ByGone Muncie: Mavis, Greene and the first Christmas sing
MUNCIE, Ind. – Tragedy befell our historical society back in May when local historian Mike Mavis died unexpectedly. With his passing, our community lost a deep repository of knowledge. Mavis knew much about Delaware County’s past and was a foremost local authority on historic preservation and fine art. I served with Mike for many years on the board at the Delaware County Historical Society. I miss him, especially during our meetings.
Mike Mavis was the best kind of public historian because he loved to tell stories. He did so in a way that made history accessible to everyone. Mike also shared with me useful research advice: local history is archived in newspapers, Sanborn Fire Insurance maps are an historian’s best friend, and hot Muncie gossip can be found buried deep in society columns of old newspapers.
I also learned from Mike the valuable role that photographs play in researching and writing history. Mavis wrote two columns for the Star Press, “25 and 50 Years Ago” and “Album of Yesteryear.” The latter always included an historical photo from Mike’s archive, accompanied by a short write-up for context.
Mavis collected thousands of historical images of Muncie and Delaware County, many of which appeared in Album of Yesteryear. After his death, Mike’s estate left his collection to the historical society. It provides an amazing look at local history and will do much to improve our understanding of Muncie’s past. Society members have been busy this fall researching, cataloging, scanning, and sharing the material. We’ve aptly named this golden historical hoard the “Mike Mavis Collection.”
For my part, I volunteered to scan photos. I’ve digitized 354 as of this writing. So far, my favorite image from the Mavis Collection is this snowy one included here with my column. The photo shows a few brave Munsonians crossing Walnut Street during a snowstorm in downtown Muncie over the holidays.
Mavis published this photo in his December 16, 2001 installment of Album of Yesteryear. He wrote, “it was the day before Christmas 1935 when journalist Dick Greene stood in the middle of Main Street to take this photo of Walnut Street looking south.” Though the Wysor Building on the right has since been demolished, the Patterson Block on the left thankfully remains.
If you’re unfamiliar, Dick Greene was a reporter for the Evening Press and Muncie Star newspapers. His career as a writer spanned six decades in the 20th century. He was most known for his “Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood” column, which ran in the Star from the 1940s until his death in 1984. Like Mavis, Greene was an active public historian and dedicated himself to the Delaware County Historical Society for decades.
When Greene took this photo on Christmas Eve in ‘35, he was writing for the Evening Press. He covered news and wrote features at the time as “Richard A. Greene.” The week before he took the snowy photo, Greene attended Muncie’s first ever Christmas Sing on December 18. He wrote a day later in the Press that “6,000 people of all religious denominations took part in Muncie’s first annual Community Christmas Festival Wednesday evening at the Field House.”
The grand event was put on by local members of the Works Progress Administration, one of President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. In addition to a speech delivered by Mayor Rollin Bunch, Munsonians listened to performances from Ball State’s choir and the organist Dessa Byrd. Another choir, conducted by George Roth, sang Christmas carols together with the audience in glowing candlelight. Dick Greene concluded that “it was a festival the likes of which probably never has been seen or heard in Muncie before, a festival of such beauty and simplicity that surely not even the most callous could have walked from the Field House unmoved by the songs.”
Greene didn’t know it at the time, but the celebration would go on to become a treasured holiday tradition in Muncie. Just a few weeks ago, hundreds of Munsonians packed Central’s Field House for the 87th edition of the Muncie Community Sing.
Despite the Depression, Munsonians made the best of the holiday season in 1935. Two days before Christmas, more than 4,000 children packed the Rivoli, Wysor Grand, and Hoosier theaters for a day of free movies. In a coordinated effort with downtown retail, the theaters ‘hosted’ Muncie’s children for free as a courtesy, giving their parents ample time to shop. A Star reporter observed that “shoppers crowded sidewalks and stores in the business district all day and last night.”
The weather on Christmas was either terrible or perfect, depending on one’s point of view. On Christmas morning, the Star wrote that “Old Man Weather, who has played Santa Claus in Muncie by giving the city a white Christmas, will probably powder down more snow today to add to his present.”
Old Man Weather powdered down indeed, by mid-day, the temperature plummeted to near zero and a blizzard, “riding on the wings of a sixty mile gale straight from the teeth of the west” slammed into East-Central Indiana.
Driving snow “blocked roads with dangerous drifts and caused residents to cancel Yuletide visits for the warm comfort of the family fireside.” In addition to dozens of car wrecks, “Interurbans and passenger trains serving the city were from a half hour to three hours behind schedule and across country buses were even farther off schedule because of snow blocked highways.”
But it wasn’t all bad news that Christmas. J.E. Watkins of the Muncie Merchant Association reported that “prosperity, which is rapidly turning aside the depression, was reflected in the Christmas sales of the city’s merchants, whose business generally was beyond expectations during the holiday shopping season.”
E. Arthur Ball, director of Indiana’s 3rd WPA district, announced just before Christmas that Muncie received a $349,172 ($7.7 million today) grant to build a massive interceptor sewer. The 245 WPA workers living at a camp just north of Indiana Steel and Wire celebrated the news and Christmas with a turkey dinner.
If you’re interested in seeing more photos from the Mike Mavis Collection, visit the Delaware County Historical Society’s website online repository at: https://delawarecountyhistory.catalogaccess.com/. Search for ‘Mavis.’
I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Chris Flook is a Delaware County Historical Society board member and a Senior Lecturer of Media at Ball State University.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: ByGone Muncie: Mavis, Greene and the first Christmas sing
