American Legacies Organization, Inc.

Stephen Saalman

Tunnel Mill in Charlestown, Indiana c.1900.

The three-story Tunnel Mill was built on Fourteen Mile Creek by John Work starting in 1814.

He dug a 385 foot long tunnel to act as a mill race and provide a consistent water supply. Building the tunnel required 2.5 years of blasting through the limestone hillside.

Over time, Work operated three grist mills, four saw mills, powder mill, distillery, stone sawing mill and general store.

Screen Archives // Getty Images

As one of America's most transformative decades, the 1960s represented a cultural shift on multiple fronts, cinema being no exception. Between the emerging youth market, the collapse of the studio system, the influence of foreign films, increased competition from television, and a variety of other factors, the decade ushered in new paradigms of big-screen entertainment. Old Hollywood became New Hollywood, and along with this changing of the guard there arose an endless sense of possibility and innovation.

"I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. 'I'm glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap,' I thought.

Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation.

'Where are you headed?' I asked the soldier seated nearest to me. 'Petawawa. We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Afghanistan.'

From Cobblers To E-Commerce: How Buying Shoes Has Changed Over 300 Years

Yes, shoes can be considered utilitarian, but for many people, they’re beloved. How deep does that love go? Former Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos opened the Shoe Museum of Marinka in the early 2000s to showcase her more than 2,700 pairs of shoes. Footwear doesn’t need to be fancy to be meaningful. A favorite pair of muck boots can warm the heart, while sneakers can spur a lifelong affair.

There were over 2.1 million pay phones in the U.S. at their peak in 1999, but now the technology is mostly relegated to nostalgia. Few wall-mounted pay phones linger in strip malls, and the silver and blue phone booths are mostly gone from the busy streets they once dotted in many parts of the U.S. Pay phones have become so rare that the FCC stopped requiring audits of them in 2018.

By Hans Zeiger

August 21, 2022

Historian David McCullough, who passed away on Aug. 7, spent his life telling stories that his fellow citizens should know. He wrote well-known biographies of John Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and the Wright Brothers. He got his start chronicling the Johnstown Flood before turning to the creation of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Panama Canal and the early years of the American Revolution. 

Cannelton, Indiana

Contributed by Stephen Sallman

Edward "Buddy" Scheidegger of Cannelton has been collecting Indian relics since he was 12 years old which is probably the reason he has over 12,000 items. He keeps only the perfect specimens attractively placed in trays which line two cabinets in the living room of the Scheidegger home. Imperfect arrowheads, tomahawks and others are traded or sold.

By Stephen Saalman

Cannelton, Indiana

124 years ago this week

Rained 15" in 10 hours

Author Unknown

Those of us old enough to remember when the phone was wired to the wall, usually in the kitchen, can relate to this story. I loved this read.

When I was a young boy, my father had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember the polished, old case fastened to the wall. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box.. I was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen with fascination when my mother talked to it.

American Legacies Org, Inc., is a Non-Profit organization that has been in existence since 1996 and is dedicated to preserving life’s historical memories. We accomplish this by talking with Senior Citizens and collecting personal stories about their own lives as they were growing up. We also collect stories that have been passed onto them from parents, grandparents and others.