July 6, 1867 - Joseph Keaton (July 6, 1867 – Jan 13, 1946)

By Sherri Wright

Joseph Keaton was born near Prairie Creek in 1867. They moved to Terre Haute in the early 1870s where parents managed The Henderson House hotel that was located at 209 South 4th Street. Young Joe located a shoe shine stand in front of the Naylor Opera House where he perfected his acrobatics to become (in his words) “boss bootblack on Paul Dresser’s “Wabash Avenue.” He left his birthplace to try to get rich squatting land in Oklahoma. Joe was infatuated with show business and Miss Myra Cutler, daughter of Frank Cutler of the Cutler-Bryant Medicine Show. So he joined the show in 1892. After he and Myra eloped in 1894, “The Two Keatons” began traveling on their own. Their son Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton was born “on the road” in Piqua, Kansas on October 4, 1895. A quote from the elder Keaton stated, ‘His cradle was my trunk, his playground was the stage and all his friends were actors.” It wasn’t long until young Buster joined his parents act. In 1899, en route to New York City, the Keaton family stopped for a two-week visit in Terre Haute Joe performed his famed acrobatic “Man with the Table” act. It has been said that three-year old Buster made his first solo appearance onstage. Buster, of course went on to appear in silent films and “talkies,” and television.