McGrady Brockman House
The Knox County Public Library’s regional history/genealogy center in the former Brockman Funeral Home at 614 N. 7th Street (corner of 7th and Hart across from the main library) opened to the public on March 18, 2002. McGrady-Brockman was chosen as the name of the new library facility, recognizing Charles P. McGrady, who built the Carpenter Gothic style house in 1859, and the Brockman family, who owned the building for more than 60 years. The library became the seventh owner of this historic property in 2000. Other past owners were: Joseph Pollock (1866-1887), Joseph Swartzel (1887-1902), Dexter Aldrich (1902-1912), and George Ryan (1912-1937). Elmer Brockman converted the private residence into a funeral home in 1937 and sold it to his son, Dale Brockman, in 1984.
We are excited to announce that the Indiana State Library recently uploaded over 1,000 early issues of the Western Sun & Western Sun and General Advertiser. View this amazing piece of history here: