A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1, Part 52

Author: Howard, Timothy Edward, 1837-1916
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 826

USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1 > Part 52

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 (link on the Part 1 page).

308

HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.

for long ages, even before Columbus dreamed of the Indies, went up and down the commeree of the wilderness; that along this portage was the pathway of the Mound Builder, the Mia- mi, the Pottawatomie, the coureur des bois and the missionary; that this soil was pressed by the feet of La Salle and Hennepin and Tonti and Charlevoix, and perhaps even by those of the sainted Marquette ?

Sec. 3 .- PLAINFIELD .- The village of Plain- field was the first platted town to be laid out in Olive township. It was surveyed Decem- ber 23, 1833, by Tyra W. Bray ; and was laid out on "nearly equal portions of the north- east and northwest quarters of section thirty- six and the southeast and southwest quarters of section twenty-five, in township thirty- eight north, range one west." The proprie- tors were Israel H., Jacob and Hiram Rush. The town is still found upon the map located on the Laporte road, a mile and a half east of New Carlisle: but it is for all practical purposes among the "towns that were," and hence receives notiee in this place.

Sec. 4 .- PALESTINE .- A mile and a half east of Plainfield, located also on the Laporte road, was once the town of Palestine. It, too, was surveyed by Tyra W. Bray, and stood in "equal parts on sections twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one and thirty-two, township thirty-eight north, range one east." It was surveyed December 3, 1834, for the proprie- tors. Martin Clark, Daniel Curry, Abijah S. Reeden and Matthias Kinney. The existence of this old town is so completely obliterated that Judge Hubbard, who was born on Terre Coupee prairie, doubts whether any one on the prairie can point out its site.

Sec. 5 .- WILLIAMSPORT .- This town was surveyed by Thomas P. Bulla for the proprie- tor, John Newell, who acknowledged the plat December 13, 1834. It was located at the junction of the St. Joseph river and Babaugo creek. on the southeast fraction of the north- east quarter of section nine, township thirty- seven north. range four east. It has left no record but its plat.

Sec. 6 .- GREENSBURG .- On December 4, 1835. the town of Greensburg was surveyed for Jacob Eutzler, in section twenty-five, township thirty-seven north, range three east. It lay on each side of the South Bend and Goshen road. It does not seem that there was any pressing need for the existence of the town, and on March 6, 1843, it was vacated by order of the board of county commissioners.

Sec. 7 .- CANTON .- Thomas P. Bulla was the surveyor of the town of Canton, located on the Babaugo creek, in section sixteen, town- ship thirty-seven north, range four east. The survey was acknowledged December 14, 1835, by the proprietor, William Ireland. This town did not flourish as anticipated. and on June 3. 1844, on the petition of J. E. Hollis- ter. the plat was vacated by the county com- missioners. None of the towns in this part of the county, except Osceola, have had more than an ephemeral existence.

Sec. 8 .- MOUNT PLEASANT .- There is little left of fair Mount Pleasant except the record of its plat, which reads as follows:

"This is a plan of the Town of Mount Pleasant in St. Joseph county, Indiana. Laid out on a part of the northwest and southwest quarters of section thirty-two and the north- east quarter of section thirty-one in township thirty-eight north and range two east. Each lot is sixty-six feet wide and one hundred and thirty-two feet long. except lots numbered eleven and fifty-five, the width of which is marked within them. The width and the course of the streets is marked in each re- spectively. The alleys are each ten feet wide, and run parallel with Michigan street. The lots, which are numbered. form the town plat, and nothing more nor less. Surveyed by Tyra W. Bray, St. Joseph County Surveyor. "Before me. L. M. Taylor, recorder, person- ally came the within named proprietors,- David Miller, Ashbury Baltimore, Henry Brown, Jacob Ritter and James R. McGee, and acknowledged the within to be their true act and deed for the purposes within represented.

309

HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPHI COUNTY.

"Signed, sealed and delivered in my pres- ence, Angust 19. 1836.

"Attest : Lathrop M. Taylor, Recorder."

The town continued to maintain a feeble existence until by an act of the legislature, approved January 17, 1850, the plat was for- mally vacated." Mount Pleasant was the third town to rise and go down in German town- ship; St. Joseph, Portage and Mount Pleas- ant, all within the limits of the great Miami village where La Salle held his memorable conference, in May, 1861.1 A church, a school, farm houses and other farm buildings now remain to mark the site of the town, well named Mount Pleasant.

Sec. 9 .- TERRE COUPEE .- The town of Terre Coupee, also known as Hamilton from Hamilton's tavern, was located on each side of the Chicago road, the old Sauk trail, in the southeast quarter of section nine, township thirty-eight. range one east. The survey of the town was made by Thomas P. Bulla for Jacob Egbert who acknowledged the plat April 12, 1837. Additions made to the plat were acknowledged January 30. 1841, by Jacob Egbert and Jonathan Hubbard. Terre Coupee, or Hamilton, as it is more fre- quently called. was for a time a very pros- perous town, located as it was on the great through line of travel from the east. But with the building of the Lake Shore railroad through New Carlisle the greatness of Hamil- ton declined; and even its original name of Terre Coupee was transferred to the Lake Shore railroad station, two miles east of New Carlisle. The plat was vacated by order of the county commissioners, June 10, 1841. As the IIon. Ineius Hubbard, who spent his boy- hood in and about the town, says in his remi- niscenees, which are set out in the preceding chapter, the town "is on its way to join Plainfield and Palestine."

An interesting item as to the burial of veterans of the war of 1812 in the old grave-

a. Local Laws, 1849, p. 99.

b. See Chap. 2, Subd. 2.

c. See Chap. 8, Reminiscences of Mr. Jesse Haines.

yard at Terre Coupee, and at other points in Olive township, appeared recently in the In- dianapolis News, and is here inserted :

"Probably no township in Indiana is the burial place of so many soldiers of the war of 1812 as Olive township, the largest town of which is New Carlisle. At the village of Hamilton, on the old Chicago road, formerly the Great Sauk Trail, where the stages from Detroit to Chicago changed horses, is a quaint old graveyard. The veterans of the war of 1812 who are buried there are John Cooper, David Dalrymple, Gabriel Druliner, Moses Ivins, Wm. D. Jones, Joshua Keene, John Lane, Leonard R. Rush, Jacob White and Virgil Reynolds.

"Three soldiers of the Indian war buried at this place are William Burden, Samuel Reynolds and Elias Heaton. In the Olive Chapel cemetery, in the same township, are four veterans of the war of 1812. Two are in the New Carlisle cemetery and two at Maple Grove."

Sec. 10 .- DENNISTON .- This town was laid out in July, 1837, on the northeast fractional half of section twelve and the south part of section one, township thirty-seven, range two east. The proprietors were Garrett V. Den- niston and Joseph Fellows, who laid out the town in connection with their ownership of the water power on the St. Joseph river.ª As in the ease of others, however, their enter- prises were overthrown by the panie of 1837; and, on September 3, 1845, the town of Den- niston was formally vacated by order of the board of county commissioners. The site of the town was nearly identical with that of Lowell, afterwards laid out and since become a part of the city of South Bend.

II. UNINCORPORATED TOWNS.

Sec. 1 .- OSCEOLA .- The original plat of Osceola, near the extreme east of the county, in Penn township, was laid out in 1837. The record is as follows :

"This is a plat of the town of Osceola, in a. See Chap. 7, Subd. 1.

310

HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.

St. Joseph County, Indiana, laid out on the west part of the southwest part of section nine, in township number thirty-seven north, range four east. The lots are each sixty-six feet front, and one hundred and thirty-two feet back, except those which are fractional. The width and courses of the streets are mark- ed on each respectively. The alleys are each fourteen feet wide, and lie parallel with the streets.

"JOHN A. HENRICKS.

"November 17, 1837.

"N. B. The beginning corner to resurvey any of the lots in this plat is the corner on the river, between sections eight and nine."

The main street in the town comes in from the west as "Vistula street," and goes out on the east as the "Road to Toledo." The plat shows an elaborate system of mill races, triple in form, connecting the river on the north, with the Babaugo creek, on the east. A small island is also shown on the river. This plat was vacated by an act of the legislature, ap- proved January 31, 1842.ª

An addition to Osceola, by William C. Thrall, was platted April 24, 1856. This was to the south of the site of the original plat, on the east half of the northwest quarter of sec- tion sixteen, township thirty-seven north, range four east. The plat was surveyed by Milton W. Stokes, who also made the survey of another addition June 4, 1859.

The town grew in its additions, rather than in the original plat, which, as we have seen, was vacated before the platting of the addi- tions. This was no doubt due to the building of the Lake Shore road further from the river than the original plat, through section six- teen instead of section nine. The main Elk- hart-Toledo public highway runs through the former site of the original plat, while the Goshen highway passes through the additions.

The town received its musical name from Osceola, the famous Seminole chief, who was taken prisoner by General Jessup in October, 1837. a few weeks before the town was plat- a. Local Laws, 1841, p. 166.

ted. The town of Osceola had but a feeble growth until the building of the interurban railway from South Bend to Goshen in 1899 and 1900. The Indiana Railway Company built one of its power houses at Osceola, and new life appeared at once in the old town. Even without the building of the power house, the extending of the interurban through Osce- ola would have worked a transformation in the life of the town. It came at once to have many of the advantages of a suburban town, easily accessible as it was to Elkhart and Goshen, on the one hand, and to Mishawaka and South Bend, on the other. After the com- pletion of the interurban lines from South Bend to the west. there will be a keen rivalry between Osceola and New Carlisle, one at the extreme east and one at the extreme west of the county, and both admirably located as resi- dence towns. with hourly connection with metropolitan cities to the east and the west. The population in 1900, was one hundred and seventy-seven.

Sec. 2 .- CRUM'S POINT .- On April 21, 1875, Christian Holler laid out the original plat of the town of Crum's Point, on the line of the Grand Trunk railroad, in Warren township, not far from the junction of the Grapevine creek with the Kankakee river; and located on the southwest quarter of the south- west quarter of section twenty-seven, township thirty-seven north, range one east. The sur- vey of the town was made by Matthias Stover, September 7 and 8, 1874. On January 20, 1882, Mr. Holler platted an addition to the town. With the drainage of the upper Kan- kakee valley, Crum's Point, or Crum's Town. as it is frequently called, has become the cen- ter of a rich agricultural district, and is quite likely to grow to be a place of considerable importance. The population, in 1900, was one hundred. The town is on one of the main gravel roads leading southwest from South Bend and connecting with the road to North Liberty and Walkerton.

Sec. 3 .- GRANGER .- The great farmer's movement organized during the latter part of

311

HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.

the nineteenth century, and known as the Grange was commemorated by the founding of the town of Granger. in Harris township, by Thomas J. Foster, April 3, 1883. The town is near the Michigan line, on the east side of what is now the Big Four railroad, in fractional section seven, township thirty-eight north. range four east. An addition to the town was made by Mr. Foster in September of the same year. The population in 1900, was yet small, being but sixty-seven souls. A more suitable name than Granger could not have been selected for the town. It is situ- ated in the heart of the rich and beautiful Harris prairie ; and the country, both in Indi- ana and Michigan, is one of the finest farming distriets to be found anywhere. An extensive grain trade is carried on over the Big Four.

Sec. 4 .- WYATT .- East of Lakeville. on the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section thirty-four, township thirty-six north, range three east, in Madison township and on the Wabash railroad. is the new and busy town of Wyatt. It was laid out and platted March 27, 1894, by Jeremiah Bechtel and Lonisa Bechtel. When the Wabash eame through the heavy timbered section of the south part of Madison township, and the drainage of the rich lands turned that wet region into fertile farms, the need of a ship- ping town was evident. and Wyatt came in answer to the pressing needs of the enter- prising people. In 1900 the population had reached one hundred and seventy; and the town promises to be one of the pushing, bus- tling communities of the county.

Sec. 5 .- LINDLEY .- The youngest of our towns is Lindley, in Warren township. It lies on the north side of the Lake Shore rail- road, in the north part of the northwest quar- ter of the northeast quarter of section two, township thirty-seven north, range one east. It was platted September 6, 1901, by Ashbury Lindley and Mina Lindley. The locality, though but little more than a railway station, has had a surfeit of names. For a long time it was known as Warren Center, and that was

the name of the railroad station. The name given to the post office, however, was Sweet Home, a very pretty designation for a country town ; this name has been changed to Lindley. Recently the railroad company hunted up a fourth name, and the station is now called Lydick. It would be fitting that all should compromise on the honored name of that worthy pioneer, Ashbury Lindley, who lived his good life in the neighborhood, and platted the town. A little to the west of the town is the crossing of the branch of the Michigan Central railroad, running from South Bend to St. Joseph, on lake Michigan. The eensus of 1900 shows the population of Sweet Home to be thirty-four.

Sec. 6 .- WOODLAND .- At the corner of sec- tions fifteen, sixteen, twenty-one and twenty- two, township thirty-six north, range three east, in Madison township. the town of Wood- land has been in existence during a time ex- tending back at least as far as the year 1860. The town was never platted; although on August 7, 1899, Mochel's plat, practically an addition to the town, was laid out on the north half of the northwest quarter of said section twenty-two. The place has always been á business center of some importance. Schools, churches, groceries, post office, physician's office, saw-mills. blacksmith shop, and other like features of a rural town have always been maintained. The population in the year 1900 was ninety persons. Some of those who have been prominent in the business of the town are: Martin Fink, William Shenefield, Dr. Bishop, Adam Mochel. Frederick Weber, Con- rad Kelley, Michael Kettring, Philip Buhler, Dr. Fisher, Frederick Lang and Charles Frank, the saw-mill and lumbermen, Scott, Shenefield, Thomas Crakes and many others. In the lumber business particularly, Wood- land has been a busy town. No less than four or five saw-mills were, at different times, at work in and around the town.

Sec. 7 .- WARWICK. - In the northwest quarter of section eighteen, township thirty- eight, range one east, in Olive township, is

312

HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.

another unplatted hamlet, which seems ad- vancing to the dignity of a busy center. It is known as Warwick, and is located on the old Chicago road, or Great Sauk Trail, at the in- tersection of the South Bend and St. Joseph branch of the Michigan Central railroad. The population is very small.

Sec. 8 .-- NUTWOOD .- This town is a station on the Vandalia railroad, in Center township, in the south part of section three, township thirty-six north, range two east. It has a post office ; and in 1900 had a population of forty- three. Some other little hamlets, or collec- tions of houses, may be found in different sec- tions of the county ; but they are hardly more than pleasant neighborhoods and need not be referred to as towns.

III. INCORPORATED TOWNS.

Sec. 1 .- NEW CARLISLE .-- One of the oldest of our towns, as it is one of the most beauti- fully situated, is New Carlisle, which from its picturesque eminence overlooks fair Terre Coupee prairie in Olive township. The town was founded in 1835 by Richard R. Carlisle, a unique character of our early history. He was of a restless disposition, a sportsman and a traveler rather than a pioneer settler. He did not remain in the town to which he gave his name, and is said to have spent his last days in Philadelphia. The land on which the town was laid out had been obtained from the Indians by one Lazarus Bourissan, a French- man who married an Indian wife. It was from the children of Bourissau that the land was purchased by Carlisle. The dedication and acknowledgment of the town plat reads as follows:

"This plat represents the Town of New Carlisle, situated in the northeast quarter of section thirty-four, in township thirty-eight north, in range one west, in St. Joseph coun- ty. Indiana. Each lot is one hundred and thirty-two feet in length by fifty feet in width. All the streets and alleys cross at right angles -variation north eight degrees and twenty minutes west. The width of the streets is

marked in each respectively. [Michigan street is shown to be one hundred feet in width ; and Front. Chestnut, Cherry, Filbert, Arch and Race, each, sixty fect.] The alleys lying par- allel with Michigan street are each sixteen and one-half feet wide; those of a contrary course are cach eight feet wide.

"RICHARD R. CARLISLE, "Proprietor.

"The beginning point to re-survey any of the lots of this town is at a stone at the north- east corner of No. thirty-three.

"Surveyed by Tyra W. Bray. St. Joseph County Surveyor."

The plat was acknowledged by Mr. Carlisle August 15, 1835.

On March 15, 1837, R. R. Carlisle filed and acknowledged a very much extended plat of New Carlisle, on the same general plan as the first. This last plat was printed and litho- graphed in the city of New York, and contains a beautiful view of the town overlooking Terre Coupee prairie. Apparently a large number of these printed plats were prepared. They were no doubt intended to be circulated throughout the east and to attract attention to the beautiful town.

New Carlisle, though still a small place, could hardly fail to hold its own in the strug- gle for existence. The fine eminence on which it stands; the unequaled landscape which spreads out before it; the rich agricul- tural county that surrounds it; and the ab- sence of any rival town for many miles,-all united to attach its people to the old town and to draw others to it .. The coming of the Lake Shore railroad, in 1851, secured the stability of the little municipality. On June 7, 1866, Samuel C. Lancaster and thirty-one others filed with the board of county commissioners a petition for the incorporation of the town ; and the board fixed June 30, 1866, for an election to determine the question. On Sep- tember 4, 1866, the report of the election was filed with the county board, and it showed forty-four votes for incorporation and six against it. Thereupon the board.entered an

313

HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.

order incorporating the town, under the name of New Carlisle.

Under an act approved March 3, 1899, towns not having more than fifteen hundred inhabitants, and having no school indebted- ness, were authorized to transfer their schools and school property to the trustees of the townships in which such towns respectively should be located.ª New Carlisle took advant- age of this law and transferred its schools to the jurisdiction of the trustee of Olive town- ship; and, consequently, it has since been simply a civil and not a school town. The schools of New Castle are nevertheless of a high order and excellently conducted.

The New Carlisle Collegiate Institute, a school for the education of both sexes, was erected by the Methodist Episcopal church, in 1859; and the school was opened in 1861, under the patronage of that church. The In- stitute took high rank as a classical school;b and continued to flourish for seven or eight years. The Institute building was a substan- tial two-story brick structure, forty-four by seventy-five feet. The expense of conducting the school, however, proved too heavy for the church; and accordingly the building was purchased for the use of the school town of New Carlisle.c An exceedingly interesting reunion of the surviving students of the old Institute took place August 29, 1907, which was attended by about eighty alumni from different parts of the country. At the close of the reunion, a regular organization' was perfected.

The population of the town of New Carlisle, according to the census of 1900, was five hun- dred and ninety-seven.

The New Carlisle Gazette, one of the best of our county papers, was established Febru- ary 6, 1880. by George M. Fountain and George H. Alward. It was at first independ- ent in politics ; but at the end of six months Mr. Fountain bought out his partner, and

a. Acts, 1899, p. 373.

b. Turner's Gazetteer, 1867, p. 73.

c. See Chapman's Hist. St. Joseph County, p. 768.

continued the publication of the Gazette as a Republican journal, until his election as clerk of the St. Joseph circuit court, when the present proprietor, Mr. E. L. Maudlin, took charge.

On the incorporation of the town, it would seem that the people of New Carlisle had everything needed to make life full and con- tent : Churches, schools, shops, stores, news- paper. all located in one of the most beautiful landscapes in America; and with these, and more than all these, a highly moral and intel- lectual community. It is an ideal home for the philosopher, the artist or the poet, as well as for the contended, right living Ameri- can citizen. With the completion of the two interurban railways soon to connect the town with South Bend, on the east and with La- porte, Michigan City and Chicago on the west, it would seem that nothing will remain to make New Carlisle one of the most desirable residence towns in the country.

Sec. 2 .- NORTH LIBERTY .- The town of North Liberty, situated in Liberty township, followed close after New Carlisle. It was founded in 1836 by Daniel Antrim. The dedication of the plat is as follows :

"This is the plat of the Town of North Liberty, in St. Joseph county, Indiana. Laid out on the southwest quarter of section twenty-eight and the southeast quarter of sec- tion twenty-nine, in township thirty-six north, in range one east. The streets and alleys cross at right angles, bearing east, west, north or sonth. The width of the streets is marked in each, respectively. [The streets are each sixty-six feet in width, except Main street, which is eighty-two and a half feet wide.] The alleys lying north and south are each six- teen and one-half feet wide; those lying east and west, fourteen feet wide. Each lot is ten rods, east and west, by four rods north and south, containing one quarter of an acre.

"Laid out for the purposes above men- tioned. as witness my hand, this 12th day of January, 1836.

"DANIEL ANTRIM.

314

HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.

"N. B. The corner of seetions twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty-two and thirty-three is designated as the beginning point in survey- ing the town plat.

"Surveyed by Tyra W. Bray, St. Joseph County Surveyor."a

Sinee the extension of the Wabash railroad and the Three "I" railroad through the town, North Liberty has beeome one of our most im- portant centers of business and population.

So far as can be learned, the first news- paper, the North Liberty Herald, was estab- lished about the year 1892. The Herald was published for nearly four years. On March 23. 1895, publication of the North Liberty News was begun by its present editor and pro- prietor, Mr. Dell M. Woodward. The News is a sprightly well conducted paper, and fully meets the wants of the people of North Lib- erty and vicinity. About the year 1903, the North West Indianian was started at North Liberty, but continued for only about a year. The population of North Liberty, according to the United States census of 1900, was five hundred and four. The town was duly ineor- porated June 8, 1894.

See. 3 .- LAKEVILLE .- The town of Lakeville is situated in Union township, on either side of the Michigan road: and is located on the east half of the southeast quarter of section thirty-four, and the west part of the south- west quarter of section thirty-five, in township thirty-seven north, range two east. It receives its name from a number of small lakes south of the town, the chief of which is Riddle's lake. Originally this was merely a place of, rest and refreshment for the aeeommodation of travelers, merchants and others doing busi- ness along the great highway leading through the state from the Ohio river to. Lake Michi- gan. After the opening of the Michigan road and before the coming of the railroads. immi- gration and commerce for northern Indiana sought this north and south highway from Logansport to Michigan City. instead of pro-

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.

A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1, Part 52

Author: Howard, Timothy Edward, 1837-1916 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 826

Author: Howard, Timothy Edward, 1837-1916
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 826