Smoky Row Press takes its name from an old Anderson Township schoolhouse in Madison County, Indiana. A two-room school, it was named Brown either due to its location on what later became Brown Street in Anderson or as a reference to the family that gave the thoroughfare its name. The Smoky Row moniker came from an early resident walking to town one chilly morning. Noting the chimneys warming the area’s houses, he described the scene as a “smoky row”. The name stuck.

In those days, there was no 29th Street in Anderson. The schoolhouse sat in the middle of a swamp! Nevertheless, the Smoky Row/Brown schoolhouse was annexed by the city of Anderson sometime prior to 1901. It appears to have closed around 1904, when its students were likely sent to Anderson’s original Washington Elementary School.

“Smoky Row” stood out to me as the perfect name for an imprint. It carries a sense of history, but the imagery of smoke rising from chimneys on a cold morning evokes warmth, resilience, and storytelling. Much like the old schoolhouse, this imprint is a small but meaningful piece of a larger landscape dedicated to preserving stories, voices, and forgotten corners of history. Sometimes, its dedicated to my family.

Today, the old Smoky Row schoolhouse sits behind one of the best Mexican restaurants in Anderson. That certainly factored into my decision, too!