May 22
In 1871, the town of New Palestine was incorporated.
In 1923, an estimated 20,000 people gathered in downtown Greenfield for a Ku Klux Klan rally, surprising city police, who had anticipated a crowd of 7,000 to 8,000 but said the crowd was for the most part orderly. Other, smaller rallies took place in the decades to come; in 1974, a reporter writing about an upcoming visit by some Klansmen began his story with “Mark your calendars, Hancock County racists.”
In 1924, Greenfield City Council issued $10,000 in bonds to buy 40.54 acres that would become Riley Park.
May 23
In 1952, Hancock Circuit Court Judge Samuel J. Offutt heard arguments in the State of Indiana vs. 11,000 cases of tomatoes. The tomatoes belonged to Virgil Etchison, owner of a canning factory in New Palestine. A federal court had declared them unsanitary, and Etchison had been ordered not to ship them out of state. The state later seized them and sought to have them destroyed.
May 24
In 1932, Greenfield High School’s baseball team defeated Morton High School, 7-6. The win in this last game of the season prompted speculation, driven by the Tigers’ undefeated record and their wins over prominent teams, that Greenfield was the state baseball champion.
In 1976, a squirrel scampering across a Public Service Indiana transformer grounded the equipment. Its fatal romp knocked out power in Greenfield for more than an hour. Power was restored when the carcass was removed.
May 25
In 1956, the Presbyterian Men initiated a new stove at First Presbyterian Church by preparing a pancake breakfast. The meal raised money to help a refugee family travel from New York to Greenfield after arriving in the United States from Europe. The family was one of more than 50 brought to Indiana by Church World Service.
May 26
In 1929, a Mr. Cummings of Fortville recorded the first hole-in-one at the new Greenfield Country Club, sinking it on the fourth hole.
In 1969, the final commencement for Hancock Central High School took place in the gymnasium of the school in Maxwell. Sue Marsh was valedictorian of the 63-member class.
In 1996, racecar driver and Greenfield native Mark Dismore started his first Indianapolis 500 in the middle of the fifth row. He finished 19th.
May 27
In 1956, First Baptist Church of Greenfield dedicated a new building on West Street.
May 28
In 1962, a ninth Greenfield resident was arrested on charges of receiving stolen goods in connection with a so-called “Fagin ring” (named for the villain in Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist”) of people who sent a 13-year-old boy into local stores to steal. The boy told police he had stolen several hundred dollars’ worth of merchandise from at least 14 Greenfield stores, selling them to the adults at about 60 percent discount.
In 1969, the final commencement for Greenfield High School took place at the school on North Street. Vicki Addison was the last to receive her diploma in the 127-member graduating class. Greenfield and Hancock Central high schools would join at 801 N. Broadway in the fall as Greenfield-Central High School.
