Dave Barksale (NAHS ’71)

Dave traces his interest in history back to Green Valley Elementary in 1963 when New Albany was marking its 150th anniversary. That year, fourth graders were allowed to keep their Indiana history books as a souvenir of the city’s sesquicentennial. Did that foreshadow his career as a teacher in elementary and middle school? Maybe it did. For most of his career, he taught fourth grade, retracing familiar steps through Indiana history at times.

He had considered a career in architecture, but changed those plans and earned a degree in education at IUS in 1975. Six years into teaching, he went on to earn a master’s degree in education (also IUS) in 1981. He can’t say exactly when he “got the bug” for history but he does know where: at the Floyd County Historical Society. There he first met John Cody and his wife Elizabeth “Bebe” (Barth) Cody, (NAHS ’26) in the 1980s. He saw them as “Mr. and Mrs. New Albany History”; he vividly recalls that Bebe knew “nearly everything” about local buildings from the 1800s and early 1900s. It rekindled his interest in architecture from his school days, and ever since, his main passion has been on the “built environment” of his hometown. If he owed the Society a debt of gratitude, he repaid it long ago. He joined the board of directors in 1989 and became president in 1994. He dug into the Indiana State Historical Marker Program at a time when the county had been awarded literally just one. Through Dave’s tireless determination and by encouraging others, there are now twenty-three. For 25 of the past 29 years, he has continued to serve as president. He was named Floyd County historian by Governor Frank O’Bannon in 2002.

Between 2003 and 2005, he was part of a local group that prevented the demolition of a treasured historical property, built in 1837, located on West Market Street. It was named for its original owner, steamboat captain William Young. The Historical Society christened the building as the Padgett Museum, recognizing the generous gift from Jim (NAHS ’53) and his wife Beverly Thurman Padgett (NAHS ’57). The loss of these revered civic leaders in 2020 (Jim) and 2021 (Beverly) was felt deeply across New Albany and Floyd County.

In addition to hundreds of public presentations on historic houses, Dave has collaborated to co-author several books on local buildings and builders. The engraving shown here is from a 1913 Centennial Celebration postcard, depicting the Joel Scribner house as it appeared in 1850. This image and a detailed description appear in Chapter One of Historic Homes of New Albany, Indiana (2015) by David Barksdale and Gregory Sekula.

Dave and Debbie, his wife of 46 years… are always busy, with two adult children and five grandkids. After he retired from teaching in 2011, he was elected to City Council in 2015. He provided historical expertise to the city on a proposal to renovate an East Main Street landmark, built between 1848 and 1852 as a harness shop and flour mill. For roughly 30 years, from the 1940s to the mid-1970s, the building was a furniture warehouse. As a result of the project and with Dave’s affirmative vote, it is now newly reborn as the New Albany City Hall.

Dave was inducted into the NAHS Hall of Fame in 2022.

Read the entire February 2023 Legacy Ledger (Issue 30).

Sharing is caring!