One Day in May, 1918 - Winfield Scott Smith

Madison (Indiana) railroad station

Winfield Scott Smith graduated from Hanover in 1888, and on the morning of May 15, 1918, he was at the Madison train station. It was a nice day to sit outside waiting for his train (cool in the morning and warming up to 79 by afternoon). He must have chatted with a reporter hanging out at the station - because the local paper reported that Smith had been in Hanover "for the purpose of visiting old scenes and renewing old acquaintances." It was his first time back in twenty-five years, and he must have noticed lots of changes. What we call Hendricks Hall was new to him, and he'd also have noticed a new gym, a re-purposed women's dorm, and a new fraternity house. At least some of the campus buildings had electricity, which certainly hadn't been true when he'd been a student. Even the train station where he sat chatting with the reporter would have been new to him (built in 1895).

It's wonderful to be able to reconstruct this moment in Smith's life, but there's so much more we would like to know. How did he get from Hanover to the train station, and what did he carry in his luggage? Who were the old acquaintances he met, and what did they talk about? He was a respected Presbyterian minister in 1918, but did he show a different side to his long-time friends, laughing together about their youthful highjinks? Did they sit together, listening to the birds and watching the traffic on the Ohio? Were there professors they remembered fondly? life lessons learned?

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Sources: "Rev. W.S. Smith, of Badnon, Ore," Madison (Indiana) Courier, 15 May 1918, p. 6; "Weather Forecast," ibid.; "Hanover College History Timeline," Duggan Library Archives, Hanover College, https://libguides.hanover.edu/archives/history (accessed 15 May 2020); "Madison Railroad Station," National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/madison/Madison_Railroad_Station.html (accessed 15 May 2020). (Photo is from "Madison Railroad Station," ibid.)