Phil Ellenberger (left) and County Judge Pfeifer
At the August 23 meeting of the Calhoun County Commissioners Court, the Court, in Conjunction with the Texas Historical Commission, awarded the Calhoun County Historical Commission their 2011 Distinguished Service Award. This award is given to a few of the County Historical Commissions from all of the commissions in the state.
The award is in recognition of that commission’s active and well-balanced preservation program for the history of the county. This is the second consecutive year Calhoun County has received such an award. The award was received from County Judge Michael Pfeifer by Phil Ellenberger the current Chairman of the Calhoun County Historical Commission.
The Judge and the Commissioners applauded Ellenberger and encouraged him to keep up the good work.
In an interview with Ellenberger afterwards, he emphasized that his acceptance was on behalf of the whole Historical Commission. “We have an active Committee that surveys and gets local cemeteries designated as Historical Cemeteries. We have an active Historical Marker committee that researches the stories and locates sources of historical significance,” Ellenberger said. “In 2011, we had the hugely successful event where we had people from all over come back to remember Indianola. 2011 was the 125th anniversary of the hurricane that caused the demise of that prospering town. We had a dedication at the LaSalle Monument recognizing Polish immigrants who came through Indianola. It is a companion to the German one. The event involved ceremonies and entertainment at the Indianola sight. This included participation by descendants of Indianola residents and some live camels. They reminded us of the ‘great Camel Experiment’. In the afternoon we had, at the Bauer Center, historical presentations along with entertainment. Booths of information and artifacts were available along with food.
These are the sorts of activities that caused us to win the award again. If I were asked to name some who contributed, I could only list the Commission members and many other interested parties. It was truly a joint effort of Calhoun Historical Commission and the citizens of the county. It is such a delight to work on preserving history in a county that is so rich in that commodity.”
J. Phillip Ellenberger is a regular contributor to Dolphin Talk. His article “Now and Then” appears in this issue.
