Polio Epidemic : Jay County, Indiana (1949)

Source: The Commercial-Review, Portland, Indiana, July 30, 1949, page 1

City Board of Health

and

Jay County Board of Health

Portland, Indiana

July 30, 1949

ORDER OF HEALTH OFFICE

By virtue of the power vested in me by Section 409 of Chapter 157 of the Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana for the year 1949, it is hereby ordered that all places of public gatherings within the corporate limits of the city of Portland, Jay County, State of Indiana, and the entire county of Jay, State of Indiana, be closed and all public gatherings in any schools, churches, theatres, halls or other inclosed place intended for public gatherings and all fairs, carnivals, circuses and all other open places of public gatherings be closed for the purpose of stopping the poliomyelitis epidemic in the said city of Portland, Indiana; and the entire county of Jay, State of Indiana; this order to remain in full force and effect until further order issued by this officer.

GEORGE G. MORRISON, M.D., Secretary, City Board of Health and City Health Officer, and Jay County Board of Health.

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The polio epidemic struck the city of Portland and Jay County, Indiana so severely in the summer of 1949 that the Board of Health shut down all outside activity.  I stumbled across this notice while searching for obituaries on my last trip to the Jay County Public Library.

My father was a young boy during this time, just 5 years old.  Though it did not affect any directly in the family, the polio scare was bad enough that he remembers that his parents would let him go across the street to play with neighbor kids.  Dad wasn't in school yet, and did not go to kindergarten, possibly due to this scare.  At that time, kindergarten was not part of the school system - it was held in the basement of the public library.  The American Legion building in Portland was used as a polio hospital during this time period.  Dad did have a classmate he remembers graduating high school with who had suffered from polio as a child.

The library has a book that was details the events in Portland during this polio epidemic which I will have to check out on my next trip.

Cash Received For Water Bonds

Source: The Elyria Republican, Elyria, Ohio, May 29, 1902, page 1.


CASH RECEIVED FOR WATER BONDS


The $153,000 Stowed Away to the Water Works Trustees' Credit


NO OBSTACLE NOW REMAINS


Employment of an Engineer and Other Steps can Now go Forward Sale Took Place on Tuesday


The first issue of lake water bonds was finally sold on Tuesday fore noon and the $153,000 received is now on deposit to the credit of the board of waterworks trustees.  The sale took place on Tuesday morning. Mayor Reefy and Clerk Purk signed the necessary documents and they were taken to Cleveland for delivery by Chairman LeMaster of the council committee on finance.


No obstacle now remains to prevent the step toward installing a lake water plant.  The employment of an engineer to take charge of the work and advertising for bids for material and labor can now proceed.


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William Clifford LeMaster (1871-1922) was a member of the Elyria, Ohio city council and my paternal great granduncle.

Wordless Wednesday: Don Coats & Idola LeMaster

Don Coats & Idola LeMaster

Wordless Wednesday – a great way to share your old family photos! Create a post with the main focus being a photograph or image. Some posters also include attribute information as to the source of the image (date, location, owner, etc.). Wordless Wednesday is one of the longest running “memes” in the blogosphere and is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.