October Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Meeting

The second meeting of the Whiting/Robertsdale Historical Society was held at the Mascot Hall of Fame Museum on Thursday, October 25. The meeting was called to order by President Priscilla McCarty-Reed at 12 noon. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the regular business session.

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Ruth Mores (left) of the Hammond Historical Society was the guest speaker at the October 2018 meeting of the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society. With her in this photo is Priscilla McCarty-Reed, president of the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society.

The guest speaker was Ruth (Backe) Mores from the Hammond Historical Society. Her topic was the history and the “residents” of the Oak Hill Cemetery in Hammond. She talked about how 1,000 Whiting residents were removed from the Whiting Cemetery in 1912 and the land was purchased by the Standard Oil Company. This was in the section of Whiting known as “Oklahoma.” It was called that because of its “Wild West” reputation of many saloons and fist fights. This is where the “Barrel House” and Standard Diamonds baseball fields were later located. Many of the bodies were reburied at Oak Hill.

The meeting concluded with the “Split the Pot” and refreshments provided by the volunteers. Our next meeting will be on Thursday, November 15, one week earlier than normal, because of Thanksgiving. Our speaker will be Mr. Kevin Clutter. He will talk about the House of David and its impact on the Calumet Region.

World War I and Whiting Display at the Library

Taken from The WRite Stuff October 2018

2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended what was known as the Great War but is now sadly remembered as the First World War. It was supposed to be the war to end all wars but it didn't.

The Whiting Robertsdale Historical Society Museum has made a display of many of the items from their museum, including information from early Whiting newspapers about our community's part in the War effort and the display will run through November.

The display is at the Oliver Street entrance of the Whiting Public Library. Thanks to the Library and Mayor Joe, we at the museum are very happy to share what we have with the public.

"There's even a list of all the men who served and a list of those who died for their country," said Gayle Faulkner Kosalko.

There are sections of personal letters sent home from the war. The Whiting newspaper of the day actually printed these full letters for the public to read so they could get a true feeling for what their boys were fighting. You may not know, but our Community Center, now the YMCA, was built by John D. Rockefeller to honor our WWI veterans and in a photo seen in the display, you can see the many veterans that day it opened, wearing their uniforms. There are also war postcards and sheet music among the items on display.

If anyone has a photo of a relative who served in WWI, the museum would love to make a copy of it and use it, identified, in our display. Just give Gayle a call at 659-8129 or email her at puccini99@aol.com.

"This display is also a great way for you to share this history with your children and grandchildren," she said. "Put living in the trenches, shell shock, and all that these true heroes did in perspective for them and what the meaning of fighting for your country has been."

For stories on what WR families as the Walskos, the Canners and the Muldoons suffered from WWI to a number of other interesting articles by John Hmurovic on the War, please visit our website, wrhistoricalsociety.com.