Talk:Elwood, Indiana

No one talked to anyone when the information was originally added. Again, it's political in nature and shouldn't be on Wikipedia. Who are the "editors" of this page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:558:6033:2F:57A:DE13:9C0F:E24A (talk) 22:16, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Untitled
Elwood was originally named Quincy, but soon after naming the town, it was discovered there was already a Quincy, Indiana. After much debate about what to rename the town, Elwood was decided, being named after a young boy the age of 10, Elwood Haynes.

Community Website For Elwood
Hi, I keep trying to add my community link http://elwoodindiana.org to the elwood indiana page but it keeps disapearing. Am I doing something wrong? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Alwjordan (talk • contribs) 04:34, 18 December 2006 (UTC).

Hi. I can vouch for Al Jordan. He runs a Citizen Journalism news and information site. The link should be here. I'm pretty sure the person taking it off runs Elwood.org, an older 1990s site. The site owner no longer runs the official city page or the local chamber of business page, AFAIK. Seems a little odd for any and all sites other than hers disappear. Anyway we can get a neutral third party? --Kpaul.mallasch 01:23, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi. I'm not surprised you vouch for Al Jordan. However, my site is linked from the state of Indiana and the county of Madison and I do have the Mayor's signature of authenticity. So I say "Good Luck" with that. teresa@elwood.org

What's that supposed to mean? When was your 'authenticity' signed off on? How many years ago? Al and I are both working with the Mayor currently on the Elwood Indiana .org site. Also, you are no longer the official Chamber site. You may have a link from years ago, but that doesn't mean they currently vouch for you. Again, can we get a neutral third party to come in and look at this abuse of power? --Kpaul.mallasch 19:08, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi. A neutral party to decide would be a blessed event. Anybody can own a website. teresa@elwood.org

Exactly. So please refrain from deleting links and replacing them with your website. Many thanks. --Kpaul.mallasch 02:54, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi. Sorry. Was here first. teresa@elwood.org
 * Being here first does not grant you special privileges. --Durin 18:59, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Third party review
Greetings. I am an admin here on Wikipedia and have reviewed this case. teresa@elwood.org has made no assertion that her site is the current official site of Elwood, Indiana. She makes claims of officialness via undated links and authenticity signatures. These can change. Kpaul.mallasch does make a claim of current official status as the website of Elwood. Pending any proof being provided that this status, as I have summarized, is inaccurate, the elwoodindiana.org site is the official site and should be used in the info box on the article. Both sites can be (and currently are) linked in the "External links" section. The continued disagreement being continued via reverting each other on the article itself constitutes a revert war and will not be tolerated. Both parties are encouraged to discuss the matter here, on this talk page. I will monitor for the time being. --Durin 18:59, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you Durin. Your intervention is very much appreciated. And apologies for the 'revert war' - I'll do better next time not to let it come to that. Thanks again and happy holidays to you and yours. --Kpaul.mallasch 21:46, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Town History
I've notice that there is a lot of town history in the discussion board, but not on the actuall page. We should see if we can't ramp this up a little bit. Just out of curiosity, why isn't there any mention on Elwood Haynes page about Elwood being renamed after him before he was ever famous (10 years old)? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 192.138.48.34 (talk) 06:44, 17 April 2007 (UTC). teresa@elwood.org

Here is a recent study of town history; also, see below. http://www.heraldbulletin.com/news/madison-county-communities-strive-to-overcome-sundown-town-reputation/article_51e21ccd-63bc-5cea-a47b-3278d3eb3020.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.201.7.2 (talk) 02:13, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Ku Klux Klan?
Having family in the area, I had always been told that Elwood was the center for the KKK in Indiana and that the organization still has a strong presence there. Indeed, of all the northern states, the KKK was notoriously strong in Indiana generally. Yet, there is no mention of the KKK in this article. Any particular reason? Would very much like to find a source on this.... Woodah (talk) 17:41, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Here are some assorted sources can can be used as references for anyone who wants to expand the article in this subject. Also, google ‘sundown towns’.

Elwood, IN was the location for the Klan headquarters in recent years and has a well-known reputation as a white town. They were still holding an annual KKK parade a few years ago. Between Marion and Indianapolis, NE of Indianapolis. "An August 1897 article in the Connersville Daily Examiner, for instance, contained a short item about some unidentified black people who moved to Elwood. 'On numerous occasions in the past, Negro families have come here to reside, but owing to extreme indifference displayed toward them they did not find life in Elwood endurable and left,' the article said." -- Bibbs, full citation below. Ray Stannard Baker, Following the Color Line (NY: Harper Torchbook, 1964 [1908]) writes: "There are counties and towns where no Negro is permitted to stop over night. At Syracuse, OH, Lawrenceburg, Ellwood [sic], and Salem, IN, for example, Negroes have not been permitted to live for years. If a Negro appears, he is warned of conditions, and if he does not leave immediately, he is visited by a crowd of boys and men and forced to leave. A farmer who lives within a few miles north of Indianapolis told me of a meeting held only a short time ago by 35 farmers in his neighborhood, in which an agreement was passed to hire no Negroes, nor to permit Negroes to live anywhere in the region." (p. 126) Elwood was the home town of Wendell Willkie, presidential candidate in 1940 against Franklin Delano Roosevelt. According to a New York Times articles, "Fred Bays, state chairman of IN Democratic Party, predicted support for FDR from "the colored voter, who is not only grateful for the many benefits his people have received under the President's administration, but who also resents Mr. Willkie's selection of Elwood [as the site for his acceptance speech], a city in which no colored man has ever been permitted to spend the night, let alone live there." ("FDR, Jr., Aids in Campaign," 8/24/1940). Marse Callaway, of the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, wrote "300,000 Cheer Willkie; Elwood Wide Open to Everybody Alike," after he stayed in biggest hotel in Elwood. Cornelius Richardson, chair, local entertainment committee, ""Willkie told Elwood's mayor that he wanted all races treated here alike, and you see what happened."" (8/24/1940).   However, an Elwood resident recalled that "Elwood had an old, tattered sign, 'Nigger, don't let the sun set on you in Elwood,'" in 1966. "Many of the Negroes who opposed Willkie, did so because Willkie spent his early life in a prejudiced village in Indiana. Some Negro political spokesmen made capital of the fact that in Elwood, IN, where Willkie was born there hung a sign in large letters, 'Niggers, don't let the sun go down on you here.' Many Negroes were of the opinion that, since his father was mayor and one of the leading citizens of the village, Willkie or his father could have done something about it if either had wanted to. To do nothing or remain silent about it was tantamount to endorsing it." See Elbert Lee Tatum, "The Changed Political Thoughts of Negroes of the United States 1915-1940," Journal of Negro Education 16 #4 (1947), 530. "According to a Sept. 27, 1979, article in the Elwood Call Leader newspaper, an unidentified mother of four, including three children of white, black and Native American ancestry, was terrorized with a cross burning and by Klansmen in open-faced hoods." -- Bibbs, full citation below. Another New York Times article was titled, "Willkie Ancestry Is Raised As An Issue": "Negro Democrats Cite German Background and Seek to Lies 'Race Bias" to his Father" The Colored Division of the Democratic National Committee issued a pamphlet "attempting to hold his father responsible for anti-Negro activities in Elwood, Ind., his birthplace." It referred to Hitler's statement in Mein Kampf that "Negroes are lower than apes." Generally heavy-handed reference to Germans, to Willkie's "Blitzkrieg" seizure of the Republican nomination, etc. Pamphlet "Democratic Campaign Facts, 1940," then said, according to article: "Wendell Willkie was born in Elwood, Ind. His father was the leading citizen of Elwood, Ind., and took the leadership in forming all of its policies. Among these policies was the policy of excluding Negroes from residence in Elwood and in carrying out this policy, signs were displayed in conspicuous places reading 'Nigger, Don't Let The Sun Go Down On You.' When Senator Minton ordered photographers to Elwood to take pictures on the day after the nomination of Mr. Willkie, these signs had been removed."  A black Indiana policeman also confirms that "Elwood is by reputation still off-limits."  email 11/2007:  There are now some black families that live in Elwood and at first you would again hear people questioning it but now a lot of people that were questioning the situation of these black families living in Elwood are no longer, and that they are coming the the realization that this is something they have to accept.  People are always going to see Elwood or when they hear the name of the town think of the Klu Klux Klan. Talking with people in other states, already know of Elwood because of that. But to me its something I don't want to hide from people, that I am from Elwood, Indiana. I was to take it and learn from it and learn about the history behind it all. An African American resident of Elwood emailed us: "Elwood is still very racially segregated. The black people live with caution, the hispanics live with ignorance, and I have yet to see an asian family live here. I have also been told that there are 150 active Klan members within city limits." African American woman, Renita Lark, 45, interviewed at heraldbulletin.com/news/madison-county-communities-strive-to-overcome-sundown-town-reputation/article_51e21ccd-63bc-5cea-a47b-3278d3eb3020.html. "She recalls her grandfather, Joseph Hopgood, who lived in Anderson, telling her about the sign at the Elwood city limits that warned black visitors not to stay past sundown. "People still talk about it today," she said. "The signs may be gone, but the reputation isn%u2019t, Lark said. That past, however distant, was enough to keep most of Lark%u2019s family in Anderson from ever visiting her in Elwood. And some of her family members expressed their fears of retaliation for sharing her story with The Herald Bulletin. After she moved in, neighbors across the street put up a huge Confederate flg on their house. But, she said, "The children living in that house, however, eventually were allowed to befriend her children." She "lived in Elwood from 2000 to 2010.... We got called 'monkeys.' We got called 'apes.' We were told to go back where we came from.... [and that] they know where I live and they would burn the house down... [Later] "we was accepted, as we were not the only black family there." "However, after about a year, Lark said, the animosity abated as residents began to recognize her and her family. For instance, her neighbors would warn her when the KKK planned a rally. "'They used to call us and say, "Don%u2019t come outside because they%u2019re having a rally. If you need something, call us,"%u2019 she said. "After the birth of her daughter, Lark said, she received a phone call from someone at the video store telling her to come by. They had a gift basket of baby items for her. "And as the family struggled amid the terminal illness of Lark%u2019s husband, residents came forward to help with the rent and with food." -- Rebecca R. Bibbs, "Madison County communities strive to overcome 'sundown town' reputation ," Herald Bulletin, 4/3/2016. So we can infer that by 2010, Elwood has passed beyond being a sundown town, even if just barely. 207.177.225.141 (talk) 05:44, 2 September 2018 (UTC)

Allegations against father
Theodore Bilbo made the following statement in his 1947 defense of ‘scientific’ racism, “Take Your Choice“:

“The late Wendell Wilkie, author of One World, was another of the nation-wide figures who advocated full racial equality. This position of Mr. Wilkie is especially interesting in view of the fact that he was born and reared in Elmwood [sic], Indiana, the town from which his father helped drive away every Negro, and which had signs reading "No Negroes Admitted Here" on every road leading into the city limits”

Is it so? 207.177.225.141 (talk) 05:22, 2 September 2018 (UTC)

Klan Rally, 1924
A link to the Klan’s own paper. Seems to have been quite an event.

http://bl-libg-doghill.ads.iu.edu/gpd-web/fierycross/1924/192459.pdf

One thing I notice is that ‘Tin Plate Day’ was the biggest event in Elwood. This paper now boasts that has been replaced by ‘Klan Day’. What was Tin Plate Day? Seems to belong to the story of the town and should be in the article

P.S. A parade two miles long? Oh my god. 2601:647:6680:4450:4CB1:E08F:4645:A4AF (talk) 02:02, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

Bad Information on "History"
Who are the editors? Who was able to add the politically charged information without talking to anyone else? — Precedingunsigned comment added by2001:558:6033:2F:57A:DE13:9C0F:E24A(talk) 22:21, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Apparently you are new, so let me explain how this works. You do not have to discuss adding information.  If you disagree with the information added, you remove it with an edit summary stating why in terms of policy, not your opinion and then start a discussion here.  I do not have an opinion on the content; indeed I could care less.  However, when somebody just up and removes properly referenced material without a discussion, I will always put it back.  So, may I suggest you give a reason based in Wikipedia policy or in the quality of the references or with references that contradict them?  Thank you. Gtwfan52 (talk) 22:31, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
 * also, I am sure you have no way of knowing this, but new discussions go at the bottom of the page and you need to sign any entry to a discussion by typing four tildes ( ~ ). Thanks. Gtwfan52 (talk) 22:33, 30 September 2013 (UTC)


 * I've reverted (I hope for the last time) your edits to the article per WP:BLPCRIME. When and if some kind of conviction is secured then it would be appropriate to insert that information, however I'm not even sure that's the case since it would imply guilt by association. In any case, what there is right now is an investigation with no reliably sourced indication of enduring impact to the city, which is the subject of the article, or to the person in question. § FreeRangeFrog croak 00:10, 1 October 2013 (UTC)
 * And that I can agree with. Thank you. Gtwfan52 (talk) 00:18, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

I've just fully protected the article for three days due to the edit warring. Please discuss proposed additions on this talk page first. Mark Arsten (talk) 02:26, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 one external links on Elwood, Indiana. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive http://www.webcitation.org/6HQu4Spqa?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.census.gov%2Fpopest%2Fdata%2Fcities%2Ftotals%2F2012%2FSUB-EST2012.html to http://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2012/SUB-EST2012.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130911234518/http://factfinder2.census.gov to http://factfinder2.census.gov
 * Added archive http://www.webcitation.org/6YSasqtfX?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.census.gov%2Fprod%2Fwww%2Fdecennial.html to http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 08:33, 23 December 2016 (UTC)

Mass harassment
There is a group of people harassing my family. Some of them are cops, cop's friends and family, city/gov workers, school faculty members, a local tattoo artist, a local storage company family, and others. They are covering up for eachother. they have been harassing us for over 6 years. the harassment includes threaths, actual attempts to cause harm or death, sexual harassment towards children, physical assult, physical assult to kids, suggested involvement of murder, torment, breaking and entering. They conduct themselves in a flashmob type way. they have invaded our privacy and spy on us everyday. I thought we were under police surveillance, but they have civilians showing they have access to our private moments. This is Elwood Indiana. 98.97.10.15 (talk) 15:22, 10 March 2023 (UTC)


 * Like anything else in Wikipedia, sources needed. 67.164.28.137 (talk) 03:51, 27 August 2023 (UTC)

Please read Gang stalking. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.137.96.12 (talk) 20:17, 10 May 2023 (UTC)