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Born Oct. 14, 1857, in Portland, Ind., Elwood Haynes was educated in the Jay County public schools. He obtained admission to the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science in Worcester, Mass., in 1873 and graduated from that institution three years later. For his senior thesis he analyzed tungsten's effect upon iron and steel--an idea he used later in inventing Stellite, an extremely hard, heat-and-corrosion-resistant tool metal.
After graduation, Haynes returned to Portland to teach. He eventually became principal of Portland High School, but left to conduct postgraduate work in chemistry, biology and German at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
With the discovery of natural gas near Portland in 1886, Haynes left teaching and became superintendent for the Portland Natural Gas and Oil Company. In 1890 he was appointed field superintendent for the Indiana Natural Gas Company of Chicago, which had its headquarters in Greentown, Ind. While working for that firm, Haynes's inventive mind came up with a method to prevent pipelines from freezing by dehydrating the gas prior to its being pumped through the lines.
During a lull in his duties in 1891, Haynes began preparing plans and drawings for a new method of travel--a horseless carriage. Moving to Kokomo in 1892 as manager of the gas plant there, he continued to work on his idea. In November 1893 he purchased a one-cylinder, one-horsepower gasoline engine and, a few months later, hired Elmer and Edgar Apperson for 40 cents an hour to construct the vehicle.
The vehicle was ready for its first test run on July 4, 1894. The car was towed by a horse and buggy (to avoid frightening horses on the busy Kokomo streets) out into the countryside on the Pumpkinvine Pike. With Haynes at the controls, the car traveled about six miles at a speed approaching six or seven miles per hour--becoming one of the first cars in the country to achieve such a feat. With this success behind them, Haynes and the Apperson brothers formed a partnership to design and build the Haynes-Apperson automobiles. Both Haynes and Apperson Brothers automobiles were built in Kokomo until the 1920s.
In 1910 Haynes donated his Pioneer auto to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, where it is on permanent display. Haynes died on April 13, 1925. The Kokomo inventor, if not the first, was among the first Americans to build and drive a gasoline-powered, self-propelled vehicle. He is still remembered today as a brilliant metallurgist and a pioneer in Indiana's automobile industry.
 
Darrell played football and basketball at Portland High School. After high school, He went to Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, on a basketball scholarship. He also played Varsity football as a Boilermaker.
Following the completion of his playing career, Brewster was a receivers coach with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Minnesota Vikings, earning a Super Bowl ring with the Chiefs in Super Bowl IV.
Retired from football, he now lives in Peculiar, Missouri on the outskirts of Kansas City. He is enshrined in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame.
  
Lawrence Jack Imel born June 9, 1932 in Portland, Indiana is an American singer, dancer, musician, and television producer who is best known for his work on The Lawrence Welk Show.
A tap dancer since the age of four, Imel later took up playing the marimba. He appeared in clubs and concerts in and around his hometown right through elementary and high school. Later, with the advent of the Korean War, Imel joined the U.S. Navy and considered a career as a sailor, but towards the end of his tour of duty he was stationed in San Diego. He made the trip up to Los Angeles to audition for the television show of bandleader Lawrence Welk, and wowed the maestro with his dancing and marimba-playing abilities. He was invited to join the cast of the show, and cemented his status on it in his debut performance in 1957.
After Imel spent about three months on the show, the Welk Show began receiving mail saying that he was "conceited" and a "show-off." To rectify the situation, Welk suggested that Imel take a place in the band, since all soloists on the show came from the band. Since the marimba was not designed to be a part of the orchestra, Jack was given unique percussion instruments to play, such as bells, the triangle, and the maracas. With this development, fans began to accept Imel wholeheartedly.
Imel's career as a producer began with the hiring of tap dancer Arthur Duncan in 1964. With two hoofers on the show, Imel decided he needed to diversify, and began pitching production ideas. The show brass found them interesting, and he was invited to the production meetings; eventually, he became a full-fledged associate producer of the show.
Beginning in the 1970s, Imel was paired with Mary Lou Metzger in specialty song and dance routines. They quickly became one of the most popular items on the show. Imel also became known for wearing animal costumes in various numbers, alongside dancer Bobby Burgess.
Imel has been married to his wife Norma since 1951. They currently reside in West Hills, California.
In Jack's hometown of Portland, Indiana, Jack Imel Boulevard is named in his honor.
Jay County native Twyla Tharp was recently named as a Kennedy Center honoree for 2008. An American dancer and choreographer, Ms Tharp was born in Portland on July 1, 1941, to William and Lecile Tharp. She was named for Twila Thornburg, the “Pig Princess” of a fair in Muncie. Twyla is the niece of the late Bernice Gibble whom many remember as a teacher at Portland High School.
The Tharp family lived in Dunkirk until 1951, when they moved to Rialto, California, where her parents owned a drive-in theater on the path of Route 66. Twyla worked in the theater’s snack bar where she could watch the stars on the screen.
Her mother, a piano teacher, began giving Ms. Tharp lessons when she was only two. At age four, Twyla began dance classes and was soon studying ballet, tap, jazz and modern dance. She graduated from Barnard College in New York City with a degree in art history and in 1963, joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Two years later, she formed her own company.
Ms. Tharp’s work encompasses choreography with classical music, jazz and contemporary pop music. She has created more than 135 dances, choreographed for five Hollywood movies, directed and choreographed two Broadway shows and written two books. Her first book was an autobiography in 1952. Push comes to Shove. And her second, The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use It for Life, was published in 2003.
Prior to the Kennedy Center honors, Ms. Tharp had received many other honors and awards, including two Emmy Awards, 17 honorary doctorates and the 2004 National Medal of the Arts presented at the White House.
Ms. Tharp has been quoted as saying, “I thought I had to make an impact on history. I had to become the greatest choreographer of my time. That was my mission. Posterity deals with us however it sees fit. But I have it 20 years of my best shot.”
We are pleased to add Twyla Tharp to our growing list of celebrities from Jay County.
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