DISKO also known as NEW HARRISBURG BY RON WOODWARD Disko is a tiny community lying on the Wabash and Fulton county line, 21 miles northwest of Wabash. Originally called New Harrisburg, the name was changed when the Erie Railroad was built through the village. The depot built for the town was some half a mile away in a sort of swamp or marsh, sixty rods from any road or street by which it could reached. George Gearhart, the town's proprietor recorded the plat July 1, 1856. N.M. Moore surveyed it in April of 1856. At first business was weak. In 1856 there was a grist mill propelled by water from a spring and a ditch dug to collect water for the mill. The mill had a large wheel twenty-four feet in diameter, and lasted about seven years. It stood half a mile, northeast of town. William Carpenter built a small frame dwelling and a store in 1858. Mr. Bloomer erected another dwelling and another store in 1858. Daniel Spargy established a grocery in 1860. Mr. Trifoos thought the place needed a grog shop and he established one about 1860. Thomas Wittenberger and William K. Thurston put in a dry goods store about 1864, having a very good stock. Jacob Figert and John Young set up a blacksmith shop and a wagon repair shop in 1861. Jonas Lukens and Charles Barrett had a store. Frank Onstatt built a steam sawmill in 1880 and a Mr. Zimmerman ran it. In 1882 Mr. Baughman began a store. Doctors in the area have been Drs. Sampson, Vaughn, Whip, Richardson and Darr. Charles Fleck had a blacksmith shop and Ansel Ferre had a butcher shop. Time was, Disko had a buggy factory, butcher shop, depot, saloon, dry goods store, physician, grist and saw mills plus many homes. The post office was created in 1876 closed several years ago. About 1907 there was a lot of excitement around the Disko community. Hunters combed the fields, woods bogs and marshes near Disko for what was believed to be a black bear. Several farmers near the village saw a large creature, often at close range, and were convinced it was a bear. The first person reporting such an encounter was Charles Rader, who came upon the creature while bringing his cows back to the barn for the night. He spotted what he first thought was a large dog at the edge of some timber. The animal reared up on its hind legs and gave a "bloodcurdling growl" which sent him running to the house for his shotgun. Near midnight, John Sider and Ralph Lukens, returning home from Akron, confronted what they described as a bear in the middle of the road near Rader's house. The next morning, Millard Correll and Jesse Hileman, fishing near the shore at Lost Lake were talking about Rader's sighting. The two men no sooner agreed that they would welcome such an encounter when they heard a low growl. They turned to face a bear just a few feet from them.The glimpse of the creature was enough to send Hileman running toward Disko. Correll took time to gather his hat and stringer of fish before he followed Hileman at a hot clip. Early in the Twentieth Century Disko was little more than a rail- road stop on the Erie Railroad, located on a three-way line that connected Wabash, Fulton and Miami counties. A station and few scattered houses made up the community. Disko was notable for its huckleberries, Saloma Myers, old fashioned gardens and an unusual scarecrow. It was not unusual to see cars of every description parked along the roadside near Disko and along the roadsides would be scores of people gathering the luscious fruit when in season. The Disko neighborhood had another quality surpassing the excellent flavor of the huckleberry. Men and women in their seventies were regarded as "young folk". Aunt Saloma Myers was 102. Ask anybody where she lived and they would direct you to her little old log cabin. Piles of winter wood and a cluster of trees almost obscured the cabin from the road. A gate surrounded the cabin and a wire latch released the front gate. A friendly dog would come forth to give you a greeting. His barks summoned a woman to the kitchen door. The woman at the door would be Mrs. Catherine Drudge, daughter of Mrs. Saloma Myers. She would be well along into her seventies. Mrs. Myers born October 29, 1829 liked to sit in an easy chair and just look out the window at her fields. She enjoyed recalling the old days when hungry wolves threatened the family and Indians lived in the neighborhood, "Don't speak of the Indians. They were our friends." She would tell of their visits to her father's home and how she played with the papooses. Down the road from Myers cabin was the home of Aunt Hannah Gall. Her house was surrounded by old fashioned flowers blooming in her garden. She particularly enjoyed a bush called Honesty sometimes called Money Plant because of its resemblance to a silver dollar and Hollyhocks particularly some with black blossoms. She at the time was only 83 years old. She enjoyed talking about her garden "do you know that I counted all the spades of dirt I turned in my garden last Spring. There were exactly 1,605." Remember she was 85 years old. In the middle of her garden stood a scarecrow with a beaver top hat, like that worn in the 1870s,an old jacket and a gingham skirt. Imagine a woman with a plug hat. Aunt Hannah would tell you the hat was worn by her husband on their wedding day. Frank Zimmerman built the Old Dutch Mill Service Center which served as a gas station and country store from when Indiana SR 114 was changed to the 1930s. Zimmerman had formerly operated a service station in the stone house that once stood in Disko. It was built with native timber harvested from his own woods. For years it was the center of life in Disko. The building was shaped like a Dutch windmill minus the wind paddles. Many though it resembled a lighthouse. Later Albert Smith owned the store and then sold it to Don and Leo Gearhart sometime after they returned from Europe during World War II. Cindy Gearhart Barnett in her book "Never Far From Home" described the Old Dutch Mill as follows: "There was a time when The Old Dutch Mill was the center of life in Disko, Indiana. Disko was little more than a collection of houses, two or three stores, and a post office, just off a bend in the road between Akron and North Manchester in northern Indiana. Right on that bend in the road sat The Old Dutch Mill, a general store and filling station run by my parents, Donald and Eileen Gearhart. "It was shaped like a Dutch windmill without the giant wind paddles, almost like a lighthouse, with a curved-out wall at the front of the store. It was white with dark shingles in a band around the top. Connected to it was a garage, where my dad was the mechanic. A sign with the flying horse Pegasus hung high by the road, advertising Mobil gas. The front of the store displayed red Coca-Cola signs and a big round clock. Approaching Disko from either direction, a person would see billboards my dad had built declaring, 'Buy! For less! Old Dutch Mill Service Center. Groceries, Gas, Pop. "Inside the store, the shelves were filled with groceries, cosmetics, toys, clothing, candy, hardware, and just about anything else a person might need. If you wanted a bottle of pop, you would open the coca-Cola cooler, take the bottle, dripping wet, out of the chilled water, and open it with the can opener built right into the side. You could buy fresh meat and cheese there, too. The meat cooler was filled with long rolls of Longhorn Colby cheese and varieties of Eckrich cold meat. Inside the freezer were Sealtest ice-cream bars, fudgesickles, and other frozen treats. Only name brands like Eckrich and Sealtest were sold at the Duct Mill. Don would slice meat onto the scales using the Hobart meat slicer, wrap it in white paper, and tie it up with string. If you wanted a sandwich or a malted milkshake, they had that, too. You could sit on a stool and eat at the counter, and sometimes on weekends they would play music and you could dance. Although I didn't think about it at the time, The Dutch Mill was an extraordinary place to grow up." The Old Dutch Mill was torn down in the early part of 2008 by current owner Tamara Biddle. By 1953 Disko had about 166 residents. Businesses included the general store run by Floyd Fleck; Old Dutch Mill Filing Station run by Don Gearhart; Peters Grocery run by Frank Peters; and Tullis general store run by P.V. Tullis. There was also the Disko Conservation Club on East Main street and the Disko Methodist Church. Families included the Ameigh, Beemy, Bowman, Brooks, Burch, Bucher, Flohr, Floor, Gear- hart, Grogg, Grossnickle, Harlan, Hartzler, Hileman, Hill, Howard, Hunter, Jennings, Lukens, Manns, McQuiston, Nordman, Norman, Pearson, Perry, Peters, Schultz, Seibold, Stafford, Strevy, Taylor, Tullis, Tyron, Yates, and Young families. In 1976 approximately 75 persons resided there and a general store, known as the Old Dutch Mill.