This weekend! Sidewalk Sales and Nonprofit Days in Angola!!

This Friday and Saturday, August 6th and 7th, please join us downtown for the Sidewalk Sales and Nonprofit Days! We will have Conaways Inflatables and games for your kids to enjoy, and a slew of nonprofit organizations (Listed below)! Plus, on Saturday, the Angola Fire Department will have their trucks downtown.

Conaway's Inflatables and the nonprofit groups will be there on Friday from 11am-3pm, and Saturday from 10am-1pm, downtown businesses will be open their normal hours.

Come enjoy the sales, and check out some of our local nonprofit groups as well!

Nonprofit groups involved:


Homes for Hounds (Flier Attached) will be showcasing their dog houses.
All proceeds benefit Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb & Steuben Counties and Steuben Co
Humane Society

Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb and Steuben Counties.

The Arby's staff is doing a fundraiser for their coworkers son who is 6 years old. He has been diagnoised with stage 4 Pancreatic cancer. We would like to do a bake sale and a Pampered Chef Fundraiser at the same table. Contact Elizabeth Ellis 419-551-2183 cell email: elizabeth5432@yahoo.com for more info

United Way - Information

Sweet Adelines - Information They will be singing at their booth on friday.

First Congregational Church of Christ is having a bake sale.

TLC Steuben - Information

Angola Tree Board - Information


I hope to see lots of folks downtown this weekend, having a great time!

(And next week, I'll be back with more downtown history!)

Strolling Through Historic Downtown-Adverts from 1908

Today, we're going to take a tongue in cheek stroll through some Advertisments in the 1908 Angola High School yearbook.




I've read that Mr. Kratz was also a maker of fine remedies and tonics, so if anyone's got an old tonic or remedy bottle from Kratz's, we'd love to see pictures. *grin*

The Most Sanitary Restaurant in the State. Now that's saying something. Also, note the amazing deal transients got on their board.



Note that Mr. Cline will make a photo That Looks Like You! As opposed to today, where people want their photos to be airbrushed to look like someone completely different.



The only reason I post this one is so that we may chuckle at this being printed in a high school year book. I wonder if a tobacco store would be able to do that, today, without someone making an amazing stink. *grin*


While the jeweler/optician combo may seem really strange now, the professions went pretty much hand in hand in the beginning of optometry, and the majority of early opticians were jewelers first.

I hope you've enjoyed our stroll through commercialism, 1908 style. *grin* If you've got any weird, funny or odd adverts from early Angola, feel free to let me know. This is something I'll periodically throw into the middle of our historic strolls here, if folks are interested, so please, let us know if you like our blog posts! :)

Strolling Through Historic Downtown-The Courthouse

This is the first part in what will hopefully be a long ongoing series about downtown Angola, throughout history, the landmark buildings, the history shaping merchants, and amazing citizens that have all, together, helped shape the Downtown into what it is today.

If you are interested in something particular, or have something to share about anything downtown related, feel free to pop me an email, or comment here on the blog itself.

I'd also like to thank, before I start, Kim Maxton Bordner, of A Wild Hare for permission to peruse, and use her amazing collection of postcards.

That said, enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Steuben County was formed out of LaGrange county in the late 1830's, Thomas Gale and Cornelius Gilmore offered to donate land for a courthouse, and to erect the building. This is how Angola became the seat of the county.

The first courthouse in Angola was finished in 1841, in roughly the same place the courthouse is now. It was a simple two story frame building with the first floor divided into four rooms- one each for the Clerk, the Recorder, the Auditor and the Treasurer- while the second floor was reserved for Court and for general public assemblies.

This first courthouse was built with a long porch in the front, decorated with a tall row of colums that eventually had to be taken down so that the growing village could make use of the porch as a much needed extra room.

When the town decided that a new courthouse needed to be build, they got a local carpenter, Freeborn Patterson, to design the building, and they sold the old one at a public auction.

The old building was then moved, to make room for the new one, and stayed for many years on East Maumee, just off the actual square. (In the picture below, it's behind Patterson's.)

So, in 1868, the “new” courthouse was finished, and has been in constant use ever since,and in 1975, it was added the National Register of Historical Places.

While many things have changed both inside and out (The cars out front are a big difference from the buggies of old, and I don't imagine that Free Patterson designed the courthouse entrance with the metal detector in mind.), it's still essentially the same building that's been serving Steuben County, and remained one of the most lovely parts of the Downtown for 142 years.

Weekend fun in Angola, and more!

If you're looking for fun this weekend in Angola, you should definitely check out the first annual Angola Balloons Aloft, out at the airport tonight and tomorrow. There will be helicopter and plane rides, food vendors and competition hot air balloon flights, as well as lots of other stuff!

Check out their website ~Here~ for more info, as well as times. Hope to see everyone there!

Also, check out the blog starting next week, as we'll be highlighting some of downtown Angola's history, the first installment will be all about the courthouse!

Have a great weekend, Angola!

Angola Featured on Channel 21 Fort Wayne

Make sure you watch the feature on Angola in "Life's Better Here" this Wed. June 9th at 5:00pm on Channel 21 Fort Wayne.

DOWNTOWN ANGOLA CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE FOR WEEK OF: May 31st

DOWNTOWN ANGOLA CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE FOR WEEK OF:
May 31st

Contact: Julie Cole, City Planner. City of Angola, Indiana
Telephone: (260) 665-7465
Email: HYPERLINK "mailto:jcole@angolain.org" jcole@angolain.org
**WEATHER PERMITTING**
The following construction schedule is planned for the week of May 31st. We will make every attempt to follow this schedule but it is subject to change.

Monday (05/31)
**Holiday- No work will be completed

Tuesday (06/01)
Start forming and pouring curb and gutter in Southeast Quadrant
Continue paver installation in Northwest Quadrant

Wednesday (06/02)
Continue to form and pour curb and gutter and start forming and pouring planters in the Southeast Quadrant
Continue brick paver installation in Northwest Quadrant
Pave Southwest Quadrant

Thursday (06/03)
Finish pouring curb and gutter, pour new concrete banding and continue to form and pour planters
Continue brick paver installation in Northwest Quadrant

Friday (06/04)
Continue to form and pour planters and start pouring underlayment and sidewalk
Continue brick paver installation in Northwest Quadrant
Start placing topsoil in planters for Southeast Quadrant



The following North Quadrant businesses have an alternate side or rear entrance:
Angola City Hall
Sutton’s Deli
Stewart Law
The South Quadrant businesses will remain open during construction.

The City of Angola is committed to making sure the Public Square project is completed on schedule in a safe,
Timely and efficient manner. Weekly construction schedule updates will continue to be made available.
The City of Angola appreciates your continued cooperation as these improvements are made. Parking will be
Restricted but all downtown business will remain open throughout the duration of this improvement project.

Downtown Construction Update May 3rd

DOWNTOWN ANGOLA CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE FOR WEEK OF:
May 3rd

Contact: Julie Cole, City Planner. City of Angola, Indiana
Telephone: (260) 665-7465
Email: jcole@angolain.org
###
The following construction schedule is planned for the week of May 3rd. We will make every attempt to follow this schedule but it is subject to change.

Monday (05/3)
Continue pouring planters in Northwest quadrant
Finish demolition in the Southwest quadrant and install proposed storm sewer just beyond the easterly curb line

Tuesday (05/04)
Continue pouring planters in Northwest quadrant
Stake and layout for storm, lights and curbs
Start prepping for curb and gutter in Southwest quadrant

Wednesday (05/05)
Finish pouring planters, curb and gutter. Start pouring ADA ramps in Northwest quadrant
Continue prepping for curb and gutter in Southwest quadrant
Install new light foundations and conduit in Southwest quadrant

Thursday (05/06)
Start pouring sidewalks and underlayment in the Northwest quadrant
Re-cut and prep for asphalt in Northwest quadrant
Continue prepping for concrete in Southwest quadrant

Friday (5/07)
Finish all concrete in Northwest quadrant
Clean up Northwest quadrant

The following North quadrant businesses have an alternate side or rear entrance:
Angola City Hall
Sutton’s Deli
Stewart Law

The South quadrant businesses will remain open during construction.
The City of Angola is committed to making sure the Public Square project is completed on schedule in a safe,Timely and efficient manner. Weekly construction schedule updates will continue to be made available. The City of Angola appreciates your continued cooperation as these improvements are made. Parking will Restricted but all downtown business will remain open throughout the duration of this improvement project.