FOUNDATION & DONOR HISTORY
FOUNDATION HISTORY
The Paul Ogle Foundation was established in late December 1979, becoming operational in 1980. Entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul W. Ogle of Jeffersonville had no heirs, and transferred the majority of his business assets to the Foundation prior to his death and the remainder through his estate. He was intimately involved in the Foundation’s operations from 1980 until his death in 1989.
Over the past several decades since Mr. Ogle’s death, there were three of the original founding board members, Bob Lanum, Willis Charles and Roy Nett, that knew Paul personally, guiding the strategic direction and decisions of the Foundation that were in line with Mr. Ogle’s core beliefs and causes he supported. Mr. Charles and Nett have since passed on, but their presence is still seen in the mission and vision of the Foundation as the Board continues to honor the wisdom of Mr. Ogle’s decision to create a private foundation all those years ago.
The Foundation celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2020, with a total of nearly $100 million given during the past three decades to nonprofit organizations and educational institutions, primarily in Southern Indiana. The Foundation also supports groups and institutions outside of the counties that it serves so long as they in turn, accommodate those Southern Indiana county residents. Those regional organizations include the Louisville Zoo Foundation, Dare to Care, Boys and Girls Club, Actors Theatre, The Louisville Waterfront, Family Scholar House, Endeavor Louisville to name a few. There were also many projects in Mr. Ogle’s birth county of Switzerland County like the Hoosier Theater, Vevay Art Center, the County’s Historical Society and its Community Foundation that continues to honor his legacy as one of its native sons.
In 2018, the Ogle Foundation moved its offices into the Jeffersonville Carnegie Library located downtown in Warder Park, built in 1904 with funds from Andrew Carnegie and matched by the local citizens of that time. This movement of the office became even more imperative due to it’s expanding role as one of the founding organizations of the River Heritage Conservancy and it’s need for space but more importantly was one driven in the continued preservation of the Carnegie Library itself.
After being totally renovated in 2006, primarily using Ogle Foundation funds, and then abandoned 5 years later by the nonprofit tenant for whom the building was initially renovated, the building sat practically empty, in search of another nonprofit that could utilize its unique space. During this time, the Ogle Foundation supported its ongoing maintenance to keep the building in leasable shape and preserve the restoration work already invested by Ogle.
Following a intensive effort to lease the building and in viewing the annual cost of maintaining the structure, the Ogle Foundation board ultimately voted to move into the building in order to use and maintain the integrity of the structure along its ongoing maintenance into future.
River Heritage Conservancy, parent organization to Origin Park, has since moved into the lower level as a paying tenant and occupies that space as their working headquarters. They are utilizing its space and that of the common areas so that local community members can still see this beautiful building’s lasting architecture, something that many people don’t even know it exists to this day!
DONOR HISTORY
Paul W. Ogle
Paul W. Ogle is remembered as a strong community supporter both in Southern Indiana and his native Vevay, Indiana. During his lifetime, he donated generously to create parks, fuel tourism efforts, rehabilitate historic buildings, support volunteer fire departments, and fund scholarships, among many gifts. His name has become synonymous with generosity because of the life he lived and the foundation he established prior to his death.
Mr. Ogle’s extraordinary story starts from very ordinary beginnings. He was born in June 18, 1907, and had one sister, Josephine. He dreamed of attending college and becoming a dentist, but his family ran into hard times in the 1920s so instead of going to college, Mr. Ogle pursued a career as a musician, at least initially.
Upon leaving high school, he formed a band that played on riverboats that traveled from Cincinnati to New Orleans, playing organ and saxophone. Beginning in the 1930s, Paul started a parallel career selling appliances in Vevay and then began selling propane to fuel the stoves he sold. He discussed his business with a ferry captain one day while crossing the Ohio River from Vevay to Kentucky and the captain convinced him propane was the wave of the future. Mr. Ogle went on to establish Silgas in 1934 in Vevay, moving it to Jeffersonville in the 1940s.
As Silgas prospered, he eventually faced a choice; business or music. Ultimately choosing business over music, Paul Ogle sold his saxophone and settled down in Jeffersonville to fulfill his aspirations of creating a business that would last generations. That business, Silgas, is still in operation today.
Paul’s experiences of watching his family lose property shaped his personal aspirations. As his business prospered, he sought to help both employees and customers as well as encourage aspiring college students by supporting higher education since he could not go himself. He was as modest as he was generous, living a quiet life of tremendous impact that continues to this day. Today, projects dot Southern Indiana that were made possible because of his selflessness and vision.
Friends say he would have been astounded by the support the Foundation has given to nonprofits and other institutions all around Southern Indiana. His life is a legacy that has lived long past him, and set the example for generations of entrepreneurs coming along behind him.
