Hidden History of Montgomery County, Indiana

Shine a light on the fascinating but previously unexplored aspects of Montgomery County history. Meet forgotten artists, authors and athletes. Revisit courtroom drama and sensational crimes, like the attempted robbery of Waveland State Bank that was thwarted by vigilantes. Peruse A.D. Willis's spirit photography gallery on Crawfordsville's Main Street before studying the oddities at Commodore Alfred Lookabill's Gourd Museum. Look agog as Lana Turner stops by for a week and risk admonishment–or worse–from aggressive temperance champion Carrie Nation at the July 4 festival in 1901. And while you're here, gain some trivia: did you know that the highest-altitude balloon flight and the first airmail are connected to Montgomery County? Other subjects of the book include Frederick Eglin, military pilot for whom Eglin Air Force Base in Florida was named, and his wife, military artist Mary Oda Eglin; Naval Reserve pilot Malcolm Ross, who made the "riskiest flight ever" in a hot air balloon to support Project Mercury; the family of Harry Freedman, local tailor, including Hoosier author Beatrice Schenk de Regniers and neuropsychiatrist Dr. Daniel X. Freedman; pictorialist photographer Nellie Coutant; Crawfordsville's playwright Kenyon Nicholson; female suffragist Elizabeth Boynton Harbert; and best-selling young adult author Janet Lambert, born Maude Snyder in Crawfordsville in 1893.