FRANKTON — Loretta Richardson is settling into the Sigler Street home her grandparents once owned, the same late 19th century gem with the huge front porch where her mother and aunts grew up.
Since purchasing the home at auction earlier this year, Richardson, 64, has been preparing to reclaim the home where she and her sister spent “the great years of our lives.”
“I’ve always wanted to keep it in the family, any way possible,” she says.
Childhood memories from the house include walking down Sigler Street to shop at the downtown drug store and paying a visit to the woman who operated the town’s telephone switchboard. Carol Macklin, Richardson’s sister, remembers getting the chance to connect calls herself.
There were also the parties held in the Sigler Street house, big New Year’s events with lots of cousins and their aunt playing the baby grand piano.
Sadly, the piano is now gone, but Richardson is repopulating the home with her own collection of antiques.
She remembers when the grass field across Sigler Street was a school with an easily accessible playground. On the opposite end of the field, new homes are cropping up. The way they’re set back from the street is a sharp contrast to most other homes on Sigler, older structures like Remington’s house that sit only a few yards away from the sidewalk.
Two dead ends cap Sigler Street on both its east and west ends. Sigler Street, which serves as the section of Indiana 128 that bisects Frankton, is perfectly straight and includes blocks of residential homes and a small business district in the center of town.
Sigler Street is named for Frankton’s founding family. It was “the father of Frankton” Jacob Sigler who in 1829 laid out the plan for the town’s original 80 acres. But it wasn’t until 1853, under the guidance of Jacob’s oldest son, Francis Sigler, that the town’s first lots were plotted out. The town itself, which was officially incorporated in 1871, is named for Francis.
All that history isn’t news to lifelong Frankton resident Gay Remington.
Her family has owned The Added Touch, a gift and home decorating store, in downtown Frankton for 31 years. After establishing the shop on Washington Street, Remington moved it around the corner to Sigler 16 years ago.
“When we moved to Sigler Street our business tripled overnight, and we only moved a block and a half,” she says.
Not only is a Sigler Street storefront more visible to drivers, Remington explains, but her shop gets added foot traffic because of other nearby businesses, including two banks, a dog groomer and the Frankton Public Library.
Like Richardson, Remington remembers the downtown drug store. There was also a liquor store and a bar nearby.
But her fondest memory of Sigler Street is the rows of majestic trees that used to line the street in front of the homes east of the business district.
“And in the spring and the fall, it was just beautiful driving into downtown,” she recalls. “It was gorgeous. It was just, wow.”
----------
Each Monday, The Herald Bulletin is profiling a street in Madison County in our On Your Street series. What’s on the street? Who lives there? What is the history? Those are questions we’ll try to answer. And it’s not just streets. Roads, boulevards and lanes will be included. If you have a street you’d like to nominate for our coverage, let Stephen Dick, assistant managing editor, know. Reach him at The Herald Bulletin, 1133 Jackson St., Anderson 46016 or (765) 640-4863 or steve.dick@heraldbulletin.com.
Home News (ADS ONLY)
Related Photos
-
Richard Sitler
Discussion
November 30, 2008
ON YOUR STREET: Lifelong bonds form with Sigler Street
- Home News (ADS ONLY)
-
-
Photo gallery: AU vs Mount Saint Joseph Baseball
Photos from the baseball double header and senior night for Anderson University and Mount Saint Joseph on 5/7/10.
-
Comedian Harland Williams coming to Paramount
LOS ANGELES — Canadian Harland Williams was enjoying winter in Southern California. “It’s beautiful out,” said Williams, 47, familiar from roles in films like “Dumb & Dumber” and “There’s Something About Mary.” “A bit cold, but is 65 cold? I’ll take this cold any day, thank you.” Williams, whose Indiana performances have been exclusive to Crackers in Broad Ripple, will take the stage at the Paramount on Friday, April 2.
-
Nancy Wood back in Anderson, with ASO
ANDERSON — Nancy Wood stared into the glass vase, full of clear water, with the bare roots of a plant dangling down into it.
-
Auction deal for buyers, not for owners
ANDERSON — An auction held Saturday at a former, popular cabinet manufacturer resulted in deals for local woodwork hobbyists and businesses, but earned less than the new owners hoped for.
-
Ann Duran on the air in Madison County
DALEVILLE — As a child, radio personality Ann Duran remembers her father calling her his mini-Barbara Walters.
-
Weights, measures officials protect consumers
ANDERSON — Whether consumers are filling up their cars’ gas tanks, buying a gallon of milk or drying clothes at a laundromat, one man in Anderson makes sure they always get their money’s worth.
-
AHS rocking to 'Schoolhouse Rock Live!'
ANDERSON, Ind. — With the end of the school year quickly approaching, Anderson High School Performing Arts students are springing into a favorite pastime. With the help of their director of six years, Tiffany Jackson, the group of 12 is putting on a musical, “Schoolhouse Rock Live!”
-
Anderson native to lead county ghost tour
ANDERSON — Growing up in Madison County, Nicole Kobrowski liked to visit some of the area’s creepier places, such as Moss Island Road just west of the city.
-
Sidewalk Prophets looking for a Dove
Sidewalk Prophets know how to please a crowd when they sing Christian pop at concerts across the nation.
Now, they’d like fans to reciprocate to help the band win a Dove Award. -
At Home: Project a bonding experience
PENDLETON — When a four-year project goes on for seven years, the result is often a strained marriage.
- More Home News (ADS ONLY) Headlines
-
Air Canada Plane Makes Emergency Landing
Raw Video: 19 Dead in Qatar Shopping Mall Fire
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
