The man who said those words almost every night on the radio was a man named Paul Harvey. When he took notice of Joe Miller, he was the most-listened-to radio broadcaster in America, heard by 25 million people every day.
From his studios in Chicago, Illinois, Harvey would every day diligently sift through news reports available to newspapers and radio broadcasters. He was looking for compelling stories that might have been overlooked by other media outlets.
In early January, 1947, he found such a story, and it happened just 25 miles away in Griffith, Indiana.
Harvey’s programs were carried by 1,200 radio stations, plus an additional 400 stations of American Forces Radio. Famous well into the 1980’s, he had a popular syndicated newspaper column and a TV program.
Here’s the rest of Joe’s story, Paul Harvey’s tribute to Griffith’s own, Joe Miller, was broadcast on January 8, 1947.
You know you’re reeeeeally in need of cash when you take money from school kids. But that’s what we did 25 years ago, and we did it twice.
To be honest, we were honored to do it. Because, in both of the cases, the students wanted to give us money for the tower and they worked to do it.
Seventh-graders, in the then Griffith Junior/Senior High School, held a walkathon from the school to our Historical Park and back, earning us more than $500. And the Beiriger Elementary School students held a Penny War for us.
Come to find out every year back then, the Beiriger Student Council voted on one project to support. In the year 2000, they chose our Griffith Tower.
“We felt saving the tower was important to the town,” said Student Council president Ashley Korak, when interviewed for a newspaper article. “With so few towers left, we want to preserve ours.”
Note: When Ashley said those words, there were 177 towers still in operation in North America. Twenty-five years later, there are fewer than 50.
The Penny War worked like this: Each grade was given a big jar into which students deposited pennies into their particular jars every day for a week. All the jars were kept in the school foyer, and at the end of the week, a total $518.72 from all the jars was given to the tower.
The 5th graders donated the most pennies, with the 6th grade coming in 2nd place, and the 3rd graders taking 3rd.
Griffith Historical Society President Delores Smessaert, in the photo here, thanks all the students. “So much work needs to be done in this 76-year-old building,” she went on, “and your donation will go a long way in helping us install a new heating system.”
How does a group of “not the youngest of people” raise thousands upon thousands of dollars in just 7 months?
First of all, we bought a banner that said HELP US SAVE AND MOVE OUR TOWER!
Then we called on the Griffith Fire Department and asked them to put up the banner for us. The idea was everyone would see our message while waiting for trains to pass at our crossing.
This was in the year 2000. The internet and social media were in their infancies. So, how did one get the word out beyond our town?
We called the newspapers, who graciously published stories and photos about our efforts.
The very next day, the president of the Griffith Saving Bank called and gave us $1,000.
We were on our way!
Next, we wrote letters to any and all local, state and federal foundations, including the Lily Endowment.
Donald Trump had a casino boat in Griffith, so we contacted him. He gave us $100.
In the end, though, most donations came right from our town.
The schools stepped up. Beiriger held a Penny War that earned over $500.
The Griffith Junior/Senior High School had a walk-a-thon from their schools to our Historical Park and back. They raised over $500 for us.
We even had the honor to be written up in a newspaper column by Bo Kane, who grew up in Griffith and had a grandmother who lived right by.
Town organizations sent donations, and stores and businesses contributed to our cause.
Many of them put out Save The Tower mugs for us, so people we didn’t even know could donate to us.
Towns people who once worked for railroads or had a railroading heritage were very generous.
And friends from out of town, the Blackhawk Railway Historical Society, procured a $5,000 National Railway Heritage Grant for us.
The support we got from everyone was overwhelming and we will be forever grateful to them.
We were especially so on July 20th, 2000, when Dillabaugh, Inc. did what seemed impossible and moved a three story bright tower.
Out onto Broad Street at 9 o’clock, across the tracks and onto our property by lunchtime, standing above the new foundation at quitting time.
And the box of soap that was on a shelf in the upper room never moved. It was still in place when the boards were later removed and the building was opened up!
A historic job done by everybody involved, well done and ahead of schedule.
Griffith History Museums 