19. Randolph County 4-H Club, Inc. To Be Built Near Goodrich Park

Winchester Journal Herald, August 7, 1951




  It has taken years and plenty of work and planning, but at last there seems to be some tangible progress in a building program for 4-H in Randolph County.
  In fact, the plan began back in the 1930's and since then the Randolph county adult committee composed of a man and a woman from each township has worked and planned carefully to bring about a building program which would house, in a centrally located spot, all of the county's 4-H activities.
  Culmination of the work came last September when a corporation was formed to carry on the planning and handle finances.
  This organization is called the "Randolph County 4-H Club, Inc.," and is incorporated under the laws of Indiana with papers filed in Indianapolis and the county recorder's office in Winchester.
  Here is the tangible feature-
  Randolph County 4-H Club, Inc. has just signed a 99-year lease with the Winchester city park board for more than seven acres of land just south of the Morton grade school on Union Street.
  This acreage will be the site of an extensive long-range building program which, when completed, may approach the $100,000 mark.
  With a 99-year lease signed and in legal form, the Randolph County 4-H Club, Inc., is looking ahead to 1952 when, it is hoped, the first phase of the building program can be started.
  Finances, however, must be solved and officers of the corporation are planning to go to the Randolph county commissioners for help.
  First building of three, to be erected on the site is to be a heated structure facing east, a building with an auditorium to be used for year-round meetings.
  The land has been leased from the Winchester city park board, papers being signed only a few days ago.
  Signing for the 4-H Club were Samuel M. Hinshaw of Winchester, president, and Ermal (Mrs. Clyde) Gordon of Stoney Creek township, secretary.
  John B. Goodrich and Thorald Steele signed for the Winchester Park Board.
  A long range program will call for at least three permanent buildings, first to be the auditorium facing Union Street which will house girls exhibits and actually be an all-year community center for all of Randolph county.
  Other structures will include, eventually, a livestock building for pens and stalls, a large open affair which may be used otherwise throughout the year as a shelter house.
  Then there will be a pavillion with a seating capacity of from 1,500 to 2,000 persons, in the center of which will be a "show" ring. This building, unheated, would be used for other activities during the year.
  Why did the 4-H club group choose the Winchester site?
  It didn't seem difficult to decide as the site is centrally located in Randolph county, there's ample ground for further expansion in the years ahead, it's connected with Winchester's fine park system and near the Goodrich swimming pool, there are water, sewage and electrical facilities, plus the fire and police protection so often needed.
  Expert advice was asked and received from two Purdue University experts who checked, rechecked and approved the Morton school site as "ideal," in addition to the above advantages realizing it is easily accessible with added parking space on Union Street if needed.