The Rockport Democrat, June 28, 1935

Arrangements are practically ready for the mammoth Fourth of July celebration at Rockport, and the eyes of the nation will be on the dedication of Rockport’s Lincoln Pioneer Village at the city park. The event of the dedication is being combined with an old-fashioned homecoming and ______ with the Spencer county historical society superintending the whole affair.

Thousands are expected to attend the celebration. The eyes of the nation have been centered on this unique attraction and publicity has been nation-wide.

The main street entrance is reserved for automobiles and vehicles will gain entrance to the fairgrounds, or park, in no other way. Pedestrians will be admitted at the main gate, and four reception committees will be on hand to receive the visitors. On the main reception committee, besides those mentioned in a recent news article, are Mr. and Mrs. Robert Squire and Mr. and Mrs. Myler Shrode.

T. C. Basye, president emeritus Spencer county historical society, is chairman of the main committee, others will be U. S. Lindsey, society treasurer, chairman of the McGuffey club committee, Mrs. Mina Cook, society vice-president, chairman of the press committee, and within the village a pioneer group will form the reception committee.

A continuous program has been arranged for the park, beginning with the parade which will leave the courthouse at 10 a. m. and which will be on review on the race track. Hilbert Bennett will announce each float as it passes the grand stand. All speeches will be heard in all parts of the park, an amplifying system being installed. Henry Hoch and B. F. Stewart are co-chairmen in charge of amusements.

Dinner will be served at eleven o’clock by the M. E. ladies aid group. Mrs. Hilbert Bennett will announce that dinner is ready by blowing a conch shell once owned by her grandmother and now more that 100 years old.

The McGuffey club program will be presented at one o’clock in the afternoon under a huge brush arranged with log benches in front of the pioneer schoolhouse. J. Roy Strickland, organizer of the McGuffey club, will be in charge. Joseph R. Haines, editor of The Rockport Democrat, will give the welcome, and Rev. J. F. Fake, pastor of The First Baptist church, Evansville, will speak on "McGuffey’s Influence in Indiana." Mrs. Charles H. Salm and the club will sing songs composed in the McGuffey manner by Mrs. Elmima Cassady Huffman of Troy. A permanent club will be organized. Dr. Claude Lomax, Dale, will be secretary for the day.

Mrs. Bess V. Ehrmann will preside at the dedication program, to be held at 2:30 o’clock. Fifty young ladies will be honor escorts for the speakers. Invited to speak are Gov. Paul V. McNutt of Indiana; Gov. Ruby Laffoon of Kentucky; Gov. Henry Horner of Illinois; United States Senators Sherman Minton and Frederick Van Nuys, Representative John W. Boehne Jr., Attorney General Phillip Lutz Jr., and former Lieutenant Governor F. Harold Van Orman, Judge Roscoe Kiper, William Fortune, Lincoln historian; Mayor Chinn who will make the address of welcome, and George H. Honig, who will make the dedicatory address.

Mrs. Ben Smith will sing a solo and the Rockport high school band and the Dale high school girl’s drum corps will play.

Other events are also scheduled for the day. The committee in charge will be Frank Stewart, Henry Hoch, Hilbert Bennett, Claude Snyder, Thomas Fortune, Clarence Underhill and Charles W. Link.

The day will close with an Indian raid by the Kiwanis club members as Indians and Roy Martin, Claude Snyder and Loney Parsley in charge of the village defense.

Teachers of the Rockport schools are to act as official guides for the day, conducting visitors through the village and explaining historical significances. Those assigned to duty are Edith Brother, Helen Brother, Ethel Lawburgh, Charles Fay, Helen Posey, Eva Kehrer, Essie Lee Williams, Ben Atkinson, Thomas Fortune, Tina Hill and Eva Featherston.