I just looked through my messages for the past 5 years. Gad, I've been windy! Anyway... Here is a shot of Gridley Tower in Anderson and a sot of Gridley's board which is now in the Madison County historical Society in Anderson. Of course Gridley is long gone.
Wow, that's a different looking tower! Really odd to not see a bottom half. Glad the board was saved atleast.
I never noticed that. I'll have to look at the Board to see if I can figure it out. When I got it, all of the lines were covered with black plastic tape. The people who knew what the or meant are now dead. :-(
Was Gridley a separate town? Is it now a part of Anderson or was it basically just a "place" name? Charlie
I was wondering about that too. Just checked and this map shows Gridley about 1-1/2 Miles from where Anderson is marked. This area must have been heaven for tower fans. Roger has some mighty cool stuff in his posts. [/QUOTE]
The google map for Anderson indicates that the (former) location of the Gridley tower is about a half-mile to the west of the eastern border of Anderson, which runs along South Rangeline Rd. The topographical maps on the [ https://www.historicaerials.com ] site identify the local area as Gridley.
Well, I've wondered about that, too. There was never anything around Gridley, so, I don't have any idea why it is called Gridley Indiana on early maps. I expect that you have to go back in history to get that answer.
I might guess that in their heyday, railroads were so much more important to everyone. So the location was noted, whereas today it might never be shown?
an example of this place naming business... There is a station stop on the BNSF/METRA Chicago-Aurora IL line named "CLYDE". It is actually Austin Blvd. As I understand it, the name goes back to the 19th century when that area was known as Clyde. It was an unincorporated area, more like a neighborhood. The town/area/neighborhood of Clyde had significance in the development of Chicago's rapid transit (elevated/subway)system by Charles Yerkes. Charlie
Gridley is listed, as a station on the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis RR, in the hypsometry section of the 1911 edition of an annual report by the Indiana Dept. of Geology and Natural Resources. U.S. Navy Captain Charles Gridley - of "Fire when ready" notoriety - was born in Logansport. Wonder if that could be a connection? Then, of course, there's the hoodie:
As for railroads being more popular "back then", remember that one in four Americans worked for a railroad in one form or another before about 1925. That was a lot of people! I expect that had something to do with Grridley, Indiana.
You will notice on the board that when you go from D to J that is a main line move west . Also you will see a 3 arm semaphore on the D side . The 36 or the upper arm could give 3 indications green yellow or red . The 35 or the lower arm could give 3 indications green yellow or red . On the J to D you are making a move against the current of traffic when you enter track D from J . The 3 arm semaphore on the J side the 3 indications of the upper or 3 #1 arm are green yellow or red . The #2 or lower arm would be yellow or red . 36 could give clear ,green over 2 reds , or approach ,yellow over 2 reds or stop . 35 could give you red, yellow restricting , or green slow clear . To top all this the letter E track was manual block . LEW