Vevay 1918

The description of Vevay in 1918, part of an automobile touring guide, is unusual in describing surviving Swiss customs. Its discussion of George Eggleston suggests that he was as famous as his brother Edward at this time. There could probably be a lively debate on the statement of the original models for characters of Edward's books having lived in Vevay.

The automobile blue book

Published by The Automobile blue book publishing co., 1918 Vol. 4

Vevay, Ind. (pop. 1,256, alt. 525 ft.), is finely situated on the Ohio River 20 miles above Madison. It was settled by 30 Swiss families, to whom the United States gave a grant of land in 1796 to patronize the culture of the vine, and who showed their loyalty to their native country by naming the county Switzerland and the town Vevay. The situation of Switzerland county near the states of Ohio and Kentucky makes it more cosmopolitan than the other counties of Indiana. and Vevay has a good site, being half way between the market centers of Cincinnati and Louisville, and is almost entirely dependent on the river for transportation. Many families made a fortune in flatboating here. An interesting description of this industry is given in George Eggleston's "Last of the Flatboats," which pictures localities and personalities of this neighborhood.

Many of the old Swiss customs are still retained; for instance, the reading of the 90th Psalm at funerals. The Mardi Gras celebrations of New Year and New Year's eve are peculiar to Vevay. The citizens, masked and dressed in grotesque costumes, call from house to house. It is not known how or when this custom began.

Vevay was the home of Edward Eggleston, the Hoosier schoolmaster. [As phrased in the original, the word author was not used] The house in which he spent his boyhood is still standing in good repair. It is a two-story brick with a queer little squeezed up vine-covered portico over the front door. A queer tangled old garden adjoins the west side of the house. Here lived the originals of the characters in "Roxy," "Hoosier Schoolmaster," and "Hoosier Schoolboy."

When the "Hoosier Schoolmaster" was brought to Vevay in 1914 on the movie films there were still many who could criticise the truth of the production. The "House with the Lombardy poplars," where Mark Barnaby took his wife, Roxy, to live, resembles an old French chalet and is situated on the outskirts of the town with a chestnut grove adjoining. The queer, rambling, low-circled house of Aunt Lucy Detraz, the mother of "Toinette," in Roxy, is still standing, with its yard jutting out into the sidewalk.

Though Vevay is off a railroad [meaning not on a line], every street is paved with cement, and there are waterworks, electric light, good schools, furnaced houses, several churches and two progressive women's clubs. Vevay has the second oldest newspaper in the State, "The Reveille" which has been published for 97 years.