The Story of the Rolling Prairie Post Office Murals
These murals depict a history of the town and surrounding area
South wall:
Glaciers covering the area receded north around
16,000 years ago, leaving the rolling terrain of today. As forests, prairies and marshlands established themselves thousands
of years of plant decay created a rich soil for farming. Historically, major farm crops in the area are corn, wheat, soybeans
and hay. On the left side of the landscape mural several figures stand around a well. The man wearing the vest is Ezekiel
Provolt , the first settler in this area, who built a cabin by a large oak tree in 1831. Its original four inch thick door
is on the white house beside the same oak tree across the road from the cemetery. Provolt befriended the native Potawattomie
Indians, who camped a short distance from his cabin. The Indians often visited the Provolt family to drink from the well.
Behind the cabin are the primeval forests of the area. Three covered wagons
travel west on the trail known to pioneers as the , originally the connection between Eastern Canada and Detroit with the
Great Plains. The Trail later became US Highway 20. Just below the wagons is a cluster of trees depicting Plum Grove a stand
of wild plum trees used as a meeting ground by local Indians near what is today the intersection of Boot Jack Road and State
Road 2, west of Rolling Prairie. The Potawattomies gathered here to pick and dry fruit. This was where Indians were brought
together by white men for what became known as The Trail of Tears, a forced march of Indians to Kansas.
Plum Grove, in the mural, also represents the wealth of fruit orchards
in the area. Below the corn field is an early settler tilling his field using one of the dangerous early hand plows with leather
reins on his shoulders to direct the horse. Farmers were often injured by the tension between the horse and plow. In the days
before machines, wheat was harvested through communal labor as families worked together, singing and exchanging stories. Women
produced huge meals to feed the hungry crews. Small children supplied water out in the field on hot days. To the left of the
wagon is a man using a hand tool, called a cradle, to cut the wheat which was then collected into bundles called shocks and
thrown into heaps called strawpiles In the field behind the harvest scene are farm machines used after the Civil War. The
steam engine on the left powers the threshing machine on the right through the use of a long, long belt. The threshing machine
separates husks of chaff from the seeds. Although machines made harvesting much faster and easier, their cost eventually forced
many farms to close as they were so indebted to banks. To the right of the threshing machine is a farm house and barn from
the pre World War II era. Below, Holstein dairy cows graze showing another traditional aspect of farm life.
North wall:
This mural depicts a more detailed history of Rolling
Prairie. In the center of the mural above the row of buildings is the Ezekiel Provolt cabin, symbolizing the first settlement
of four cabins called Nauvoo. Nauvoo remained small until 1852 when the New York Central Railroad bypassed the larger town
of Byron to build tracks through Nauvoo. A locomotive engine from that period, at the left of the cabin brought important
changes, increasing trade and commerce and the little town on the prairie began to thrive. In 1853, the United States Post
Office was established and the town was renamed Portland. Four years later, the name was changed when postal authorities discovered
there were two Portlands in the state. The identity of the postal employee who changed the name to Rolling Prairie is unknown.
To the right of the Provolt cabin is Michigan Street, also the original US Highway 20, later diverted when a new four lane
highway and viaduct were built in 1940. On the right is the First Christian Church, established in 1854. Next, the Kankakee
Township Volunteer Fire Station and the Rolling Prairie United Methodist Church, established in 1835. The row of buildings
in the center of the mural are as seen in a photograph of Depot Street, circa 1912. All but one of these buildings remain
standing today. Buildings, right to left:
- the bank owned by A.J. Stahl which closed during the Great Depression
in 1929;
- a shop selling farm equipment;
- Reese Brothers Hardware;
- a residential building;
- the blacksmith shop (one of two in town) and
- the John A. Noble General Merchandise Store.
The street had raised wooden sidewalks, hitching posts, and there was
a town pump connected to a community well where a woman and girl can be seen pumping water. A man drives a wagon filled with
supplies follows a buggy containing milk and cream cans used before refrigeration. The large red structure in the corner is
Rolling Prairie High School, portions of which were destroyed in two separate fires. The building was later demolished. The
Post Office is to the left with a flag flying. The Post Office has been located in several buildings a one story built by
Arthur Fissgus in 1954, beside the new two-story post office built in 1997 by Gene and Debbie Jonas. To the right of the Post
Office, Coy Brown, long time rural postal carrier, sits astride his Harley Davidson motorcycle. Facing him is Dr. Carl David
Fuller, carrying a large postal bag. Born in 1867, Dr. Fuller practiced homeopathic medicine in Rolling Prairie, was a prolific
songwriter and poet, and later became Postmaster of Rolling Prairie. To the left is Jones Garage and Service Station, operated
by Orlando and Basil Jones, sons of Orlando Wilson Jones, who had operated his blacksmith shop on the property where the filling
station was built. This building stood on Michigan Street, then U.S. 20. Several Indianapolis 500 race cars were built at
the garage. Mauri Rose won the race with a car built in Rolling Prairie. During the 1920s and 30s the highway brought a steady
stream of traffic from the east coast to Chicago and the west including many famous people. At one time there were eight gas
stations in and around town. Above the gas station is a crowd of people watching singers perform
Hoover Park
Hoover Park (named after President Herbert Hoover)
was located at the corner of Depot and Short Streets on an empty lot. In 1937 the country was suffering through the Great
Depression. People had little money but plenty of time on their hands. A local resident Corky Llewellyn, a retired circus
animal trainer, decided to make an amusement park and zoo, of sorts, on the spot. People had plenty of time on their hands
and not much money so Corky and friends created the large wooden elephant and various contraptions, each with its own satirical
sign in front. A stuffed dog sits above the stage and a man is perched high on a telephone pole to watch the show. One of
the signs reads, McNutt Zoological Park , referring to Indiana Governor Paul McNutt who served from 1933 1937.
South of Hoover Park was the trolley car or Interurban, the railroad that
connected South Bend, LaPorte and Michigan City to Rolling Prairie and brought people to watch the free entertainment at Hoover
Park. Movies were shown on the sides of buildings and on huge white fabric sheets stretched between light poles. The movie
in the mural stars Clark Gable, who was once seen passing through the town. That might be his black Packard parked in front
of Jones Garage. A popular destination of the era, Bob's BBQ, a restaurant and dance hall featured a live orchestra on Saturday
nights. Bob's became so famous that at one time twenty buses transporting people from coast to coast stopped daily. Bob's
offered cabins for overnight stays amidst manicured grounds and rock gardens. The restaurant was destroyed by fire in 1933
but later rebuilt. Another attraction was the Peacock Fountain Inn, owned and operated by the Jacob Offenbacher family who
had learned to cook in German and Swiss hotels. They had live peacocks roaming the beautiful gardens of the Inn, site of the
annual Rose Tea sponsored by women of the Rolling Prairie United Methodist Church. The Inn closed after the tragic death of
Mr. Offenbacher when his car was hit by a South Shore train north of Rolling Prairie.
Long dry summers meant fires and many buildings burned down or were damaged
in the early 1900s. In 1942 residents agreed to stop relying on bucket brigades and neighboring fire departments and organize
their own fire department. Charles Houseknecht, Charles Hunt, William Ludtke and H. C. Wolcott agreed to lead a campaign which
raised $225. Houseknecht purchased an abandoned filling station and turned it over to the township in July, 1946.
In 1948 the Rolling Prairie Lions Club hosted a benefit performance for
the department by PeeWee King, a popular country western star, that brought in more than $2,600
The all volunteer unit was put to the test in the early morning hours
of Oct. 20, 1963 when the town's citizens were awakened by a deafening blast as two freight trains collided beside the grain
elevator. Mrs. Rita Buss, wife of Fire Chief Walter Buss, sounded the alarm for firemen who prevented the blaze from spreading
to the grain elevator. The force of the blast was so great it actually moved several inches from its foundation by the blast.
Five diesel engines and fourteen cars derailed, flames shot several hundred feet in the air and three engineers were killed,
one of them Dennis Culvahouse, born and raised in Rolling Prairie. Culvahouse was buried in the Rolling Prairie Cemetery,
shown on the right side of the mural above the fire station. Grave markers date back to pre Civil War times. It is here our
story draws to a close.
M.C.Porter
It is my hope, that rather than just having sentimental value, my murals
cause people to reflect on the ways that things have changed over the last 200 years, what can be learned from the past, what
is worth saving or returning to, and what a model of a sustainable rural community could be like.
Acknowledgment by the artist:
I wish to thank some of the many people
who contributed to the Rolling Prairie Post Office murals:
- Schroeder for his stories and the use of his photos;
- LaVerne Carpenter for showing me old yearbooks, his Indian hatchet/pipe
and mastodon fossils;
- Lavonne Lange for stories,
- Gloria Fuller for historical data;
- LaPorte County Historical Society for research assistance; and
- Rolling Prairie postal workers for their patience.
A special thanks to Marcia Porter for her gracious help in writing, editing,
and printing the story of the murals.
Finally, to Gene and Debbie Jonas for commissioning me to paint the murals.
Michael
