In May 1944, Lester and Bertha Umber converted an old gas station at the corner of Lower Huntington Road and Old Trail Road into a hardware store. They started with $700 in inventory and approximately 1000 square foot of floor space. Because World . . .
Waynedale Annexed, June 1957
Editors Note: This article was found in The Waynedale News archives. The writer is unknown.
The 1956 election was a sweep of the Republicans in the County and State. Harold Handley was elected governor and all the seats . . .
The Lincoln Highway holds a lot of memories, other than coast to coast. The two-lane road with its twists and turns yielded to a top speed of 45 mile per hour. Long trips usually required two spare tires strapped to the back. Blowouts from stone . . .
This photo was taken at 7026 Old Trail Road, in the summer of 1952. It is the front yard of Irene McCague’s house, just across from the Waynedale Post Office. The driveway across the street belonged to Jay Briden. Next to Briden’s house . . .
Early 1900s
Previous issues traced the adventures and growth of Waynedale. The early 1900s were the creation years of Waynedale. In 1918 World War I bonded us together, as did the previous community experience. As someone said, “We’re . . .
After the 1929 stock market crash our nation was thrown into a disastrous depression. One of the resulting freedoms exercised was the way of life of the hobo.
The first 15 years of my life I spent very close to the trainmen on the Lake Erie & . . .
Waynedale 1929/1930
Before the Great Depression, Waynedale was all for growth…new adventures, new businesses and exciting new gadgets to affect our way of life.
Bowser Pump had a good sales force and top-notch inventors, but they needed help . . .
PRAIRIE GROVE CHURCH AND CEMETERY
The society that used to meet at Prairie Grove Chapel in Wayne Township was organized in 1888, but is really a reorganization of an older class, possibly the United Brethren Society, which dates back to 1854.
In the . . .
Speaking of Telephones
At the New York 1876 Centennial Celebration, manufacturers hawked and boasted of upcoming inventions that would revolutionize the pioneer’s way of life. Some introductions included the typewriter, Edison’s mimeograph, . . .
Waynedale’s First Library
In 1928 Nobles Homestore acquired an Allen County Public Library Depository. As the picture shows it was squeezed into a corner. If you wished to sit, you sat as my Dad, Edgar B. Noble Sr. did, on incoming groceries, . . .
NOBLES HOME STORE-
part 2
In 1925 we added a room that housed a large cold storage area for fresh meat. It had a display case and a huge round butcher block. Fresh meat in a store was a very new concept and this was a built-in, commercial sized “ice . . .
The building pictured below was located at McArthur Drive and Ideal Avenue. It was built by Forest May and plastered by Ruhl Buskirk. Forest was our neighbor from across the street and as you may guess, they were paid in ‘trade’. In those . . .
In 1919 my father, Edgar B. Noble Sr., bought 5 acres at the southwest corner of Indianapolis Road (then State Road 1, now McArthur Drive) and Lewisburg Road (now Ideal Avenue). The east boundary was the L. E. & W, (leave, early and walk railroad). . . .
The way of life in the 1910s and 1920s found people who were very energetic, busy, and happy, with a very simple lifestyle. The hardships of doing with less of most everything, taught us an appreciation of things, which are now taken for granted i.e., . . .
In the early 1870’s the railroad spur at the Lower Huntington Road intersection ignited the adventuresome spirit of our early settlers who wanted to be country dwellers. Pioneer landowners such as the Masons, Bradburys, and Weavers were most . . .
The first trading in this area was the French hunter befriending the Indians for the fur business. The region was abounding with deer, wild turkey, bobcat, wolf, rattlesnake, beaver, otter, pheasant, squirrel, and raccoon. Skins by the hundreds were . . .
In the last issue of The Waynedale News, while researching Ed Noble’s history column, I speculated there might have been a grist mill where Rogers Formal Wear & Tubby’s Ribs now sit at Broadway and Bluffton Roads.
Dave Trainer read our . . .
The Growth of Waynedale Transportation
Pioneers with their families pushed westward with all of their possessions led by trusty horses or, like the ancestors of Mrs. Violet Fairfield Meyers, came west via oxen pulling a Conestoga wagon capable of . . .
FIRST MILLIONAIRE IN WAYNEDALE
Waynedale’s first millionaire was Miami Indian Chief Jean (John) Baptiste De Richardville. Chief Richardville’s parents and ancestors were well known Indian traders. His mother, Ta-Cum-Wa was a sister of . . .
Barb Noble dropped her husband, Ed off at The Waynedale News on Wednesday. Ed came in carrying a large picture of the Chamber of Commerce of Waynedale Charter Membership. The 2ft x 3ft picture frame listed 42 Chamber members from 1930. Amongst the . . .
Larry, a former resident of Waynedale, came across this photo while going through some old albums. It was taken at a picnic at the John Clausen cottage on Lake Wawasee around 1947-49. Bill Wetzel was the choir director and sometimes the organist . . .
The first edition of The Waynedale News came out on September 2nd, 1932. The name of the paper at that time was The Waynedale Press. Arden McCoy was the editor and the paper was a single sheet measuring 15X10 inches. Noble’s Food Store was . . .
For the past year Bethany Lutheran Church has been celebrating her 50th anniversary. Celebrations have included a special preaching series last Advent; a series of presentations touching on church history throughout the year by speakers such as Rev. . . .
This is the story of the founding of the Faternal Order of Eagles.
It was a far different time, the 19th century, when men from all over the world left their native lands and came to America to seek their fortunes. They found jobs in logging camps, . . .
4-H programs began in response to young people and their need for a better agricultural education. In 1902, a large percent of Americans lived on farms. Organized outside of school, parents served as volunteer leaders along with educators to instruct . . .