From

From:  "R.E. Carmichael" <carmx@f...>
Date:  Fri Nov 10, 2000  2:06 pm
Subject:  Deming Park
Anyone remember skating on the pond at Deming Park. If it had snowed the night
before--we would shovel off a track and race--if not, we would play hockey.
Then build a fire in a bbl to stay warm while we watched others skate.
I got a
pair of figure skates one time and tried to learn jump turns--after
bouncing my
head off the ice--I decided to return to my hockey career.

Jerry Everly--Do you remember when my dad and I came to your house to
buy a pair of skates from your dad? I don't know if they were his or
Johnny's, but, they were racing skates with the extra long blades, and
they were about 4 sizes too big for me. I had to stuff kleenex in the
toes to make them fit. But that's what had to do back then--make do
with what you had, or buy used and fix it up.

-----------------------

No, but I remember OTHERS skating there. I never was able to skate; bad
ankles or whatever.
I always regretted that since it always struck me as a great sport.
I do remember skating (roller) at some place on Wabash around 25th and
trying to get a new 'customer' on the end of the chain so we could whip 'em
over the railing!

Lew Pringle

----------------------------

That skating rink was The Wigwam--talked about on classmates a lot
because of Nancy South who used to play the organ there.
I broke my arm at a school skating party there. The teacher who
was the chaprone for the event tripped me. She was a librarian
at Wiley, but I can't remember her name. Winnifred Ray???
------------------------------

Not Winnie Ray. She was the Speech, Debate and Drama teacher. I remember the
librarian but not her name. A few of the guys (not me, naturally) used to
flip pennies - surreptitiously - into the air. They's land with a clatter.
Most of the fun was in her inability to figure out where they came from.

Thanks for reminding me of the Wigwam. I had forgotten the name. But, that's
the place I meant all right. Out around Weburgs (Furniture - on the South
Side of Wabash, right?

-------------------------------

Yep!!!South side out East Wabash.
I'll be ever greatfull to that place. A guy I used to run around with in
junior high school smoked--and was always trying to get me hooked. One day
we went into the bathroom at the Wigwam and he talked me into smoking nearly
a whole pack of Lucky Strikes. Needless to say--it made me deathly ill,
and
I haven't smoked another to this day.

Bob W-57
-----------------------------------

From:  "T. Steven Hedges" <shedges@s...>
Date:  Fri Nov 10, 2000  7:29 pm
Subject:  Re: [THInd] Deming Park
I lived across the fence from the roller rink in the Hulman Meadows sub
division and listened to the organ that was played by Nancy Whatever her
name was (I think she is the one that played on WTHI TV)
That was next door to the Root Beer Stand that had Tenderloin sandwiches as
big as your face. Next to that was the old TRianon that was for dancing
before my time.

------------------------------------------

I remember skating on the pond at Deming Park. Only did it once and we had
to clear the snow off. It was rough and I had on a pair of borrowed skates
way too big, with the toes stuffed. In later years when we lived in upper
Michigan, we would clear a patch in the yard of snow and flood the yard so
the kids could skate on their own ice rink. We would also go to the hockey
rink at Marquette and skate there. That was the first time that I knew what
it was like skating on smooth ice. Margaret Whitmer Ferguson

------------------------------

> Steve,
> it was called the Wigwam. We used to book private parties there on
Saturday
> mornings when we were in Jr High School at Sarah Scott. In the summer we
> would go to the Dairy King (it came to town before the Dairy Queen) , get
> soft icecream and park along the outside of the Wigwam to watch the
skaters.
> I remember this from about the same time period or even before. Margaret
> Whitmer Ferguson

Margaret,
Since I could see the rink from my front door do you remember the canvas
sides in the summer and then later they put up wood sides, but put in garage
doors that could open in the summer time. That was about the same time that
they stopped the live music and went to records only,
Steve

--------------------------------

Taken from ISU's vchs community web page...

Demas Deming Jr.

When 27-year-old Demas Deming Jr. became president of the First National
Bank of Terre Haute (now Terre Haute First National Bank) in 1868, he
quickly earned the moniker “Boy Banker.”

During 54 years as chief executive officer, Deming seemed to approach
each working day with youthful zest. At his death on March 7, 1922, at
age 80, his name and legacy were indelibly woven into the fiber of the
community. Deming Park, Deming Woods, Deming Land Company, Deming Place,
Hotel Deming, Deming Block and buildings associated with area colleges
were products of his ingenuity and generosity.

A Terre Haute native, Demas was the oldest child of Demas Deming Sr. and
Sarah C. Patterson, notable early Vigo County settlers. The elder Deming
arrived in Terre Haute from Connecticut in 1818, becoming a merchant,
judge, state legislator and president of the State Bank of Indiana (also
a Terre Haute First predecessor). Young Demas was born April 15, 1841,
in the “first Deming mansion” at the northwest corner of Sixth and
Walnut streets at the site of the present YMCA.

By the time his father died in early 1865, young Demas had already
gained considerable financial experience, clerking at McKeen and Tousey
Bank as a teenager. The bank was re-named McKeen & Deming in 1863 when
Demas was made a partner at age 22. A graduate of Waveland Academy in
Waveland, Demas earned the confidence of businessman Chauncey Rose early
in his career. The association reaped mutual rewards. Deming was an
organizing member of the Rose Polytechnic board of managers and served
as its treasurer for more than 40 years. On occasions when bonds in the
college’s investment portfolio defaulted, Deming replaced forfeited
bonds with good bonds from his personal inventory.

His confidence in Terre Haute’s future stimulated construction of the
Hotel Deming (then the city’s finest hostelry) at Sixth and Cherry
streets in 1913-14 and the investment in abundant real estate east of
19th Street when it was the city’s eastern boundary. During the 1920s,
Deming Land Co. developed residential subdivisions south of Wabash
between 19th and 25th streets. In 1921, Deming sold scenic acreage for a
park to the city for $155,000, donating $100,000 of the proceeds to Rose
Poly for a memorial to his parents and investing the remaining $55,000
in the Ohio Street boulevard project. Later he added $100,000 more to
the Rose building memorial.

For most of his life, the popular and gregarious banker successfully
bought, bred and raced trot-ting horses. The original Deming Stables,
next to the Sixth and Walnut residence, became the site for Terre Haute
High School. He also was a boxing enthusiast.

On Feb. 7, 1871, Deming married Mary Floyd, who died Feb. 12, 1893.
Twenty-three years later he wed widow Lillian Lohmann. Though he had no
children by either marriage, Deming was attached to his wife’s three
grandchildren, the children of Mr. and Mrs. Lovell Waterman. One
of the grandchildren—Demas Deming Waterman, who died two weeks ago in
Arizona—was a prominent local businessman, managing the Hotel Deming
until it was converted to Deming Towers. Ownership of much commercial
real estate between 25th Street and Brown Ave. on the south side Wabash
Ave. remains in a trust established by the Waterman family, ubstantially
composed of properties inherited from Deming.

From:  "George Brooks" <gbrooks@l...>
Date:  Wed Nov 15, 2000  1:09 am
Subject:  Deming Park

Deming Park...
We had a ball sledding and skiing on the big hill to the left of the
main entrance. When you were 8 or 9, it was a big hill to climb but
great to sled down. We also went a street somewhere south of St.
Anthony's that was closed off for sledding - Strawberry Hill? Vague
memory. Seems we had a lot of snow back then but no snow days at
school. Remember a bunch of us pushing stuck cars at 19th & Crawford.

In the 30's and possibly into the 40's, Deming Park had lions,
monkeys, alligators and, I think, bears. The alligators were in a
small pond just West of the swings. We were told that the animals
were kept in the stadium during Winter. I've often wondered about
the animals, their care, their caretakers and why the city couldn't keep them.

When we returned to TH in the 60's with our children, we would go to
the park and feed the ducks and swans - that was all that was left.

Noting the bit on Classmates that Ebay had a postcard of the Fort on
bid - that was the prime hangout of our mid-late 1940's.