White River Township resident Jeff Beck poses for a photo in 2002.
Daily Journal Archive Photo
News from around Johnson County as reported on April 27 in the pages of the Daily Journal and the Franklin Evening Star from the last 111 years.
On this day in 2002, the main story in the Daily Journal focused on a man who was working to uncover Bargersville’s and White River Township’s past.
Jeff Beck, a long-time White River Township resident, knew the ins and outs of the township and remembered the old family-owned grocery stores and community stores. He was not the norm, however, as the 2000 census showed that more than 25% of the township’s growth moved in the previous decade.
The new residents did not have recollections of the days gone by. They didn’t remember the old Meridian Theatre (now a Meijer store) or the old tomato-to-canning factory in Bargersville where workers earned a dime for every crate of picked tomatoes. The factory was eventually turned into Cabinets by Nichols.
Memories slip away as long-time residents of the township age. Beck was looking to preserve those memories.
His mission: Interview as many people who have memories of the township before it became the hub of mega super-stores and sprawling subdivisions.
In a township with no centralized city government, the community often focused around schools. So Beck did too, and this included the former Bargersville school.
At the time, nothing marked the location of the school, which was located west of the railroad tracks at the corner of North Street and Old Plank Road. Beck wanted to change that, and interviewed many people who remembered the school.
He also worked on the side to collect money to buy a historical marker for the site, Beck said.
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Other memorable Johnson County stories from this day
1993
The Franklin City Council voted to privatize the city’s trash service, eliminating its sanitation department.
1987
The congregation of Mount Auburn United Methodist Church was celebrating the completion of the rebuilt church. The church was damaged by a tornado a year earlier.
1973
A Franklin man attempted to break out of the Johnson County jail. The 20-year-old man was being held at the jail for trying to steal a sheriff’s patrol car two days earlier.
