Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Scenes from New Albany's railroading past

Thanks to Ed for pointing us to this link:

Wilson, Vernia and New Albany

Once the New Albany section begins, there are two photos. The one on the right is of the building I recall as the Farm Bureau building, located on the corner of Pearl and Oak (I believe) just off State Street by the old Kroger store. The sign on the building today still reads Daisy Medical Supply, although I'm not sure they're still in business.

If this building was indeed used at some point in the past by the New Albany & Salem Railroad, then the Schmitt warehouse building discussed here yesterday cannot be the only rail building remnant remaining in town.

At any rate, there are some fascinating photos at the web site, including the ones with the vaguely Bulgarian "Riverview Tower" in the background, lending a Socialist Bloc ambience to the photos's foregrounds filled with rotting rail infrastructure.

And to think that as the shutter was being squeezed on these photos, New Albany's "leadership" generation of the time was hard at work in the indescribably tasteless City-County Building plotting the transfer of vast acreages of grand old houses to the slum lords who would gird their future political campaigns ... and these faux "leaders" would someday be praised for all the "work" they put into the community ... these small-minded, largely uneducated real estate peddlers and used car salesman running the city by the lowest common denominator, which of course is the only one they could have known ... and in the end, I'm reminded of H.L. Mencken's words to the effect that sometimes one just feels like hoisting the black flag, spitting into his hands, and begin slicing throats.

But I digress. It's been that kind of March.

Have we mentioned the plan for Show Trials to be held at the Trinkle Dome?

What's good enough for aging fascist dictators should be good enough for us, shouldn't it?

3 comments:

Jeff Gillenwater said...

What's really depressing is watching childhood friends become good old boys and girls out of a lack of anything better to do.

That's what made me want to move away in the first place. I think we need a youth center for adults.

East Ender said...

I believe that to truly save New Albany, and make progress in all the right ways, it's going to have to happen from a grass-roots effort. The city doesn't have enough collective brain power or ability to work together to make a project for reviving downtown come to life.
We all know there are is one who wants to take all the credit for all the good stuff and thus shuts down efforts of others. But I think we're smarter than that.
There is a way, there are the people who care, and the opportunities are obvious.
Let's take a hint from the self-started downtown merchants and come up with a plan for organization of ideas.
Anybody game? I am.

East Ender said...

I believe that to truly save New Albany, and make progress in all the right ways, it's going to have to happen from a grass-roots effort. The city doesn't have enough collective brain power or ability to work together to make a project for reviving downtown come to life.
We all know there are is one who wants to take all the credit for all the good stuff and thus shuts down efforts of others. But I think we're smarter than that.
There is a way, there are the people who care, and the opportunities are obvious.
Let's take a hint from the self-started downtown merchants and come up with a plan for organization of ideas.
Anybody game? I am.