Volunteers Return Cabinet to Old Vanderburgh Courthouse
Last week, the Old Vanderburgh County Courthouse Facebook page post a plea for help. They had discovered a piece of furniture dating back over 70 years, that once sat in the original Auditor's office, had turned up in South Bend, Indiana. The woman who had it was moving and wanted to return the piece, but had no way of doing so, and needed it out of the house by June 7th (tomorrow). With no method of retrieving themselves, the Old Courthouse asked if anyone would volunteer to make the trip and bring it home. Enter George Postletheweight, his wife Betty and brother Chuck.
On Tuesday, they provided an update saying George and company answered the call and made the 10-hour round trip drive over the weekend. By the sound of it, the trip had a few moments that sounded like it was straight out of a road trip comedy. The trio dealt with traffic jams, a flat tire, and the discovery that the no doubt heavy cabinet was on the second floor of the home. Despite the obstacle, George, Betty, and Chuck pushed on and were able to bring the piece back to it's rightful place.
The full post reads:
The Cabinet is Home! 🎉- We are so grateful to George Postletheweight, his wife Betty and brother Chuck for driving from 7am, Saturday morning to South Bend, IN and returning with a long-lost piece of Old Courthouse history. They got back in town at 1am Sunday morning and delivered the Auditor's Cabinet to the Old Courthouse later that day. Their generous volunteer service got the cabinet out of South Bend before the June 7th deadline and saved the Old Courthouse hundreds of dollars in shipping fees. Traffic jams, a flat tire and the last minute revelation that the cabinet was on the 2nd floor of the house did not deter them! We applaud them for all their hard work and giving up of their time and labor! 👏👏👏
We are also very appreciative to the previous owners, Becky Torstrick and her husband Jeff Sutter, who had the opportunity to sell to someone else but asked him to give up his claim when she found out that the Old Courthouse Foundation wanted it returned. That potential purchaser, Rod Fetters is also owed a big hug for relinquishing his claim and allowing us to bring our cabinet back home.
And thank you to W. Larry Brown, Duane Myers, and Old Courthouse Foundation VP Larry Bristow for assisting with moving the Cabinet into the Old Courthouse once it arrived.It is times like this that we owe a great deal to the power of social media and the many people who shared with us the discovery of this piece on Facebook and then the many others who shared our call for help. Big hugs to you all! 💖
We are continuing to piece together the history of our Auditor Cabinet's travels, since being traded away from the Courthouse in 1955 by Auditor Ed Sauer to Smith and Butterfield for modern metal file cabinets ( we're sure it seemed the right thing to do at the time). It was then sold to Marguerite Harding. From there the trail runs cold until being purchased by Torstick-Sutter from a northern Indiana dealer in the early 2000s. We have contacted the dealer ( whom we believe actually attended the Indiana Landmarks conference held in the Old Courthouse last month!) but have not yet received a reply. Any additional info would be appreciated! 🔎
Welcome home everybody!
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