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Jan. 22
In 1996, a fire destroyed the clubhouse at Heartland Resort.
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Jan. 23
In 1997, area churches gathered for a community Unity Service at St. Michael Catholic Church in Greenfield. Three church choirs were among those participating in the service.
Jan. 24
In 1947, Westland School burned.
Jan. 25
In 1917, the Daily Reporter included Hancock Countian Vard Finnell’s take on St. Petersburg as a suitable place to spend the winter. “He says the tourists are a fine lot of people who have lived steady lives and are now enjoying the fruits of industry and frugality practiced in their younger years.” Croquet was listed as one of the main attractions, with thousands gathering to watch, and the paper noted that Willow Branch’s N.O. Cranfill “has become very proficient” at the game.
In 1978, a blizzard that hit the area left motorists stuck and street departments fighting a futile battle to keep up with the falling snow. A staff writer told of a seven-mile drive between New Palestine and Fountaintown taking 30 minutes, of not being able to see across the street from the window of her home, and of 5-foot snow drifts surrounding her house. Some stranded motorists ended up at the National Guard Armory in Greenfield, one of 22 around the state that housed people stranded by the storm.
Jan. 26
In 1870, West School opened at what is now North and School streets in Greenfield. It would later become the site of Greenfield High School.
In 1977, Fountaintown Fire Department sent an ambulance to bring Genevieve Harting, who was in labor, from her home on County Road 400S to Hancock County Memorial Hospital in Greenfield. “You couldn’t see two feet out of the ambulance,” she said. With the snow and the weather-related traffic snarls dotting their path, the trip took more than 2½ hours. But she and husband Charles made it in time, and she delivered twin girls.
In 2003, New Palestine native Todd Yoder won a Super Bowl as part of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who defeated the Oakland Raiders 48-21.
In 2011, Vice President Joe Biden visited to speak about alternative energy technology, addressing employees at the EnerDel plant in Mt. Comfort.
Jan. 27
In 1987, deputies arrested a teen boy and a 20-year-old woman in connection with drug trafficking at the Hancock County Jail. A 21-year-old inmate was also charged. Sheriff Nick Gulling said while visitor and inmate booths were separate, there were cracks in the steel at the ceiling level. “All inmates have to do is sit and think of ways to get things in,” he said. “Then our people have to spend a lot of time thinking of ways to prevent it.”
Jan. 28
In 2002, Greenfield-Central School Board voted in favor of an elementary school redistricting plan, prompted because Lincoln Park Elementary School on North Street was about to be closed, and J.B. Stephens Elementary School was taking shape on Blue Road.
