Returning to Roost (or Roast)

About a year ago, we posted on the Mooresville Public Library's Facebook page about the old Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant that was located on the northeast corner of South Indiana and East South Streets in Mooresville from the late 1960s through spring 2011.  Since earlier this year (2022), a new KFC restaurant has been under construction about a half-block south, at the far north end of the Village Shopping Center (just south of the McDonalds restaurant).  Learn more here.

2022 construction photo by Peter Blanchard, Martinsville Reporter-Times, February 4, 2022

(Click Images to Enlarge)

New KFC Restaurant on South Indiana Street (Looking North)

(Photo Above & Next Eight Photos by William R. Buckley) (August 11, 2022)

 

In the photo above, you can see KFC's original location in the middle-right background.

New KFC Restaurant on South Indiana Street (Looking South)

(Intersection Cross-Street is South Street)

The photo above (looking south) was taken next to KFC's original location on the northeast corner of South Indiana and East South Streets.

So, what's now (2022) located at the old KFC site (360 South Indiana Street)?  Let's have a look.

Sal's Famous Pizzeria Express Is Now Located on the Old KFC Site

(Looking North Across East South Street) 

Sal's Famous Pizzeria Express (Looking Southeast Across South Indiana Street)

Originally, the KFC restaurant was situated at 360 South Indiana Street, just northeast of its new (2022) location.  Here's what it looked like when it closed in 2011, from about the same vantage point as the picture above:

KFC Restaurant Closed (Spring, 2011)

(After Over 40 Years at This Location)

(Looking South)

(Photo by William R. Buckley, May, 2011)

 

Kentucky Fried Chicken had been a Mooresville landmark on South Indiana Street for decades.  This was where my wife was first employed, if you don't count babysitting.  It was upon this establishment's floor in the mid-1970s that fruit drink was spilled, removing the tile's finish.  (In fairness, any sugary or carbonated beverage would have done that, if left too long on the floor.)  Cherished coming-of-age stories have been exchanged over the years about working there, when we lived in more carefree, prosperous times (isn't that the way we often see the past?).  In those days, long ago, you could get fried chicken AND beef & ham sandwiches there.  Employees occasionally exchanged chicken buckets, slaw, mashed potatoes, etc. for pizza (from staff working at a nearby pizza parlor), which was obviously frowned-upon by management.  There were many regular customers who would phone-in their carryout orders--you could set your watch by them, always on the same days and times.  Sometimes, employees could take home extra chicken wings for their families (and dogs or cats) to enjoy.

 

Take a look at this vintage photo below, which my wife, who, let us not forget, was born and bred in Mooresville (or, maybe, "breaded" is a better word, since she worked with the chicken batter), has identified as circa 1973 or 1974.  My limited knowledge of C-41 print photography color processing confirms this estimate.

KFC Restaurant on South Indiana Street (circa 1973-1974)

(View Looking North)

 

Drop by the new place sometime.  Use the drive-through or come inside.  You will get the same friendly service you would have received if you had visited a third of a century ago, when my wife dressed in something like this.

KFC Ad from 1974 Mooresville High School Yearbook, Wagon Trails

(Not My Wife in This Photo)

 

A few years before my wife worked at KFC, uniforms looked like this.

 

Vintage KFC Uniform (circa late 1960s)

That's not my wife in that photo, either.  She has red hair, and her posture is straighter.  She's also much prettier.  Plus her hands don't detach at the wrists.

A Century of Shoe Repair in Mooresville

For nearly a century, downtown Mooresville had a shoe repair shop at 13 North Indiana Street (then, later, at 25 West Main Street), beginning in the early 1900s.  In 1941, Ernie Marsh sold the business to John and Jennie Moore, who operated until 1948, when they sold to Leland and Orda Connell.  In 1972, the Connells sold to Ralph Reed, which opened as Dickey’s Shoe Repair (Joseph Dickey, manager) in January 1973.  In January, 1979, former Mooresville Times co-publisher John Anderson bought the shop from Dickey.  John and Shirley Anderson operated as S & J Boot Shop, moving to 25 West Main Street in 1982.  The Andersons (along with daughter Carol) retired in December 1998, closing a century of local shoe repair.

 

The photo above (ca. 1910) shows the I.O.O.F. (Odd Fellows) Building on the northeast corner of Main and Indiana Streets in downtown Mooresville.  Pleas (Pleasant) Mills operated his dry good store on the first floor, but if you went to the left (out of shot) beyond the "selz shoes" sign, you would have seen the shoe repair shop at 13 North Indiana Street.

The following newspaper clippings were used to compile the brief history (above).  Click on the images to enlarge them.

 

 

 

SOURCES:

Hillenburg, Amy, “S&J Boot Has Retirement Sale,” Mooresville-Decatur Times, December 2, 1998

Undated Photo (probably circa 1985), S & J Boot Shop at 25 West Main Street.

“Getting the Boot,” Indianapolis News, November 18, 1985.

“S & J Boot Shop Doing Shoe Prescriptions From Doctors,” Mooresville Times, April 4, 1984.

“Boot Shop To Move Soon,” Mooresville Times, 1982.

“Johnie Anderson Retires From Times, Purchases Shoe Shop,” Mooresville Times, February 22, 1979.

“Dickey’s Shoe Repair Advertisement,” Mooresville Times, January 4, 1973.

“Appreciation Advertisement,” Mooresville Times, April 13, 1972.

“Shoe Repair Shop Here Over 50 Years,” Mooresville Times, April 8, 1965.

 

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.
 

G. R. Scruggs Dry Goods (Mooresville Moments #12)

Watch this Mooresville Moments local history video (below) to learn about George R. Scruggs' dry goods store, which was located in downtown Mooresville, Indiana at 9-11-13 East Main Street from 1891-1918. We also have a digitized handout and a flashcard available that review the store's history.

Mooresville Moments #12

Scruggs Dry Goods Store,

by Mooresville Public Library

Fall Creek Furniture Company (ca. 1901-1930)

Undated photo of Fall Creek Furniture Company (probably circa 1925-1930)(photographer unknown)

(Click photos to enlarge)

Fall Creek Furniture Company

(photo before 1930 provided by Mrs. Kenneth Fields).

Fall Creek Furniture Company (circa 1901-1930) at one time employed 500 people, many of whom took the interurban railway from Indianapolis (or surrounding communities) to work at the factory, which was located along old state road 67 near Bridge Street in Mooresville, Indiana. This was later the site of Automotive Armature (1944-1993). Our online handout has more information about the history of the furniture factory.  Watch a video about the company below.

Fall Creek Furniture Company

(Mooresville Moments #15)

by Mooresville Public Library