MYSTERY OF THE FRESCO

James Whitcomb Riley belonged to a social club known as the Academy Club of Peru. The activities were held on the third floor of two adjoining buildings at the corner of Second Street and Broadway. One room was a club room and the other a dancing hall. Riley and his partner were employed to paint and redecorate the two rooms. Guests inquired about the fresco painted and was told it was the work of Riley. One admiring visitor once said of one of the pictures, was itself, a poem. The years passed, the club outgrew its quarters, and the rooms stood empty. When the owner of the building died he left his estate to his daughter Alice. Alice married a Logansport banker by the name of Forgy. In a few years the Forgys built a handsome home in Logansport and when the home was completed Mr. Forgy sent expert plasterers to Peru to take out the corners of the club room adorned with Riley's work and put them in place in a room in his new home. I went on a quest and contacted the Cass Co. Historical Society. They emailed me back and gave me the location of the house the Forgys had built. As with most things in today's society, the house has been torn down as well as the two adjoining buildings that were so full of history.