More about Recreation Pictures in Jackson County Digital Archive

Celebrations
To Come

Sports
Baseball 1909
Baseball 1911
Baseball 1938

Seymour: Shields Park
To Come

Return to
Archive Home

  Ladies join gents for last day at Shields Camp.

Camping along White River

While Shields & Pauley's camps along the White River most often are named by those recalling the past, the 1909 Seymour Daily Republican carried a front-page column entitled "At the Camps" and regularly nameed who was going & coming, how they enjoyed their stays and how many fish were caught. 

From the Seymour Daily Republican, July 19, 1909:  "The camp known as 'Camp Phonie' at Shields has about the largest crowd of any camp on the river at present.  There were eleven who went out in the crowd Friday morning and took possession of Charles Dahlenburg's cabin.  The party includes Miss Ferrell Wilhite, besides the ten that were mentioned last week.  They entertained five friends from the city at twelve o'clock dinner Sunday and a much larger number at six o'clock dinner.  They have not caught any fish yet but they fully intend to ...."

Also named in the reports are Camp Dewey, "located on the James B. Thompson farm some distance south of the bridge on the Cortland road;" the Elks' Camp, two miles northwest of Seymour; Camp Montgomery named for the judge and located "near West Reddington."

Apparently not all the camps were named and the report continued:

"The young men camping a short distance above Rockford entertained quite a number of visitors Sunday.

"A number of railroad boys went into camp in the vicinity of Tunnelton and Ft. Ritner Saturday for several days.

"The employees of the Ahlbrand carriage factory, who have been camping on the Muscatatuck river for several days, have returned home.  One of the crowd had four or five nice fish after they returned.  Our informant was unable to tell us what the fish cost."

Craney Crow Camp was the heading on a July 20 report about a camp "...(s)ituated on the island north of the Rockford wagon bridge..." 

Sports

Baseball, 1909: The fellow in the photograph is identified only as Claude Brocke, 1909.  Did he play for one of the many local teams active in the early 1900s? 

That same year a story appeared September 3 in the Seymour Daily Republican:  "The merchants and clerks of Chestnut street announce that they have already organized a base ball team and are ready to challenge the merchants and clerks on Second street for a game to be played on labor day, next Monday afternoon.  It has not been generally known that there are a number of good base ball players among the busy business men and the Chestnut street organization proposes to make the people wise next Monday.  If this move should prove to be popular the names of the professionals and semi-professionals will appear later.  The south side will root for Chestnut street and the north side will line up with the Second street side.  It will be a battle royal for base ball supremacy."

Baseball, 1911: Crothersville Blues strut their stuff as 1911 champions of the Louisville City League.   From left, in front, are Stites, Schifler, Kovenor, Morgan, Boone, Beldon; in back, Bard, Best, Liganaur, Harold, Smith, Manager Bruce Bard.

Baseball, 1938: Medora Independents about 1938 included,  from left, back row: Melvin Johnson, Pitcher Floyd Stark, Hez Crockett, Kelso Poore, Phayne Phillips, and an unidentified man; back row: Winfield Eglen, Lee Bahan, Sam Nowling, Harry David, Clifford Straggon, Umpire Sherman Johnson, Noble Wright, Team Manager Cletus Sneed.