Wednesday, February 3, 2021 4:00 AM You may not be familiar with African American civil rights activist Rev. Ernest D. Butler because he lived here for just ten years over half a century ago, but you should be. Rev. Butler packed a lot into those years, and when he left, Noblesville was a different city.
Butler and his wife, Mary, moved their seven children (an eighth would come along later) to Noblesville in the fall of 1949 when he took over the pulpit of the First Baptist Church, the church Rev. Barney Stone once led.
The Connersville native knew at an early age he wanted to go into the ministry, but the fact he did is pretty amazing. Until he was in high school, he suffered from a speech impediment so serious only his parents could understand him.
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