Al Disbro has many interesting and informative stories and photographs detailing the history of Winona Lake. Now, his first book, “Winona Lake”, shares some of those pictures and details he has collected over the past 20 to 30 years. “It was my wife’s idea at first,” Disbro said during an interview Tuesday afternoon. “I picked it up.” Disbro previously provided photos for a book by Michelle Bormet, assistant to the Warsaw mayor, in 2001 when she wrote a book for the 150th anniversary of Warsaw. Disbro worked with Bormet on her book for about two years. A couple of years ago, Arcadia Publishing asked Bormet if she wanted to do a book on Warsaw. Arcadia publishes a series of books on American towns and cities called “Images of America” and wanted to include Warsaw. Bormet turned Arcadia down, telling them she just wrote such a book on the history of the city. However, Bormet shared with Disbro what the company was interested in doing and he thought Winona Lake would make a great subject for the series. Arcadia at first balked, saying the town only had a population of 5,000. But Disbro pressed, telling them about its rich history and the many famous folks who visited or made Winona Lake their home. Winona Lake was the home of Billy Sunday and Homer Rodeheaver. It was the headquarters of the Free Methodist Church, the Grace Brethren Church and Grace College. Will Rogers, Helen Keller, John Philip Sousa are just some of the famous people who made appearances in the town. Arcadia Publishing decided to move forward with Disbro’s book. There were two main reasons Disbro wanted to do the book. First, lots of people over the years have visited the town and collected postcards from Winona. Each year, they return and reminiscence, and get more postcards. But the last time a book was written about the town was 1949, with an update in 1960. Disbro’s second reason was because of the town’s upcoming anniversary. In 2013, Winona celebrates its 100th birthday. “The book is not for me. This is something the town has needed for a long time,” he said. For the past three decades, Disbro has been collecting photos, many of which appear in “Winona Lake.” He has two albums of Rodeheaver’s personal photos, which were pitched in the dumpster at one point. Other people over the years trusted Disbro enough that they gave me photos, or let him make copies of them. Unfortunately, his 126-page softcover book didn’t have room for all the photos and stories Disbro collected. Just 200 pictures made it into the book. One of the first things Disbro did when he started putting the book together was to figure out how Winona Lake got its name. Many people, Disbro said, think the town got its name from an Indian. However, in his research, including reading many old copies of the Times-Union, Disbro found out how the name came to be. That story is in the introduction on page 7. As Disbro shared the book Tuesday afternoon, he also was able to go further into detail about each photo and the people in them. He had stories that only a real historian would know. On page 58 is a photo with Judson Van DeVenter among the crowd. Van DeVenter was an instructor at the School of Photography, and did almost all the photographs for early Winona Lake postcards. On page 20 is a photo of one of the first houses built in Winona Lake called “The Sunrise.” Some homes built in the 1890s, Disbro said, burnt in a 1914 fire - 22 of them to be precise. The Mystery of Merbrink – both a ghost and a love story – is featured on page 37. What the book doesn’t tell the reader is that Disbro may have been the last person to have seen the ghost. To help Disbro get the stories in the book and make them more interesting, Animal Welfare League Director Darla McCammon helped him edit his book. Anything Disbro makes off the book, he said, will go to the AWL. “Darla and I put a lot of hours into it,” Disbro said. “Winona Lake” will be available Oct. 1, according to a press release provided by Arcadia Publishing. It will be $21.99 and sold at Zales Drug Store, The Mercantile in The Boathouse and SACS & Co. Disbro said The Mercantile and SACS both wanted to have a book signing for it. Online the book will be available at barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com and arcadiapublishing.com Copies also may be purchased by calling 888-313-2665. According to Disbro’s biography, provided by Arcadia, he is a photographer, historian and retired bank vice president. He has lived in Winona Lake since 1969 and has been a community photographer for 40 years. Disbro is a member of the Kosciusko Historical Society, a founding member of the Winona Lake Historical Society, a committee member of the Reneker Museum and a member of the last Winona Assembly. He also has had many of his own photos published in the Times-Union.
