Ingalls Big 4 Station - Page 2 June 14, 2002 And I said... It is of inerest and I will include it. I love the story. It was the same Gas story told in Alex and Elwood. The gas was going to last forever. :-) The location you give is interesting because there is an obvious station on the south side of the tracks that has been built onto for the Post Office. If you removed the Clock Tower, the size would be approximately correct. - rph June 15, 2002 Phoenix replied... The post office building in Ingalls was never the train depot. My mother owns that building, and it has been in the family since the late 1880s. That building was originally located in Alfonte and moved to its current location by my great grandfather to house a general store when Ingalls began to prosper. After my great grandfather died, the building passed to my uncle Birch Cumins and then to my father, John Cox, who operated a general store, gas station and post office there when I was a child. Prior to the post office being located our building it was located in the old brick building (I assume its still there) on the northeast corner of 1st Street and Meridian. (At least I think it's First Street. It's the first intersection north of the tracks on Meridian.) That brick building was originally a hotel and it is across the street from the site of the old interurban station. Phoenix And I again asked... That is good to know. I can forget about it now. What can you tell me about the large building just down the tracks to the west of the Post Office? - rph June 16, 2002 Phoenix replied... My mom said the building west of the Post Office building on the south side of the tracks was the Puritan Spring Bed Company. Here's the description from the land brochure: "The Puritan Spring Bed Company has built and equipped a commodious brick and stone factory building containing 8,000 square feet of floor space. A large line of spring beds is manufactured by this concern, which meet with ready sale in all parts of the United States. The Company was formerly located in Chicago, but desiring to secure the advantages of free fuel, removed its entire business to Ingalls. The plant has the capacity of fifty employes and is at all times rushed with orders." A spur line veered off to the south near there to service the Ingalls Zinc Company, which was located near the banks of Lick Creek. If you go down the lane near the old Randall house into the park you can find traces of the spur and, with diligence, traces of the factory foundation. The factory covered 15,000 square feet. These businesses also were located in Ingalls in 1894: The Crescent Glass Company, the German-American Chemical Works, the Yergin Chemical Company, the Ingalls Milling Company, and the Ingalls Manufacturing Company, which manufactured zinc etching plates and "other specialties." There are two Randall houses in town. The two Randall brothers owned the saw mill and built their houses off the same plans. I grew up in the one at 126 Randall Street. The other is the one on the westernmost N/S street that I mentioned above. Phoenix Comments: The photo that I located of the Big 4 station in Ingalls does not match the drawing on the Prospectus. Perhaps there was a clock tower as shown, perhaps not. However, there was a station where Phoenix said as verified by the Maps in the History of Madison County, Indiana : with illustrations and biographical sketches... (Chicago, Kingman, 1880) To which are appended maps of its several townships 1901 [Reproduction by Unigraphic, Inc. (Evansville, IN 1971) and the town was named after Ingalls. Unfortunately, it never grew as the developers hoped.