From the Dec. 25th Indianapolis Star "Dana works to raise $1M to maintain Ernie Pyle's beginning" by Will Higgins.
The little town of Dana, Indiana, near the Illinois border a short distance from Terre Haute, is dying. The population, now 658, continues to drop and business after business have ended. There isn't even a gas station or grocery in town anymore.
Then, the state of Indiana recently pulled the plug on one thing that the locals could not abide, and that was the shut down and proposed moving of the contents of a small museum honoring favorite son Ernie Pyle, the famed World War II journalist.
Locals rallied and it has been announced that the state will be turning the Ernie Pyle State Historic Site to the Friends of Ernie Pyle organization. Its thirteen members are setting out to raise a $1 million endowment fund to sustain operations indefinitely.
Last year, just 1,579 people visited the site, the least of any state historic site.
A Worthy Project. --RoadDog
RoadDog's RoadLog Blog: Being my travels down those great two lane highways of this nation as well as news I learn about them from media sources. Since I'm also very interested in historic preservation, there will be a lot of that as well.
The Shamrock Court Motel in Sullivan, Missouri. It can be yours for $125,000. Lots of possibilities. Actually, now you're too late. Missouri's Roamin' Rich bought it.
2 comments:
You got my attention on two blog entries today: mention of the neighborhood Jesus statue and this. This is something roadies should care about. Though subsequently overshadowed by his war time reporting, Ernie was a well known travel writer before the war. That's something I first learned of when I stopped at the museum in Dana. Since then I've read and enjoyed a few collections of his travel columns. Good stuff. It's not a huge museum but it deserves saving.
I did not know he did travel columns. I'll have to check some out.
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