Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article
Historic Treasure of the Week -
March 10, 2002
By Mary Rose Hemminghouse
Vigo County Historical Society
Housewives start grassroots effort
In early February 1961, four local housewives meeting for a cup of coffee were responsible for starting a grassroots effort to address local problems that were referred to in an article in the Feb. 11, 1961, issue of The Saturday Evening Post, a national weekly magazine. The article was titled “Indiana’s Delinquent City” and was demeaning to Terre Haute and referred to the “apathetic citizens” in the town who were allowing these conditions to continue.
The housewives decided to find out if the town was truly apathetic or if the real lack in the community was a proper use and correlation of time and talent. They proceeded immediately by composing and sending off a letter on Feb. 10 to the editor of The Saturday Evening Post, not to dispute the allegations in the article, but to express their intention of meeting what they viewed as the challenge to correct the unflattering description given of their town to the rest of the nation.
A second letter also was sent to the two newspapers in town asking their friends and neighbors to send a postcard to the newspapers if they were willing to help meet this challenge. The response was overwhelming and within 24 hours they needed help to cope with the deluge of mail that was received.
The housewives took that as a go-ahead and proceeded. By Feb. 13, an office was obtained at 661 Wabash Ave. thanks to a local businessman and with volunteers of all ages and numerous donations from all sectors of the community, the headquarters was up and running within a few days. The women then closed shop for two days and came up with their statement of purpose and a decision was made to adopt the official name of the organization at HELP, or Housewives Effort for Local Progress.
The grand opening of the headquarters was on Feb. 19 with Mayor Ralph Tucker there to cut the ribbon for the headquarters. Those in attendance included the Indianapolis press and television, as well as the local media. They would later go on to receive attention from the national media. Their grassroots efforts had turned into a wildfire.
Within the next week, a Coordinating Committee of 20 women met to formulate specific policies and plans defined after polling the opinions of the committee members and incorporating the opinions of the public that had responded to the initial request for input. The organization was incorporated on March 8 and on Friday, March 10, one month after the article in The Saturday Evening Post, a public meeting was conducted in the Indiana Theatre to inform the public of their progress and goals. Additional recruitment was done at the public meeting and membership was established at the nominal fee of 50 cents.
HELP was to grow to between 400 and 500 active members of “live wire” women devoting their time and talents to make Terre Haute and Vigo County a better place in which to live. The issues that HELP pursued were many, including elimination of open dumps, elimination or control of air and water pollution, improved park facilities, enforcement of gambling laws, overpasses for the city, a unified health department, county park board, statewide meat inspection, mosquito control, dead animal disposition and new schools to name a few. Many of these services are one that we take for granted today, but were not present 41 years ago.
HELP was not a short-term proposition, but was an ongoing organization until 1975 when it was dissolved to avoid a duplication of effort with other women’s groups and a changed atmosphere prevailing in the town. Within 30 days, four women talking over a cup of coffee began a major program for Terre Haute and ignited a groundswell in the community.
Our thanks should go to Jane Hazledine, Jackie Becker, Elvira Carle and Joan Marx for their initiative in jump-starting this tremendous volunteer effort and changing apathy into action for the city of Terre Haute.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The Web site: http://indstate.edu/community/vchs.