Allen County, Indiana Genealogy

FORT WAYNE HISTORY. KU KLUX KLAN AT MAIN STREET INTERURBAN TERMINAL 1926 in the Allen County Public Library Digital Collections at the Allen County Public Library.

The Ku Klux Klan in Indiana: 75 Years of Turmoil and Intimidation A Paper Presented before Quest Club March 14, 1997 by Dr. George W. M. Bullion twenty page item in the Quest Club Papers at the Allen County Public Library Digital Collections at the Allen County Public Library.

1. Indiana Klan on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

2. Lafayette, circa early 1920s - Over 40 Ku Klux Klan members pose at a funeral service or ceremony in Spring Vale...

   Posted by Indiana Album on Thursday, April 18, 2024

   Thursday, April 18, 2024post by the Indiana Album on Facebook:

   Lafayette, circa early 1920s - Over 40 Ku Klux Klan members pose at a funeral service or ceremony in Spring Vale Cemetery. Photographed by Glen W. Scobee of Rembrandt Studio.

   We seek more photos and documents of the KKK in Indiana, but are frequently told that these items were thrown away to erase evidence of an ancestor's involvement. It is an uncomfortable topic, but is an important story from Indiana's past (and sadly, the present). If you have Klan items, please contact us at info@indianaalbum.com to share copies and family stories.

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   The Indiana Album, Inc. is a non-profit organization that copies, catalogs, and shares Indiana-related documents and photographs. Search some of the nearly 25,000 items in our community-submitted digital archive at https://indianaalbum.pastperfectonline.com/. Do you have items to loan? Learn more at www.indianaalbum.com.

3. Ku Klux Klan - This early 1920s Klan image likely shows the funeral of Orethello Lee Stringer, a railway detective who...

   Posted by Indiana Album on Tuesday, July 12, 2016

   July 12, 2016 post by the Indiana Album on Facebook:

   Ku Klux Klan - This early 1920s Klan image likely shows the funeral of Orethello Lee Stringer, a railway detective who was murdered by a thief. Indiana had one of the country's largest and most powerful KKK organizations during the 1920s. Over one-quarter of the state's native-born white Hoosiers joined the Klan by its peak in 1924, due to the leadership skills of the Grand Dragon D. C. Stephenson. The membership quickly diminished in 1925 after Stephenson kidnapped and raped Madge Oberholtzer, a young secretary who took poison and died a month later.

   Although membership was so high in Indiana and the Klan was involved with churches, businesses, government, and even had auxiliary groups for women and children, we find that few photographs of the organization's activities have survived. One 85-year-old who came to a scan-a-thon told us that all of her friends threw away their parents' KKK photos out of embarrassment. The Klan cast a shadow over the state, but should not be forgotten. Do you have Klan photos or negatives? Please share with the Indiana Album project. (The Indiana Album: Nancy Netter Collection)

4. November 30, 2016 post by the Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook:

   The Indianapolis Times and the Muncie Post-Democrat mobilized the power of their press to take down the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana during the 1920s.

   According to historian Leonard Moore, the Klan was a “populist, white Protestant social and political movement of the 1920s” in Indiana and the US that was “based on anti-Semitic beliefs, support for prohibition enforcement, and a wide range of traditional social, religious, and family values.” The KKK gained a large following in Indiana in the 1920s due to the efforts of Hoosier Klan leader David Curtiss (D.C.) Stephenson, who worked for the election of Klan sympathizers to local and state offices. His emphasis on recruitment grew Hoosier Klan membership to 250,000 Hoosiers. The Times began its crusade against the Klan in 1923 and exposed Indianapolis and state officials’ ties to the Klan, including Governor Ed Jackson and Indianapolis Mayor John L. Duvall. In Muncie, Post-Democrat editor George Dale ridiculed the Klan’s rallies and hypocritical ideology and published the names of known Klansmen. Ultimately, the Times won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928 for exposing the Klan, and Dale became mayor of Muncie in 1929.

   Learn about Dale's crusade against the Klan: “Koo Koo Side Lights”: George Dale vs. the Klan

   Read about the Times's efforts to expose Klan activities: Indianapolis Times historical marker

5. On May 17, 1924, University of Notre Dame students rioted for two days against the Ku Klux Klan in South Bend, where the...

   Posted by Indiana Historical Bureau on Friday, May 17, 2019

   Friday, May 17, 2019 post by the Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook:

   On May 17, 1924, University of Notre Dame students rioted for two days against the Ku Klux Klan in South Bend, where the supremacist group had organized a rally to send a message to the Catholic university. When Klan members stepped off the train platform they were met with hundreds of students and faculty members, who "descended upon them, beating them and shredding their robes and regalia before forcibly putting them back on the train."

   Police intervened, but the two groups clashed throughout the weekend. Students stole Klansmen’s robes as trophies, threw potatoes at an electrically lit red cross in an office window, and charged at Klansmen as though on a football field. On the 20th, Fighting Irish football coach Knute Rockne implored students to refrain from violence and tensions eased when the Klan left a few days later. 

   Learn more about this incident here: The Day Notre Dame Students Pummeled the Ku Klux Klan

   The image below, showing student William Foohey showing off a stolen Klansmen robe the day after the riots ended.

6. July 11, 2020 post by the Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook:

   On July 11, 1927, the Indianapolis Times began publishing exact copies of papers that proved the Ku Klux Klan’s ties to Indiana politicians. They first printed a check from Grand Dragon D.C. Stephenson to Governor Ed Jackson before the latter became governor. For the remainder of July and August, the Times filled its pages with reprints of letters and checks from Stephenson's papers, detailing how much money had been spent to help get Jackson elected.

   On July 21, the Times revealed that Indianapolis Mayor John Duvall had also reportedly sought Stephenson's aid when he was a candidate for Republican nomination for mayor in 1924. The Times wrote on July 27, that it had turned over Stephenson's documents to the Marion County grand jury for examination. According to a May 1928 Times article, Mayor Duval was eventually convicted of violation of the Corrupt Practices Act and forced to resign.

   The newspaper won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in Journalism in 1928 "for its work in exposing political corruption in Indiana, prosecuting the guilty and bringing about a more wholesome state of affairs in civil government."

   Learn more here: THH Episode 5: The KKK, Political Corruption, and the Indianapolis Times [ archived on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine ]

   The image below shows the front page of The Indianapolis Times from the marker files of the Indiana Historical Bureau.

7. November 14, 1925, July 11, 1927, and May, 1928 Timeline posts
8. The KKK, Political Corruption, and the Indianapolis Times including transcript at Talking Hoosier History at IN.gov.
9. Indiana at 200: Ku Klux Klan had short-lived political power in state by Andrea Neal published June 15, 2016 in The News-Sentinel newspapernow on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
10. KKK dominance in 1920s Indiana posted September 26, 2020 on the Archives of Hoosier History Live podcast on Saturdays, noon to 1 p.m. ET on WICR 88.7 FM introduction starts with:
11. Why did the despicable Ku Klux Klan become pervasive across Indiana during the 1920s? Who joined? And does the tendency of the general public to focus on Klan Grand Dragon D.C. Stephenson (and his lurid scandals) dilute the more insidious - if less sensationalistic - impact the KKK had on life in Indiana in the 1920s? These are among the questions that acclaimed Indiana historian James Madison tackles in his new book, The Ku Klux Klan in the Heartland (IU Press), which explores one of the most shameful eras in the Hoosier state. From 1923 through 1925, the peak of the KKK's influence in Indiana, "up to one third of the state's native-born, white Protestant men signed up," Jim Madison notes.
12. In 1923, 100,000 Klan were expected to meet in Fort Wayne. "ONLY 5,000 OF KLAN INVADE FORT WAYNE; Expected Army of 100,000 Fails to Come -- Small Towns of Four States Send Quotas. EVANS CHANGES HIS TACTICS Imperial Wizard Drops Denunciation of Races and Sects -- Pleads for Peace." "FORT WAYNE, Ind., Nov. 10 -- The Ku Klux Klan of Indiana, reinforced by delegates from Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, mobilized in Fort Wayne today. Although the Klan leaders had announced that 100,000 would come, tonight not even the most optimistic of Klansmen puts the number at more than 5.000, and half that figure would probably be nearer the true mark." New York Times.
13. Tim Egan’s disturbing new book, “A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America and the Woman Who Stopped Them.” I could barely put it down. It reads like fiction, but here the truth is stranger than fiction. The book is a must-read for all Hoosiers who wish to understand Indiana’s past and present, and perhaps even its future. Copied from The dark history of the Indiana heartland James P. Fenton May 23, 2023 The Journal Gazette newspaper.

14. February 5, 2022 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook:

    On February 5, 1867, anti-Ku Klux Klan crusader, newspaper editor, satirist, and one-term Muncie mayor George R. Dale was born in Monticello, White County. He used the power of the pen in the Muncie Post-Democrat to combat the rising influence of the KKK, skewering Klan members with statements like, "Aint it grand to be a one hundred percent American and wear your wife's nightie and a mother goose cap?"

    Despite threats on his life, Dale won Muncie's 1929 mayoral race and served until 1935. His first action as mayor was to fire all members of the city's police force, many of whom supported the Klan's efforts.

    Learn more about Dale here: “Koo Koo Side Lights”: George Dale vs. the Klan

    The image below is courtesy of the Ball State University Digital Media Repository. 

15. May 8, 2023 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook:

    #OTD in 1928, the Indianapolis Times won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its "work in exposing political corruption to Indiana, prosecuting the guilty and bringing about a more wholesome state of affairs in civil government." The Valparaiso Vidette-Messager dubbed the Times the "'conspicuous champion' of the independent press." It praised the paper’s effort to combat the Ku Klux Klan and corruption in state government and contended that it represented "the new spirit of public service that [was] moving the newspapers of the nation to new ideals."

16. November 28, 2014 post by the Indiana Genealogical Society on Facebook:

    FRIDAY FACT: In February 1947, the Indiana legislature tried to outlaw the Ku Klux Klan. Any group member that advocated "malicious hatred by reason of race, color or religion" and caused "riot, disorder, interference with traffic" along with "violence, or denial of civil or constitutional rights" would be found guilty of "racketeering in hatred," imprisoned up to 2 years and fined up to $10,000, plus lose their right to vote for up to 10 years.

    Source: Laws of the state of Indiana, passed at the eighty-fifth regular session of the General Assembly begun on the ninth day of January A.D. 1947 (Indianapolis: The Bookwalter Co., 1947).

17. October 2, 2023 Facebook discussion to a question by Charlie Savage New York Times reporter about the KKK in 1920s Fort Wayne while reading the book “A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them” by Timothy Egan. He show a page photo mentioning Fort Wayne on the last page of the chapter A Master Race in the Midwest.
    1. One comment said to see the Race Relations chapter in the History of Fort Wayne & Allen County, Indiana, 1700-2005. Image of Chapter 57, Volume 1, page 643, Ku Klux Klan Activities 1920-1930 was posted. Willis S, Clark was mentioned.
    2. A “Fearless Editor” in a Changing World: Fort Wayne's Jesse Greene, Peggy Seigel, Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 113, No. 4 (December 2017), pp. 309-340 (32 pages), Published By: Indiana University Press
    3. Image from the Quest article about Fort Wayne Klan participation.
    4. Image of a page from a 1925 publication called "Office of the KKK in Indiana" describing the local Anthony Wayne Klan #22 chapter. It said there were 2,150 members at a time when the county population was 120,000. They met every Wednesday at 8 p.m. at 299 W. Berry Street.
    5. Three images of The Journal Gazette article Area Klan's sketchy past dotted with show of force September 2, 1979 by Dave Nichols.

    6. Nazi Town, USA | Full Documentary | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | PBS April 2, 2024
       In February 1939, more than 20,000 Americans filled Madison Square Garden for an event billed as a “Pro-American Rally.” Images of George Washington hung alongside swastikas, underlining the organizers' belief that Nazism was entirely consistent with American ideals. NAZI TOWN, USA tells the largely unknown story of the German American Bund, an organization of Nazi sympathizers on American soil. Official website → Nazi Town, USA The untold story of Nazi sympathizers on American soil(Composite art made from stock photos of models.) © 2024 WGBH Educational Foundation

18. The Ku Klux Klan used patriotic imagery and language to make their xenophobic and hateful policies appeal to average...

    Posted by Indiana Historical Bureau on Wednesday, April 3, 2024

    Wednesday, April 3, 2024 post by the Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook:

    The Ku Klux Klan used patriotic imagery and language to make their xenophobic and hateful policies appeal to average people who feared the demographic changes taking place in the 1920s. Slogans like “America First” referenced a vision of the United States where power and wealth were held by Protestant people born in the U.S., who were of Anglo-Saxon, German, and Scandinavian decent. This excluded immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe and Asia, especially Jews and Catholics. Their vision became law with the passage of the 1924 Immigration Act, which limited immigration through a quota system.

    Learn more about how the Klan influenced this act: “America First:” The Ku Klux Klan Influence on Immigration Policy in the 1920s

    1. Immigration Act of 1924 on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
    2. IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1924 (JOHNSON-REED ACT) at ImmigrationHistory.org.
    3. The Immigration Act of 1924 (The Johnson-Reed Act) at the Office of the Historian USA Department of State
    4. The 1924 Law That Slammed the Door on Immigrants and the Politicians Who Pushed it Back Open Decades of xenophobic policy were overturned, setting the United States on the path to the diversity seen today Anna Diamond at the Smithsonian Magazine.

19. We’d like to give a shout out to IHB historian Jill Weiss Simins whose research is featured in the new exhibit,...

    Posted by Indiana Historical Bureau on Thursday, April 18, 2024

    Thursday, April 18, 2024 post by the Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook:

    We’d like to give a shout out to IHB historian Jill Weiss Simins whose research is featured in the new exhibit, “Resist!” open now at the Indiana Historical Society. This exhibit, covering the diverse Hoosiers who stood up to the Klan, includes the story of South Bend residents and Notre Dame students who prevented a Klan takeover of the city in 1924. Make a plan to see the exhibit: https://indianahistory.org/events/resist/.

    And in the meantime, check out Weiss Simins’s work on how the Notre Dame football team modeled integrity and Catholic principles, pushing back at the Klan’s anti-Catholic and xenophobic stereotypes at our blog #UntoldIndiana: UntoldIndiana Integrity on the Gridiron Part One: Opposition to the Klan at Notre Dame.

    “Football Notre Dame (South Bend) by South Shore Line,” 1926, broadside, Indiana State Library Broadsides Collection, accessed Indiana State Library Digital Collections.

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