Allen County, Indiana Genealogy

Jack and Jill Amusement Park

November 21, 2017 post by the Indiana Album on Facebook:

Jack and Jill Amusement Park, Fort Wayne, ca. 1965. (The Indiana Album: Johnson Brothers Sign Company Collection)

[also has a black and white version]

A black and white version of this image was posted April 6, 2018 on the original Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana page on Facebook:

1965

Opened June 12 from an undated newspaper article posted August 25, 2023 on Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne Private Facebook Group. In the 1960s, was on the east side of East Coliseum Boulevard south of Lake Avenue in the area where Mr. Wiggs and K-Mart stores were later located north of the Lakeside Golf Course. All are out of business. Information on the Monster Mouse roller coast on rcdb.com. Monster Mouse photo on Pinterest.

April 1, 2014 post on the original Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana page on Facebook:

Compliments from Randy Harter

Jack & Jill's...From time to time one of us mentions Jack & Jill Amusement Park out on the By Pass from the mid-sixties. This past week I ran across and acquired this great aerial postcard view of the park taken by Bob Bastress who used to do a lot of the newspapers aerial shots. I actually somehow missed ever going to the park, but have certainly heard of it from some of you on this FB site. In the view at far right you can see the fenced in dance area and band stand. At far left you can see the Mad Mouse roller coaster. It looks like the building with open sides about middle is a bumper car building....did they have one there? Enjoy!

April 2, 2014 post on the original Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana page on Facebook:

Ryan Aldrich (Jack and Jill's)
I worked at the park both years it was open, 1St year on the Kiddie Coaster & 2nd year as "catcher" on the Mouse, I have taken the photo and added titles to the shapes.

Dozens of comments to a February 10, 2024 post on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook discussion on the Fort Wayne’s fearsome Monster Mouse February 10, 2024 Ted Shideler blog.

Jack & Johnny's

1234 N. Wells St. closed in 2008, former owners Jack Humbrecht and his wife, Lu, and Johnny Pence, died in 1990, and his wife, Dee, (also Jack's sister) purchased the establishment in 1945. Jack & Johnny's reopening New owners of the closed Wells Street tavern are remodeling, have retained the name by Lisa Esquivel Long published May 5, 2017 in The News-Sentinel newspaperarchived on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Jacobs-Lewellen House

Is a brick Colonial Revival two story built in 1907 at 342 E. Main Street. It was moved November 5, 1995 to 904 W. Berry Street at the NW corner of Berry and Jackson. Photos and discussion October 10, 2015, August 16, 2017, October 31, 2017 and Jack & Jill Name Search on You know you've lived in Fort Wayne too long when... Private Facebook group.

Jaenicke Gardens

Was called the Japanese Gardens prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941. Was located at Swinney Park designed by Adolph Jaenicke in the early 1900's. Was renamed May 14, 1942 for the designer Adolph Jaenicke. Postcard File:Jaenicke Gardens, Swinney Park, Fort Wayne, Indiana (75556).jpg on Wikimedia Commons.

Jailhouse Flats

ARCH Sin in the Summit City Jan 18, 2016 by Access Fort Wayne on YouTube
Karen Richards discusses the colorful history of Fort Wayne at the Allen County Public Library. Filmed and edited by Dan Allen for Access Fort Wayne.

February 22, 2020 post by Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana on Facebook:

Swamp-like conditions often covered the area north of downtown Fort Wayne, it was not used as residential or commercial property, but was a popular dumping ground in early years of Fort Wayne. It is now Headwaters Park and the present jail. Interesting artifacts were found when digging during the building of the park. The area became known as the “Jail Flats” because it was the location of the county's first jail in 1825 and the area was flat. When Benjamin Madden and George Keefer confessed to the murder of John Dunbar in April 1855, both were found guilty and sentenced to hang at the flats. They were brought from the jail to the scaffolding, two ropes were attached to cross beams and both paid their debt to society with their lives. This was also the site of the public hanging of Sam McDonald in 1883, the last such execution in Fort Wayne. McDonald had murdered his friend, Louis Laurent, and was hanged before a crowd of 250 curious observers. The present jail was built in 1981, continuing the tradition of a county jail in the “Jail Flats.”

1. 1875 Timeline discussion of Fort Wayne as "the most lawless town in Indiana".
2. In 1884, League baseball park was built in the Flats with a grandstand to host a “world series” with Chicago playing Providence. During the economic depression of the 1930s, the flats became the site of a “Hooverville” which consisted of shacks and shanties that provided crude shelters for out-of-work families. Copied from History is in session Courthouse,occupants getbook treatment published May 12, 2019 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
3. Swinney Park / Jailhouse Flats - minor league baseball park 1880s to 1930.
4. Allen County’s Jail Flats by Tom Castaldi, local historianpublished July 3, 2014 on History Center Notes & Queries blog.
5. See Duck Creek and League Park were also in this area.
6. Shanty Town discussed November 5, 2022 post on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook

Jefferson Theater

Torn down for the Grand Wayne Center. It became one of the most important theaters in Fort Wayne when it was built in 1912. However, the theater fell out of favor as ever more opulent and flashy motion picture theater houses began to spring up in the city during the late 1920s and early 1930s. This may be one of the reasons the theater was eventually forced to renovate. The main focus of this essay is to scrutinize these and other events leading up to a renovation of the theater occurring in 1940. From THE JEFFERSON THEATER A History of a Fort Wayne Classic by Stephen Weaver. A Select History of Fort Wayne’s Jefferson Theater by Alicia Alabbas, Brooke LaRue, Elvis Ahlborn, Julie Dominguez, Karen Reinoehl, and Stephen Weaver has lots of links to reference sources. Theatrical variety part of history published August 29, 1994 by Michael Hawfield from the Archives of The News-Sentinel newspaperdiscusses this and other local theatres. See local Theaters such as the Broadway Theatre, Clyde Theatre, Embassy Theatre, Holiday Theater, Jefferson Theatre, Lyric Theatre, Majestic Theatre, Palace Theatre, Paramount Theatre, and Rialto Theatre. Theatre versus Theater trivia. Some say the spelling Theatre refers to a focus on live performances while Theater refers to the physical place. Others say it is the British spelling versus American spelling.A December 8, 2022 post with photos by ARCH, Inc.on Facebook stated: If you saw the first run of these films – “Gone With The Wind,” “South Pacific,” “The Sound of Music” or “Dr. Zhivago” – you likely may have seen them from one of the 795 seats at the Jefferson Theatre. The Jefferson opened in 1912 and originally faced Calhoun Street. A major renovation reoriented the theater to East Jefferson Boulevard. “The Jazz Singer,” the first talkie movie, played for eight weeks at the Jefferson. It was at the theater that Clyde Quimby met his future wife, Helen. She was a pianist who accompanied silent movies. They went on to build a local theater empire, managing the Emboyd, the Palace, the Paramount and the Quimby Village theaters. The Jefferson closed in 1978 as the Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission was eying this block for the proposed Civic Center. Photos Courtesy of the Allen County Public Library Community Album. One comment showed the Jefferson Theatre in a 1917 postcard from the Harter Postcard Collection at Allen County Public Library Digital Collections at the Allen County Public Library. March 13, 2024 post with several photos on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.

Jefferson Public School

Fort Wayne, Indiana - quote by Charleton Heston in response to Where did you learn to write? from Dr. Zira in the original Planet of the Apes movie released February 8, 1968 . Not a real school, but we do have a Jefferson Middle School.

Jenne Camera Manufacturing

"C.R. Jenne moved his company—Jenne Camera Mfg. Co.-- to Fort Wayne in 1892 and manufactured the Solar Rayon." Read their story Jenne Camera Manufacturing posted by Nancy McCammon-Hansen on the History Center blog September 24, 2012.

Jenney Electric Light Company

Page 509, The General Electric Works in The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River by Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs, Publication date 1917 on Archive.org.

The great Fort Wayne plant of the General Electric Company, manufacturer of standard electrical apparatus used throughout the civilized world, had its beginning in 1881, when James A. Jenney, inventor of an electric arc lamp and a small dynamo, came to Fort Wayne and installed his apparatus in the establishment of Evans, McDonald and Company. On November 1, of this year, with an authorized capital of $100,000, Ronald T. McDonald organized the Fort Wayne Jenney Electric Light Company, a manufacturing and selling concern, with the following officers : H. G. Olds, president ; Perry A. Randall, vice-president; Oscar A. Simons, secretary, and R. T, McDonald, treasurer and general manager. This original com- pany occupied a building at the southwest corner of Calhoun and Superior streets used by John H. Bass as a boiler shop, and later removed to a building on the south side of West Superior street at the foot of Wells street, a site afterward occupied by the first electric light plant. The third uptown building used by the concern was a rented structure located on East Columbia street. Next the company purchased the small vacated plant of the Gause Agricultural works at Broadway and the tracks of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad, which has formed a nucleus of the building expansion of the concern. At this time the company had an authorized capital of $500,000, of which $366,000 had been issued.

In 1885 M. M. M. Slattery, of Massachusetts, was engaged as chief electrician. The Thompson-Houston Electric Company, of Lynn, Massachusetts, secured a controlling interest in the stock in 1888, and at that time the word "Jenney" was dropped from the name of the concern. Henry J. Miller succeeded Oscar A. Simons as secretary. In November, 1888, the entire plant was destroyed by fire, but it was rebuilt, and operations were resumed in July, 1889. With the acquisition of the Brooklyn factory of the Thompson-Houston Electric Company in May, 1890, James J. Wood, who had licensed the company to manufacture under his patents, was engaged to come to Fort Wayne to superintend the manufacture of are lighting apparatus under his rights, and also the Slattery incandescent apparatus. Many expert workmen were added to the force. The "Wood" systems soon attained a nationwide reputation.

Financial difficulties resulted in June, 1894, in the leasing of the plant to the newly organized Fort Wayne Electric Corporation on the day of the appointment of a receiver for the concern. The officers of the corporation were : R. T. McDonald, president ; Charles S. Knight, vice-president ; Charles C. Miller, secretary and treasurer ; James J. Wood, electrician and general superintendent, and Fred S. Hunting, chief of the engineering department. Soon after the death of Mr. McDonald, in December, 1898, while on a trip to Texas, the plant again was in financial difficulties, resulting in a receivership, in January, 1899. At a receiver's sale a few weeks later, the plant was purchased by the General Electric Company, of Schenectady, New York. It was generally understood at that time that to the efforts of Mr. Wood is due the decision of the company to continue to operate and enlarge the Fort Wayne plant.

The officers of the new company, the Fort Wayne Electric Works, organized in May, 1899, were: Henry C. Paul, president; S. D. Green, vice-president ; M. F. Westover, secretary, and Fred S. Hunting, treasurer and sales manager, while Mr. Wood continued his services as factory manager and chief electrician. From this period to the present much of the success of the plant had been due to the efforts of Mr. Hunting and Mr. Wood, surrounded by an organization of progressive, capable men. In June, 1911, the Fort Wayne Electric Works was merged with the General Electric Com- pany, but the business was carried on in much the same form as before, but under the name of the Fort Wayne Electric Works of the General Electric Company, in reality a department or division of the General Electric Company. This plan of operation was aban- doned in January, 1916, since which time the plant has operated as the Fort Wayne Works of the General Electric Company, one of the most important of the plants of that organization. One of the several incandescent lamp plants of the company was established in the Katzenberg bakery on Montgomery street in the summer of 1906, and the present large plant on Hoiman street was built during the winter of 1907 and 1908. This building was the first re-enforced concrete structure to be erected in the city.

THE FIRST ELECTRIC LIGHTS When James A. Jenney came to Fort Wayne in 1881 he brought one of the Langley arc lighting outfits for the purpose of experimenting and selling the right of manufacture. The lamps were given a private testing in the Evans, McDonald and Company estab- lishment, and during the following week, when the lamps were displayed at a public demonstration, more than two thousand Port Wayne people looked for the first time upon an electric arc lamp. The first electric incandescent lamps for interior lighting were installed by Messrs. McDonald and Olds in the Home billiard hall. The first temporary private lighting plant was installed in Library hall at the northwest corner of Calhoun and Lewis streets. It consisted of four lights, driven by a traction engine.

Fort Wayne Jenney Electric Light Company ad XXIV July 13, 1889 in Western electrician Publication date 1887 on Archive.org

Formed in 1881 by James A. Jenney. 1881 Dynamo and arc lamps at The Fort Wayne Electric Light Co. was incorporated to sell a dynamo and arc lamps patented by James Jenney. Ronald T. McDonald was the founder and president of this company. From A Brief History of Meter Companies and Meter Evolutions timeline and Meter Manufacturers at watthourmeters.com. In June 1883, 17 electric arc lamps were attached to the outfield fences of a Fort Wayne baseball field and night baseball was born.

October 17, 2022 post by Chad Gramling on Facebook.

First Night Game June 2, 1883 October 17, 2022 post by Chad Gramling on Facebook.

October 2, 2021 post by Electric Works on Facebook:

In 1882, inventors James and Charles Jenney were awarded “U.S. Patent 261,815” for their electric arc lamp, and the Fort Wayne Electric Light Company began manufacturing operations – the first chapter in the 139-year story of Electric Works!

July 1, 2022 post by Electric Works on Facebook:

After a devastating fire in November 1888 forced the entire Fort Wayne Jenney Electric Light Company to be rebuilt, and operations were resumed on July 1, 1889.

Eventually, it became Fort Wayne Electric Corp. and in January 1899 was bought by General Electric. For more, see Light of the world by Kevin Leininger published December 19, 1982 in the archives of The News-Sentinel newspaper.

Lots of mentions in Western electrician an Electrical engineering publication.
Page 38 July 20, 1889 The new factories of the Fort Wayne Jenney Electric Light company at Fort Wayne. Ind., will be formally opened the latter part of July. The structures are commodious and possess admirable facilities for electric manufacturing. The opening ceremony will take the form of a reception, to which the company's friends in Fort Wayne will be invited. Music and dancing will be the order of the evening. Mr. McDonald will have his phonograph on exhibition, and Mr. Slattery will give the guests an opportunity to test his electric tricycle.

See General Electric and Electric Works for more information.

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Jennings Center

1330 McCulloch Street, Street View photo from Google Maps

Jennings Center at City of Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation, PARKS CELEBRATES 75 YEARS OF COMMUNITY AT JENNINGS RECREATION CENTER at City of Fort Wayne.

The legacy of Albert Jennings (FORT WAYNE Youth Center history) April 21, 2022 Daniel Beals on YouTube.
21Country: The legacy of Albert Jennings, Influence and inspiration continue at Fort Wayne’s oldest neighborhood community center, April 21, 2022 21AliveNews.com.

December 11, 2023 post by the Genealogy Center on Facebook:

New collection alert The collection contains oral history videos for the Jennings Center, a youth center in operation since 1948, in order to document its history and impact on the East Central Neighborhood in Fort Wayne.

Browse the collection here: Jennings Center Oral History Project

Johnny Appleseed Park

No Johnny Applessed Park sign as seen in the Street View photo at Harry W. Baals Drive from Coliseum Boulevard from Google maps includes over 1,000 user submitted photos mostly about the Johnny Appleseed Festival

1. Johnny Appleseed Park at City of Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation says 31 acres since 1973. History: This park is named in honor of grower, wandering missionary, and friend to all who knew him, John Chapman, a man known throughout national folklore as Johnny Appleseed. Johnny's modest final resting place can be found atop a natural mound, the last resident of what was once the Archer Family Cemetery.
2. See our Johnny Appleseed page with lots of information including over 100 Johnny Appleseed Newspaper articles.
3. Johnny Appleseed Park at Visit Fort Wayne.
4. Johnny Appleseed Park on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia includes a link to the Janaury 17, 1973 "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Johnny Appleseed Park". It states: Prior to the 1930s most of the area in Section 25 ( See Proprietary Plat Map attached ) was practically a wilderness. Within this area to the south lies the Old David Archer cemetery consisting of 2 acres of land, and containing the grave of John Chapman, known as Johnny Appleseed. During the 1930s some of the wilderness was cleared from a portion of the cemetery and a narrow road was installed from there to Parnell Avenue. During this period, a granite memorial, surrounded by an iron fence, was erected on the cemetery indicating the dates of birth and death of this pioneer. The date of 1930s contradicts many newspaper articles in 1916 stating the granite memorial and iron fence were installed in 1916. A longer 94 page document titled Indiana SP Johnny Appleseed Memorial Park at The National Archives is listed on our Johnny Appleseed page.
5. December 4, 2022 post on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook. Joshua Schipper posted: In the 1970s, Mayor Ivan Lebamoff suggested that the area around the old Municipal Beach Park, which includes the dam, be named for Mayor Hosey. Others at the time suggested that the park be named for Mayor Harry Baals. Both mayors had been heavily influential in the city’s water system, so the site of the dam would be a particularly fitting honor. Plans for the renaming did not proceed, but perhaps the paving and naming of Harry Baals Drive through Johnny Appleseed Park served to suffice part of this community desire. Find out more about the history of Johnny Appleseed Park in my new book: https://tinyurl.com/fwparkbook.

Joshua's Temple

The unusual church building opened in the 1960's as Immanuel Baptist Church, became New Joshua Missionary Baptist Church before it dissolved August 25, 1994. See photos and information posted November 9, 2017 on Fort Wayne - City of Churches on Facebook.

Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Company

Manufacturing and Supply Co 2400 Taylor St., is now owned and operated as Valbruna Slater Stainless. In 1944, the Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co. in Fort Wayne began work on a contract with the Manhattan Engineering District to turn short, stubby chunks of uranium into long rods. Those rods would help fuel atomic bombs, make America the world’s first superpower and begin the Cold War, a nuclear standoff that lasted for the next half-century. The workers at Joslyn – certainly until Aug. 6, 1945, when the top-secret Manhattan Project was revealed to the world in an atomic flash – most likely had little idea what they were handling. ... By 1952, Joslyn’s uranium work was done, but some of the workers who were exposed to radiation in those eight years would pay the price decades later." The federal program pays the medical bills for workers sickened by their exposure to radiation and also can give them compensation of up to $250,000, depending on what benefits they qualify for. Compensation is also available to survivors of workers who have died from radiation-induced illnesses. But finding those workers isn’t easy. “The goal now is to try to get the word out and educate the public and find these workers that might have been affected,” Brandenberger said. “It’s not as easy as contacting these sites and saying give me your employee list for 1968. from Radiation workers sought by program May be compensated if Cold War-era job involved uranium by Dan Stockman March 11, 2012 The Journal Gazette newspaper. Still online as Indiana WWII Factory Radiation Workers, Survivors Owed Compensation at ClaimsJournal.com. For nearly a century, a steel mill operated on Taylor Street, just southwest of downtown. Aid offered to injured Joslyn staff was another article published May 21, 2013 in The Journal Gazette newspaper. Steel firms in lawsuit over tainted soil - Each says it’s the other one’s job to pay for the cleanup by Rebecca S. Green May was published 26, 2013 in The Journal Gazette newspaper. Family fights for compensation Former Joslyn mill worker died after handling uranium by Jeff Wiehe was published December 21, 2014 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.

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