Henderson history: Henderson got its feelings hurt in 1998

What’s the matter with Henderson?

That’s the question a miffed citizenry was asking itself a quarter-century ago. Business Editor Chuck Stinnett phrased it a little different in the headline on his Gleaner column of Aug. 23, 1998:

“So, what’s so bad about Henderson?” That column was prompted by a story Stinnett had written in The Gleaner of Aug. 18 in which Accuride Corp. President Bill Gruebel listed the many ways he found Henderson lacking in “amenities.”

But before I delve into that controversy, I want to bring to your attention an editorial written by William Allen White back in 1896 that raised a similar question: “What’s the matter with Kansas?” White was only 28 at the time, and editor of the paper in Emporia, yet that editorial launched a national reputation that lasted until his death in 1944.

Kansas was losing population and bleeding businesses while the rest of the nation was growing and getting richer.

“What’s the matter with Kansas?” he kept repeating as he blamed third-party Populist politicians who were challenging the two-party system. White was what used to be called a “rock-ribbed Republican” and he used his pen to rough up the Populists.

He also quoted William Jennings Bryan’s famous “Cross of Gold” speech, which won Bryan the 1896 Democratic presidential nomination. The part Allen quoted (and vehemently disagreed with) is an argument that continues today, although we usually label it trickle-down economics.

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“There are two ideas of government,” Bryan said. “There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class and rest upon us.”

White later became a fan of Teddy Roosevelt and adopted some of the same progressive policies the Populists had been advocating. In 1906, by the way, he apologized for the sharp attacks in his firebrand editorial 10 years earlier.

So, what’s the matter with Henderson? According to Accuride’s president, it just didn’t appeal to the type of world-class corporate employees Gruebel wanted to attract. Consequently, he wanted to move the company headquarters to Evansville. (That was done in 1999.) “If you look at our recent past history, of the 20 people we’ve added to the organization the past two years, 18 live in Indiana.” But “neither place, in my mind, is very satisfactory.”

Moving the headquarters to a larger city would be too expensive, he said. But “it takes me upward of five months to acquire talent. The greater Evansville-Henderson metropolitan area is not a draw. We can’t compete with the larger regional cities such as St. Louis, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Nashville” because of their broader social and cultural offerings.

Gruebel wasn’t entirely writing Henderson off at that point, although Evansville would be the better choice because “the distance to the airport would be significantly less,” and Accuride’s management group did a lot of travel.

“If there’s something state or local government could do, we’d consider it.” A new Henderson headquarters on or near the riverfront would be desirable, he said, someplace from which employees could easily walk to restaurants.

Greubel had met earlier with two top state officials, Judge-executive Sandy Watkins said, and they noted up to $2 million in incentives could be available to keep the headquarters here. “I think there’s always a slight glimmer of hope, but I do feel Accuride has made some decisions, and I don’t think they’re looking toward Henderson.”

That really riled folks on this side of the river, which prompted Stinnett’s column of Aug. 23. Gruebel, he said, “wounded – insulted, if you will – Henderson’s pride.” Stinnett went on to list other corporate executives who had come here and liked it so much they put down roots.

“We think of our town as a safe, friendly community with a pretty little downtown, a lovely fine arts center, opportunities for boating and fishing and hunting, and decent, hard-working citizens. In short, a terrific place to raise your kids.

“We can suppose,” he said, the type of business Gruebel envisioned wouldn’t want “to be headquartered across the street from a mobile home park, as Accuride is today.”

And Stinnett conceded some of Henderson’s drawbacks: “We’re hours away from a big city with major league sports. The airline connections and fares out of Evansville aren’t always the best. If Evansville-Henderson makes the national news, it’s because something blew up or crashed here.”

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Gruebel’s comments sparked multiple letters to the editor, although that was partially because Accuride was in the midst of what turned out to be Henderson’s longest-running labor strike/lockout. The same day Stinnett’s column ran the front page carried a story announcing Accuride’s plans to eliminate 110 hourly jobs if the United Auto Workers returned to work.

On Aug. 22, the day before Stinnett’s column, The Gleaner’s editorial page carried three letters in response to Gruebel’s comments.

“Asking the city and the state to spend the taxpayer’s money to build an office building with an attractive location close to the river, within walking distance of the downtown restaurants, is ludicrous!” wrote Jim Carrier.

Lee Ann Key focused more on the strike/lockout: “Instead of Mr. Gruebel spending five months to lure corporate people to this community that are concerned about amenities, his time would be better spent trying to settle a dispute between Accuride and the people who put Accuride and him where it is today.”

Nell Dorsey said the “true meaning” of life in Henderson had recently been brought home to her when an anonymous young man changed her flat tire and refused payment. “The quality of life is great in Henderson.”More letters followed Aug. 27. “Gruebel has the gall to ask (government officials) to build him a building so his pampered salary people can work in luxury and beauty” while his priorities should be in settling the labor dispute, wrote Linda Mattingly.

Scott Brackett’s letter said Accuride’s new plants in Columbia, Tennessee, and Monterey, Mexico, spoke louder about company priorities. “Does anyone really believe that he didn’t know what he was doing when he made his remarks about this area? This isn’t about amenities, it’s about money!”

Stinnett concluded his column almost as bluntly as Greubel’s remarks: “Gruebel’s crime isn’t that he doesn’t care for Henderson. It’s that he expressed himself with greater candor than Hendersonians would have preferred.”

Perhaps, he said, Gruebel could be persuaded “Henderson is a fine home for Accuride and its families. Failing that, we should consider why the head of a multi-million-dollar international company would find our town lacking – and determine what we should do about it.”

100 YEARS AGO

The Green River Jockey Club, the original developer of what is now Ellis Park racetrack, turned out to be an also-ran, according to The Gleaner of Aug. 15, 1923.

The club’s board assigned the track’s assets over to the Ohio Valley Banking & Trust Co. to sort out the financial mess it was in. To give you an idea of the scope of the racetrack's debts, consider this: Between May 1923 and September 1924 there were 17 lawsuits filed in Henderson Circuit Court against the Green River Jockey Club. Virtually all those suits were filed by creditors.

The assignment of the deed caused some of those creditors to band together in October 1923 and file a petition in Louisville to force an involuntary bankruptcy. They maintained that the deed assignment was an act of bankruptcy and listed the racetrack's debts at $237,400.

James C. Ellis bought the racetrack for $20,100 in a 1924 bankruptcy sale, but that sale was voided, and Ellis ended up paying $35,000 in a 1925 bankruptcy sale. That's about one-tenth of what it had cost to build the track.

75 YEARS AGO

Sheriff Lyman Cooper announced the latest addition to his department, according to The Gleaner of Aug. 19, 1948.It was a six-week-old bloodhound obtained from a kennel in Michigan. The expectation was that Deputy A.W. Agnew would have responsibility for the animal.

They named it “Babe” – in honor of baseball great Babe Ruth.

50 YEARS AGO

The 120-room Ramada Inn on U.S. 41-North opened for business with a “French country atmosphere,” according to The Gleaner of Aug. 19, 1973.

It was valued at $1.2 million at that time.

“The facility offers a 120-seat dining room, the Candlelight Room, a 90-seat cocktail lounge, the Quail and Ale Room, and an outdoor heated swimming pool.”

It was managed by George Stigger Jr. with his wife, Lucie, as banquet manager. Three meeting rooms, each with a capacity for 75, allowed the booking of banquets that could handle from 20 to 250 people.

The facility became a Days Inn in the late 1980s and then reverted to the Ramada Inn in 2003.

Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at [email protected], on Twitter at @BoyettFrank, and on Threads at @frankalanks.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Henderson history: Henderson got its feelings hurt in 1998