For some reason, my husband and I were talking about polio a few days ago. That subject brought to mind the project that included a local inventor, a Ball Memorial Hospital administrator, and the Warner Gear Company. It’s a story of people coming together during a crisis, working quickly, and solving a problem.

It was built for basketball, of course, but for so much more. Check out the original configuration of the building and you’ll find classrooms for woodworking, drafting, building trades, and auto mechanics. There was a print shop, an electrical shop, and a mechanical shop. These classrooms, configured in a number of ways, were used for many years by students from Muncie Central High School and by McKinley Junior High School.

In the last year or so, there has been a lot of discussion about the Muncie Field House (or Fieldhouse, whichever you like). What with the structural issues, Muncie Community School’s money problems, and the storm damage that let torrents of water rush in, there has been no shortage of discussion topics. It seemed like a good time to talk briefly about the history of the building.

From the time that planning for Minnetrista began in the mid-1980s, there was always to be a sculpture in the middle of the circle drive in front of the Center Building. Minnetrista Cultural Center opened in 1988 with no sculpture, and it took another sixteen years before one was erected. But what a sculpture it is!

Thoughts of home, family, and sweethearts were never far from the minds of the men and women who served during World War II. Mail call was a much anticipated time of the day, and letters were read, re-read, and read once again. Soon after the United States entered the war, the volume and bulk of mail became problematic for the Post Office and the War and Navy Departments. Officials looked no farther than the British Airgraph Service for a solution. That solution was to microfilm correspondence going both to and from the home front, thus reducing both bulk and weight.

Several days ago I needed to find a Ball Stores advertisement celebrating Japan’s surrender, in the Muncie Evening Press on August 14, 1945. I knew that the advertisement was in that particular paper, and I knew exactly where the newspaper was located. Doesn’t seem like a problem, does it? Unfortunately, it was. There were about thirty newspapers in the box dating from the 1920s to the 1990s. The rest of the afternoon was shot. I can’t pass up old newspapers.

The next time that you’re in the Center Building at Minnetrista, stop in the Heritage Collection Gallery to see glass, and lots of it. There is the sublime—the beautiful paperweight made by St. Clair Glass Company—to the supremely useful—an insulator made by Hemingray Glass Company. What do these two very different pieces of glass have in common? Sand! Yep, sand. Plus a few other ingredients, such as limestone, and soda ash. So what determines the color of glass? Again, sand.

From now until the end of the school year, Minnetrista will bustle with school tours. Elementary students from throughout East Central Indiana will hunt habitats, discover gardens, and meet the creepy crawlies. School bus drivers will open the doors, and kids will spill out. Teachers will herd them, and a good time will be had by all.

When I give tours of the Heritage Collection storage area, I show examples of everything from Ball jars to artwork to furniture to clothing. More often than not, the piece of clothing that gets the most oohs and aahs, sometimes even from the men, is an evening gown and matching coat from the Jackie Kennedy era. Both pieces are made of heavy silk dyed a bright spring green. They are heavily beaded and sequined. The ensemble was tailored by George Chen & Co., Ltd. of Peninsula Court Kowloon, Hong Kong.

When Phil Ball, of the “original” Ball family, passed away on February 4, 2016, Minnetrista lost another good friend. He and his wife Esther, who died in January 2015, donated money to the Annual Campaign and Endowment Fund, and artifacts to the Minnetrista Heritage Collection. More than that, though, they gave of themselves.

Minnetrista lost a dear friend when Bill Mann passed away on New Year’s Day. Bill was a Minnetrista fixture from the time he became property manager to the most recent Farmers Market days. He greeted everyone with a wide smile, a firm handshake, and often, a big bear hug.

For many in Muncie, a wonderful tradition was viewing the Christmas windows at McKinley Junior High School. The school, located next to the Muncie Fieldhouse on North Walnut Street, was built in the late 1930s. It had a large arched window in the façade that faced North Walnut. Starting in 1939, that window was decorated by the students each Christmas.