The trek back to my college campus from North-Central Indiana leads me through 3 cities before hitting Lafayette. I wrote about Rochester and Logansport last year, so decided to head out to the smallest of the three, Delphi. There was a two lane road that went right next to the courthouse for the first ten years, but then they built a highway version of 25 that cut out traffic from the downtown area, so it had been a while since I been down there. I was excited to see what the birthplace of Dick “The Bruiser” had to offer for travelers, as well as find a place with a tasty tenderloin.
The Tenderloin
There is a song by this band, Brownsville Station, called “The Martian Boogie” (Great rock song, by the way, I would suggest a download if you like songs in the style of Thorogood’s “One Bourbon, One Scotch, & One Beer”). In the song the narrator talks about bypassing a bunch of chain burger joints to dine in a local hole-in-the-wall place called simply “EAT.” That lyric came to mind as you travel up the road and arrive at a diner simply called, “Sandwich Shop”. Granted, there wasn’t a Martian eating there that got me messed up on Martian cigarettes that looked like crayons and had me dancing The Martian Boogie till the break of day, but I can see someone standing up and getting down after sinking their teeth into the tenderloin. Although they’ve changed names and menus over time, Sandwich Shop has been on Main St in Delphi for 77 years. I do love me a diner bar, and you can pull up a stool upon entering. The food is cooked Waffle House style – right in front of you. My son said it was almost like a Hibachi table with American food. There is no frozen pre-cooked pork patty here as you can just watch them make it right in front of your eyes. The payoff is the taste. The breading, although not very crispy, had a nice seasoning to it; not too salty, but can be eaten without toppings. Of course we put hot sauce on it, in which they served to us in a squeeze bottle. The bun was buttered and toasted on the griddle giving a nice crunch to every bite. The white meat inside was cooked perfectly and had nice smooth taste. I would say it was a medium size breaded pork tenderloin, as it was bigger than the bun, but not circus size. There were no leftovers, but our hunger was completely satisfied. I also need to give the fries a mention. We are more tater-tot fans, so neither of us got fries. Unfortunately almost everyone we talked to after visiting the shop asked us if we had the fries, so they must be something of wonder that we missed out on, so don’t make the same mistake (although the tots we got were pretty good). This place gets packed fast, so make sure when you travel down the “new” state road 25, you take a detour early in the day into town to “Sandwich Shop” for a meal, and don’t hesitate to order their Hand Breaded Tenderloin.
The Town
A long, long time ago before the invention of the steam engine, the only way to get people and goods long distances around this vast country was by water. Nature supplied us with rivers, but that wasn’t good enough as Americans don’t like other powers telling them where they could go, so we made our own rivers by digging canals. After years of construction the new waterways were complete and commerce was ready to travel down the highways. Unfortunately, for the canal builders and investors the railroad came along, which was cheaper, and all those new canals became obsolete and abandoned. The portion of the Wabash & Erie Canal in Delphi remained and became a nasty pit on the outskirts of town. In the 70’s the city decided to clean up the abandoned sections and create a park. Today you can visit the Canal Park as it contains a pioneer village, museum, trails, and even a boat ride along the canal. The pioneer village is something you would see out of an outdoor history fair. There was a blacksmith making triangle dinner bells, broom makers, basket and barrels being made out of wood, and the loom shed. The visitors are given a demonstration and even encouraged to participate in some activities. The museum contains the history of the canal complete with kid friendly displays. It has a running canal system where you can operate locks and dams, a pulley machine where you could load rocks in a lime kiln, and various puzzles and quizzes to teach the little ones while they think they are playing. The highlight of the park is the boat trip. You get on a small boat and traverse the canal while a tour guide gives you some history of the area. It is pretty neat to see all of the transplanted old bridges you go under and, if lucky, spot some turtles sunbathing on logs by the shore. The tour guide had lived right on the canal when he was a kid before the park was cleaned up. He is full of stories of the old times where boys used this abandoned creek for their playground. We spent hours here and, although I do enjoy the parks in Elkhart County, I am jealous that this gem is not in my backyard.
The Rock Shop (Delphi seems to keep its establishment’s names simple) sits across the courthouse on Washington Street. Inside you can find various types of rocks and fossils for sale. Whether you want raw minerals, polished stones, jewelry, carbon & mold fossils, it’s like a museum in there. In the back you can find some antiques too, mostly old pop bottles. This is the largest sale of rocks I’ve seen outside of a special traveling rock and mineral show. Everyone is bound to find something in there.
Old or abandoned assembly places fascinate me. There is something about visiting a stadium, theater, or park grounds that used to host thousands of people. Some are abandoned, others are repurposed, but sometimes you are lucky enough you can find one still in use for its intended purpose. This is what drew me to The Delphi Opera House. The building was built in 1865 and contained a hall on the third floor. In the 1881 it was converted into an opera house hosting “traveling theater groups, minstrel companies, and concerts” according to the website. In 1914 the house was closed by the fire department for being unsafe. Keep in mind this is 1914. How much of a fire hazard would it have had to have been to get closed down in 1914! The hall sat vacant for about 100 years pretty must just being used as storage for the businesses below. When the 21st century came around, the city preservation society decided to dust off the stage and put renovations in place. Today the Opera House hosts theater, performances, and concerts as it was intended to 157 years ago. I was not able to attend a performance at the Opera House, but I was lucky enough to get a tour of the facility. While the first two stories still host offices and businesses; the third floor hall has been modernized for comfort and safety without losing the architectural beauty of the old Opera House. The old out-of-code staircase has been cordoned off and a whole new annex has been added to the back of the house providing restrooms, elevators, and extra exits. It is a wonderful new facility and I’m ecstatic to see it brought back to life and host a new generation of residents.
If you do go under the new old bridge on 25, it is worth a stop to park and take a short hike to see an old old bridge. The Monon High Bridge is an abandoned railroad trestle that sits high above Deer Creek. Crossing the bridge is not for the faint of heart, there are no guard rails and you just walk on the stringers. It’s about 850’ long and towers at 65’ (but it looks like 1000 ft) over the creek. The stringers do not look to be in the best condition, but I went about 50’ out before turning right back around and saying something of the tune of, “Oh hell no!” For legal reasons here, I’m not advising anyone to go out and cross the bridge, but it is definitely work the walk to see it from the approach. If you can find a trail to hike down the river I’m sure it would be quite a sight too.
The population of Delphi is around 3000 souls, which makes it one of the smallest cities that I’ve written about. I’ve struggled to find things to do in these smaller cities often resorting to the county to find places to visit to write the blog. That was not a problem in Delphi, the city and various societies have done a good job of preserving and creating activities for the residents and visitors. The hiking trails alone are more numerous and longer then I’ve seen in bigger cities. The only disappointment was not being able to find the house that Dick the Bruiser lived in. I couldn’t find anything online and when I asked around, there wasn’t much info. The Canal tour guide whose mother was friends with his mother said he lived on Front Street, but there were a lot of houses on Front Street. I’d thought for sure I’d end the blog with a picture of Dick The Bruiser’s birthplace. But I, for sure, can’t complain about my day trip to Delphi. It has wonderful parks, wonderful buildings, and a wonderful fried breaded tenderloin.
Uhhhhhh... No way!
by Michael Tomko
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Thank you Mike for writing such a great Delphi story. O thrilled I was in the Box office when you arrived for a tour. It was a pleasure meeting you and your son. Please come back to see The Opera House in action. It was Rockin’ Saturday night with local favorite Malachi Jaggers. The tenderloins will always be as good as ever. Jane VanSickle Miller