Morton High School - Top Hat Yearbook (Hammond, IN)

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Michelle Troksa — Bobby Lopez Mark Snedden — Angie Vasic A Dream Comes True For some senior girls becoming home¬ coming queen is fantasy. Yet, every year six girls get nominated, and for them the fanta¬ sy becomes possibility. For one, it is a dream come true. It is also rare when someone who is ranked first academically in the class is se¬ lected homecoming queen. But, this year that is what happened. For the rest of the student body, the se¬ lection of the homecoming queen is some¬ times more exciting than the game Itself. On Friday, October 4th, Michelle Troksa was crowned homecoming queen during the halftime show. The race had been a tight one. Amidst all the cheering and hugging, one could still feel the sense of disappoint¬ ment the other girls must have felt. Still, being in the homecoming court should be a moment to treasure for a lifetime. THE MOMENT HAS ARRIVED — Michelle Troksa receives the crown and flowers from last years’ queen, Pam Wojclk. Homecoming 13

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Lisa Golec — Erik Anderson Denise Rebey — John Marcum 12 Homecoming BUI Edinger — Judy Ramsey Jeff Orange — Sophia Stravropoulos

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How Hessville Has Changed OUR FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE — The Little Red Schoolhouse located in Hess¬ ville Pa rk was Hammond ' s first public school. THE ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION — Purdue Calumet is ideal for Morton Graduates who wish to further their education while still living at home. It was on December 11,1816 that Indiana became the 19th state of the United States and it wasn’t until Feb¬ ruary 15, 1837 that Lake County was formed. Until this time. Lake County had been part of LaPorte County. In 1850 the census showed a total of 97 people living in North Township which includes present day Whiting, East Chicago, Gary, and Hammond. Hammond’s earliest settlers were Ernest Hohman, a tailor from East Prussia, and his wife, Caroline Sibley, whom Hohman met in London on his way to America. The Hohmans bought 39 acres of land in 1851 on which they built the Hohman Inn located on the north bank of the Grand Calumet River. Many others including August Ahlendorf, Jacob Drecker, Jacob Rimbach, and William Sohl, who built the first grocery store next to the Hohman Inn, came to settle in this area which later became known as State¬ line. In 1859 five miles east of Stateline was a settlement known as Gibson. Gibson was named after David Gib¬ son, who had operated an inn at the northern Hessville site. Gibson sold out to Joseph Hess, a French baker, and moved to the Munster area. Hess later moved about one mile south onto Kennedy Avenue, opened a general store, and Hessville grew in the years that followed. At the end of the Civil War the largest settlements of the area were Stateline and Hessville, with 30 resi¬ dents each, while Gibson had only 10 residents. The man given credit for uniting the three areas was George Hammond from Massachusettes who dropped out of school at the age of 10. In 1868, the largest slaughterhouse in the world owned by Hammond along with Marcus Towle, Caleb Ives, and George Plummer was opened; it employed over 1,000 workers and slaughtered overe 3,000 cattle in a year. In 1869 the first refrigerator car designed by William Davis carried meat from the Hammond Plant, as the slaughterhouse became known, to Boston successfully. The Hammond Plant boomed beyond comprehension. In just two years, 1873-75, business doubled from $1 million to $2 million. By 1886, the plant had a capacity of 1,500 cattle a day. It was also in this year that Hammond died at the age of 48 from being over¬ worked. Meanwhile, also in 1869, Joseph Hess set up the first public school house in the area, located on the corner of 169th and Kennedy. In 1897, 50 people lived in Hess¬ ville, and it boasted of having a grocery store and a blacksmith shop. Hessville Park, containing 14.2 acres, was acquired in 1924 and in 1971 under the leadership of V.E. Iliff, the citizens of Hessville moved the schoolhouse from its original site to where it is now located in Hessville Park where it has become known as “The Little Red Schoolhouse.” It has been completely renovated and some of the original desks and the bell are still there. Hammond’s Bicentennial celebration centered around it on July 2 and 3rd. 1976. In 1920 Hessville had a population of 1,450. In 1923 Hessville was annexed to Hammond.