Something Unique on eBay:

“This is a very rare 2 volume set, “Lake Maxinkuckee A Physical and biological survey” published in 1920 by the Department of Conservation, State of Indiana. Authors were Evermann and Clark. Please excuse the pix, as I do not want to open the binding wide & risk damaging it. IF YOU ARE A CULVER ALUMNUS, this set is a MUST!!

The first volume is chock full of great color prints of most of the fish known to inhabit Lake Maxinkuckee around 1900 - 1910. (I wonder how many survive today?) Perhaps the most striking feature of this set is the folded BEAUTIFUL MAP of the lake, measuring two feet wide and more than 1 1/2 foot high (see pix). This map, a fine woodcut, carefully details the depth contours of the lake, and would make a terrific framed picture, if one were creepy enough to remove it from the book.

***NOTE*** in the map pix are some dark lines;THESE ARE ARTIFACTS OF THE LIGHTING and are not present in the pix. I did not want to risk damaging the map by pressing it flat just to take a photo.

The second volume contains descriptions of all the plants, insects, seaweeds, etc. known to inhabit the lake and its immediate surroundings.

This set represents a monumental effort - never to be repeated - to assess the physical and biological aspects of lake Maxinkuckee. There is even a large treatise, complete with many tables and much data, dealing with the depth of the ice each winter for several years!!

ALL YOU FAITHFUL CULVER ACADEMY ALUMNI (Nee CMA, Culver Military Academy) this set is a MUST for your library. I doubt if you will find a set again. S&H $30 (the set will be carefully boxed and padded); insurance is extra and optional. Foreign shipping $50.
,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤øø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸” …Read the rest of this entry…

Posted by Mr. Flora at 1:19 AM

While in Culver, check out our lighthouse! There is quite a story behind this structure, but suffice it to say that it was used, as far back as at least 1895, to signal Lake Maxinkuckee’s steamboats that a train had arrived at the station bringing hundreds of visitors to the lake for recreation in those days when people traveled here by the thousands to swim, picnic, visit friends around the lake, or visit the Academy. Roads were terrible, and train and boat travel was the norm.

The lighthouse, slowly falling into disrepair over the years, finally went down after it sustained damage in the “Big Wind” of the summer of 1913. Thanks to a photo from the CMA catalog of 1895 (provided by Academies’ archivist Bob Hartman), we now know that the original lighthouse was built well before the 1900 date we had originally believed.

 At any rate, those who have been around Culver this past winter will be familiar with the whole story: the Antiquarian and Historical Society of Culver donated a re-creation of the lighthouse to the town park in October, 2005. This was destroyed by vandals in January of 2006, which shocked the town and got a lot of local folks involved in helping re-create the re-creation! What was eventually erected in the town park, just a matter of weeks ago, was a much sturdier, finely crafted reproduction of the 1895 structure, complete with specially-made copper dome. The existing lighthouse, as photos reveal, is much larger than the original, but it’s a nice tribute to the rich history of the lake, the town, and the Academy. Stop by Culver’s town park (the public beach area) on Lake Shore Drive and take a look!

More photos — and history — of the original lighthouse here.

Also, Civil War and local (Culver-Lake Max area) history buffs may be interested in this. Ray Boomhower, author of The Pen and the Sword, a biography of Civil War General and Ben Hur author Lew Wallace, will be speaking at 10am on Saturday, July 22, at the Antiquarian and Historical Society of Culver’s July gathering at the Wurster cottage on East Shore Lane. Boomhower will also appear at the library downtown for a book signing at 1pm. Lew Wallace is said to have written the first few chapters of his blockbuster novel (most famous for the 1950s, award-winning film version with Charlton Heston) at the Allegheny house just east of Culver Academy. More on that here.  Wallace was an amazing guy…besides his Civil War and writing career, he was head of the trial of the assasination of President Lincoln, and was — among other things — a U.S. ambassador.

All are invited and both events are free, so come check it out!

A recent addition to the library’s history website:

The Culver Calendar from the 1940s ((probably the late 40s) includes a photo for each week of the year. Some — though not all — of these photos were taken by Col. Edward Payson. More of his Culver Calendar photos can be seen here.

As the date draws nearer for camp to start this summer, I know that I — and my nearly 3-year-old son, if he only knew it! — am looking forward to Sunday afternoon parades starting….as well as Saturday night Council Fires, seeing the Ledbetter out on the water more often, the Moonlight Serenade, the sailboats on the lake each afternoon…Culver in the summer!

Presented here is an early 1960s postcard from the collection of Pete Trone, who himself was involved in Culver Summer Camps for years, has some great stories, and is one of our great local resources as a fount of historical knowledge. As always, click to enlarge the image. The Woodcraft camp, of course, had not long been re-created on the east side of SR 117 (East Shore Drive), where today it remains, and the cabins in this photo look new and shiny to me!

Browsing around our Summer Camp photos to find this one, another one caught my attention, relating also to the Black Horse Troop, or at least to horsemanship, so I’m throwing it in here. I don’t know the specific origin of this photo, but it comes from the collection of beloved, longtime Culver barber (retired) Verl Shaffer, and depicts a very early scene of the “rougher, tougher” days of Troop, when campers marched all day at times, camped in the field at night, carried canons by horseback, etc., etc. It would be interesting to know exactly where they’re riding in this picture, and exactly when, but I found this an interesting photo…

Had a happy moment just today when Culver resident Sandra Wakefield (who is also head of our Friends of the Library organization) dropped off a bag of old Academy Roll Call yearbooks from the 1950s. To be exact, 1953, 54, 56, 57, and 58! I realize these are winter school books, but they were so beautifully photographed and give such a good peek into the students and campus of the day, they’re wonderful to see. They’re also a real treasure, from my point of view, as I know they’re collectable and rare. We MIGHT own one or two earlier Roll Call’s in our history collection, but they don’t tend to come our way very often, so this is great. Sandy’s husband, Rudy, worked for years for the Culver Press (located then in what is today’s Town Hall building on Plymouth Sreet in Culver), which did much of the Academy’s printing in those days, so occasionally we get some nice donations to our collection from Sandy and Rudy.

The point is: there are some old Roll Calls in addition to other neat Culver history items (like Summer School catalogs and the like) here at the library, and any of you who are in Culver this summer (or any time!) are welcome and encouraged to drop by and spend some time in our history area browsing the collection. You’re free to bring a scanner or digital camera, too, if you’d like to digitize a favorite image or two.

Incidentally, I’ll be doing a presentation here at the library this month on Culver history: “Daniel McDonald, the Railroad, and the Origins of Culver as We Know It” on Saturday, June 24 at 10am for the Antiquarian and Historical Society of Culver’s annual meeting. The meeting and my talk — which includes a Power Point full of photos — is open to everyone, and there should be coffee and refreshments. So drop by and take a listen, come up and say hi, have some coffee and relax! And hey, think about siging up as a member of the Antiquarian Society…they’re a great group that does a lot of good relating to Culver history…

DISCUSS IN FORUMS

With summer 2006 quickly approaching, what better time for a round-up of Culver Hotel accomodations for parents and alumni visiting Culver Academy than now? This week we’ll be glancing through the surprisingly extensive Culver Indiana hotel scene, tossing in some pictures and blurbs about the many options out there along the way. After you’re done reading these you can check out the Culverpedia entry on Culver Indiana Hotels and can chime in with feedback in the new discussion thread over in the forums.

Because I’m not really an expert of any kind when it comes to writing about the hospitality industry, I thought it might be a good idea to bring in someone who knows his stuff when it comes to this sort of thing. So throughout this article and the ones that follow you’ll also be hearing comments and opinions from a Go Culver.com guest writer, the Lord of Atlantis himself, Aquaman!

Aquaman, a frequent visitor to the Lake Maxinkuckee region, has stayed in his share of fishy places over the years. So when I told him about this article series, he practically jumped at the chance to help out. Thanks Aquaman!

Ok, lets get started. …Read the rest of this entry…