History of Martin County

• Crane Naval Base started development during World War II, in 1940. Crane was one of many government production facilities across the Hoosier state, and started as a naval weapons depot. It was named in honor of Commodore William Montgomery Crane, the first head of the Navy’s Bureau of Ordinance.

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• The geological composition of the soil in Martin County is ideal for gypsum material. Both National Gypsum and US Gypsum operate plants near Shoals.

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• Musseling was once a huge industry in Martin County. Shells of the mussels were used for pearl buttons beginning in 1915 by Fabius Gwin, and became an astonishing industry as time passed. Gwin was known as the “king of the button industry” in the state, and his factories paid extremely well and employed over 300 people during the peak seasons as diggers. The shells from the White River are superior to Tennessee River shells, which is the major shell producing river in the United States. Gwin kept his company afloat until his death in 1947. However, when zippers and elastics were introduced to the market, buttons dramatically lost their popularity and the industry in Martin County took a severe blow.

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• Clay pottery in Shoals/Loogootee: About the same time period as the famous Rookwood Pottery was made in Ohio. Upton Stuckey realized the clay from the hills of his farm could be molded and finished by firing. Ovens were built, and the venture later became the first pottery in Martin County, and perhaps one of the very first in the state of Indiana. Containers by Stuckey had a blue and blue-green glaze design that resembles a bird. Devol and Catterson operated two pottery kilns at Shoals and made 92,000 gallons of common stoneware annually, from 1870-1892. The land in and around Shoals and Loogootee was ideal for pottery, and probably still is. John H. Folks made stoneware, flower pots, etc. from a bed of light gray potters’ clay located on the Joseph Cannon farm beginning in 1878. The stratum of potter’s clay used by Mr. Folks is nearly five feet thick and underlies a vein of coal. The area is extant with a variety of yellow-loess potter’s clays and shale and is ideal for this industry.

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• Sherfick Music Company, specializing in operating juke boxes, was located in Shoals and was one of the largest companies of its kind in the Midwest.

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• An abundant supply of natural gas and sand led to the growth of a booming glass industry in Martin County. The Loogootee Glass Company, Graham Brothers, New Caladonia Glass Works, and Phoenix Window Glass Company resided in Loogootee, starting around 1902. Everything from fancy, delicate perfume bottles to medicine bottles, glass chains to fruit jars, were produced. It’s been quoted that “just about every man in town worked there at one time or another, even if it was just for a short time.” All of the factories closed, however, by 1915 because the supply of natural gas was extinguished.