Clark County History: Mamie Eisenhower’s hat By Martin Middlewood for The Columbian
Published: April 4, 2021, 6:00am
Share: Mrs. Hilma Powers contributed $10 to the Vancouver Soroptimist club to have a photo taken wearing Mamie Eisenhower s hat. The first lady donated the hat shown to support the organization s 1955 fundraiser. Powers money went toward restoring the Vancouver Barracks Officers Quarters. (Contributed by Clark County Historical Museum)
In 1955, Mamie Eisenhower’s hat rested on many Vancouver women’s heads. The Clark County Historical Museum has the photos to prove it.
All this began simply enough with a ladies’ hat exchange by the Soroptimist Club of Vancouver to raise money for restoring the Vancouver Barracks Officers’ Quarters.
Long before bridges connected Jeffersonville and Louisville, steamboats played a key role in the local economy, and Howard Steamboat Museum education assistant Kadie Engstrom is determined to preserve its history and teach people both locals and visitors alike about the Howard family.
When one visits the museum, she says, “you get a sense that this was a massive part of American history in its time. The use of steamboats, the building of steamboats, and the building of the economy of the country through waterways is all part of this story.”
Bringing the boats inside
James Howard founded the family shipyard in 1834, Engstrom said. When he passed away, his son Edmonds took over and it was Edmonds and his wife, Laura, who built the gargantuan Richardsonian Romanesque Victorian mansion in Jeffersonville right on the Ohio River.
Images From the Attic: Biking history in Clark County By Martin Middlewood, for The Columbian
Published: March 7, 2021, 5:54am
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2 Photos Matilda Stanger Overand shows off her bicycle. While machinists had adapted bicycles for women, clothing designers were farther behind. Although this model has a rear bumper to protect its rider from backsplashes, it lacks a chain guard and is a bit tall for its rider. This helps date the photo to the 1890s. Her father, John Stanger, was a Scotsman who arrived in the area with the Hudson s Bay Company in 1838. He built the Stanger House in 1867, which still stands on the Old Evergreen Highway near Russell Landing.
Clark County History: Vancouver mayor went missing way back when By Martin Middlewood, for The Columbian
Published: February 28, 2021, 6:02am
Share: Mayor Percival addresses 8,000 soldiers in front of the recently completed Spruce Production Mill in February 1918. The mill processed the lightweight, flexible wood needed for planes. Of the crowd attending, 2,400 soldiers worked at the mill. The rest came from around the Pacific Northwest. The Spruce Production Division commanded 25,000 soldiers. Three years after his speech before this crowd, well-liked Mayor Percival disappeared, throwing all of Clark County into a tizzy. (Contributed by Clark County History Museum)
Grover R. Percival was so well-liked that a competitor nominated him to complete the term of retiring Vancouver Mayor Milton Evans. A unanimous vote propelled Percival into office in November 1917. As a councilman, Percival supported the Interstate Bridge project. Just 14 years earlier, he moved h
Clark County History: Vancouver Barracks and Spanish flu By Martin Middlewood for The Columbian
Published: February 21, 2021, 6:00am
Share: From its appearance in September 1918 until the WWI Armistice, Spanish flu infected about 40 percent of U.S. Army and Navy personnel. When influenza hit Vancouver Barracks, Col. R. G. Ebert was one of several doctors working for the Army s Spruce Production Division. A surgeon, Ebert solicited the last report on the disease from all Spruce Production Division doctors on Nov. 11, 1918, the day WWI ended. Armistice Day ended one world war in Europe, but doctors fought another world war against Spanish flu until 1920. The highly communicable disease proved unpreventable and untreatable. (Contributed by Clark County Historical Museum)