Mary Moore Outdoor Education Center sits along the western edge of the Greenfield-Central High School campus.
Dec. 28
In 1917, “the most disastrous fire Greenfield has had in years” severely damaged the Rottman building on West Main Street, along with a large amount of furniture.
Dec. 29
In 1941, Jack Benny’s radio program was so enjoyable to Mrs. J.D. Stafford of Greenfield that she wrote a letter commenting. In return, as reported in the Feb. 19, 1942, Daily Reporter, the entertainer mailed her his script of the evening’s broadcast.
Dec. 30
In 1965, Greenfield City Council accepted a deed to about eight acres of wooded land at what was the northwest edge of the city. It was a gift from Mary Moore in memory of her parents and was to be known as Moore Memorial Park.
Dec. 31
In 1936, a Marion County Superior Court judge issued an order to abandon interurban service of the Indiana Railroad effective midnight Jan. 9, 1937, as a result of unsuccessful wage negotiations.
Jan. 1
In 1967, services began in a new Fortville Christian Church building. The 22,000-square-foot building was constructed for $250,000. Mary Rushton and her family had donated six acres of land from a field about one mile south of Fortville in memory of Frank M. Rushton.
In 2002, a tree fell on a car driven by Buck Creek Baptist Church pastor Stan Jones, killing him, his wife, and two of the couple’s three children. Surviving daughter Emily was raised by an aunt and uncle. She graduated from New Palestine High School in 2016 and Purdue University in 2020.
Jan. 2
In 1960, Stringtown Church of the Nazarene burned down. Members met at the Memorial Building in downtown Greenfield while rebuilding their house of worship.
Jan. 3
In 1942, the Daily Reporter published 17,302 as the population of Hancock County according to the U.S. Census of 1940. That was the sum of 8,709 males and 8,593 females. Of that number, 49 county residents were black, two were “of other races,” and the rest were listed as white. Also, 7,805 county residents were classified as “rural farm population.”
In 1971, three escapees from the Indiana Boys School in Plainfield led police on a high-speed chase through Greenfield that ended in the Stringtown area east of the city when police rammed the rear of their car at 95 mph.
