Hope for the Future From Looking at the Past

Herb Hunter

All this week, we have enjoyed celebrations commemorating the 150th anniversary of the incorporation of Greensburg, and marveled at some of the old stories and advertisements in the daily editions of the Greensburg Daily News. Unfortunately, nostalgia aside, most would agree, this is not the best of times. Currently in the Tree City, as the world economic slow down takes its toll on our local economy, we have suffered layoffs, manufacturing plant closures, and an uncertain employment outlook. In such seemingly dire economic times, is there a better way to face the future than learning lessons from the past? Let’s examine some of the problems faced by our forefathers, over the last one hundred and fifty years of Greensburg’s history.

At the time of Greensburg’s incorporation, our nation was on the verge of the Civil War. Indiana was a member of the Union at the time, but Confederate sympathizers could be found throughout Southern Indiana, and I would wager discussions at local watering holes became rather heated regarding topics of the day, such as slavery. Morgan’s Raiders, a group of marauders led by General John Hunt Morgan, pillaged the Indiana countryside to obtain cash and supplies for Confederate troops, and came within a few miles of Greensburg on one of their ventures into Indiana, burning and looting the town of Vernon. Imagine the anxiety of going to bed, wondering if you might be awakened by screams, gunfire, and flames. This fate was a real possibility for early residents of Greensburg.

Envision the celebration our forefathers enjoyed on our courthouse square, as the Civil War officially ended, only to be quelled a few days later by a train carrying the casket of Abraham Lincoln, passing through Indianapolis, on its way to Springfield, Illinois. How bleak must the future of our country looked to Tree City dwellers on that day?

As the Civil War and reconstruction yielded to the industrial revolution, Greensburg was an active participant, providing resources and a work force for the transition from an agriculturally based community to a supplier of industrial goods. Rail traffic must have moved continually in those days, shipping goods both to and from the Greensburg Depot. Electricity, motorized vehicles, and a municipal water and sewage system must have seemed scary to residents accustomed to wood stoves, water pumps and outhouses, but the citizenry persevered, and the community moved forward.

World War I took the lives of many Greensburg residents, albeit on another continent, while citizens on the home front faced another silent enemy, the Spanish Flu. During the flu epidemic of 1918, entire families were wiped out in a short span of days. Victims of influenza during the early 1900’s had few medical options, and the only weapon public health officials could use was the quarantining of homes. This may have been the most effective method of quelling epidemics at the time, although it assured additional family members would fall victim to the disease. If you know where to look, a walk around South Park Cemetery will reveal family gravesites with several additions during the same month, and sometimes the same week, of 1918.

Those that survived the influenza epidemic of 1918 were left to face the Great Depression a few years later, perhaps the most difficult domestic situation in our country’s history. Lately, there have been several comparisons between our current economic situation and the 1930’s, but a short conversation with anyone who lived through the Depression will set you straight. At that time, there was no Social Security Administration, no unemployment insurance, food stamps were unknown, and most public welfare came from religious organizations. Most Americans were too poor to have much in savings, few owned their own homes, and when you lost your job, you lost your ability to feed yourself and your family. Of course, health care was not a problem during the Depression, since health insurance was a novelty, for the most part, and you could often pay your physician for a house call with produce from your back yard garden. Yet, somehow, Greensburg not only survived, but thrived.

Yes, times are tough, but they have been a lot tougher. Our ancestors faced marauders, unknown diseases, a Civil War, two World Wars, and economic calamity, to build the community we enjoy today. And that was just the first one hundred and fifty years!

No one knows when our current recession will end, or how bad the economy will become, before we enjoy economic recovery. However, rest assured, the recovery will occur, and better times will be ahead. The last century and a half has balanced hard times and uncertainty with technological breakthroughs and prosperity, a cycle that will surely continue.

As we celebrate one hundred and fifty years of Greensburg, let’s follow the example of those that came before us, facing an uncertain future with certain fortitude, courage, and perseverance. Our ancestors would accept nothing less.

Happy Birthday, Greensburg!

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