USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Hyman's Handbook of Indianapolis : an outline history and description of the capital of Indiana, with over three hundred illustrations from photographs made expressly for this work (1897) > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
Gc 977.202 In3hy 1493866
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02302 2293
-
1
HYMAN'S
HAND BOOK OF
INDIANAPOLIS
AN OUTLINE HISTORY AND DE- SCRIPTION OF THE CAPITAL OF INDIANA
WITH OVER THREE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS MADE EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK
MAX R. HYMAN, EDITOR
INDIANAPOLIS M. R. HYMAN COMPANY 1597
CARLON & HOLLENBECK, INDIANAPOLIS.
Gift for the
HISTORICAL GENEALOGICAL COLLECTION
from Mrs. H. Jean Lowden
April 1, 1969
See Page 398
Books
PREFACE
HARRY O. WILLIAMS 2424 MANFORD ST. FT. WAYNE, IND. 46806
It has been the editor's aim in preparing this work to make it the most complete illustrated history of Indianapolis ever pub- lished. The text gives a comprehensive but condensed history and description of the city ; also of every notable public insti- tution and feature of especial interest. The illustrations cover a longer period and are far more numerous than have ever be- fore been published on this subject and they furnish many interesting reminders of the earlier history of the city as well as of the present. 1493866
In the preparation of this volume, I have consulted all known available sources of relevant information. I make par- ticular acknowledgment of my obligations to the local histories, published years ago, by Col. W. R. Holloway and Ignatius Brown, and to the files of the newspapers of this city for their rich stores of material; also to Mr. W. H. Smith for valuable assistance.
The engravings were nearly all made by the H. C. Bauer Engraving Co., expressly for this work from photographs taken by Joseph Van Trees. The book is issued from the press of Carlon & Hollenbeck.
This edition is now submitted to the public with the hope that it will be found to be useful as well as interesting, and that its support will necessitate many editions.
MAX R. HYMAN, Editor.
Indianapolis, February, 1897. (iii)
- W
Fort Wayne, Indiano
L
HISTORICAL.
INDIANAPOLIS FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT.
HEN Indiana was admitted as a state into the Union it contained fewer inhabitants than now live in Marion county. The settlers had not strayed very far away from the Ohio river, but there were a few settlements along Whitewater, and a few along the Wabash; but most of them were along the southern border of the state. The state stretched from the Ohio to the lake, but the central and northern sections were an unknown wilderness given over to the Indians. Dense forests covered the central section, while to the north stretched away the trackless prairies. It was not an inviting field for the hardy pioncer. South was Kentucky with its richness of soil and its admirable climate; to the east was Ohio already beginning to teem with a hardy and industrious population, while all the best portions of Indiana still claimed the savages as masters. Even in that early day the word had gone out that Indiana was the land of chills and fevers, and seekers for new homes came, saw, and passed on, or returned to the places from whence they came.
It was a struggle for existence. The soil was rich enough, but it was the work of years to clear a farm and get it ready to produce, and when its productions were ready for the harvest there was no market, and the malaria arising from the decaying
(5)
6
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
of vegetation, with no antidote except whisky and wild cherry bark, made the outlook anything but favorable. It was under such circumstances Indiana became a member of the great Federal Union. Indian wars had about ceased east of the Mis- sissippi river, but Indian massacres had not come to an end. It was not safe to stray very far away from the confines of the few settlements, and if human life was spared stock was stolen and driven away, thus depriving the settler of all means of cultivat- ing his homestead. The capital was a little village on the southern border, some miles back from the river, and hidden among the hills; hard to get at in the best of seasons, in the winter it was almost inaccessible. Around it there was nothing that gave promise of future growth; there was no future for it even if the capital remained there. There was absolutely no foundation on which to build a city.
When the state was admitted into the Union congress donated to the infant commonwealth four sections of land on which to build a capital city, the land to be selected by the state from any that remained unsold. So, in 1820 the legislature deter- mined to go out into the wilderness and hunt for a site for its future capital city. It followed in this the example of the national government. When the jealousies between the colo- nies were about to destroy the new made Union, congress went out in search of a home, and found it on the banks of the Poto- mac. The members of the Indiana legislature in 1820 may have hoped that their state would grow, and afterwhile become fairly prosperous, but their wildest dreams never reached the reality, that within two score years the state would be so popu- lous that it could send to the field of battle 200,000 armed men, and yet not exhaust its capacity. Yet such was the case.
In 1820 the legislature sent out its commissioners to seek for the site of its future city, and make selection of the land donated by congress. It might have been a prescience of what was to come that led the commissioners to seek a spot as near the geographical center of the state as possible. It may be they
7
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
naturally concluded that in time the geographical center of the state would be also the center of population, but it is more probable they thought only of finding a spot to reach which would take about the same number of miles travel from the four corners. Whatever may have been their motive, they did deter- mine on the geographical center. Water furnished then the only, or rather the best and surest means of communication with
THE OLD GOV WRIGHT MANSION
-
TR HENRI.
THE OLD GOVERNOR WRIGHT MANSION.
the outside world, and as they did not want to get too far away from some stream supposed to be navigable, they clung to the banks of White river. Three sites were offered, one a few miles south of the present city, and one a few miles northeast. They came here through the wilderness, and after much debating and considerable disputing, decided on accepting four sections of land around the mouth of Fall creek. It was a most unpromis-
8
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
ing site. White river itself was not very inviting, while deep bayous and ravines cut up the land in a way to make it look ยท anything but attractive to one seeking for town lots. But here were the four sections with only half a dozen or so settlers. It was in the wilderness, it was near the geographical center.
With the exception of a lonely cabin here and there, it was sixty miles away from the nearest settlements. All around were dense forests; to the south were the hills reaching to the Ohio river, and to the north the woods and prairies stretching out to the lake. Only a few miles away was the boundary which di- vided the "New Purchase" from the lands still claimed by the Indians. There was no town, no people, not a road leading anywhere. A town had to be built, people induced to come, roads to be opened. But when the people should come, how were they to be fed? No farms had been opened up, and sup- plies of every kind would have to be wagoned many miles over roads often almost impassable, but at that time pack-horses were the only means of conveyance. But here, in this unpromising locality, the commissioners staked off a city that in less than three-quarters of a century was to become the largest inland city on the continent. They fondly believed that White river would prove to be navigable for the only boats then known on the western waters, and by it the people of the new city could be fed and clothed.
The legislature approved the report of the commissioners and proceeded to hunt for a name for the new city. It was a difficult thing to find. Every member of the legislature had a name to propose. Some were of Indian origin, and some com- pounded from Latin words, and others from Greek. Finally "Indianapolis" was determined upon, and the city in embryo had a name. It had little else. As said there were no roads, and the supplies for the settlers had to be carried on horseback from the settlements on Whitewater. Going sixty miles to mill or to store in those days was no small journey. It took longer
V
WASHINGTON STREET, IS54, NORTH SIDE
-
WASHINGTON STREET, IS54, SOUTH SIDE.
11
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
than it does now to go to New York. Then, too, it was a more hazardous journey.
There has been much dispute as to who was actually the first settler of this section of the state and the honor has been contested between the friends of George Pogue and those of two brothers named McCormick. The dispute never will be satis- factorily settled, and it is not a very important historical event. Neither Pogue nor the McCormicks dreamed of emulating Rom- ulus and Remus, and building a city. The one sought only to live by hunting and trapping, and the others by cultivating the soil. It was only after the location of the capital city they
Shinny on your own side"
w Doe .
"OLD SEMINARY."
dreamed of achieving fame by being called the first to discern the future possibilities. Both Pogue and the McCormicks were here when the commissioners of the legislature came, as were a few other families, all of whom would have liked to get away to some healthier spot, if they could. They must have laughed in their sleeves at the commissioners thinking to build a city on such an unlikely spot.
In April, 1821, the work of "laying off" the city actively began. Christopher Harrison, representing the state, appointed as surveyors, Elias P. Fordham and Alexander Ralston. Some years before, Ralston had been employed in some of the work
-
12
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
of mapping out Washington, the national capital, and had great ideas of what a city in the woods ought to be, and at his sug- gestion the city was to be one mile square, with streets crossing each other at right angles, and with four wide avenues pointing toward a circle that was to be the center of the new city. The ground was uniformly level, but a slight knoll was found, and it was determined the city should start from that point, or rather that the knoll should be in the center, and that it should be crowned by a residence for the chief magistrate of the common- wealth. It was a pretty idea; as he was to be the center of in- fluence and power, it was right and proper that his home should be the center of the city, and as he was the highest in power and honor, his home should be on the highest ground; but, alas, the idea was all that was fully developed. The circle was there, the knoll was there, but the governor's residence was never there.
Streets were marked off, lots laid out and the new city was ready for business, that is, the sale of lots. It is true the streets ran through the woods and the lots were all heavily timbered, but they were there, and could be determined by the stakes set by the surveyors. Certain plots of ground were reserved for public purposes. One was to be the site of the expected state- house. One was for the court-house, and one was reserved on which to build a great state educational institution, which already had been designated as a university. Like the gov- ernor's residence, the university never materialized. It hav- ing gone abroad through the settlements that the new capital city had been located, and information given as to where it could be found, immigrants began to arrive, and among them was the first lawyer, eager as ever for strife. A store had been opened up and a saw-mill started.
Most of the settlers had located along the bank of the river, taking it for granted that the choice corner lots would be in that section. The land outside of the mile square was to be laid off into out lots and farms. Mr. Ralston and the commissioners
13
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
evidently thought that the mile square would contain all the in- habitants the city was ever likely to have, and had provided no division of the city lots from the out lots but the imaginary line, but some one suggested that it would be the proper thing to bound the city by streets, and name them East, West, North and South streets, and it was done accordingly.
In October, 1821, the sale of lots began. The money arising from the sale was to be used in erecting the necessary buildings
GOTT & FEATHERSTON
PENNSYLVANIA STREET IN IS56, NORTH OF WASHINGTON STREET.
for the use of the state, and it was expected that there would be a great demand. After continuing the sale for several days, and disposing of three hundred and fourteen lots, the real estate business was stopped for awhile. Something more than $7,000 was realized in cash, the rest of the purchase price of the lots being evidenced by promissory notes running over a period of four years. But few of the lots were eventually paid for, the purchasers forfeiting the advance payments and abandoning their purchases. Ten years afterward the state still owned three-
14
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
fourths of the lots in the city limits, and nearly all of the out lots. They were not finally disposed of until 1842, and for its mile square of town lots, and the three outlying sections, the state realized less than $150,000.
If the commissioners and the early settlers had become dis- couraged at the outlook it would not have been a matter of sur- prise. This thing of building a city in the wilderness was a new enterprise in those days. Now, such things are of almost daily occurrence, but then we have railroads now, and gas and oil fields, and coal, silver and gold mines. Seventy years have wrought great changes. This first year of the life of the city witnessed the birth of the first child, and the marriage of the first couple, the happy bridegroom having been compelled to go to Connersville, sixty miles away, for his license.
Here was the new city duly staked off and the few settlers who had come in and purchased lots began to prepare for the winter. Rude log cabins were hastily erected. They were put up here and there, with some sort of regard to street lines, but as the lots purchased were not in regular order, great stretches of vacant ground were found between the new homes, and paths from one house to another were made through the deep woods on the shortest lines without regard to streets or private prop- erty. Winter was coming and it was a desolate outlook. The nearest post-office was sixty miles away; the only store was a little affair where iron, salt and dye stuffs furnished about all the stock. In those early days the winters began about the middle of November and lasted until the last of March. The snow fall was generally abundant. often being a foot or two deep, and lying on the ground for weeks. The people were "neighborly" and the winter was spent in some kind of comfort, but still many of those who had thus built homes for themselves longed for the coming of the spring when they could go out and hunt more desirable spots on which to dwell. In the spring of the year, about the time the commissioners were busy laying out the new town, George Pogue, the traditional first settler,
29.31
VIEW OF INDIANAPOLIS FROM BLIND INSTITUTE LOOKING SOUTH-WEST, 1854.
1
17
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
was killed by the Indians, and this tragedy kept up the excited fears of the people for some months, but it was the last of the Indian killings in this section.
The spring of 1822 came, and brought with it more new settlers to take the places of those who were dissatisfied and de- sired to move away, and the town began to show some signs of improving. It had been rumored around that notwithstanding
.
.. .
KEARSARGE ON STATE-HOUSE GROUNDS DURING G. A. R. NATIONAL EN- CAMPMENT, SEPTEMBER, 1893.
the town had been laid out for the capital of the state, the cap- ital would not be removed here on account of the unhealthy lo- cation, and this deterred a number from coming who had de- signed doing so. The town thus received a "black eye" at the very start, and then, too, the seasons were not favorable for crops for a year or two, and this gave Indianapolis a bad name. A few hardy souls stuck to it, however, and began to clamor for rec- ognition. They were tired of being the capital of the state and
18
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
having the county-seat sixty miles away. They were also anxious for mail facilities.
In the beginning of 1822 the little town boasted of about five hundred inhabitants, and they thought it was time they were being served with a mail. They had a tavern, and sundry other town luxuries, but no post-office. When the American people want anything the first thing they do is to have a public meeting, with a president and secretary, and a committee on resolutions. So a meeting of the citizens of Indianapolis was called at Hawkins' tavern. Mr. Aaron Drake was appointed postmaster, and he made regular trips to Connersville, received the mail for the new settlement and transported it through the woods to its destination. This was all done by private enter- prise, thus proving in that early day that a spirit of enterprise pervaded the residents on the "donation." He returned from his first trip, reaching the settlement some time after the pall of darkness had fallen over the woods, but the loud blowing of his horn called the people together and he was given a royal wel- come. A few weeks later the government assumed the duty of conveying the mails and distributing them and appointed Sam- uel Henderson as postmaster.
The settlers also began asking that the streets be cleared, so that they could see the houses, and at least look a little like a town, and the commissioners undertook to have the streets opened by cutting down the timber. The trees were cut down, rolled into huge piles and burned, but the stumps remained for many a long day. Roads were needed, and the legislature, in the winter of 1821-2 appropriated $100,000 to open up and construct a number of roads to its new capital. One led from the Ohio river near Lawrenceburg to Indianapolis, and another came up from Madison, while Noblesville, Crawfordsville and other settlements were to be connected in the same way with Indianapolis. The trees were cut out, leaving the stumps still standing, and in rainy seasons, when the mud was deep, those stumps were terrible annoyances to wagoners. The wheels
1
--
19
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
would sink so deep in the mud that the axle-tree of the wagon would strike on the stump, and thus the wagon would be stranded sometimes for hours. The wants of the new settlement began to be numerous, and all supplies had to be hauled over these roads, that in the winter were sometimes impassable for weeks. They were just as bad in the rainy seasons of the spring and fall.
The same legislature also organized Marion county, making Indianapolis the county-seat, appropriating a square of ground
-
EX-PRESIDENT HARRISON'S RESIDENCE.
and $8, 000 to build a court-house. Attached to the new county, for judicial purposes, was the territory now comprising the coun- ties of Johnson, Hamilton, Hancock, Madison and Boone. A new county demanded a new judge and a new sheriff. Hon. William W. Wick was made judge, and Hervey Bates, sheriff. The new city might now be said to be fairly launched on the road to greatness. It had a judge of its own, a lawyer, Calvin Fletcher, to look after the legal wants of all the people, a store, a tavern, a saw-mill or two, a post-office, and was soon to have its first paper.
20
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
Among the enterprising citizens of Indianapolis were George Smith and Nathaniel Bolton, and they became the editors and proprietors of the Gazette, Indianapolis' first newspaper. It made its appearance on the twenty-eighth day of January, 1822. It was not a great paper, as papers are now, but it was a begin- ning, and like all beginners had its ups and downs. At that time nearly all the houses were built along the line of Washing- ton street, which presented a remarkable sight, with its stumps so thick that it was almost impossible for a vehicle to wind in and out among them. The rest of the city was a dense woods, in many parts covered with an almost impenetrable growth of underbrush. Along this uninviting street were strung the cabins of the five hundred people who formed the population of the town.
The legislature could name a judge for the new county but could not choose the other officers, so in February, 1822, Sheriff Bates issued forth his proclamation calling on the people of the new county to meet together at certain named polling places and choose for themselves two associate justices, a clerk, a recorder and three county commissioners. Two of the voting places were in Indianapolis, one near Noblesville, one at Strawtown, one at Anderson and the other near Pendleton. A list of those who presented themselves for the various positions discloses the fact that the people were as hungry for offices in those good old days as they are in these degenerate times. Only 336 votes were cast in the entire county. The vote of Indianapolis was about 100. James M. Ray was elected clerk, James C. Reed, recorder ; John T. Osborne, John McCormack and William Mc- Cartney, commissioners ; Eliakim Harding and James McIlvain, associate judges. In the August following, the election for gov- ernor took place, when 317 votes were cast, 315 of them being thrown for William Hendricks.
On the twenty-sixth of September the court began its first session. There being no court-house its sessions were held in the cabin of Jonathan Carr, it being the most pretentious struct-
-
VIEW OF INDIANAPOLIS FROM BLIND INSTITUTE LOO KING SOUTH-EAST, 1854.
23
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
ure in the town. The grand jury returned twenty-two indict- ments for sundry and various offenses against the peace and dig- nity of the commonwealth. A candidate for naturalization ap- peared, in the person of Richard Goode, late of Ireland, and a subject of George IV. No jail had been provided, and as the laws then made imprisonment for debt permissible, certain streets were named as the boundaries within which imprisoned debtors should confine themselves.
The county commissioners, as soon as they had been inducted
SCENE ON WHITE RIVER.
into office, set industriously'about the work of erecting a court- house and jail. The state had appropriated $8,000 to assist in this work, and in September the plan for the proposed struct- ure submitted by John E. Baker and James Paxton was ac- cepted and the contract for the building awarded them. They did not begin the work of construction until the next summer, and it was not until 1824 the building was completed. The square of ground selected for a court-house and jail was covered with heavy timber. A jail made of hewed logs was erected
24
HYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF INDIANAPOLIS.
and remained as the bastile of Marion county until 1833, when it was destroyed by fire, the fire being started by a negro pris- oner. A brick jail was then constructed, and in 1845 it was enlarged by an addition made of logs a foot thick.
In the midst of the turmoil of starting a new city on its up- ward way patriotism was not forgotten, and the fourth of July, 1822, was duly celebrated by an oration, the reading of the Declaration of Independence, and a barbecue. The first camp- meeting was also held that fall, under the auspices of Rev. James Scott, the first Methodist preacher of the town. This year was also signalized by the organization of a militia regiment, the fortieth, with James Paxton as colonel; Samuel Morrow, lieu- tenant-colonel, and Alexander W. Russell, major. Those days all the able-bodied citizens had to attend regular musters of the militia.
The year was not one of prosperity to the new settlement, but was marked by several important events, among them being the establishment of a ferry across White river; the opening of a brick-yard ; the erection of the first brick and the first two-story frame house. The first brick house was erected by John John- son on Market street opposite the present post-office. The frame house was on Washington street, a little east of the present site of the Park Theater. It was long used for the storage of docu- ments belonging to the state, and afterward became a tavern.
At that time the capital of the state had no member of the legislature to represent its interest, and so the actual capital re- mained at Corydon. Again the rumors began to circulate that after all Indianapolis would never be the capital, and holders of real estate began to get a little shaky over their purchases. There was a leaven of faith, however, and the citizens began to petition the legislature for representation, and at its session in 1823 the people of the new county were authorized to elect a representative in the following August. In the early days of the spring a new newspaper was started with a rather startling name-Western Censor and Emigrant's Guide. Harvey Gregg
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.