A two-hour session of show-and-tell usually is not found in a public library.
But one recent Saturday morning, the Hammond Historical Society offered this annual New Year’s event, welcoming more than 50 people in the library’s Community Room.
The public was welcome to share stories and items relevant to Hammond’s past.
“Hammond was the center of a lot of commercial history,” Historical Society president Richard Barnes said as the telling part of the program began. “Alvah Roebuck (of Sears & Roebuck) first owned a jewelry store in downtown Hammond. After he partnered with Richard Sears of Chicago, their first catalog was printed by Conkey Publishing located on Conkey Street in Hammond.”
Ruth Mores of Hammond narrated the history of her husband’s relatives — his great-grandfather Michael Scheidt and his wife, Elizabeth. They were among Hammond’s first families in the mid-1850s.
As a butcher, Michael worked at the Hammond Slaughterhouse, according to Mores. This was Hammond’s first and biggest business located near the state line.
“The buildings were on 400 acres and there were 1,800 employees who worked six days a week beginning at 4 a.m.,” she added. “The company owned 800 railroad cars — 300 of them were refrigerated.”
She went on to say that more than 100 trains came through the city daily — 60 of those were freight trains and 40 passenger trains.
Carol Muenich of Hammond is from the fifth generation of the Schrum family, one of Hammond’s earliest settlers. She brought newspaper articles and talked about her family’s early beginnings.
Muenich also mentioned her family’s connection with Hammond native Jean Shepherd, author of the iconic, “A Christmas Story” movie.
“My grandfather was his family’s landlord. He owned the house on Cleveland Street where Jean Shepherd grew up,” she said of the home located in the Hessville section of Hammond. “But the house shown in the movie actually was filmed in Cleveland, Ohio, not Hammond.”
Local historian Tony Diaz of Hammond brought a few unique items to the show-and-tell session.
Two old photos were discussed at length.
One was an artist’s rendering of his current home (circa early 1900s) which is located on Hohman Avenue, directly north of Harrison Park.
“The house was originally owned by Hammond’s first superintendent of parks, A. Murray Turner,” Diaz said. “It has been a funeral home, served as the Hammond YMCA and also housed a real estate company.”
The second picture came to Diaz from a family that was clearing out a house after an elderly family member died.
“This looks like some kind of parade along Calumet Avenue,” Diaz said of the large black-and-white framed photo he showed to the audience, whose members pointed out some of the old businesses along the route, as well as the model year of the cars lining the road.
After the show-and-tell fun was over, Diaz had a surprise for visitors.
He invited everyone to the table where his items were displayed and pointed to a large roll of show admission tickets from the old Calumet Theater, which was located near the businesses in the parade photo.
They were stamped 25 cents.
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Diaz distributed tickets to those interested in physically taking home another piece of his city’s history. “I always learn something new when I come to this type of event,” he said. “It’s great that we are all preserving and sharing Hammond’s history.”
Sue Ellen Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Learn more
For more information about the Hammond Historical Society: 219-931-5100.