Genealogical & Historical Resources at Mooresville Public Library

Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library has a variety of historical and genealogical resources available to assist in your research.  Please visit the MPL Indiana Room/Genealogy Web Page to learn more.

Mooresville's Movie Mogul

Did you know Mooresville, Indiana had its own movie mogul?  Longtime Mooresville business owner Leon Adler (1906-1986) produced and distributed educational motion pictures for nearly a quarter century.

Adler purchased the National Motion Pictures Company in 1931, producing and distributing industrial and educational films until he sold the business in 1954 to Institutional Cinema Services of New York.  Adler maintained offices in the Holliday Building in Indianapolis but probably also corresponded from his Mooresville residence or business addresses.

Figure 1:  Leon Adler wrote this letter to the DuPont Company offering film distribution services from the National Motion Pictures Company, Adler's film production/distribution business.  Letter courtesy of the Hagley Museum & Library (Wilmington, Delaware) and Martin Louis Johnson, Assistant Professor of English & Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The National Motion Pictures Company specialized in educational and industrial films.  One offering was the 1939 short film, Told By a Tooth, which promoted dental hygiene.  The movie is available to watch from the Prelinger Archives, although the digitized copy was derived from somewhat degraded film stock.  There were splices and edits made to the original copy (for example, the end credits have been removed), and the recording is darker than it would have been when originally made and shown.

Told By a Tooth (1939)

Produced by Leon Adler's National Motion Pictures Company

Adler used Mooresville and Morgan County talent and locations to appear in his movies.  Longtime Mooresville resident Barbara Ann Nevins (Barlow) was about seven years old when she appeared in Told By a Tooth (1939), as well as in Why Willy Was Willing to Wash (ca. 1940) and another Adler film (sorry--don't know the title).  She was paid, as were the other actors and actresses appearing in the features, in free merchandise from Adler's Mooresville department store.  In Told By a Tooth, the scene in which a girl purchases a toothbrush was shot in Adler's Department store at 10 West Main Street in downtown Mooresville.  Barbara Barlow mentioned that, many years later, her children saw the films when they were attending school and were "mortified" that their mother appeared in the movies.  Apparently, she had never mentioned to them that she was a "movie star."  Parents embarrass their kids in so many ways.

 

Barbara Ann Nevins (about age 7) in Told by a Tooth (1939) and Barbara in 2024

Adler also used famous Hollywood personnel to produce his movies, such as Academy Award-winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby (father of musician David Crosby), as mentioned in an Indianapolis Star article.

Figure 2:  Floyd Crosby came from Hollywood to Mooresville to film two health and education movies for Leon Adler in 1935.  (The Indianapolis Star, Wednesday, May 1, 1935, page 11.)

Figure 3:  Leon Adler presented an NMPC film about George Washington at Noblesville High School in 1932.  The movie was sponsored by the National Bicentennial Commission.  (The Noblesville [Indiana] Ledger, Wednesday, March 9, 1932, page 3.)

Figure 4:  Mr. and Mrs. Leon Adler entertained friends with a preview of a new NMPC movie filmed in the Martinsville area.  (Martinsville [Indiana] Reporter-Times, Thursday, October 27, 1938, page 5.)

Besides producing and distributing movies, Adler was a successful Morgan County business owner.  In 1933, Adler purchased Ad Sellars' dry goods store and operated Adler's Department Store at 10 West Main Street in downtown Mooresville until 1967, when he closed both his Mooresville and Martinsville stores.

Figure 5:  Leon Adler's department store was featured by the Mooresville Chamber of Commerce, which he helped establish in the 1950s, in an article appearing in the June 10, 1965 edition of the Mooresville Times (clipping courtesy of Mooresville Public Library).

Figure 6.  An advertisement for Adler's Department Store in the September 1964 issues of the Mooresville Times (clipping courtesy of Mooresville Public Library).

The Adler family lived in Mooresville from 1933-1955, but they also had a residence in Indianapolis and were active in several charities and organizations.  Adler served as president of the Mooresville Chamber of Commerce and the Mooresville Lions Club, and he served on the board of Mooresville's Citizens Bank.  He helped establish the Mooresville Development Commission and was instrumental in constructing new homes west of Newby Elementary School in Mooresville, which were vital in easing a housing shortage as the town's population steadily grew during the 1960s and 1970s.

Adler's pursuits often had a national, even international, reach.  He was a member of the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation and Labor Zionists of America and served as chairman of the Southeastern Indiana Jewish Welfare Federation.  In 1963 the State of Israel issued Adler a prestigious award for meritorious service.  He supported organized labor, civil rights, and Zionism, speaking and writing about these and other subjects.  He also promoted oratorical contests to encourage improvement in public speaking skills.

In January, 1959, Adler was selected Mooresvillian of the Year for 1958, an honor bestowed annually by the Mooresville Chamber of Commerce in recognition of local civic leaders whose efforts enhanced the Mooresville community.  Adler was extremely popular with townspeople.  "If Leon Adler said he would do something, it was as good as done," reflected longtime Mooresville resident Beth Hensley, who owned and operated a "Jack and Jill" children's clothing store near Adler's department store in downtown Mooresville during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Figure 7.  Leon Adler was selected the 1958 Mooresvillian of the Year (Mooresville Times, January 15, 1959) (image courtesy of Mooresville Public Library).  Several of Adler's obituaries incorrectly stated that he received this award in 1954.

Figure 8.  Leon Adler's senior picture from The Arsenal Cannon, 1923 Indianapolis Arsenal Technical High School Yearbook (courtesy of Ancestry Library Edition).

Born in Shelbyville, Indiana in 1906, Adler graduated from Indianapolis Arsenal Technical High School in 1923.  Adler passed away at St. Vincent Hospital in 1986 at the age of 80 years.  Learn more about him from Mooresville Public Library's digitized vertical files, as well as from these obituaries below.

 Figures 9 & 10.  Leon Adler's obituaries from the Jewish Post, July 16 & 23, 1986.

We've prepared a local history video featuring Leon Adler (click below to watch).  We also have this slideshow.
 

Mooresville, Indiana Local History Links

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VINTAGE MHS YEARBOOKS (DIGITAL PHOTOS)

Click the links below to see vintage Mooresville High School (MHS) yearbook digital photos, courtesy of the Mooresville High School Alumni Association Facebook page.

• 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

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

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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)

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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
  

 

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FAMOUS MOORESVILLIANS

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

 

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Walking With Dillinger

Take a walking (or driving) tour around Mooresville, Indiana to see John Dillinger-related points-of-interest around town.  Click the images (below) to enlarge.

DILLINGER’S HOMETOWN HOLDUP

(SELF-GUIDED WALKING TOUR)

Starting from Mooresville Public Library, follow famous bank robber and Mooresville resident John Dillinger’s footsteps during and after his botched attempted robbery of Frank Morgan, owner of the West End Grocery on West High Street, on Saturday, September 6, 1924.  (Watch this video to learn more about this robbery attempt.)

 

Stop #1:  Behind the First Christian Church on South Jefferson Street (between Harrison & High Streets)

Between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Saturday, September 6, 1924, Frank Morgan, proprietor of the West End Grocery (at 135 West High Street, where Morz/Pedigo Plumbing is located today) was walking home after closing the store.  Suddenly, John Dillinger jumped from the shadows behind the First Christian Church holding a pistol and demanded money from Morgan.  Unbeknownst to Dillinger, Morgan had taken the day’s proceeds to his house earlier in the evening and was not carrying much money at the time of the robbery attempt.  Morgan and Dillinger scuffled, causing Dillinger to drop his firearm, which discharged harmlessly into the air.  Dillinger then struck Morgan with a metal bar (something like a “blackjack” criminals sometimes used in muggings), opening a gash on Morgan’s head.  Morgan, who was a Freemason, shouted a Masonry call of distress, to which fellow Masons throughout the neighborhood promptly responded.  Dillinger panicked and fled east down Broad Alley.  Dillinger’s accomplice, Ed Singleton, who was awaiting Dillinger in an automobile down the street (on South Jefferson close to High Street), raced off when he heard the errant gunshot.



Stop #2:  Lindley Block, 1 West Main Street, Downtown Mooresville

Dillinger escaped along Broad Alley and made his way to Moore & Pearce, a pool hall in the basement of the Lindley Block (1 West Main Street, on the southwest corner of Main and Indiana Streets in downtown Mooresville).  There, he asked customers and employees if “Mr. Morgan was all right” after being attacked.  No one there had heard about Morgan’s injuries, since news of the event had not yet travelled downtown.  Subsequently, several persons present wondered how Dillinger had known Morgan was hurt.

 

Lindley Block (first building on left) as it appeared in the Nineteen-Teens.

The building burnt to the ground on December 27, 1925

(Photo courtesy of the Mooresville Times, December 10, 1981, page 10a)

 

Moore & Pearce advertisement from the 1923 White Lick Review

(Mooresville High School Yearbook)

Dillinger went home to the family farm on Old State Road 267 (North Monroe Street at Northridge Drive) and confessed to his crime.  His father recommended that his son turn himself in to Mooresville town marshal Greeson, which John voluntarily did.  Frank Morgan required eleven stitches to sew-up his head wound, and at Dillinger’s trial, the judge rendered a harsh sentence (2-12 years on the first count, and 10-20 years on the second count, with $100 fines for each count) because John had severely injured Morgan and had carried a firearm during the robbery attempt.  Dillinger’s accomplice, Ed Singleton, who retained an attorney (Dillinger did not), received a much lighter sentence in a separate trial.  Dillinger was remanded to the Indiana state reformatory at Pendleton.  During his incarceration, Dillinger, embittered by the severity of his sentencing, mingled with hardcore criminals who taught him tricks of the criminal trade and shaped his unlawful ambitions.

 

John Dillinger Mug Shot (ca. 1924)



DILLINGER AROUND TOWN

(MOORESVILLE, INDIANA)

There are three other locations in Mooresville significant to John Dillinger’s story:  His family’s farm, Harvey Funeral Home, and the town ball park.

Drive-By #1:  The Dillinger Family Farm  

John Dillinger’s family farm was located on Old State Road 267 (North Monroe Street at Northridge Drive), as shown on the map (above).

 

 

(Above) Dillinger Farm (image courtesy of Evelyn Frechette)

(Below) John Dillinger outside the family farmhouse, holding a

Thompson submachine gun and, purportedly, the wooden gun he carved

to escape from Crown Point jail (photo 1934)

 



Drive-By #2:  Harvey Funeral Home

 

Harvey Funeral Home was located on the southeast corner of Indiana and Harrison Streets in downtown Mooresville, where Family Video is now situated.  After John Dillinger was shot by FBI agents in Chicago in July, 1934, his remains were returned to Mooresville before burial at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.  Hundreds braved the 103° F. heat wave to see Dillinger’s body at Harvey Funeral Home on July 25, 1934 (see photo below). The line of onlookers circled the block twice.

 

 (Above) John Dillinger’s Body at Harvey Funeral Home, July 25, 1934

(Below) Unloading John Dillinger’s remains at Harvey Funeral Home

 

Drive-By #3:  Mooresville Town Ball Park

Bradley Brick Company began in 1904

(Mooresville Times, March 11, 1904)

William "Tommy" McElwain outside the old

Bradley Brick Company office on East South Street

 

Mooresville historian Clara Richardson wrote in her History of Mooresville, 1824-1974 that the Bradley Brick Company, which was located south of East South Street (east of the railroad tracks), was purchased by the Wooley Company.  When Chester E. Lawrence owned the business, he sold a parcel of land to the Town of Mooresville to be used as the Town Baseball Park.  It was there that Mooresville’s semi-professional baseball team, the Walkovers, played their home games.  In 1924 John Dillinger was a member of the Walkovers’ team roster, playing shortstop and second base.  Dillinger also played the same positions on the Martinsville Athletics (see images below), another semi-professional baseball team.  (Dillinger is indicated by the arrow.)

 

John Dillinger as a Player on the Martinsville Athletics Baseball Team (1924)

 

 

The 1919 Mooresville Walkovers Baseball Team Won 26 Straight Games

(Mooresville Times, October 8, 1964)

Dillinger's Body

(Post last updated December 5, 2019)

Although John Dillinger was born in Indianapolis (at 2053 Cooper Street), he moved with his family to Mooresville when he was young and spent his formative years here.  (There's a self-guided walking--or driving--tour of significant Dillinger points-of-interest around town.)  After a harsh criminal sentence for a botched local holdup sent him to prison (shaping his unlawful ambitions), he became a hardened criminal, robbing banks and entering American folk legend.

John Dillinger's Funeral

(Mooresville Moments #17)

(Click Above to Play Video) 

After Dillinger was shot by FBI agents in Chicago in July, 1934, his remains were returned to Mooresville before burial at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.  Hundreds braved the 103° F. heat wave to see Dillinger’s body at Harvey Funeral Home on July 25, 1934. The line of onlookers circled the block twice (Harvey Funeral Home was located on the southeast corner of Indiana and Harrison Streets).

Hundreds stood in line to see John Dillinger's body at Harvey Funeral Home

(July 25, 1934) (click image to enlarge)

The Indianapolis Star (July 31, 2019) reported that Dillinger's body was scheduled to be exhumed for a documentary on the History Channel,  presumably to extract DNA to compare with that of known Dillinger descendants to establish conclusively that the individual buried in the Crown Hill grave is (or isn't) actually John.  Crown Hill Cemetery, however, balked at the plan, the History Channel bailed on the project, and a lawsuit ensued (no pun intended).  The Indianapolis Star (December 4, 2019) reported that the trial judge ruled Dillinger's body could not be exhumed without Crown Hill's consent.  So we may never know for certain whether Dillinger is actually buried in his family's plot at Crown Hill. 

 File photo from The Indianapolis Star

Some have questioned whether or not John Dillinger was actually shot near Chicago's Biograph Theater in July, 1934.  When John's father saw the body, he said it was not his son, but John was said to have had plastic surgery, which might have changed his facial appearance.  The FBI stated definitively that Dillinger's body was identified at the time.  Not everyone was convinced, however.  Investigators Jay Robert Nash and Ron Offen popularized a theory that another person was shot, and that Dillinger escaped and lived into the 1960s.  In their book, Dillinger: Dead or Alive? (Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1970), Nash and Offen reprinted letters purportedly written by John Dillinger from 1959 and 1963, along with photographs alleging to be Dillinger from that time.  Admittedly, there's a strong resemblance in the 1959/1963 photos with Dillinger photos from the early 1930s.  The '59/'63 pictures show a sixty-something man whose face (particularly the ears) resembles a younger Johnny D.

Of course, it's possible to find lookalikes for many famous people, so the '59/'63 claimant could simply have been an opportunist attempting to cash-in on a criminal's infamous past.  For example,  William T. Phillips, a Washington resident who served in prison along with Butch Cassidy, later convinced some of Cassidy's Utah family that he was Cassidy.  Butch reportedly died in Bolivia in 1908, and Phillips died in Spokane in 1937.  Perhaps Dillinger, too, had an imposter who claimed survival; perhaps Dillinger survived after all.  If DNA tests were made of Dillinger's remains, that mystery might be put to rest, but, as it now stands, exhumation seems unlikely.

Mooresville's Great Fire of 1842 (Mooresville Moments #16)

Learn about the Great Fire of 1842 that consumed nearly all of Mooresville, Indiana, and the amazing acts of generosity that assured the town's resurrection.

Mooresville's Great Fire of 1842

(Mooresville Moments #16)

by Mooresville Public Library

The fire occurred on Tuesday night, November 22, 1842.  According to the New York Tribune, the blaze began in the home of James G. Slocum, in which an unidentified woman and three unidentified children were sleeping, and all four tragically died in the inferno.  Slocum was apparently away at the time.

The New York Tribune, Friday, December 16, 1842, page 2

(Click images to enlarge)

The New York Tribune article was repeated verbatim in several newspapers, including the following:

The Schenectady (N.Y.) Cabinet, Tuesday, December 20, 1842, page 2

 The Boston (MA) Trumpet and Universalist Magazine, Saturday, December 24, 1842, page 3

The Montpelier (VT) Watchman, Friday, December 23, 1842, page 3

The New York Spectator, Wednesday, December 28, 1842, page 46

The identification of Slocum's residence as the start of the conflagration is an amazingly precise detail for a New York City newspaper to relate about a small Indiana village, especially when one considers the following:

• Mooresville historian Clara S. Richardson stated that the 1842 fire was "of unknown origin," and she does not mention the Slocums nor any deaths from the fire (page 24 of A Brief History of Mooresville, Indiana, 1824-1974.  [1974].  Mooresville, IN: Dickinson Publishing Company--available online here);

• No one named Slocum (or with variant spellings, such as Slocumb or Slocom) is buried in any cemeteries in Morgan County, Indiana;

• No one named Slocum (or with variant spellings, such as Slocumb or Slocom) was listed as living in Mooresville or Morgan County, Indiana, in the 1840 Federal Census, although a James Slocumb was shown to reside in Monroe County, Indiana in the 1840 and 1850 Federal Censuses and was extensively discussed (spelled as both Slocumb and Slocum) in Charles Blanchard's 1884 historical and biographical sketches of Morgan, Monroe, and Brown Counties (available online here). 

• No one named Slocum (or with variant spellings, such as Slocumb or Slocom) was mentioned in Almira Harvey Hadley's A Brief History of Mooresville and Vicinity (1918) (available online here) or in Margaret W. Fogleman's Early Mooresville (1884) (available online here) or in John Matthews' Ye Early Pioneers (1875) (available online here) or in The Pioneers of Morgan County:  Memoirs of Noah J. Major (1915) (available to checkout from Mooresville Public Library).

So, did the 1842 fire start in James Slocum's home and kill four people?  There is no local evidence to support the New York Tribune's claim, but it can't be completely ruled out.  The deceased woman and children could have had a different surname (or surnames) than Slocum, and they might have been visiting from another community (to which their remains could have been returned and interred).  Thus, looking for Slocums in the county cemeteries or federal censuses would not have identified the fire victims, if they were not named Slocum or came from out-of-town.  Nonetheless, the absence of James G. Slocum from the local historical record and U.S. censuses weighs against the Tribune's account, as does the paper's failure to identify the victims.

Let's quote from Clara Richardson's Mooresville history:

"In 1842 a fire of unknown origin hit Mooresville.  Before the fire, there were eleven stores and houses in this wooded area; next morning only the Moore Store and house were left.  Trees were cut, burned, houses and shops were deliberately torn apart to try to check the blaze on both sides of the street.  Work to construct new homes and stores started immediately, so the story goes."  (Page 24 of A Brief History of Mooresville, Indiana, 1824-1974.  [1974].  Mooresville, IN: Dickinson Publishing Company--available online here).

Quoting from Margaret W. Fogleman's Early Mooresville:

"About 1842 Mooresville was visited by the greatest fire it has ever known.  Beginning with Pa's [Samuel Moore's] store there were ten houses and shops before the fire.  Next morning there was Pa's store and our house left.  The Dr's [doctor's] shop at the west and a dwelling house at the east were torn down to check the fire."   (Early Mooresville [1884] [available online here]).  Margaret Fogleman was the daughter of town founder Samuel Moore (and his wife, Eliza Moore).

I'm inclined to give the local sources greater credence than the New York Tribune's account.  Perhaps Horace Greeley's reporters enlivened the tale to make for more interesting reading.  Clearly, the eastern newspapers that reprinted the story didn't check the facts further.

During December 1842 news of the Mooresville catastrophe was related in several papers across the United States as well as one in England (click images below to enlarge).

 

The Bristol (England) Mercury & Daily Post, Saturday, 31 December 1842, page 4

The Philadelphia (PA) Saturday Courier, December 17, 1842, page 3,

reprinting the Iowa mistake from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (see below)
 

 

The Brooklyn (N.Y.) Daily Eagle, Monday, December 12, 1842, page 2,

which incorrectly placed Mooresville in Iowa 

 The Charleston (S.C.) Mercury, Tuesday, December 13, 1842, page 2,

 reprinting the Iowa mistake from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (see above)

 The New York Tribune, Thursday, December 15, 1842, page 1

 

The Niles National Register, St. Louis, Missouri, Saturday, December 17, 1842, page 16

Some of the accounts quoted the original story that appeared in the Indiana State Sentinel, November 29, 1842, without adjusting for the time delay in printing.  For instance, the New York Tribune on December 15, 1842, incorrectly stated that the fire took place "Tuesday night of last week," which would have been December 6, two weeks after it happened.  This mistake was repeated in the Charleston (S.C.) Mercury, The Philadelphia (PA) Saturday Courier, and the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Daily Eagle.   The Niles National Register was only a week off (reporting November 29 as the fire date, when it was actually the Tuesday before, November 22).

Indiana State Sentinel, November 29, 1842

The fire consumed nearly all of the town, sparing only Samuel Moore's general store and residence on the northeast corner of Main and Indiana Streets in downtown Mooresville.  Moore supplied lumber and labor free-of-charge to help citizens rebuild their homes and businesses.