Just before 1900, John
Dillinger’s father, John Wilson Dillinger, opened a grocery store in
Indianapolis. Young Johnny was born in
1903, and his mother, Mary Ellen “Mollie” Lancaster Dillinger, was hospitalized
and died in 1906. In 1912 John senior married
his second wife, Elizabeth Fields, who was from Mooresville. (Click the images below to enlarge.)
John Wilson Dillinger (left) with his son, Hubert Dillinger,
waiting to identify John Dillinger's body (1934)
(courtesy of APA/Getty Images)
Young Johnny’s
childhood was average and unexceptional.
Although some biographers have painted young Johnny as a juvenile
delinquent, those who knew him best recalled a friendly, good-natured,
energetic, high-spirited child. His
youthful misdeeds were limited to relatively mild boyish pranks. Young Johnny left
school after 8th grade to work in a variety of jobs, including
messenger, machinist, upholsterer, and factory worker.
John Dillinger (circa 1922) (courtesy of Getty Images)
In 1920 John senior
sold his grocery business and purchased a farm just north of Mooresville, his
second wife’s hometown. Young Johnny was
17 years old. The Dillinger farm was
located along Old State Road 267 (today’s North Monroe Street at Northridge
Drive), northwest of where Paul Hadley Middle School is now situated. The farmhouse was later owned by one of John
Dillinger’s great nephews.
If you happen to drive by the Dillinger farmhouse, please don't disturb the occupants or owners. The home is a private residence. Also, you should probably ask permission before taking any photographs or videos.
Dillinger Farmhouse in 2007
(courtesy of Google Maps)
Dillinger farmhouse in 1934 (photo by Walter
Ranzini/N.Y. Daily News) (courtesy of Getty Images)
Take a walking (or driving) tour around Mooresville, Indiana to see John Dillinger-related points-of-interest around town. Click the images (throughout this article) to enlarge.
Can't make the walk/drive? Watch this video slideshow below.
John Dillinger's Mooresville Footprint
by Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library
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). PLEASE NOTE: The Dillinger family farmhouse is a private residence. Please DO NOT DISTURB the residents or owners, and please do NOT take any photographs of the premises without express permission from the residents or owners.
(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 Marco's Pizza is now situated (as of 2024) and where Family Video used to be located. 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
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
Paul Hadley, artist, teacher, and designer of the Indiana State Flag, portrayed a dairy barn in watercolor that was near the birthplace of his father, Dr. Evan Hadley. Where was the barn located?
Dairy Barn & Silo,
by Paul Hadley
(Click images to enlarge)
Dr. Evan Hadley's abbreviated family tree
(courtesy of Ancestry Library Edition)
In 1845 Dr. Evan Hadley, father of Paul Hadley, was born on a farm southwest of Mooresville, Indiana on Bethel Road. We know from W.W. Richie's 1875 Map of Morgan County, Indiana, that an "E. Hadley" is indicated owning land east of Bethel Road, just south of today's East Crosby Road. This was not too far from the Bethel Friends Meeting, due west of which Simon Moon's cabin, another of Paul Hadley's paintings, was situated.
Inset showing "E. Hadley's" land along Bethel Road
and immediately south of today's East Crosby Road
(from W.W. Richie's 1875 Map of Morgan County, Indiana)
(Note Bethel Friends church in lower left-hand corner)
The barn that Paul Hadley committed to watercolors is situated a short distance north of his father's birthplace, on the east side of Bethel Road, not too far south of the intersection of Bethel Road and State Road 42. Paul portrayed the barn from the side furthest from the road (i.e., the back), where a grain silo stood.
Aerial view of barn portrayed by Paul Hadley
(courtesy of Google Maps, 2016)
Closer aerial view of barn portrayed by Paul Hadley
(note silo on back near barn's roof peak)
(courtesy of Google Maps, 2016)
Street view of barn portrayed by Paul Hadley
(as seen from Bethel Road)
(courtesy of Google Maps, October 2013)
Street view of barn portrayed by Paul Hadley
(as seen from Bethel Road)
(courtesy of Google Maps, October 2013)
Unfortunately, we could not get closer to photograph the barn without intruding upon the current landowner's property, although one of the library's board members, who is frankly braver than we are, is going to make the attempt.
The roof pitch appears steeper in Paul Hadley's painting than in the Google Maps images above, but this is likely due to distortions in the panoramic photographic process used to take "street views" for Google's earth maps.
In our next installment, we puzzle over the possible location of another Paul Hadley landscape painting, which was untitled (or his title has been forgotten).
