housed various businesses, including a harness
shop, a tin maker, and a plumber. It became
medical doctors’ offices during the 1920s.
From the 1920s through the 1960s, the
first and second floors of the Perce Building were used by the Mooresville
telephone exchange. Today, the building
is a one-story structure. Learn more from this slideshow.
