Map of the Yellowstone Trail section that goes through Kosciusko.

Text and Photos
By Shari Benyousky
Guest Columnist

Column Note: Banter is a new semi-regular column written by Guest Columnist Shari Benyousky of Diners and Dives.

WINONA LAKE — Everyone in Winona Lake seems to know Terry White; he’s a resident expert in history, writing and music. White began his love affair with Winona Lake when he entered Grace College as a student back in 1960. Now you’ll still find him volunteering at the Winona Museum, so he’s the perfect person to banter with to hear little-known Winona secrets. Last week, we sat down at a big wooden table and dug into the past.

What Has Been Forgotten?

“What’s something people have forgotten about?” I ask.

White’s eyes light up, and he explains. You’ve heard of Route 66, but have you heard of the other famous cross-country path: The Yellowstone Trail? It runs right through Winona Lake as it meanders from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound. Back in the early days of automobiles, drivers faced muddy, unmarked roads, and the universal sentiment was simply “get out of the mud.”

Entrance to the Winona History Center.

About that time, in South Dakota, Joe Parmley sat in the legislature with a dream which he made into reality in 1912. Within three years, his Yellowstone Road stretched to Chicago, and by 1917, all the way to Boston. A million or more people drove a significant part of the road from 1912–1930. Terry heard about the forgotten road and helped to get Yellowstone Road markers placed. You’ll find them facing both east and west on Pierceton Road near the Community Apple Orchard and Packerton Road.

“In 1915, Yellowstone became popular when a group of Packards and Buicks delivered a packet of letters and historical stuff across the trail.” White rifled through his stack of sources on the table in front of him. In June of 1915, a timed relay race was held from Chicago to Seattle, totaling 2,445 miles. The best time was 97 hours, although the race wasn’t without accidents. George Murphy, who was recklessly speeding at 26 mph, rounded a curve in Eau Claire, Wisc., and hit a tree.

“I usually go to the Yellowstone Trail Fest up near Hamlet, Indiana,” White enthused. If you’d like to join him on the third weekend of August and learn more about the lost road, check out the details here.

Interesting Museum Item

“What’s the most Interesting thing you’ve seen at the Winona Museum?” I change topics.

White named a few things: a Rainbow Point sign found in someone’s basement, A PBS cooking show author, a Mafia connection to Winona, Rolly Ortega’s huge collection of Winona postcards mailed from the famous summer destination, a brass plate from the Interurban railroad, an underwater metal detector club, and the dozens of people who have come in telling stories about their times in the Winona Boys Club or as Billy Sunday’s chauffeur.

“Oh!” White exclaimed. “There’s this chair we have that’s signed by Sunday himself. Let me go find it.”

Terry White and Cheryce Wise examining Billy Sunday’s hand signed chair.

White and Cheryce Wise, museum coordinator, consulted and found the chair. They flipped it upside down to read the looping angles of penmanship by Billy himself. The chair bottom read: “I sat on this chair for six weeks during the Winston-Salem campaign, April-May 1925 – W. Sunday.”

“It’s been glued back together.” White pointed at the split. “I thought he broke it during that time too.” Billy Sunday was known for his antics on stage, from standing on chairs and pulpits to sliding across the stage, so it seems reasonable to assume the split can be attributed to him.

What’s About that Mafia Connection?

“Well, we ran across this receipt for automotive work at the Wiard garage at the entrance to Winona.” White settled back in his chair.

“When we followed the name, we found that he had been a detective in Pennsylvania who had brought down the Mafia Stiletto group. They assassinated with those thin knives. Wiard retired to hide here in Winona.”

Detective Owen Wiard bought a house he named Maplehurst up on 11th Street at the new Village at Winona. “Owen didn’t hide very well though,” White went on. “Eventually, he started giving speeches about it everywhere on the lyceum circuit and joined the National Detectives Association. He’s buried over at Oakwood.”

That detective tale reminds White of another famous person.

Who Else was Famous and lived in Winona Recently?

Over by Stonecamp, at 1908 Park Ave., is a gray house on the point.

The bottom of the chair signed by Billy Sunday.

“That house belonged to Marcia Adams,” White told me. “She wasn’t well-known here but was actually very famous for having a PBS cooking show. She published seven cookbooks.” He paused. “And she was also one of the first people to have a heart transplant and she wrote about the experience.”

Marcia won a renowned Telly Award for a documentary based upon her heart transplant book called “Heart to Heart.” She lived in Fort Wayne and died in 2011. You can read about her legacy here.

What Else Happened in Winona?

Speaking of legacies, White told me about a new Winona Art Commission Project. If you’ve ever hiked or biked in what’s left of the old Chicago Boys Club, you have an inkling of history. “I remember some ladies in their 90s coming by the museum once and drawing up a schematic of where all of the buildings in the camp used to be located,” White told me. “They even remembered the showers and tennis courts.”

For 80 years, starting in 1902, the camp provided a welcome respite for kids from the big city of Chicago to enjoy nature. Now the property is private, but it’s still enjoyed by many to see nature.

The commission located the Metropolitan Bronze Foundry out of Chicago and has chosen four 45-inch tall bronze statues of children performing athletic activities like those in the camp during its heyday to place at the entrance. The commission will be raising the 20K needed for the statues in the coming months. If you’d like to help, more details are here.

The commission is responsible for the current statues and art along the Greenway, which commemorates many phases of local history.

One Last Unknown Tidbit

As we finished, White remembered a recent Winona resident came by the museum to learn the history of his house and found a connection to one of three founders of the park. Although Solomon Dickey usually gets most of the credit for the early years of Winona, there were three original founders of Spring Fountain Park — E.S. Scott, and Henry Webb Johnson.

Don Granitz was happy to discover that E. S. Scott built his current house at 1603 Boys City Drive and named it The Scottage. The sign still hangs on the house. E. S. Scott had served in 89th Ohio Regiment during the Civil War and enjoyed telling stories of his time.

Thanks, Don, for the picture of your gorgeous Winona House.

Have you got a story worth bantering about?

Send Shari Benyousky of SB Communications LLC an email at [email protected].