105 is Fort Wayne Box Co., 106 is the Allen County Jail, 107 is Light, Heat and Power Plant, 14 is a baseball park on the 1907 Griswold's Birdeye View at Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
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.”
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.
In Fort Wayne, as in so many places, a legacy often reveals its true form only after a life has ended. A person may be remembered in their time for one pursuit, yet it is the work they leave behind that carries their lasting influence. Today is that story, and it begins with a painting in 1932.
In 1932, local businessman and aspiring painter Louis William Bonsib captured a sobering scene: Fort Wayne's Shantytown. During the depths of the Great Depression, a makeshift community of sheds and shacks stood along the St. Mary's River flats, where Headwaters Park sits today. Bonsib's painting of this moment remains a rare artistic record of Fort Wayne's hardest years.
Louis was born in Vincennes, Indiana, in March 1892, the grandson of immigrants from Alsace-Lorraine who had settled in Vincennes in the mid-1800s. Louis's childhood revealed his curiosity and creativity. Raised by his Aunt Molly after his mother's early death, he was encouraged in drawing and painting. He also became a pioneer in radio, building Indiana's first licensed ham radio while still in high school, and even featured in Modern Electrics magazine for his ingenuity. He studied at several universities, eventually graduating summa cum laude from Indiana University in 1916, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar, a wrestler, a football player, and the editor of the Arbutus yearbook.
He began his career with the Indianapolis Engraving Company in 1918 before founding his own advertising agency in Fort Wayne in 1924. Initially, local clients did not expect to pay for the artwork produced by ad agencies, but Bonsib insisted and quickly established a new standard. In 1926, he organized the Fort Wayne Advertising Club, which was later rebuilt after World War II. Bonsib Advertising grew into one of the most respected agencies in Indiana, serving clients such as Wayne Pump, Magnavox, and numerous automobile manufacturers. By 1941, the agency had served more than one hundred companies.
After serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II, Louis turned the agency over to his sons and devoted himself to painting full-time. He became president of the Fort Wayne Art School from 1948 to 1949, exhibited widely at the Hoosier Salon and in Chicago, and painted scenes ranging from Brown County to Ogunquit, Maine, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, and Europe. His works, such as "Morning in Brown County" and "Snow in Tennessee," were displayed at Indiana University and in Hoosier Salon exhibitions. In 1971, Vincennes University awarded him an honorary doctorate, and he donated hundreds of paintings and his art library to the school. He also received the first Silver Medal Award for lifetime achievement from Printers Ink magazine and the Advertising Federation of America. Today, his paintings remain in museums, universities, and private collections throughout Indiana.
His sons, both graduates of South Side High School, carried the family's legacy of leadership into business, media, and Republican politics. John Frank Bonsib, Class of 1941, returned to Fort Wayne after World War II and earned a degree from Columbia Business School to lead Bonsib Advertising, later co-founding Citizens Cable Communication Inc., one of the first cable systems to carry ESPN and BET. He also co-founded the Fine Arts Foundation, helped launch the Turnstone Center, and earned the Silver Medal Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2004. Louis William "Bill" Bonsib Jr. (Class of 1936) built a national career in advertising, public relations, and lobbying, serving as President of the American League of Lobbyists and founding ventures such as Bonburger Drive-Ins. He also entered Republican politics, running in the 1974 House primary against Walter Helmke (father of Paul), and remained active in civic and political life throughout his career.
From Louis's Shantytown painting to his lifelong devotion to advertising and art, to John's innovations in media and community service, and to Bill Jr.'s leadership in advertising, lobbying, and politics, the Bonsib family left a legacy that reached far beyond their home at 4115 Indiana Avenue. Their story shows how one Fort Wayne family shaped art, business, politics, and civic life across generations.
Richard Bonsib Obituary RICHARD E. BONSIB, 71, of Fort Wayne, died Friday, May 16, 2003 at Hospice Home of N.E. Indiana. Born Nov. 8, 1931 in Fort Wayne, he graduated from Indiana University and was a vetran of the Army, serving in Korea. He was Chairman/ CEO of Bonsib Inc., retiring in 1996 after 43 years. He was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Director Emeritus of the United Way of Allen County, a "Sagamore of the Wabash," and a Founding Director of the Allen County Courthouse Preservation Trust. Surviving are his wife of 44 years, Gretchen A. Bonsib of Fort Wayne; sons, Gregory A. Bonsib (Pamela) of Toledo, Ohio and Stephen R. Bonsib of Lunenburg, Mass.; a brother, John F. Bonsib; and four grandchildren. Memorial Service is 1:30 p.m. Thursday at First Presbyterian Church, 300 W. Wayne St. Calling will follow the service at the church. Memorials to First Presbyterian Church, Turnstone Center for Disabled Children and Adults, and Visiting Nurse Service & Hospice. Arrangements by Klaehn, Fahl & Melton Wayne St. Chapel, 420 W. Wayne St. Fort Wayne Newspapers Legacy.com obituary.
COMMENTS to the post: Where are these paintings now? St. Francis has a number of his paintings on the walls of the Bass Mansion and many are in local private collections.
