Dick Pletcher sits in a local coffee shop with his computer and some of the books he references as he works on a book highlighting the history of Nappanee. He also has tasked himself with going through the digitized version of old Nappanee newspapers dating back to 1879 in order to put together how the city got to where it is in its sesquicentennial year. InkFreeNews photo by Keith Knepp.

By Keith Knepp
InkFreeNews

NAPPANEE — As a lifelong resident of Nappanee, Dick Pletcher has an incredible institutional knowledge of the city, its people, its businesses and its culture. Many know him as the founder and former CEO of Amish Acres, but his depth goes way beyond the town’s famous landmark, which Pletcher sold a few years ago.

Pletcher admitted that it has taken some time to adjust to retirement, but it certainly doesn’t mean that he’s become sentient.“I’ve been retired four years, and it took me until this year to figure it out,” he said. “It took me four years to figure out that I could get up early because I wanted to, not because I had to.”

His new, yet lifelong, passion is documenting the history of Nappanee, using not only his personal knowledge and recollection, but also through an extensive collaboration with Martha Owen, manager of the Evelyn Lehman Culp Heritage Collection.

“(People who know me) know I am just a romantic historian,” Pletcher said. He recalled how in 1966, then-Nappanee Mayor Pat Sinclair appointed him chairman of Nappanee’s sesquicentennial committee of the state of Indiana. With the city of Nappanee celebrating it’s own 150th birthday in 2024, Pletcher is concentrating on his book project, which he anticipates will be broken down into three parts, each concentrating on a particular time frame.

Pletcher pointed out a book that was written by Jimmy Weygand, “They Called it Nappanee,” which provided a history of the city’s first 100 years, ending in 1974. Pletcher credits Wysong as being one of his mentors and a large part of the reason he feels an obligation to continue to tell the city’s historical storyline.

As part of his research, Pletcher has taken on the daunting task of reading every Nappanee newspaper dating back to 1879, which are available in a digitized format through the the Indiana State Library.

“I’ve read the first 50 years worth, so far,” he said. “I’m able to go through the text, cut and paste and pull it into a separate document what I find of interest about Nappanee.”

So far, he has gone through about 20,000 pages of newspaper print and has put together about 2,000 pages of notes.”

“I realized that this won’t do me a bit of good unless I have an index,” he said. “So now I’ve gone back and indexed over 3,500 articles about Nappanee, and I’m only through about 1904. … So I need help; I need someone to stop me from this madness!”

Pletcher verbally regaled in great detail the vibrant past of the city, including how it became know as the kitchen cabinetry capital of the world to its transition to a haven for manufactured homes and recreational vehicles.

He also spoke of how his father, LaVerne Pletcher, convinced him to put together an art show in downtown Nappanee. Over the next several years, the “Village Art Show” became the business plan of Amish Acres, as well its famous Arts and Crafts Festival, which for the next 50 years became his life.

“All I did every day was to interpret history of Amish culture,” he said. “Along the way I collected many memories within the Amish community and the Nappanee community. … I’ve always had my hands in Nappanee’s heritage and been aware of what the past has been to us.”

Pletcher has received some grant money to help pay for the publication of his books. He is hopeful to finalize the first edition within a year.

“I’m crazy,” Pletcher admitted with a chuckle. “I don’t know anyone else who would want to do it or think that it was worth doing, but I’m still convincing myself that it is. If nothing else, if Martha ends up with 5,000 pages of articles and an index of all of them, I think its been worth my while. … As you can see, I’m obsessed.”