Fort Wayne, IN: 1933 Southwest View from North Side High and NSHS and Zollner Pistons

(Satellite)

Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana posted
1933. View from North Side H.S.

The City Utilities power plant a third from the right in the background is no surprise. And I can spot the Lincoln Tower that I wrote about just a few hours ago near the left in the background. But all of the streetcars parked on the other side of Spy Run Avenue is a complete surprise. I wonder what the long brick building on the other side of the parked cars was. I also wonder if any of those parked cars are interurban cars. The 1930s is when the interurban railroads died because of cars, good roads and the depression. But their interurban cars may not have been junked by 1933. The interurban railroads used streetcar tracks when they came to a town.

Update: I learned from a photo of the power plant that those interurban cars belonged to the Fort Wayne & Northern Indiana Traction Company.

Erik Michaels posted
Aerial view of North Side High School circa 1940 by Neuman Studio.
Charles S Quilhot I recall hearing about the collapse of a large portion of the high school as initial construction was nearing completion. A leading citizen, Byron Somers was asked to lead the investigation. He retained three national experts. Separately corrupt players were identified. Byron Somers called the culpable architect, contractors and school superintendent into his office where they were faced by Somers’ and his experts. Initially they denied responsibility and Somers picked up the phone letting them know he was calling the prosecutor and Mr. Foellinger at the News-Sentinel.

The culpable parties immediately begged Somers not to make the calls. Quietly they footed the entire cost of the rebuild.
Tim Sievers Snuck out on top of the dome many times in the mid 70’s!
Loyal Stiverson Wow! The football field is going the wrong way. Lol.
There is houses in the football field. Funny how things change.
Jack C. Shutt Loyal Stiverson It was rebuilt in the 50's.
Duane Kirchgassner i worked on the remodeling of the school in 2003 what a beautiful school worked on it for 2 1/2 years thank u weigand con.

Debra Switzer Bercot commented on Erik's post

Debra Switzer Bercot commented on Erik's post

Dennis DeBruler commented on Erik's post
Are the baseball diamonds that are past the tennis courts also used by the high school?

Tommy Lee Fitzwater posted
1967

Linda Bultemeier Krumwiede posted
Nice aerial view of the north side of Fort Wayne in 1926 or 1927. Full size image: https://drive.google.com/.../1UB_Y-JHoB_-8I9V.../view...

I knew that the Detroit Pistons started in Fort Wayne as the company team for Zollner Pistons. I did not know that they were listed in the NBA program as the Fort Wayne Pistons nor that they played in the gym of NSHS before the coliseum was built. The comments on Richard Kelley's post provide some history of the NBA as well as the Pistons.

Michael Bird commented on Richard Kelley's post

David Swingle

Fred Zollner was one of the founders of the NBA.

Rich Knipstein

I remember going to a game at NS with my dad. The Pistons were playing the Baltimore Bullets. The scoreboards back then usually only had 2 digits for each team. That night the Pistons scored over 100 points so the scoreboard went back to 00 and went up from there.

Dan Ensch

The early days of NBA, from 1946 to 1954, were infamous for the low scoring games. The lowest of them all was played on November 22, 1950, between the Fort Wayne Pistons and Minneapolis Lakers, when the Pistons defeated the Lakers by 19-18. It is a record that will never be broken!

Don Sherbondy

Dan Ensch

 , the Fort Wayne Pistons ( and the Syracuse Nationals) were the reason the NBA wanted a 24 second clock.

The game became boring with a high school type of stall.

Fans hated it ...Fort Wayne was too small of a city for the new NBA.

Fred Zollner was forced to move to Detroit.

Also the Syracuse Nationals had to go to a big city.

Indianapolis finally got an NBA team.

Fort Wayne crumbled with the rust belt.

But, at one time we were a progressive city with good energy.

North Side was a great high school.

Those were the days.

John Connell

One of the more remarkable trivia items from the Pistons' history happened in the NBA Finals of 1955. The Pistons played the Syracuse Nationals (Nationals won) in INDIANAPOLIS because the Coliseum was booked for the National Bowling Congress tournament and was unavailable for our Fort Wayne team.

Judith Foster Brown

i went to many games, both at NS and the coliseum. When we played the Nationals, for the championship, we got screwed. First we didn’t have any home games because of the ABC tournament and

Then by refs Lou Eisenstein and Mendu Rudolph.

John Glass

1944 NBL Champions !

Gordon Bainbridge

Pre-NBA.

David Sutton

They moved to Detroit in 1958. They were NBA NATIONAL CHAMPS in 1954. The tavern named Curlys on Bluffton Road is named after Curly Armstrong who was the most valuable player.

Danny Walchle

They added backboards when fans swatted away balls the other team shot. Agreement for the NBA was signed in Fort Wayne on Piston general manager Carl Bennett's table.

Cleat Griswold

I was there in 1949-1953 at North Side, and often got to watch the Pistons practice, as we worked out during Indoor Track Season, running around the hallways just outside the basketball court.

Some of the Zollner players then were: Curly Armstrong, Larry Foust, Jack Kerris, and Fred Schaus.

Fort Wayne, IN: Lincoln Tower

(Satellite) This was built by the Lincoln National Bank. The comments indicated it is now Star Bank.
(Update: Tom's History. Kenneth Childers posted 85 images, many of which include the tower (and courthouse dome). And he did another posting with 81 images, including some interior shots.)

Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana posted
1930
Kathy Clemmer When i moved back to Fort Wayne as a retiree, I was thrilled to see the lobby murals and decor just as they have always been!
Steve Towsley Strange that this was constructed about the same time as the Empire State Building. Obviously similar architecture and I wonder what connections there were. I doubt both were designed with no knowledge of each other.
James Romary At one time the tallest building in Indiana, Ft. Wayne had a skyscraper taller than any building in Indy.
[I remember that for a long time buildiers in Indy could not exceed the height of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. My dad worked in Central Soya headquaters, which was on Berry near here. But I don't remember ever seeing the lobby of this building.]

Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana posted
Photograph of the Lincoln Tower while under construction on 11/14/1930. Photo appeared in the Journal Gazette. Photo by Clippinger.

Update:

Photo from Kenneth Childers

Photo from Kenneth Childers

Update:

Kenneth Childers posted
Fireworks over the Lincoln National Bank tower [pinterest]

Kenneth Childers posted
G Lincoln National Bank building with candles in the windows [photo by Childers 12-11-2015] - the comment is one I pasted in at the time by my cousin Danny about how our grandpa worked on the building.

Kenneth Childers posted
Nice view of the Lincoln National Bank building under construction [pinterest] c. 1929
Steve Tiny Michaels They broke ground as the Depression hit. Scrambled and got Lincoln Life to loan the money in order to survive the bank holiday. But the building got built.
Steve Tiny Michaels Tallest building in the state until 1968, when the Indiana National Bank in Indianapolis surpassed it.
Greg Biltz my dad was watching them build the Lincoln tower and one of the construction workers threw a dummy off the top floors as a joke it freaked a lot of the people out that were watching. I think somebody for real fell to their death.

Marilyn Krupa-Burns posted
Construction of the Lincoln Bank Tower, 1929. Photo courtesy of the ACPL.

Marilyn Krupa-Burns posted
Another photo of the Lincoln Bank Tower during construction. Steel framing completed. Courtesy of the ACPLl

Add captionanis Boulware-Aranda posted
Does anyone remember this..you could see it for miles.
Charles S Quilhot I sure do. We lived out on Reed Road and St. Joe Ctr. It was a majestic site unti the hideous Ft. Wayne National Bank building went up.Thomas Maloy Used to watch the rotating beacon from my bedroom window when I was a kid in the fifties. It was mesmerizing. We lived several miles from the Lincoln Tower.Arlene Curts thanks for the memory i remember on a cold snowy night you could hear the christmas music coming from the tower a mile away.Charles S Quilhot They stopped when the Fort Wayne National Bank building was built. Lincoln Tower’s light wasn’t needed and can you imagine sitting in the Summit Club and have the light pass by.Gary Phillip Sauers Charles S Quilhot I worked at the Summit Club in the 70's. I had real long hair. I wore a short hair wig. No one knew it for 2 years. We looked down on the Lincoln bank from up there. I think we were on the 24th and 25th floors and the bank was only 17 floors.Rick Papazian As I recall they shut off the red and raised the pitch of the white when the FWNB building was built because the lights shined into it. The white was shut off for the same reason when Summit Square was built.Jim Roehm Originally the German-American Bank. Lobby is classic art-deco. Too bad the observer deck is closed.Claudia Trentadue Ruhl In the late 50s early 60's as a young teenager, we'd ride the bus downtown in the summer & one of the things we do is go up to the open observation deck in the elevator -- you could do this anytime. It was the tallest building in the city then.Janet Leffler My mom told me it was a smaller version of the Empire State Building in NY City.Steve Tiny Michaels Mom lied to you. It actually evokes the runner up to the Tribune Tower competition. The Empire State building was built a year later.Steven A Cutter The "SUMMIT CLUB" had the light "BLOCKED" out in their direction.

Steve Winans posted

*** LINCOLN TOWER ***

MARCH 28, 2020 @ 12:05am.... It was a VERY cloudy & rainy night!!

You will notice that The Tower is lit up in RED, WHITE, & BLUE - except the right side light is GOLD -- Three of them were lit up WHITE & only this one was lit up GOLD -- for 6 days it was lit up like that!!

I've ALWAYS said that they use white lights sometimes (RARELY - It is GORGEOUS all lit up in only white lights) -- Gold lights only, is the "NORMAL" lighting -- but now we can ALL see, they do indeed use white lights, as well as gold lights!!

I hope you ALL enjoy this!!

Steve Winans posted

*** PEACE & TRANQUILITY ***

10:35pm, SATURDAY NIGHT, JUNE 6, 2020 -- The Courthouse Green -- NO ONE in SIGHT!!

Debbie Panyard Vogel-McLaughlin I love seeing photos with our country's flag flying in the wind. And then I realized that this picture of our beautiful downtown Fort Wayne captures 2 flags proudly waving.
[When I saved the post, there was a comment explaining that the protests that were scheduled for the weekend were cancelled when the organizers learned there were white-supremacist groups that were planning to travel to Fort Wayne to pose as protesters and cause trouble. But later, I could not find that comment.]

Silva Lining Photography posted
My City... Fort Wayne, Indiana

Silva Lining Photography posted
Golden...

Silva Lining Photography posted
The Four Tops: Standing in the Shadows

Silva Lining Photography posted
Sunset Court Dreams

Silva Lining Photography posted
HISTORY
[That is the History Center/City Hall in the left foreground.]

Fort Wayne, IN: NYC/LS&MS/FWJ&S Freight House

(Satellite) (Update: NYC coaling tower)

Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana posted
Michael S Chandler The freight house was demolished on 10-11-10, with the wrecking crew arriving at 3am to begin work before historic preservationists could find out and try to stop it. The building was 97 years old. 

Jeff Landis posted, cropped
Mike Plummer Omnisource used the buildings and land. The city wants to sell and/or develope the entire property which means that the areas where the scrap yard sat would need cleaned up. I cant remember the actual numbers but it was a pricey estimate that drove potential investors away....
The building was actually registered as historical...
Douglas B Pritchett My family tried for years to buy the building to put in a restaurant. But the owners would only sell it with the land. In the end, the tore down he building so no one could use it.
Dennis DeBruler You can tell that it was a freight house because the two story part was the office that handled the paper work and the one story part handled the freight. Across from Lawton Park would make it the New York Central's freight house.
Nancy Parker I remember trucks loading and unloading there and the many tracks behind it.
Kyle Beatty I used to walk right 
by it on Clinton walking to the Civic Theater from from where I lived on Westbrook . That whole Block of houses that were razed because of the flood zone . I can remember trains right there even earlier . Loved that old building . Haunting . Harkening a bygone era . Even the old swimming pool in Lawton Park was filled in . Couldn't believe it when I saw that . I used to swim there when I was a little Kid . My Sister was a lifeguard there . At least they've kept that old building , which I believe is some kind of Science museum , on the Lawton Park side .
Sarah WrightSarah and 320 others joined Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne Indiana within the last two weeks. Give them a warm welcome into your community! Looks like the Fort Wayne Railroad Society wants to put a roundhouse there. That'd be pretty awesome to see the 765 back downtown again. https://fortwaynerailroad.org/headwaters-junction/
Nancy Parker ST Joe hospital has expressed an interest ,and a hotel, waterpark has been proposed
Kyle Beatty Would ST . Joe still keep their Broadway location as well ?
Nancy Parker no,planning to build a new one
Elena Vaccaro I can remember when it was a freight terminal. We didn't live in Ft. Wayne, but came in for groceries and other shopping. I seem to remember crates of fruit and vegetables there with the rail cars on the west side and local trucks on the east backed in off Clinton.
Marilyn Krupa-Burns Old NYC railroad warehouse depot.
Larry DawsonLarry and 31 others joined Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne Indiana within the last two weeks. Give them a warm welcome into your community! When the circus came to town they was on trains and would unload here. Lions and mean animals was in cages and the elephant was walked to the Coliseum.

[Comments on this post indicate that the owners tore it down because they were tired of getting hit with code violations. Then they quickly sold the land to the city before any contamination studies were done.]

Tommy Lee Fitzwater posted
Old Power Plant Fort Wayne Indiana probably late 1930's
[Note the NYC yard and freight house on the right.]

Richard Miranda commented on his post
Image Source: https://www.facebook.com/.../a.12394.../1469873823033085/...

Bella Zent: Richard Miranda they had to demo it at 2am because people kept protesting. They tore it down for nothing, it didn’t have damage and the spot it was in is still empty

You can see the NYC/Lake Shore and Michigan Railroad/Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw freight house in a 1951 aerial photo.

A closeup of the front entrance.

Matt Murphy commented on the posting
Almost cried that day I lived a cpl blocks away when they tore it down for no reason.. leave are history alone.

Photo from Jim Warner's Old Photo of Fort Wayne album (source)

Daniel Baker uploaded

Former freight depot for the New York Central Railroad located at Fourth and Clinton Streets in Fort Wayne. Built around 1913, the depot lay mostly vacant for the past 30 years under Omnisource, a recycling company.

 

In 2010, the depot became the focus of a grassroots effort to save it from demolition. The owners, Calhoun Investments, argued that the depot was structurally compromised and they were being mandated by the city to remove it. Preservationists countered it was a historically significant building and not as bad off as the owners made it seem.

 

In the early morning hours, after months of delay, the depot was razed or as one supporter called it, "Rikin-ized," after the responsible party's family name.

 

John Urbahns, Fort Wayne Director of Community Development was surprised the depot was demolished, especially since the city never had it inspected. Calhoun Investments later admitted that there was never an order mandated by the city to have it torn down: It just didn't make good business sense to hang on to the old building.

 

The depot has been gone nearly 4 years now.

****************************

  

"Fighting to save depot," 5.21.2010

 

"Rifkin: All options have been exhausted for freight building," 10.11.2010

 

ARCH: Irreplaceable Fort Wayne landmark is being demolished," 10.11.2010

Daniel Baker uploaded

Daniel Baker uploaded