From the FIRST MATE's PHOTO ALBUM...

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Evansville had a refrigerator company by the name of Servel... it left Evansville in the 50's for St. Louis. Many that worked at the plant moved to St. Louis. The move was very bad for the Evansville economy. In the photo below, taken this morning, you can barely see the name Servel on this old rusty water tower (at least the letters "Serve..."). This old tower stands as a 50-plus year old reminder of one of Evansville's largest employers. My father worked at Servel, but did not move to St. Louis. Economic conditions are often very important reasons for migrations of families. [Click on photos for larger images.]
Recently the refrigerator company that took over most of the old Servel plants by the name of Whirlpool decided to leave Evansville... this time though the company took the plant to another country. Mexico was chosen to have cheap labor and recently cute little vehicle window stickers have been popping up and I thought I would share a photo of one. I guess it is somewhat offensive to some (forgive me), but Whirlpool's move is even more offensive to the workers that are now unemployed!

- Photos taken & submitted by JGWest

Whirlpool Is Closing Its Doors Today!

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This blog is being posted kind of late today. I did not much feel like posting one at all, since Whirlpool has decided to close its plant here, that has been in town for over 50 years and heading to Mexico for cheap labor! 1,100 people lost their jobs! This will affect many families besides the ones that were left without a job.

There will be divorces, bankruptcies, people losing their cars or even their homes. Some will move to an area where they can get work and start over in their lives. As genealogists, we have wondered why families moved from one place to another. Sometimes, it was because they could get land. There were times when tragedy struck due to the weather storms or floods (earthquakes, etc.). Sometimes fire destroyed everything they had. Diseases would wipe out the majority of a family and cause the survivors to want to move on to help them grieve. The land may have become barren due to the crops taking the nutrients from the soil and the farmers did not replenish it. Sometimes there were large numbers of people leaving at the same time to go to a new place... these migrations usually were caused by a tragedy or land speculation.

My point is just, as some will move from Evansville due to loss of their job at Whirlpool, our ancestors had a reason to move from where they were born to live in another state sometimes a long way off. An important aspect of our ancestor's story is learning why they moved.

Compiled by JGWest

"A Day to Reflect"

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Very Bad news was announced yesterday... after 53 years in Evansville, the Whirlpool Plant is shipping their refrigerator production to Mexico by June 2010 affecting 1,100 to 1,400 employees.

I have nothing else for today's blog, so I thought I would just share some photos from the Frog Follies to let us reflect on a lighter side of life. The event features over 5,000 street rods from everywhere. It is sponsored by the Eville Iron & Street Rod Club and this is the 35th. Annual event. Evansville hosts one of the largest of these shows! It becomes a giant invasion of the city's motels, restuarants & streets. It is difficult to go far without seeing one cruising along or parked somewhere. The first photo was taken at Willard Library (we stopped in to return some books on our way to see the street rods at the 4-H Center). Note the car parked next to my 2007 Pontiac Vibe. The license plate reads "N2 RODDN." Click on the images to get a larger image.



There are lots of stuffed frogs, signs & other items in the shape or form of frogs at the Frog Follies! Check out the sign in front.

This is one of hundreds of cool hood ornaments.

All of the rest of the photos emphasize the huge array of colors!

This last one is a very bright pink for the Cure of Breast Cancer. It is a Studebaker Champion. Evansville once had a Studebaker production line.

- Photos taken & submitted by JGWest