KHS in the 50s

My first look at the movie “Hoosiers” was a little unusual and maybe worth relating here. 

I was traveling a lot back in the late 80s and didn’t really keep up on what was happening in my old home town.  My company always provided business class tickets on international flights and I usually got an upgrade to first so I was “up front” on a flight back from Amsterdam.  My routine on flights “across the pond” was to have dinner and a couple of drinks and then sleep all the way to New York or Chicago.  I awoke about half way through the movie to go to the john and when I got half way out of my seat I looked up and there on the screen in the front of the cabin there was a basketball game being played in my high school gym. 

For a moment or two I was totally disorientated.  I can’t remember being quite so confused.  I really did wonder if I was dreaming.  I sat back down forgetting my need to go and just stared with my mouth hanging open.  I think my sister, Amelia, had mentioned they were making a film in Knightstown but it didn’t really register at the time.   I finally recalled what she had said and began to realize this must be the film she told me about. 

Then I got really excited about it and wanted to tell somebody; “Hey, that’s my High School gym”.  I was on KLM and most of the folks around me were Dutch as was the crew.  The Dutchman next to me was reading and I told him but he only looked at me like I was crazy.  I had to control my excitement until I got home and could tell my wife who said “Oh, that’s nice”.  So it goes……………..!!!

If you have any stories about your experiences with the movie please post them here.  I know some of you must be in it and we would like to hear about that…

When I made this site it was just intended to be an adjunct to the pictures I posted of the Knightstown, Indiana class of 1957 reunion. However, the more I get into it and think about it I believe it would be great to use the site to compile a snapshot, so to speak, of life in a small midwestern town in the 1950s. If we could collect our memories of day to day life in Knightstown here they would be preserved for the future.

I think a lot of people will be interested in hearing stories on even the most trivial subjects. For example, I sure would enjoy reading about the stuff that went on in K-town in the 1920s and 30s. It follows that a lot of folks will be just as interested in the 50s.

We aren’t getting any younger so there isn’t a whole lot of time left to put something together. At our next reunion (or at my demise) a disc of the stuff we’ve put together will be given to the K-town Historical Society and hopefully they can preserve it.

Since the site isn’t just about our class anymore but rather about K-town in the 50s I hope you will pass the word to anyone who might contribute. There are lots of subjects which could be written about and discussed. The fashions, commerece, religon, politics, social life, entertainment, manners and family life of the era to name a few. The more discussion on any subject the better.

If you want to send me an email here’s my address:  simman@charter.net 

cheers,

This story started in 1954 when the band of Knightstown High School practiced all summer long to compete in the Band Day at the State Fair in August. We worked very hard - early morning and then in the evening. Many people came out (mostly in the evening) to stand along the streets and watch the practices. It was hot and muggy, but when you are in high school, none of that seems to make a huge difference. We approached the State Fair as a competition that was serious and took a lot of work. When the big day came, the only other band in the State of Indiana that was judged better than our band was Muncie Central. We came in second, but were not disappointed. After the competition, Muncie Central was asked if they wanted to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC in the spring, or if they wanted to go to New York to the Grand Conclave of the Masonic Lodge. Happily, Muncie Central went to the Cherry Blossom Festival.

One man in our town, Willard Avery, was the top person (or one of them) in the Masonic Lodge and he arranged for us to go on the trip to New York in the summer of 1955. There were many people involved in getting the whole thing off the ground. Of course, there was the band director, Wilburn Elrod, but his job was getting the band ready. Other citizens took charge of many of the details. The one that stands out in my mind is Norman Reeves. Somehow, the leaders of the community took it upon themselves to start fund raising because we had to pay our own way. The men and women involved made arrangement for the bus to take us, someone else got a rebuilt hearse donated to carry the uniforms and instruments, the people at the hearse company painted the vehicle red and black and they lettered it “Knightstown High School Band.” What a sight that was coming down the street in school colors. Someone else had to make all the hotel and meal arrangements and we band members had to do a lot of work to raise money. We had bake sales, sold stuff, did car washes and I don’t remember everything else we did.

However, what is striking about this trip and being in the mid-50’s, is that it wasn’t just a band trip - it was a complete town effort. There were people that made sure there were plenty of chaperones, people who made tours possible, and others who worked in the background to make sure everything ran smoothly. There were several parents who made the trip with their families - I know my Dad decided to take the rest of my family because he said if his daughter was going to march down 5th Avenue, he was going to be there to see it.

We traveled all night and when we got to New York City, we were amazed. I don’t think any of us had ever been in a city like that before and we were in awe. We got all our stuff in the hotel and then the fun started. We got to do all the regular tourist stuff - like the Empire State Building, China Town, etc. Our meals were excellent and we acted like tourists, but we were warned to behave ourselves. I think that the actual parade was on a week night evening and it was very long. We had our pictures taken, people cheered and clapped and quite frankly, nothing like that would probably happen to any of us again. I think besides being in the parade, the highlight of the trip was on our last day there. Arrangements had been made for us to board a ship that held more people than live in Knightstown, and we went up the Hudson River to West Point Academy and toured. I’ll never forget that part of the trip. We were all very impressed and it was so military, but above all, it was absolutely beautiful up there. On the way back from West Point I think some of us realized that we were homesick and were very ready to board our bus and come back down to earth after such a whirlwind trip.

I don’t know how many high school kids will ever have an experience as unique as this one was and how grateful we all were to be able to participate. I know this is just a short narrative, but it is what stands out in my mind. If you have other particular memories of that week, feel free to add to the information. I just remember how strongly the town pulled together and made it possible for us and sometimes we miss the togetherness that the trip represented.

Pat Nicholas - July 31, 2007

We kids certainly were a mobile bunch in KHS back in the mid ’50s.  We had a lot of great times with our cars and our high school years just wouldn’t have been the same without them.  Most of us got our licence to drive just as soon as we reached the legal age of 16 or very soon thereafter.  We used to pile into someones car and just cruse around.  You usually saw someone you knew at the root beer stand in K-town and the drive in restaurants at New Castle were always fun to circle a few hundred times.   It was pretty hard for a boy to date someone without some wheels so most of us had something to drive.  I had a ‘50 Merc which never quite attained a state of cool because of a bad trunk hinge which I never managed to fix.  But it was close to being cool…….

Some of the cars I remember were:

• The Keesling’s “Green Monster” 1952 DeSoto
• Forey Wyatt’s ‘47 Chevy coupe with bittersweet orange front fenders, slick..!!
• Junior Peacock’s ‘46 Ford coupe
• Donnie Sylvestor’s cool sky blue metalic ‘41 Chevy with cackling dual steelpacks - sweet..!!!
• Kenny Perry’s folk’s “Green Bomb” Pontiac
• Nancy’s folk’s pink ‘56 Lincoln convert (what a boat..!!!)
• Phil Ramsey’s ‘55 Chevy BelAire Hardtop with a 4 barrel carb (unbeatable)
• Lonnie Young’s ‘54 Ford Interceptor (pretty fast too)
• Ronnie Short’s folk’s red and black ‘56 Ford Fairlane
• Larry Lindsay’s big ole ‘49 or ‘50 Hudson.  (Had some times in that one…!!)
• Gary Plank’s cherry ‘48 Chevy  (There’s never been a cleaner car..!!)

This is all I can remember right now.  Maybe somebody can help me out and post some more.

I sure would like to get some pictures of the cars to post here.  Hope somebody will either post some or send them to me and I’ll post them. 

hello  everyone.  sorry  i missed the big party in  k-town  but  my medical condition will not let me travel.  i am in a wheelchair  , can’t stand or walk. so ot limits my mobility…  i was thinking  of all of you tho, sure miss seeing all the ol friends… the pictures that  i can see on computer  sure help make up for missing. 

thanks to all who put thier pictures on here, and injoyed reading the bolg, sure brings back memories. hope all of you that  can  write me , and we can stay in touch that way anyway…many thanks to viv for sending me a classmates picture.  everyone looks so young…. will be lookin  for some  responses….

                  SARA WILSON  MCINTOSH 

There must be a lot of snapshots of our school days out there but I can’t seem to find many.  There were a bunch of super pictures at the reunion.  I’m not sure who’s they were but they sure were good. 

I’m posting one of the few that I took back then.  It was a 35mm slide that I got digitized at Walgreens.  I think this one was taken just when school started in the late summer of 1952.  Pretty good lookin lineup….. 

I put some of the slides in a gallery.  Just click on the picture to go to the gallery. 

If some folks will loan me their pictures I will get them digitized and send them back unharmed along with a disc of the files.  Then I’ll post them in a gallery for everybody to enjoy.  My address is:

213 Shelburne Dr.

St. Charles, MO. 63301

cheers, Ed

Double click on the arrow thing for a song about the girls. 

Welcome to the Class of ‘57 comment page. 

I put this page up to have a place for everyone to keep in touch.  I haven’t had time to figure out how best to use it yet.  I think everyone can post messages and then other folks can comment on them.  Also haven’t figured out how to change the way the pages look or add pictures with the text yet, but I will.  It was hard enough to download it then install it on my server.  Took me all night and day.  Us old folks don’t catch on so quickly anymore. 

I hope to see and bunch of stuff here from my old classmates and anyone else who would like to contribute. 

cheers, Ed

If you would like to add a comment to this paragraph just click on the comments link in the header of this paragraph.  Better yet, please add a new subject.  To do that you need to register then you can log-in anytime and contribute.  I promise this won’t get you on any spam lists.