March 6
In 1945, Jack Haydock, an 18-year-old U.S. Marine Corps private from Greenfield, suffered a shrapnel wound in action on Iwo Jima. He had landed there with the Fourth Marine Division on the third day of the invasion. After his wound he was transferred out to a location not disclosed in the letter the U.S. War Department sent to his parents.
March 7
In 1921, “Riley Days” were observed March 7-8 and featured the premier of the silent film “The Old Swimming Hole,” starring Charles Ray.
March 8
In 1916, votes from the March 7 primary continued to be counted. A story in the Daily Reporter noted, “The canvassing board may not complete their work before midnight tonight and it may be Thursday morning, they say. The official results will not be known until they have counted and placed the second choice votes.” The story also noted the presence of a few Progressive party voters, about five per precinct.
March 9
In 1942, a Greyhound bus driver and a passenger were killed in a collision with a milk truck on U.S. 40 three miles east of Greenfield.
March 10
In 1940, NBC brought its radio microphones to the Riley Home in Greenfield for its “A Pilgrimage of Poetry” series. The series visiting the home of famous poets had made previous stops at the homes of Edgar Allen Poe, Walt Whitman, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and others. The Greenfield stop was No. 22 in the 32-part series. More than 500 English department heads at colleges and universities voted on which poets should be featured.
In 1967, the Church of the Bible Covenant was organized at the John T. Hatfield Campground on U.S. 40 near Cleveland. The denomination dissolved in the late 1980s.
March 11
In 1889, the Wilkinson Church of Christ was permanently organized.
In 2020, a jailer at Hancock County Jail learned he had tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the county’s first case of infection from the novel coronavirus.
March 12
In 1909, Charlottesville teacher Clarence E. Dunbar taught his last class before leaving to play professional baseball in St. Paul, Minnesota. He later played for the Superior (Nebraska) Brickmakers, throwing a no-hitter Aug. 29, 1911, in a 6-0 win over the Winona (Minnesota) Pirates.
In 1925, Confederate Army veteran Joseph L. Hooker died. According to the City of Greenfield website, he is the only Confederate veteran buried at Greenfield’s Park Cemetery.
In 1925, photographer W.B. “Ben” Cuyler died. His more famous works included a picture of the “Old Swimmin’ Hole” and several photos of James Whitcomb Riley at different stages of the poet’s life.
In 2020, Hancock County Sheriff’s Department reported a jail employee — a Marion County resident who was not in contact with inmates — tested positive for COVID-19. All four of Hancock County’s school districts called off classes for the following day.
