Depending
upon our road trip budget, which is frankly zero, this may be the first in a series of blog
posts following the footsteps of Paul Hadley (1880-1971), a Mooresville
artist who designed the Indiana State Flag. Read more about Mr.
Hadley on this blog. You could also check-out several books about Mr. Hadley from Mooresville Public Library's Indiana Room (see the Evergreen Indiana online catalog for details).
Paul Hadley (left) and Ralph E. Priest at the
John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis
applying gold leaf to Hadley's Indiana State Flag
design (ca. 1923) Hadley was an instructor,
and Priest a student, at Herron
Mooresville Public Library is fortunate to have many original Paul Hadley paintings on display.
Paul Hadley Painting Gallery at MPL
(January 2012)
(Click photos to enlarge)
Let's consider one of Mr. Hadley's fine watercolors, shall we?
I took a road trip in July, 2014 to compare the modern Cataract Falls to those Mr. Hadley painted nearly a century ago.
Cataract Falls (Lower Falls) (July 4, 2014)
I'm thinking
Mr. Hadley painted the lower falls, since the water spilling over the
rock face looks similar on the far left and near right. The rock on the
right was exposed in Mr. Hadley's painting; in our photo, you can tell
it's beneath the water by the way the stream spills outward over the top
of the outcropping. The general rock shapes in Mr. Hadley's painting
also resemble those in our photo of the lower falls.
Or is it the upper falls? You be the judge.
Photoshopped Cauli Le Chat at Cataract Falls (Upper Falls)
(July 4, 2014)
The upper
falls don't really resemble Mr. Hadley's painting, but take a peek at
the video below. The video (2002) was recorded when
the water level of Mill Creek was lower, and some of the underlying rock
face was exposed. My vote remains with the lower falls, however.
We have a
boatload of photos from our adventure at Cataract Falls, but I'd like to
include them in another blog post.
Once again, we're walking in the footsteps of longtime Mooresville resident Paul Hadley (1880-1971), who designed the Indiana State Flag
and was a well-known impressionist watercolor artist who taught
students at the Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis.
In the summer of 2014, we visited the Brooklyn Bridge.
Not That One!
Let's begin by showing Paul Hadley's painting of the covered bridge that once stood in Brooklyn, Indiana, which is displayed at Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library. Click the photos to enlarge.
Compare painting with this 1911 photo of the Brooklyn mill, dam, & covered bridge [courtesy of Stuttgen, Joanne Raetz & Tomak, Curtis. Morgan County (Postcard History Series) (2007). Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, p. 87]
Hadley painted the bridge (well, more precisely, his painting OF the bridge) nearly a century ago--but probably after Brooklyn Mill was demolished in 1924 (see photo above). The covered bridge is no longer there (neither are the dam or mill), but now there's a concrete bridge (constructed in 1948)
in approximately the same spot crossing White Lick Creek at Brooklyn's
edge. You can tell by the terrain that this was the correct bridge
location--plus we know the road leading into (and out of) town
historically crossed the river thereabouts on the way to Brooklyn cemetery
(further southward). Plus we have that 1911 photo above (and
historical caption), which pretty well nails the thing down tight.
Observant readers will have noted that Hadley must have been standing downstream of
the covered bridge near the eastern bank of White Lick Creek (looking
north at the west end of the covered bridge). He was probably painting
approximately where that fishing person is standing in our above photo
(look left beneath the bridge). Hadley might possibly have stood in the
river's shallow waters to capture the perspective.
Upstream (north) view of White Lick Creek
(the modern bridge is behind photographer)
Watch out for traffic across the bridge!
Photoshopped Cauli Le Chat (with "Flat" Cauli) & Janet Buckley
The concrete
bridge is certainly utilitarian, but it lacks the grace of its wooden
ancestor Hadley so elegantly captured in his watercolor painting. White
Lick Creek, too, looked more charming with those rocks and that little
waterfall.
When I first
saw Hadley's painting at the Library, I mistakenly thought it was the
red covered bridge that, a century ago, spanned the East Fork of White
Lick Creek on the Waverly Road (now State Road 144) at Mooresville's
outskirts. Upon closer inspection, however, it's obviously not that
bridge in Hadley's painting. See what you think.
Brooklyn's covered bridge was quite charming. I'm glad we know its beauty, thanks to Paul Hadley.
In 1939, Paul Hadley painted this cabin. Well, he painted a picture of
the cabin. I assume somebody else painted the cabin itself. (There's a
great Paul Hadley joke about that. I'll tell you in a minute.)
"Cabin," by Paul Hadley (1939)
(Click photos to bigify)
Paul Hadley (1880-1971), a longtime Mooresville
resident, designed the Indiana State Flag; taught painting at the Herron
Art Institute in Indianapolis; was a museum art curator; and was himself an
accomplished artist (primarily in watercolor). Several of his paintings
are permanently displayed at Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library. We're tracing Hadley's footsteps to see the places he painted and
how they look today.
How do we know when Paul Hadley painted this cabin?
Yep. Pretty much.
The much tougher question is (wait for it . . .): Where was this cabin? Does it still exist? (Okay, that's two questions.) But first, some comic relief.
Paul
Hadley roamed the countryside (literally walking most places near
Mooresville, because he never drove a motor vehicle) painting
landscapes, structures, and other places. Anywhere that was too far to
walk (or that he couldn't conveniently reach by the interurban railway
or other railroad) required Hadley's friends to kindly give him a lift
to the locations. These folks were often repaid with a Paul Hadley
original painting. Pretty sweet deal.
I'm
getting to the joke! Once, when Hadley was walking about, he came upon
a particularly appealing barn that he wished to grace his canvas. He
saw the barn owner and asked if he (Hadley) could paint his (the
farmer's) barn. The farmer replied, "No thanks. I just had the barn
painted last year." (Cue drums and cymbals!)
Back to the tough questions.
According to long-time Morgan County historian Becky Hardin, in her biography of Paul Hadley, she stated:
"This
painting ["Cabin"] was presented to the Mooresville Library by the Tri
Kappa Sorority. A newspaper story says it is 'The Robb Cabin' but some
people think it was the Spoon home. [. . . .] Spoon's Cabin was the
subject of Hadley's Paintings at different seasons of the year. [One
shown in her book] is Spoon's Gate and was probably for his [Spoon's]
cabin. It is owned by one of Hadley's cousins Mrs. Harold Swift. The
gate is something like the one [in "Cabin"], which has an open gate.
Although the location may have been the same the paintings are
different." [Hardin, Becky, The Indiana State Flag: Its Designer (Biography of Paul Hadley with Anthology of his Paintings), p. 16-17 (1976). Click here to find links to read a digital copy of this fine biography.]
Obviously, Hardin believed that the cabin Hadley painted was the Spoon house. There is only one difficulty: There were generations of
Spoons who were born, raised, and lived lifetimes in Mooresville (on
various streets, including Harrison, High, Madison, Washington, . . .
you get the idea), as well as in the country surrounding town. There were more Mooresville Spoons than in most
restaurants. (Sorry--bad joke.) Which
Spoon family branch belonged to the cabin in Hadley's painting?
During
a program celebrating Paul Hadley and the Indiana State Flag's
centennial, one of the panelists, Peggy Killian Benson, vividly recalled
that Spoon's cabin was situated near White Lick Creek just south of
town. In the video (below), you can hear her talking about her "Uncle
Herb" who had lived in the cabin until his death. This would have been
Herbert Spoon (1892-1954), who was a livelong Mooresville resident.
Celebrating Paul Hadley & the Indiana State Flag Centennial, by MPL
(Peggy Killian Benson's presentation begins at the 26:44 mark)
Herbert Spoon's Obituary
(Mooresville Times, August 12, 1954)
The
1920 U.S. Census states that Herbert Spoon lived on a farm "east of the
Vandallia Railroad," and Peggy Killian Benson remembers the cabin
sitting near White Lick Creek. If we look at the 1920 Plat Map of Brown
Township, Morgan County, Indiana, we can see the probable location of
the Spoon cabin portrayed in Paul Hadley's painting.
Excerpts from the 1920 U.S. Census including Herbert Spoon
1920 Plat Map of Brown Township, Morgan County, Indiana
(Probable Location of the Spoon Cabin in Red)
What does
this area look like today? Paul Hadley painted another picture near
Spoon's cabin, according to Peggy Killian Benson. This was called "East
Fork of White Lick Creek" and is on display at the library.
"East Fork of White Lick Creek," by Paul Hadley
Modern Map of Area Near Spoon Cabin
Aerial Views of Area
Modern Photo of East Fork of White Lick Creek
(Near Spoon Cabin Site)
Spoon's Cabin Was Near Today's Rooker Trace & Rooker Run Subdivisions
Peggy
Killian Benson's living memory of the Spoon cabin site should be
dispositive of its true location. There were, however, many Spoons
living in and around Mooresville during the 19th and 20th centuries, and
perhaps it would be fun to talk a little about some of them. Using the
U.S. Censuses from 1870-1920, along with genealogical information from
our Spoon family vertical file (in the MPL Indiana Room)
dating to the 1830's, we found a longtime Spoon homestead at 142 East
Harrison Street, at which Spoon family members resided continuously for
at least 75 years. The house is listed by exact address in the 1920 census, when Alonzo and Etta May Spoon lived at 142 East Harrison Street.
1920 U.S. Census for Mooresville, Brown Township, Morgan County, Indiana shows Alonzo and Etta M. Spoon living at 142 E. Harrison St. (the 1870-1880 censuses listed Alonzo's grandfather, Peter Spoon, residing there)
In the 1880 census, Alonzo Spoon was age 14 and lived on High Street with his parents, Mitchel (spelled Mitchell in
the censuses) and Tempy Staley Spoon. However, Mitchel's father, Peter
Spoon, who was Alonzo's grandfather, lived at 142 East Harrison Street,
according to the 1870 & 1880 censuses.
1880 Census showing Peter Spoon, Alonzo's Grandfather,
When
Alonzo's grandfather, Peter Spoon, died in 1888, the house remained in
the family (going to Peter's son, Mitchel, who was Alonzo's father). Alonzo
and Etta May Spoon were married on September 14, 1892, when they moved
into 142 East Harrison Street (possibly a wedding present from Mitchel
& Tempy?). Alonzo and Etta May lived there until their deaths (1937
and 1946, respectively).
Alonzo Spoon obituary
(Mooresville Times, December 30, 1937)
Etta May Spoon obituary card
MPL Indiana Room obituary files
Peter Spoon and his descendants lived at 142 East Harrison Street continuously between at least 1870 and 1946.
Unfortunately, Hadley could have spared us all this speculation and historical research if he had simply named his painting "William Spoon's or Herbert Spoon's (or Alonzo Spoon's, or, even, Peter Spoon's) cabin,"
but the artist probably wasn't imagining that anyone would be writing about it 75 years after the
fact. But, still.
How do things look at 142 East Harrison Street recently (say, these 2014 photos below)?
Next, let's consider the unlikely possibility that the painting actually portrayed "the Robb cabin" (especially improbable, given the testimony of Peggy Killian Benson). That will take us south to Centerton, Indiana (still in Morgan County, though). Let's see the painting again to refresh our memories (and save us scrolling up a lot).
Quoting
(again) from Hardin's biography of Paul Hadley (emphasis added):
"This painting ["Cabin"] was presented to the Mooresville Library by
the Tri Kappa Sorority. A newspaper story says it is 'The Robb Cabin' [. . . .]" [Hardin, Becky, The Indiana State Flag: Its Designer (Biography of Paul Hadley with Anthology of his Paintings), p. 16-17 (1976). Click here to find links to read a digital copy of this fine biography.]
Around
these parts, "the Robb Cabin" would most likely refer to John Robb.
Once again, Becky Hardin provides us with the historical details
(quoting John Robb's great-great-grandson, Harold Scott):
"'John Robb lived at the foot of the hills just west of Centerton [in
Morgan County, Indiana, about eight miles south of Mooresville]. He
had taken out a patent of land on Oct. 30, 1834. He moved in among a
group of early settlers and soon became one of the community's leading
citizens. He had more education than most and became the scribe for his
neighbors. In addition, he acted as a local lawyer in settling estates
and was usually referred to as "Squire." [. . . .] After building a
small home just west of Centerton, he opened a clay pit and manufactured
brick. The hills behind his house are now known as Robb Hills. He had
a large and active family, some of whom became merchants in
Centerton.'" [Hardin, Becky, ed.. Morgan County Scrapbook, Volume I (1985). Mooresville: Dickinson Publishing Co., p. 148.]
Where
were the federal land patents that John Robb secured when he settled
west of Centerton? He obtained two, in 1834 and 1838.
Land Patents to John Robb (1834, 1838) in Section 3 of
Township 12 North, Range 1 East (2nd PM),
Morgan County, Indiana
John Robb's land patents were near Center Valley (upper left corner, above the railroad tracks [where "Center Valley" is written on this map inset])
Map inset showing State Road 67 (dark road) and Milhon Drive running across John Robb's land
[Maps from Boyd, Gregory A. Family Maps of Morgan County, Indiana
Our trusty Morgan County road map shows Robb Hill and Milhon Drive plainly:
Map courtesy of the Morgan County
Economic Development Corporation
Here's what John Robb's land looks like today.
Robb Hill (looking west) at the intersection of Robb Hill Road & Milhon Drive John Robb's cabin was approximately where the house on the right is now standing
Paul Hadley's "Cabin" (again)
Was
Paul Hadley's painting actually portraying John Robb's cabin? You can clearly see woods
continuing for a considerable distance in the painting's background.
This suggests a more rustic setting than, say, inside the town of
Mooresville. The presence of chickens in the picture is
inconclusive--folks throughout Mooresville raised chickens in their
backyards during the 1930's, as did their country counterparts--but the
continuing trees certainly spell rural. But
trees, of course, are only one consideration. There's a much bigger
object missing from the painting. Where's Robb Hill? Or was Hadley
facing in another direction, so the hill wasn't in his background view?
In other words, was the hill behind him (or to his left) as he painted? Regarding town versus country, consider this description by Becky Hardin:
"Pictures
by Paul Hadley have historic value. [. . . .] His paintings depict a
way of life that will soon be gone. This old cabin, windowless at one
end with a chimney for fireplace is a type no longer built. A chicken
is free to wander about the dooryard which is framed by a board picket
fence. Notice the gable which turns back which is Greek Revival style."
[Hardin, The Indiana State Flag (1976), p. 16.]
Was
Hardin describing a country cabin or a town cabin? We already know
that Hardin believed Hadley's painting was the Spoon home, so,
certainly, she was thinking town, but I can't help but feel that, in the
above paragraph, she's describing a cabin couched in the countryside.
If so, then it could have been Robb's cabin, but it could just as
easily have belonged to the Spoon family or somebody else.
As
Hardin declared, Hadley's paintings have historic value. Watercolor
moments capturing a bygone era for us to enjoy now and in the future.
Where
was this smokehouse? There must have been a gazillion smokehouses
scattered around Mooresville and vicinity during Hadley's lifetime, and
this one was no exception. He probably painted it during the 1920's,
and it likely appeared at his 1924 or 1931 exhibitions at Herron Art
Institute in Indianapolis, where Hadley taught art during this period.
We've reviewed dozens of old local photographs, taken by longtime residents and professional photographers J. P. Calvert (1842-1917) and Manley Brown (1894-1968) (among other photographers), but we didn't see any smokehouses resembling Hadley's painting.
Jarvis P. Calvert (1842-1917)
Methodist Episcopal (M.E.) Church, Mooresville (1914) (photo by J. P. Calvert)
Both Brown and Calvert climbed atop the Methodist Episcopal (M.E.) Church
steeple (at the corner of South Indiana and East Harrison Streets in
downtown Mooresville) to take panoramic photos of the town as it looked
during the late 1880's-early 1890's and circa 1910 (Calvert) and in 1920 (Brown). That is WAAAAAAY up in the air--much too high for me. Here's what they saw.
J. P. Calvert's photo atop the M.E. Church steeple looking southeast (late 1880's-early 1890's)
J. P. Calvert's photo atop the M.E. Church steeple looking northeast (late 1880's-early 1890's)
J. P. Calvert's photo atop the M.E. Church steeple looking northwest (late 1880's-early 1890's)
J. P. Calvert's photo atop the M.E. Church steeple looking west (along West Harrison Street) (ca. 1910); MPL now stands at the end of the street on the right
Manly Brown looking west along West Harrison Street atop the M.E. Church steeple (1920)
Manly Brown looking southeast along East Harrison Street atop the M.E. Church steeple (1920)
Manly Brown looking north along South Indiana Street toward the center of downtown Mooresville atop the M.E. Church steeple (1920)
Manly Brown looking south along South Indiana Street atop the M.E. Church steeple (1920); The Village Shopping Center now stands in the open fields beyond the trees (upper right)
There
were several small structures that resembled smokehouses (and, for that
matter, outhouses, or privies) in these photos, but I saw nothing that
looked like Paul Hadley's painting. Maybe we should try our sense of smell. Good way to differentiate smokehouses from outhouses. Sadly, you can't smell what appears in old photos. (The pictures themselves don't smell so great, either.)
Some
of my younger readers may not know what use was made of smokehouses.
Through the 1930's (and even later), there were in-town residents
who, like their country cousins, raised livestock. Many had barns and
outbuildings in their backyards to house these animals. Pork was cured
(preserved) by smoke in smokehouses.
So, as far as Hadley's "Smokehouse" painting hanging at the Library, we have absolutely no idea where it was located. But wait! Hadley painted other smokehouses, and we know where they were. Does that count?
"Full Bloom," by Paul Hadley (1942) (Click image to enlarge)
[Excerpted from Hardin, Becky, The Indiana State Flag: Its Designer (Biography of Paul Hadley with Anthology of his Paintings), p. 28 (1976). Click here to find links to read a digital copy of this fine biography.]
In
1942, Omri Schooley lived in the smokehouse at 154 West Harrison
Street. That's less than a block east of the Library. Let's take a quick hike
down the street and see how things look there now.
154 West Harrison Street Today
The
smokehouse was at the back of the property. In Hadley's "Full Bloom"
painting, you can see the fence row and an outbuilding to the left. You
can see those today in the photo below.
The smokehouse in "Full Bloom" was situated
at the closer fence corner (in front of the white
object and automobile). The wooden outbuilding
on the left (in the painting) is where the
tan, concrete block structure now stands
Another
Hadley painting captured a white smokehouse at the Samuel Moore Rooker
house, constructed in 1877 and located at 30 West Harrison Street.
Rooker was the first European-descended child born in Mooresville after the town was
founded, so he was named after the founder, Samuel Moore. Rooker's granddaughter, Helen (York) Cook, and her husband, Claire Cook, lived there for decades.
Newspaper Article About the Cook/Rooker Home
by Becky Hardin, Morgan County Historian
[Hardin, Becky, ed.Morgan County Scrapbook, Volume I(1985). Mooresville: Dickinson Publishing Co., p. 285.]
(Click images to enlarge)
Cook/Rooker House (2009)
The
smokehouse was located behind the home, as you can just barely see in
the digital scan below. The original image of this painting (used in
Hardin's book) was very faint.
"White Smokehouse," by Paul Hadley
and smokehouse shown attached to the
Rooker/Cook residence (1976)
[Excerpted from Hardin, Becky, The Indiana State Flag: Its Designer (Biography of Paul Hadley with Anthology of his Paintings), p. 30 (1976).
Let's see what the smokehouse attachment looks like today, shall we?
Rooker/Cook smokehouse was located
inside the now-screened-in porch area
on the back of the house
Paul Hadley
must have been fascinated with smokehouses as watercolor subjects--or perhaps they were plentiful within comfortable walking distance. Hadley didn't drive motor vehicles, so he either had to walk around town to paint subjects or have his friends drive him to suitable landscape painting destinations.
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