Booming tourism?

How can Jay County capitalize on its rich Gas Boom history?
That was the topic this week at a gathering co-sponsored by Jay County Historical Society and Jay County Visitor and Tourism Bureau.
Efforts to establish and promote an Indiana Gas Boom Heritage District and a Gas Boom tourism trail have been around since at least 2012 but have had difficulty gaining traction.
“Although progress has been slow,” said the historical society’s Tom Young, “we’re hoping to string a trail together.”
This week’s gathering at the Jay County Historical Museum was the second in “what we hope is going to be a series of retreats,” said Dr. James Glass, a Gas Boom expert, author and historic preservationist.
Indiana’s Gas Boom lasted just short of 20 years, from the drilling of the state’s first natural gas well in Portland in 1886 to about 1905 when the rich gas reserves of the Trenton Field had been exhausted.
During that period, a 20-county portion of the state enjoyed enormous industrial expansion and prosperity.
“As we look around our hometown community, we see the ghosts of when our towns were booming,” said Young. Historians have estimated $10 million in wealth — in turn of the century dollars — was created during the Gas Boom.
Four Jay County communities — Dunkirk, Redkey, Pennville and Portland — were especially affected.
“The beginning of the Gas Boom was Portland,” said Glass. “The folks here in Portland were the first to be inspired to actively drill for gas in Indiana.”
A well drilled in the spring of 1886 hit gas but not in “paying quantities,” he said. A second well drilled that fall was more successful.
Scores of wells followed in a region stretching west to Kokomo, south and west to Muncie and Anderson, and north and west to Marion.
Industry soon followed.
“Any factory that needed high-intensity fuel was lured to the gas fields,” Glass said.
That included everything from steel-making to tin plate manufacturing, but in Jay County it primarily meant glass-making.
“Dunkirk was one of the strongest gas-producing areas” with the pressure produced by its wells far out-pacing wells in Portland, said Glass. “It was the top Gas Boom city in the county.”
By 1900, Dunkirk had eight different glass factories. Redkey had three.
But much of the gas was simply wasted.
“People thought it was inexhaustible,” said Glass.
By 1908, Dunkirk was down to two glass factories, the forerunners of what would become Indiana Glass Co. and the glass container plant that is now part of Ardagh Group. By 1909, all of Redkey’s glass factories were gone.
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From a potential tourism standpoint, what remains of that era are the architecture, outstanding collections such as the one at The Glass Museum in Dunkirk and the stories that are part of the history.
Glass said much of downtown Dunkirk, Redkey, Pennville and Portland date to the Gas Boom era.
Four churches — First Presbyterian and Asbury United Methodist in Portland, Plymouth United Church of Christ in Dunkirk and Redkey United Methodist — all date from that era. The stained glass in those four churches is outstanding and worthy of the attention of tourists and visitors, said Glass.
In addition, he identified numerous residential properties that were homes to factory owners, managers and workers.
Glass outlined 10 possible strategies that might be pursued locally and in conjunction with the Indiana Gas Boom Heritage District:
•Creating an inventory of Gas Boom buildings in Jay County.
•Telling compelling stories about Gas Boom life, focusing in particular upon Elwood Haynes, who was born in Portland played a key role in the development of the Trenton Field.
•Providing hands-on experience with glass-making to visitors.
•Holding regular tours of Gas Boom buildings and neighborhoods.
•Conducting regular tours of Gas Boom architecture in the county.
•Having a Gas Boom festival that involved all four Gas Boom towns simultaneously.
•Encouraging the development of more food and dining options.
•Encouraging the creation of a Gas Boom bed and breakfast.
•Making use of the tax advantages of having properties on the National Register of Historic Places. Downtown Portland and Redkey are on the National Register, and Glass said Dunkirk and Pennville should seek to get their downtowns on the register.
•Marketing Jay County’s Gas Boom heritage by using the Indiana Gas Boom Heritage District’s logo in promotional pieces.
About 50 people were on hand for Glass’s presentation and a brainstorming session that followed. Glass will be writing a report that incorporates Jay County comments as part of an ongoing tourism development project.[[In-content Ad]]