Milford Machine Co., Famous Authors – InkFreeNews.com

From the files of the Kosciusko County Historical Society

Editor’s Note: This is a retrospective article that appears several times a month on InkFreeNews.

Information about this retrospective series is provided courtesy of the Kosciusko County Historical Society.

July 6, 1976 — Activities in Kosciusko County to mark the bicentennial ranged from water sports to street parades, from egg-carrying contests to church services, from gun salutes to the American flag to star-spangled gun salutes from fireworks that lit up the night sky over three lakes simultaneously.

There were dances, beard and costume contests, exhibitions of antiques of all kinds from butter shovels to old farm equipment, readings of proclamations, dedications, flag presentations, ice cream parties, concerts, picnics and even a canoe trip on the Tippecanoe River.

July 3, 1962 — It was announced today that Milford Machine Co.’s successful 43-year operation in Leesburg will sadly come to a halt early next year, resulting in the loss of more than 120 jobs.

Two years ago, the plant was sold to Textron and became a division of Homelite, a world-famous manufacturer of chainsaws, pumps, riding mowers, carts, and cart engines and generators.

Milford Machine’s main product is the manufacture of crankshafts. It also produces connecting rods, small drive shafts and precision-machined engine parts. Before the purchase of Textron, Homelite was one of the local company’s largest customers.

1885 —Three famous authors lived in or near Warsaw in their youth.

Theodore Dreiser, author of An American Tragedy, lived in Warsaw for four years, from 1885 to 1889. His family moved here when he was 14, and he attended West Ward (living across the street from the school) and Warsaw High School.

When Dreiser returned to Warsaw for a visit at the beginning of the 20th century, he discovered that most of his friends were no longer there.

He died on December 28, 1945, seven years before A Place in the Sun, based on his novel An American Tragedy, won an Oscar.

His brother, Paul Dreiser, was a famous songwriter; one of his compositions was the Indiana state anthem, “On the Banks of the Wabash.”

James Whitcomb Riley, later known as the “Hoosier Poet,” spent his youth as an itinerant sign painter and lived in Warsaw several times.

Years later, he frequently visited Winona Lake as president of the Midwest Writers’ Conference, which met in the old Winona Hotel, and as a Chautauqua lecturer in the auditorium.

Riley was born on October 7, 1849 in Greenfield and died on July 23, 1916 in Indianapolis. He is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

Ambrose Bierce, once described as “America’s only real joker,” lived for a time with his brother Gus on a farm southwest of Eagle Lake, near Warsaw.

At the age of 17, he worked as a “printer’s devil” for the old Northern Indianian, Warsaw’s first newspaper, and lived with the editor Reuben Williams and Mrs. Williams.

Bierce was falsely accused of theft, left Warsaw and never returned.

He later fought in the Civil War and became famous as a journalist and short story writer, using a style similar to that of Mark Twain.

In 1916, he resigned from his position as editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and went to Mexico, where he disappeared.

— Compiled by InkFreeNews reporter Lasca Randels