City-County Observer

Gordon “Bish” Thompson  Bish Thompson arrived in the city in 1943 to work for the Evansville Press.  A native of Tennessee, Thompson spent his first...

These young, smiling women are students at Reitz High School on Evansville’s west side. They are posing on the large “R” that has been embedded...

Finke’s Furniture was a major retailer in downtown Evansville during most of the nineteenth-century. Founded in 1902 by brothers L. B and C. E. Finke,...

Although the horses and wagons are long gone, this building still stands at 401 NW Second Street, soon to be transformed into a restaurant...

WHEELER SCHOOL BY PAT SIDES Wheeler School, seen here from the intersection of Fourth and Mulberry streets, was the first schoolhouse to be built in...

Evansville College employee Elsie Johnson (left) offers student Sue Gilmour (right) a cup of tea as she sits in a gigantic teacup in the...

This familiar building has housed a variety of industries for well over a century. Armstrong Furniture Company originally occupied the site about 1874, and...

The scaffolding in front of the entrance gate was used to install a sign identifying the new Mesker Amphitheatre in 1952. In the early 1930s,...

Although this photo was shot in 1920, the building is still recognizable. Hose House No. 8 was erected at 913 West Columbia in 1878,...

This photo of the Faultless Caster Company was probably taken shortly after the new three-story brick office building (left) was constructed in 1819, at...

A lone officer stands in the doorway of the police department around the year 1900 when it was located at 312-314 Walnut Street. Two decades...

The Blount Plow Works was organized in 1867 in a small shop in downtown Evansville. The city’s economy and the population exploded in the aftermath...

In the aftermath of the Civil War, Americans began to address the plight of the many orphans it produced. Elizabeth Sinzich, an Evansville resident,...

This view of the Igleheart Brothers plant is dated August 1951, soon after the massive grain storage elevators in the center of the photo...

This view of Pennsylvania Street looks east towards First Avenue and Willard Park in the early 1960s. On the right is the Evansville Supply...

F. W. Cook Brewing Company By PAT SIDES When Frederick Washington Cook built his brewery in the 1850s, he needed space. Bounded by Seventh, Sycamore,...

The Wabash Valley Motor Company moved to this new building at Eighth and Walnut streets in 1920, signaling a new direction in Evansville’s economy...

When the Parsons & Scoville Building opened on January 1, 1908, an Evansville newspaper reported that 10,000 visitors attended the festivities, with coffee, sandwiches,...

YESTERYEAR BY PAT SIDES In this 1950s image, the white hearse hints at the original function of the buildings on Garfield stretching between Illinois and...

In this photo, which was autographed by Stewart Udall, the nation’s Secretary of the Interior is greeted by several women when he arrived at...