Browse by People

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Tyrell Anderson

Tyrell Anderson

Tyrell Anderson is a photographer, videographer, and historic conservationist who co-founded the Decay Devils, a Gary-based non-profit arts and preservationist collective. He describes his first visit to the spring with his father, and discusses the spring’s significance in his family’s history, as well as its role as a landmark in the city of Gary. He also talks about the impact of Lake Sandy Jo, an EPA Superfund Site, on the surrounding community. (Part 1, 9:08 minutes; Part 2, 16:04 minutes)

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Geraldine Brooks and Shirley Monroe

Shirley Monroe and Geraldine Brooks grew up in the Small Farms community during the 1950s-60s. They describe what life was like in Small Farms, and how an increase in visitors to the spring resulted in an increase in littering at the site. Geraldine also describes how Lake Etta Park was started, and why the Small Farms community holds their reunions at Lake Etta Park every year. (11:48 minutes)

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Exnar and Johhny Burt, near the site of their former family home at Small Farms. 

Exnar Burt-McIntosh and Johnny Burt

Exnar Burt-McIntosh and Johnny Burt grew up in Small Farms in a family of eighteen children. They depended on the spring for their drinking water in the 1960s, and describe its significance in their lives. They talk about what life was like in Small Farms during that time, and how people accessed the spring water. They also discuss the history of Lake Sandy Jo. (50:04 minutes)

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Arianne Campbell

Arianne Campbell

Arianne Campbell first learned of the spring while employed by the AmeriCorps VISTA Program at the Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. She describes her research on the spring, a cleanup project she initiated, and the presentation on the spring that she prepared for Green Drinks Gary. (53:20 minutes)

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David Castellanos

David Castellanos is a board member of the Little Calumet River Basin Development Commission, the agency that owns the property containing the spring. The Commission is in charge of flood control along the Little Calumet River, from Gary to the Illinois State Line. David shares information about a cleanup event at the spring, and the Commission’s plans for improving the spring and the surrounding area. (25:59 minutes)

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Chuck Hughes at his office in the Gary Chamber of Commerce

Chuck Hughes

Chuck Hughes is the Executive Director of the Gary Chamber of Commerce and a former resident of Small Farms. The Fresh County Market on 25th Ave is in the vicinity of his childhood home. Chuck shares remembrances of growing up in the Small Farms community, his memories of getting water from the spring. He also talks about why people may have moved from the community and his support of the Fresh Market development when he served as a Gary City Councilperson. (Part 1, 24:47 minutes; Part 2, 6:25 minutes)

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Kristin Huysken

Professor Kristin Huysken is an Associate Professor of Geology and Associate Dean, Student Success in the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Northwest. She describes the Introduction to Earth Science class field trips she led at two local artesian wells: the Gary spring on Chase Street, and the spring at Beverly Shores, Indiana. She describes the geological processes that produce an artesian well, and some specific geologic features in the region surrounding the spring. (27:17 minutes)

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Betty Earline Jordan

Betty Earline Jordan

Betty Earline Jordan grew up in Calumet Township in the Black Oak neighborhood. Her family depended on the spring for drinking water in the 1960s-70s. She shares her memories of that experience and describes the community of Small Farms and Black Oak during that time.  (37:01 minutes)

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Judy and Andrea Ledbetter

Judy Ledbetter and Andrea Ledbetter

Judy Ledbetter is a community activist who has lived at her home on Chase St. for 54 years. Her daughter Andrea is a photographer, community activist, and historic conservationist who co-founded the Decay Devils, a Gary-based non-profit arts and preservationist collective. They describe how the neighborhood surrounding the spring has changed over the years they have lived there. They also discuss their activism in the city of Gary. (57:58 minutes)

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Ida Lloyd

Ida L. Lloyd

Ida L. Lloyd moved to Small Farms from East Chicago in 1950, when she was a child. Her family drew water from the spring in the winter, when the pump at their house would freeze. She describes and contrasts her memories of life in East Chicago and Small Farms. She talks about her family’s roots in Alabama and her grandfather, who was in the first graduating class at Tuskegee University. (44:09 minutes)

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Pam Powers

Pam Powers grew up in Small Farms and is a member of the Gary Food Council, an organization that is advocating to restore the spring site. Although her family did not rely on the spring water for drinking, she often accompanied friends when they went with their families to gather water. She describes the landscape and farming activities of the Small Farms area during the 1970s. (30:59 minutes)

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Reverend Terence Standifer and Connie Standifer

Reverend Terence Standifer was the pastor at Pleasant Valley Missionary Baptist Church in the Small Farms community from 1981 to 1993. He participated in several environmental cleanup projects in the Ambridge-Mann community and conducted community outreach to help bring water lines into the Small Farms neighborhood. Reverend Standifer now lives in Michigan with his wife Connie. (38:48 minutes)

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Steve Truchan

Steve Truchan

Steve Truchan is the owner of Gary Bridge and Iron Company, located on 37th Ave. near Chase Street. His family moved there in 1950 and his neighbors included several of the families who farmed near the spring. He described a second spring nearby, a period when the spring stopped running, and what the area looked like during the 1950’s-60s. He talked about the practice of hunting and foraging in the surrounding woods. He also discussed how the spring and the surrounding land was impacted by drainage projects and Lake Sandy Jo.  (40:11 minutes)

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Dorothy Waters and Robert Waters

Dorothy Waters and Robert Waters

Dorothy Waters is a descendent of the Nimetz family, who settled in the Black Oak area in the 1800s and farmed the land surrounding the Chase Street Spring. Her family home on Calhoun Street was the site of another spring, called the Black Oak Spring, which was open to the public and bottled and sold in the early 1900s. The spring was capped sometime in the 1960s. Dorothy and her husband Robert grew up in the Black Oak area and talk about the springs, the neighborhood, and farming during that time. (Part 1, 1 hour, 2 minutes; Part 2, 11:20 minutes)

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Alma Wilkes

Alma Wilkes is a retired high school teacher for the Gary School System. She taught Home Economics (Family and Consumer Sciences) and Nutrition & Wellness at Westside High School for 10 years, and Clothing & Textiles at Roosevelt High School for an additional 10 years. Her passion is nutrition and she discusses the health benefits of spring water -- in particular, sulfur. She describes why she gathers drinking water from the spring. She is also a member of the Gary Food Council and talks about their plans to improve the spring. (33:45 minutes)

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