ometown
by Carol Anderson
Spring Sale
April 15 & 16
15% off Accessories.
10% off
new bikes & trailers.
Drawing for new bike.
Refreshments
on
Saturday.
Come see our
growing
selection of
Fuji, KHS, &
Raleigh bikes
ROCKY RIDGE BIKE SHOP
school buildings and a store room for his band camp.
The buildings were built to care for and accommodate
240 boys. The first year there were 62 boys enrolled,
the second year there were 258 boys enrolled, and in
1929 there were 300.
All of the boys were housed and boarded at the
institution. By 1929, fifteen states in the union were
represented there. The school term consisted of sixteen
instructors and six counselors. The boys were taught
in literary subjects as well as music. Five and a half
hours a day were devoted to instruction in music with
the other time given to athletics, swimming, hiking,
fishing, boating, and other recreation.
Every Friday evening public concerts were given
at the Oliver Lake resort and every Sunday afternoon
concerts were given at the camp.
By 1929 Wainwright was considering the erection
of additional buildings consisting of an auditorium
large enough to seat 2,000 people, a hotel of 25 rooms,
and two new dormitories. He also wanted to have the
camp be somewhat self-sufficient with farming, milk
cows, poultry, and hogs.
While the camp was in operation, Wainwright took
about sixty of his best musicians and traveled with
them to surrounding cities, summer resorts, trips on
the great lakes, and Chautauqua engagements thus
giving the boys wide experience and knowledge of
places and the country.
The institution promised to be one of the most
interesting and extensive of any of its kind in the
country and was once located on the largest lake in
LaGrange County, only six miles south of LaGrange.
According to the American Bandmasters Association
Research Center at the University of Maryland, after
his retirement, Wainwright served three consecutive
terms in the Indiana State Legislature where he served
on the penal committee. He immediately organized a
band in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, where
he taught music and instrument repair. Wainwright
died on January 5, 1960. In 1943, after Wainwright’s
retirement, the library of his camp was given to Purdue
University.
I was unable to locate further information about the
history of this camp, but will continue to do research
and hopefully write more about this subject in a future
edition. If you have any information about the camp,
please email me at [email protected]
Page 33
1735N 500W
SHIPSHEWANA IN 46565
PH. 260-768-8095 ext. 4
istory
Phone: 260-463-4901 • Fax 888-439-6528 • The Hometown Treasure
On the east side of Oliver Lake almost 100 years
ago, music filled the air from the Wainwright Band and
Orchestra Camp, the first nationally known band camp
in the country. In the spring of 1926, J.W. Wainwright
of Fostoria, Ohio, married Jeannette Streeter who
lived in LaGrange.
According to John Hanan, who wrote an article
about the band camp in the book LaGrange County
Centennial History 1828-1928, Wainwright was a man
of broad experience in education and especially band
music.
For eight years he was the director of the Oberlin
College band and head of the wood wind department
at Oberlin Conservatory of Music for three years. In
1913 Wainwright organized the Oberlin Boys Band and
the next year they toured the eastern United States
and played for President Wilson.
Wainwright bought over 88 acres of land on the east
side of Oliver Lake and constructed three buildings: two
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April 2011
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