Evansville BBS History
Before the web, Evansville got online by dialing up local bulletin board systems. You'd tie up the family phone line, listen to the modem screech, and land on somebody's PC in a spare bedroom in the 812.
This site pulls together what's left of that scene: the boards, the sysops, the FidoNet net that tied them together, and the art. Every fact links to where it came from.
ATDT 812-NOSTALGIA
By the numbers
The early days
The oldest Evansville-area boards in the 812 list are from 1983–84. Mercury Networks II in Newburgh ran on an Apple IIe with two floppy drives, one phone line and a 300 baud modem, using custom software written in Apple BASIC. NET-WORKS, also in Newburgh, shows up in the same years. [812]
Digicom says it first went online in 1983 [DIGI], and the 1995 list has it "Online Since 05/85" [EVV95]. Gary Barr writes that he started writing the Digicom BBS software in 7th grade, inspired by his teacher Keith Bobbitt, who ran the West Terrace BBS. [DIGI]
Getting on FidoNet
FidoNet let boards pass mail and message areas to each other overnight, so a local board could carry conversations from all over the world. [FIDO] The oldest Evansville FidoNet node found so far is OpLine BBS (Harvey Wyche), listed as 1:11/15 in 1990–91. West Terrace (Keith Bobbitt) joined as 1:11/40 in May 1991, and Digicom was 1:2320/200 in early 1992. [NH]
In August 1992 Evansville got its own FidoNet net: net 2310, "River City Net", covering southern Indiana, southeastern Illinois and northwestern Kentucky. It lasted until March 1999. [NH] » The River City Net timeline
1994–95: the busy years
The March 1995 Evansville list has 36 boards on it. [EVV95] Some were one-line hobby boards that only ran at night. Others were big: Digicom had 14 lines and 15.7 GB of files, and Ya! WeBeCad! had 5 lines, 33 CD-ROMs and a satellite dish. [EVV95]
Pretty much every flavor of BBS software was running somewhere in town: Wildcat, PCBoard, RemoteAccess, TriBBS, Spitfire, SuperBBS, Searchlight, Major BBS, even a Mac board (Athena's Apple on TeleFinder) and the Evansville libraries' card catalog by modem. [EVV95]
It wasn't just hobbyists. The Evansville Courier ran Courier Online on 12 lines [EVV95], and WNIN Online listed 8 lines, "free to the community." [EVV95] » More on Courier Online
Internet email shows up
Several local boards offered early internet email. Bufkin Ridge Ranch in Mount Vernon says it was the first BBS in the Tri-State to offer internet email, with the sysop calling HoloNet four times a day to move the mail. [812]
In the March 1995 list, Chameleon's Castle advertised "free InterNet access," Highlander's Viewpoint said "Free Internet," Gibson County Connection listed "InterNet Email," and Digicom listed the address digicom.com. [EVV95] The Windows Source offered free internet email to its callers too. [WS]
Who was actually first is still being sorted out. We're working on the dates. If you have an old screen, log or ad that shows when a board started doing internet mail, please send it in.
Stories from the lists
"We used to have group meet ups after the game food fight was won."
"The BBS was named, because I had a Hybrid Timberwolf at the time. The BBS was built for fun mainly."
"I purchased the BBS from Donnie Walker who ran The Alpha Complex BBS here in Evansville in 1992. I ran it for about 2 years under the Empire BBS name. The board mostly dealt with role-playing games of the period."
"There was a short lived zine that was released by the BBS, also called The Objective Element."
Doom made the rounds locally too. Stephen Huff's readme for his "Chanesaw" Doom levels asks for comments on Courier Online or WNIN OnLine, and says the levels were posted "on local bbs's only." [WAD] And Digicom says its chat section for adults matched up Paul & Cathy, who got married and reached out 25 years later to celebrate their anniversary. [DIGI]
The end of the dial-up era
Evansville Online, one of the city's first internet providers, ran its first ad on Christmas Day 1994 and started taking signups on December 27. The Courier was its partner and, within a year, its largest owner. [EOL] As people moved to the web, boards dropped off. The Windows Source left the FidoNet nodelist in January 1996 [NH], a handful of boards like Chameleon's Castle, The Objective Element and Wolf Pack are listed until 1999 [812], and River City Net was removed from the nodelist on March 12, 1999. [NH]
Still around
- Digicom BBS is back as a museum with door games and an ANSI art gallery. [DIGI]
- Bufkin Ridge Ranch came back as a telnet BBS, FidoNet 1:227/60, from 2016 to 2024. [NH][BRR]
- The Windows Source BBS is being brought back from its original backup, art and all. [WS]
Help fill in the gaps
Did you run a board, or call one? Old screenshots, captures, ANSI files, BBS lists and memories are all welcome. Everything is reviewed by hand before anything goes up.