Happy 100th Anniversary!
100 Years of Business Leadership

On April 11, 1903, about 60 area businessmen formed the Tell City Improvement Association realizing that they must work together to achieve the success they wanted. The name of the Association was changed in 1919 to the Tell City Chamber of Commerce and in the next couple of decades, helped usher in the U.S. Brick Co., Knots Manufacturing Co., Tell City Chair Plant No. 3, Canning Company, the U. S. Forest Service unit, a swimming pool, improved telephone service, a new post office, reorganization of the Tell City Furniture and Southwestern Furniture companies and the construction of many miles of improved county roads. The Chamber also was a driving force behind the construction of the floodwall. Business boomed in the 1940’s and little work was done as a Chamber as all area businessmen were too busy working at full capacity in area plants and businesses.

In 1951 at a meeting held in the Knights of Columbus Home, 75 concerned area businessmen responded to the call from Chris Zoercher and E. W. Schergens to reorganize the Chamber. In the 50’s and early 60’s the goals were for the expansion of the sewer system, a disposal plant, creation of zoning and annexation of new areas to the city. The Chamber was a key figure in attracting Cutter Boats into Tell City in the 1950’s.
A full-time office was created at 404 Main Street in 1966 and the Chamber again was renamed calling itself the Tell City Area Chamber of Commerce. In the ‘70’s, the Chamber hired a full-time executive director, developed an industrial park, built a vocation/technical school and formed a labor management council. The Chamber was also a key force behind the finishing of I-64 through the county in 1976, the completion of the new Indiana 37 in 1980 and the widening of Indiana 66 to a four-lane highway from Washington Street south.

The Chamber moved its office in 1979 into the old train depot made available from a donation from the Southern Railway at the urging of Theodore “Doc” Hickerson, B. Louis Heitkemper and others. Heitkemper served as the Executive Director from 1976 to 1978 and then part-time until 1986. The Chamber stayed at the depot until 1986. In the 80’s the emphasis was on the attraction of new industry to the area and development of the industrial park at Troy. The Swiss Colonization Society and Chamber formed a Joint Industrial Development Committee. Stewart Warner announced their location in Troy in late 1988. In 1987, the Chamber changed its name to reflect service to all of Perry County and was renamed the Perry County Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber offices were located at Sixth and Fulton and then moved to the second floor at 645 Main Street in 1988. Tony Pappano and Gary Walton served as Executive Directors from 1986 to 1992.
The Chamber pushed for the adoption of EDIT taxes that formed the basis for funding the Perry County Development Corporation whose function separated from the Chamber in 1990. The Chamber went without a director from 1992 on until Donna Adams was hired in 1997. The 90’s saw an emphasis on downtown revitalization, tourism & industrial park development. Plans for reviving Cannelton and Tell City downtowns were developed and the Chamber joined the Indiana Main Street program. The Chamber with the County Park Department and others pushed for adoption of an innkeeper’s tax to promote tourism and create the Perry County Convention and Visitors Bureau in 1995. The Chamber assisted the Visitors Bureau for four years with start-up and staffing prior to them hiring their own Executive Director in 1999. In 1996 the Chamber and the development corporation moved to a larger joint location on the same floor above First State Bank. The Chamber supported the development corporation in their efforts to build two new industrial parks, develop a local port, and attract our largest manufacturer-Waupaca Foundry, Inc. Historic preservation and maintenance of a National Historic Landmark was boosted with the Chamber receiving a $160,000 grant in 1998 to stabilize the Indiana Cotton Mill and bring together Lincoln Hills Development Corporation with a developer for the project resulting in LHDC’s eventual grand rehabilitation of the mill into apartments.

The new millennium brings a whole new host of projects by the Chamber including a community web site with job bank and real estate search services; Manufacturer’s Roundtable; fiscal services for the Southwest Indiana Network for Education adult literacy grant; joint partnership with the City of Tell City and the development corporation for creation of a life-long learning initiative for workforce development; development of a community plan to look at the community’s livability, stem the brain drain and focus on creating a community that our employers can easily attract professional and management personnel to; moving from a member of the Indiana Main Street program to an active associate forming downtown main street organizations in Cannelton and Tell City; continuing to push for Hwy 37/145 improvements; the realization of years of work in the on-going construction of Hwy 237, and creation of a Small Business Exchange to work cooperatively to further enhance the county as a regional marketplace and revising the Taste of Perry County to include booths for selling gift items to move the event toward a business promotional event with a regional draw.