J. Irwin Miller

Nancy Kriplen

Description

From Columbus, Indiana, to a Fortune 500 Empire

J. Irwin Miller:The Shaping of An American Town tells the life story of this remarkable man who led Cummins Engine Company from its roots as a small, family business to an international Fortune 500 company and transformed Columbus, Indiana, into a gem of midcentury modern architecture. As president and then chairman of Cummins, Miller emphasized a corporation's responsibility to the community in which it was located and its other stakeholders. Miller's commitment to Columbus architecture inspired such legends as I. M. Pei, Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Kevin Roche, and others to contribute their designs to what has become one of the most artistically revolutionary towns in the country. Columbus's unique public art and architecture continue to inspire young architects and attract visitors from around the world. Miller has also played a significant role in the American civil rights movement, securing cosponsorship for the March on Washington and working with presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson to help pass the Civil Rights Act. Martin Luther King Jr., once called Miller "the most socially responsible businessman in the country."

J. Irwin Miller Family Tree

1. Lady Bird

2. Joseph

3. Muskoka

4. Irwin

5. Clessie

6. Eliel & Eero

7. Xenia

8. Home

9. Harry

10. JFK, LBJ, JIM

11. Farewells

12. Kiss

13. Mandela

14. Bach

15. a.k.a Pop

16. Afterglow

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Buildings
• 20th Century
• Modern
• HISTORY
• Mensajería instantánea
• Modern history
• List of concert halls
• Cold War
• General officer
• Building
• History of the Americas
• Cummins
• Business
• General
• United States
• KS
• IL
• ND
• IN
• NE
• Obermodern-Zutzendorf
• OH
• MN
• SD
• Public
• MO
• MI
• Columbus
• Indiana
• Architecture

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253043832
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

J. IRWIN MILLER
J. IRWIN MILLER
THE SHAPING OF AN AMERICAN TOWN
Nancy Kriplen
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
2019 by Nancy Kriplen
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the
United States of America
Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kriplen, Nancy, author.
Title: J. Irwin Miller : the shaping of an American town / Nancy Kriplen.
Description: Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018049696 (print) | LCCN 2018050025 (ebook) | ISBN 9780253043825 (e-book) | ISBN 9780253043818 (cl)
Subjects: LCSH: Miller, J. Irwin (Joseph Irwin), 1909-2004. | Industrialists-United States-Biography. | Miller, J. Irwin (Joseph Irwin), 1909-2004-Art patronage. | Midcentury modern (Architecture)-Indiana-Columbus. | Columbus (Ind.)-Biography.
Classification: LCC HC102.5.M467 (ebook) | LCC HC102.5.M467 K75 2019 (print) | DDC 338.7/629250092 [B] -dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018049696
1 2 3 4 5 24 23 22 21 20 19
TO SAFFRON, LILLY, ELEANOR, CAM, AND LUCY

Wouldn t Irwin Miller be great? He s one of the great people of this world.
-New York City mayor John Lindsay discussing possible 1968 GOP candidates for president
Columbus is an improbable town.
-Balthazar Korab, Columbus Indiana: An American Landmark
CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Photo Gallery
J. Irwin Miller Family Tree
1 Lady Bird
2 Joseph
3 Muskoka
4 Irwin
5 Clessie
6 Eliel and Eero
7 Xenia
8 Home
9 Harry
10 JFK, LBJ, JIM
11 Farewells
12 The Kiss
13 Mandela
14 Bach
15 AKA Pop
16 Afterglow

Notes
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FIRST OF ALL, MY THANKS TO MARGARET, CATHERINE , Betsey, Hugh, and Will Miller, the five children of Xenia and Irwin Miller. They put up with my questions about everything from violins to civil rights marches. And they stood back when I m sure they wanted to jump forward and say, Wait-do you really understand our family s story? This book, though it had the family s cooperation, was an independent project.
Research trips are particularly pleasant when friends provide hospitality, as did hosts Maggie Thomas Newsom in Columbus; Shirley Mueller in New York; and Debby Applegate and Bruce Tulgan in New Haven and environs, along with luncheon hostess Catherine Miller. Will Miller provided a splendid tour of the Miller homes at Lake Rosseau in Canada s Muskoka area in a trip funded by a generous grant from the Indiana Arts Commission.
My special thanks to dear Columbus friends Sukey Nie and Maggie Newsom, who cheered me on at the beginning, even though, alas, neither could be present at the finish line. Good friends Jean Glick and Bill and Mary Ann Kendall were of great help because they knew the territory. Sarla Kalsi was always gracious about my questions, and the late Harry McCawley provided more assistance than he realized. Erin Hawkins of the Columbus Visitors Center has been particularly helpful, both in the writing of this book and for an earlier 2013 article for the New York Times .
Alyssa Kriplen of MAKwork and Dan Courier of Ram Management helped find and prepare images for this book so that even readers who have never been to Columbus could understand what all the fuss is about. Tom Mason s careful reading kept me from many embarrassing mistakes.
My thanks also to many institutions and their staffs: Art Institute of Chicago Ryerson and Burnham Libraries (Autumn L. Mather), Bartholomew County History Center (Cody Harbaugh), Bartholomew County Public Library (Beth Booth Poor), Christian Theological Seminary (Scott Seay and Don Haymes), Columbia University Center for Oral History (Erica Fugger), Columbus Architectural Archives (Tricia Gilson and Rhonda Bolner), Columbus Clerk Treasurer s Office (Natalie Berkenstock), Columbus Visitors Center (Erin Hawkins, Don Nissen), Cummins Inc. (Katie Zarich and Kelley Creveling), First Christian Church (Maxine Wheeler), First Presbyterian Church (Felipe Martinez), Heritage Columbus (Tracy Souza), Indiana Arts Commission (Sarah Fronczek), Indiana Historical Society William H. Smith Memorial Library (Suzanne Hahn, Nadia Kousari, Susan Sutton, Barbara Quigley, and especially Maire Gurevitz), Indiana Landmarks (Tina Connor, David Frederick, Sam Burgess, and Mark Dollase), Indiana University Library (Erica Dowell and Lou Malcomb), Indianapolis Museum of Art (Bradley Brooks, Alba Fernandez-Keys, and Shelley Selim), Indiana State Library (Justin Davis), Landmark Columbus (Richard McCoy and Brooke Hawkins), LBJ Library (Barbara Cline), Library of Congress (Karen Fishman), Lilly Library-IU Bloomington (Erika Dowell), North Christian Church (Tonya M. Gerardy and Trudi Ellison-Kendall), The Taft School (Christine Afiouni), Yale University Manuscripts and Archives (Suzanne Noruschat and Eric Sonnenberg), and the blog 52 Weeks of Columbus, Indiana (Ricky Berkey).
My thanks also to Nancy Baxter, Tom Beczkiewicz, Jill Cashen, Betty Boyd Caroli, George Charbonneau, Bill Cohrs, Nancy Callaway Fyffe, William S. Gardiner, David Goodrich, Lee Hamilton, Jim Henderson, Bob Holden, Owen Hungerford, Jim Joseph, Christian M. Korab, Glen Kwok, Gerry LaFollette, Cho-Liang (Jimmy) Lin, Beth Lowe, Bob Lowe, Claudia Stevens Maddox, Marvin Mass, John Mutz, Jonathan Nesci, Natalie Olinger, John Pickett, Diane Richards, Steve Risting, Cynthia Cline Roberts, Kevin Roche, Michelangelo Sabatino, Henry Schacht, David Sechrest, Lauren Smythe, Joe Stevenson, Frank Thomas, Daly Walker, Fay Williams, Marianne Wokeck, and Dan Yates.
Agent Roger Williams of New England Publishing Associates was enthused about this book and this small town in Indiana, partly because of the interest in architecture in his family. When Sarah Jacobi changed positions at IU Press, editor Ashley Runyon took over this book, followed by project manager Nancy Lightfoot and Julia Turner of Amnet, who all worked to keep the author on track. My thanks to my husband, David, who gave this manuscript a wise first reading and helped an English major (sort of) understand diesel engines. Thanks also to Marsh and Alyssa, the architects in the family, who actually understood what I was writing about, to Kate who kept the family fed, and to Madelyn who kept the computer (and operator) happily functioning.
A sad final note: as this manuscript was being finished, the iconic Time Inc. sign in lower Manhattan was taken down, to be put in storage likely forever. An overdue thanks, then, to the formidable Content Peckham, the patient and wise Liz Fremd, Marcia Gauger, and others in the Business Section at Time . They taught an eager young Midwesterner her craft in those days when women were researchers and only men could be writers. But who cared? The Time and Life Building was then on Forty-Ninth Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Rockefeller Center across from the skating rink. It was the center of the journalistic universe.
PHOTO GALLERY
Each chapter opens with a photo of one of Columbus s iconic pieces of architecture or public art .
First Christian Church, formerly Tabernacle Christian Church. Eliel Saarinen, 1942
Robert N. Stewart Bridge, Second Street. J. Muller International, 1999
Bartholomew County Courthouse, reflected. Isaac Hodgson, 1874
Northside Middle School. Harry Weese, 1961
Cummins Corporate Office Building. Kevin Roche, 1984
North Christian Church. Eero Saarinen, 1964
Miller House. Eero Saarinen, 1957
Irwin Union Bank, now Irwin Conference Center. Eero Saarinen, 1954
Schmitt School. Harry Weese, 1957
First Baptist Church. Harry Weese, 1965
US Post Office. Kevin Roche, 1970
Large Arch. Henry Moore, 1971
Fire Station No. 4. Robert Venturi, 1968
Columbus City Hall. Edward Charles Bassett, Skidmore, Owings, Merrill, 1981
Hamilton Center Ice Arena. Harry Weese, 1958
Bartholomew County Public Library. I. M. Pei, 1969

J. IRWIN MILLER
First Christian Church, formerly Tabernacle Christian Church. Eliel Saarinen. 1942. Balthazar Korab Archive, Library of Congress
1 Lady Bird
THE PLANE WAS LATE. AT BAKALAR AIR FORCE BASE, WHERE THE welcoming party of dignitaries waited, Indiana s governor climbed back into his limousine, tipped his hat over his eyes, and took a quick nap. In the nearby town of Columbus, the people lining the streets waited more or less patiently as the gorgeous fall afternoon stretched into the light chill of evening. After all, how often did people living in rural America get a chance to be this close to the wife of the president of the United States? 1
The point of Lady Bird Johnson s four-day, seven-state tour through the country s heartland in September 1967 was a bit more complicated than one of her normal beautification tours. Those trips showcased wildflowers and billboard-free interstates. This trip, this Crossroads, USA tour, was organized to demonstrate that small towns west