USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A standard history of Elkhart County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development, Volume I > Part 17
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).
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 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34
THE BALTIMORE & OHIO BUILT
Soon after this, in 1873-4, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Com- pany, having determined to extend its line into Chicago from the
172
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
East, began to survey its line. The citizens of Goshen promptly endeavored to secure the location of the road through their city, and money was raised to pay the expenses of a preliminary survey of such a line. Mr. Stonex' first practical railroad work consisted in circulating a subscription paper for that purpose. While Goshen failed in this, the county secured the road and Nappanee has grown from nothing to be a thriving town as the result.
About the same time the Chicago & Canada Southern Railroad was projected, and its route was located through the county by way of Millersburg, Benton, New Paris and Wakarusa. Goshen again endeavored to secure it, but the location of the city is too elevated to enable a line to be built at low cost on a low grade through it, and the Canadian Southern was projected as a freight line to be built with a grade so low that it would be impossible to draw trains of 100 loaded cars along it with a single locomotive. This condi- tion barred Goshen out and the line was located, the right of way bought, and a considerable part of the road bed graded when work was stopped. It was understood that this was done in the interest of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company to pre- vent its formidable competition.
It now seemed certain that no more railroad building would be done through Goshen unless brought about by the city itself. The only feasible project seemed to be for the construction of a line running through the county from the northeast to the southwest, and a company was promptly organized to construct such a line. The name of the company was Michigan, Indiana & Southwest- ern Railroad Company. Its proposed terminals were Jackson, Mich- igan and Danville, Illinois. Milton Mercer was one of the most active of its promoters. After some changes this company became the Canada and St. Louis Railroad Company, of which the first directors included Milton Mercer, E. D. Chipman and W. L. Stonex, of Goshen, and Jonathan S. Mather, of Middlebury. In August, 1888, the control of this company passed into the hands of J. J. Burns and associates. Goshen and Middlebury voted aid, and the road was completed from Goshen to Battle Creek, Michigan, and put in operation by January, 1889. The company about that time became financially embarrassed, soon after failed, and passed to the control of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern.
Only an unavoidable accident prevented the extension to Goshen of the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroad from Knox to connect with
173
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
it by way of Plymouth and extend it as intended from Battle Creek to Bay City. This having occurred, an attempt was made to sell the road, as built, to the Cincinnati, Wabash and Michigan Railroad Company, and every detail of this had been agreed upon. If one day longer had been allowed to pass this would have occurred, but by an unexpected and unforeseen move the road went into other hands and at last became the Goshen & Michigan branch of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company (now the New York Central).
But Goshen had secured another road, and was connected with Middlebury by it. After having seen the last enterprise well under way the indefatigable Mercer proceeded to organize a company to construct a road between Toledo and Chicago. It was organized as the Toledo & Chicago Air Line Railway Company, and was a Goshen organization. Mr. Mercer was its first president and Mr. Stonex was its first secretary. This project was favorably con- sidered by the public, and it soon received recognition, with the result that it was taken hold of by a party of eastern capitalists who secured control of it and undertook to construct the line. The Lake Shore Company at once antagonized it for the reason that, if constructed, the road would pass between the two branches of the company, and being considerably shorter between the same terminals would very materially injure its line. Without going into details, it is sufficient to know that the opposition of that road prevented the enterprise from being realized. But before the end came Goshen had voted over $60,000 to aid toward the construction of the road on condition that its shops should be located here, and other towns and townships voted about the same amount.
THE WABASH ROAD
Notwithstanding the defeat of this enterprise the exploiting of it gave publicity to the value of such a line and the willingness of the people to aid in constructing it. Very soon after this the Wabash Railway Company put engineers in the field and surveyed a line for its system which would give it a short line from Detroit to Chicago, and they followed substantially the line of survey of the Canada Southern Company. The Wabash Company selected this for the very reason which had induced the former company to adopt it, its remarkably low grade. When the line was being surveyed
174
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
the citizens of Goshen had a public meeting and appointed a commit- tee to try to induce the company to abandon the proposed line and come nearer Goshen. This the company endeavored to do, but finally abandoned the attempt.
While this was interesting the citizens of Goshen, H. E. Bucklen was quietly engaged in the construction of a railroad from Elkhart to South Bend. This was done in the name of the Elkhart & West- ern Railway Company. When completed it was bought by the Lake Shore Company. The Elkhart & Western Road, while not of great length, became and continues to be a very important line for the City of Elkhart.
THE CITIZENS' STREET RAILWAY COMPANY, OF ELKHART
While the building of these railroads seemed to be the great enterprises, in comparison with which all others were almost insig- nificant, there had been quietly undertaken and carried forward another work which in time developed into a very great and im- portant one. In 1886 there was organized in Elkhart a company, under the name of the Citizens' Street Railway Company, for the purpose of constructing a horse car line for the city. Its mem- bers were Elkhart citizens, and they hurried the work forward to a successful accomplishment. After five years, in 1891, the com- pany decided to abandon horse power and substitute electricity. This was of doubtful wisdom, as the use of that power was so new that it required costly experimenting. When it was put in opera- tion as an electric line, according to the information obtainable, there was but one other such line in the United States. After a suc- cession of heavy losses the operation of the road was suspended, and in the winter of 1892 a receiver was appointed for it. The road was sold to private parties at the receiver's sale in February, 1894.
INDIANA ELECTRIC RAILWAY COMPANY
In February, 1893, J. J. Burns and others organized a company known as the Indiana Electric Railway Company, by Goshen citi- zens, chiefly to build an electric railway in Goshen. After build- ing about a mile and a half of track this company also failed and
175
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
went into the hands of a receiver, and in November, 1893, its assets passed into the hands of private parties.
In May, 1894, J. J. Burns and others organized a company also known as the Indiana Electric Railway Company for the purpose of buying the roads above referred to, of completing them and con- solidating them into a single system. The new company bought the lines, soon had the Elkhart road in operation, and not long after the Goshen line was opened, the first car on the latter line being run on the Fourth of July, 1896. From time to time during the next two years gradual extensions of these lines were made. In Septem- ber, 1898, the owners of the South Bend & Mishawaka Street Rail- way lines, Arthur Kennedy and Frances J. Torrence, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bought the stock of the Indiana Electric Railway Company and took possession of the property early in October. This long delayed construction of the line required to connect the two cities was pushed rapidly forward, and on the 21st of December, 1898, the first car was run from Elkhart to Goshen.
THE CHICAGO, SOUTH BEND & NORTHERN INDIANA RAILWAY
The largest consolidation of electric lines giving access to Elkhart County is represented by the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana Railway Company. It operates a well-equipped system connecting Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan, the company being incorporated in 1907 with a capital of $7.500,000. The sys- tem embraces lines from Goshen to South Bend and thence to Michigan City, via Elkhart, Mishawaka and Laporte. As inti- mated, its nucleus was the street railway company organized at South Bend in 1873. In that city, the horse was displaced by elec- tricity in 1882, by the installation of an overhead trolley system, which was not considered a notable success. Then followed the building of the line to Mishawaka, by the South Bend & Mishawaka Railroad Company and its consolidation with the local electric line, and still later the extension of the line from Mishawaka to Elkhart and Goshen. The line was next built by the Northern Indiana Company, to Laporte and Michigan City, and encouragement was given the company that contemplated constructing a road to Niles and St. Joseph, Michigan. In 1906 the Northern Indiana sold the bulk of its holdings to the Murdock syndicate, which in 1907 was incorporated, as noted, under the name of the Chicago, South Bend
176
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
& Northern Indiana Railway Company. Much freight, as well as many passengers, is carried over the lines of its system, and within comparatively late years large buildings have been erected at Elk- hart and South Bend for the convenience of shippers.
THE WINONA INTERURBAN RAILWAY
The Winona Interurban Railway is the electric link connecting Elkhart County with the country to the south. It extends from Goshen to Peru, Indiana, a distance of sixty-nine miles. The enter- prise originated in 1903, and in the following year Elkhart Township voted $30,000 for the construction of the road which was to pass through Waterford, New Paris, Milford and Leesburg, to Warsaw. The work of construction was begun in 1905, when the Winona . Interurban Railway Company was incorporated, and, as noted, the line was afterward extended to Peru, where connections are made with the Indiana Union Traction Company's lines to Indianapolis and other points south. At Warsaw, connections are made with cars running frequently to Winona Lake, around which are the beautiful grounds of the Chautauqua Assembly and Schools Asso- ciation, covered with handsome hotels, charming cottages and all modern facilities provided for rest, study, recreation and reflection. The Winona line also provides means for handling freight, as well as passengers.
ELKHART AS A RAILROAD CENTER
Elkhart is on the main line of the New York Central Railroad, and is the terminus of four of its divisions, and has become one of the most important railroad centers of that system. Its great switch yards, repair shops and round houses are located about a mile west of the city depot and give permanent employment to over 1,000 men. Besides the round houses and locomotive shops, the industrial im- provements at that point include foundries, rail shops, carpenter shops and a great coal dock. It is estimated that more than half of the employees reside within the city proper. Elkhart is 100 miles east of Chicago and much of the great business at the Lake Shore freight yards consists of making into trains the cars which come in from the East consigned to points west of the great lake metrop-
177
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
olis. Thereby much confusion is avoided, which would occur if the trains were made up in Chicago.
Elkhart's standing as a railroad town is further enhanced by the fact that it is one of the most important stations in the Big Four System.
RAILWAY FACILITIES, AS A WHOLE
Broadly speaking, the transportation facilities of Elkhart County are now controlled by the railroad systems known as the New York Central, the Big Four and The Wabash, and the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana Railway Company and the Winona Inter- urban Railivay Company, the development of which has already been described.
The New York Central accommodates fully one-half of the county, although its trunk line which runs diagonally through that territory from southeast to northwest, or vice versa, is paralleled between Elkhart and Goshen by the Big Four road. Millersburg, in the southeastern part of the county, is also on the main line of the New York Central, which throws out spurs on the northeast to Middle- bury, Bristol and Vistula. Directly to the south of Goshen are the stations of Waterford and New Paris, on the Big Four. The Wabash, which cuts across the southern part of the county, runs through or near Millersburg, Benton, New Paris, Foraker and Waka- rusa, while the Baltimore & Ohio, which clips off the extreme south- west corner, divides Nappanee and has virtually made it what it is.
THE GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT
Reference was made at the commencement of this chapter to the strength of the good roads movement in Elkhart County. This statement is especially true for the period covering the past five years, during which the northern, southern and central townships have been most active in the work; the eastern sections of the county have been in the rear of the procession.
As to mentioning names, no citizen will probably take exception to the giving of special credit to County Commissioners W. W. Showalter, Edward Greiner and Edward C. Fischer ; Ethan Arnold, A. H. Beardsley, B. D. Houseworth and H. D. Merkel, of Elkhart ; Benjamin F. and Anthony Deahl, Charles Gorham, Haines Egbert, Vol. 1-12
178
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Harris Oppenheim and Joseph Yoder, Goshen, and Charles Mutscher and John and Frank Coppes, Nappanee.
The figures which speak show what has been done in the way of road construction since and including 1912 and up to the spring of 1916.
DETAILS OF ROAD-BUILDING, 1912-16
LENGTH, WIDTH,
NAME OF ROAD - TOWNSHIP - KIND YEAR
MILES
FEET
Elkhart-Middlebury, Concord ; macadam ..
.1912
3.00
9
Oakland Ave., Concord ; macadam.
1912
2.25
9
N. Main St., Elkhart; macadam.
. 1913
.90
16
S. Main St., Elkhart ; macadam.
1913
2.97
16
Indiana Ave., Concord; concrete.
1914
.58
18
Oakland Ave., Concord ; concrete 1914
1.75
18
Prairie St., Concord ; brick.
1914
4.00
8-10
Union Center, Union ; gravel.
. 1914-15 4.50
14-16
Union Center, Union ; concrete
.1914
.50
18
W. Market St., Locke; gravel.
. 1914-15 2.50
14-18
Locke-Union Tp. Line, Locke & Union; gravel
1915
5.00 14-16-18
Vistula Ave., Concord; concrete.
1915
3.20
18
Ft. Wayne-Goshen, Elkhart; brick
1915
5.00
17
Goshen-Elkhart, Elkhart; brick.
1916
2.41
18
Elkhart-Goshen, Concord; concrete.
1916
1.25
16-18
Oakland Ave., Harrison ; con. & gravel.
1916
4.00
26
Bristol-Elkhart, Washington ; gravel
.1916
5.00
16-18
CHAPTER IX
PIONEER PICTURES AND PEOPLE
SPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO ELKHART COUNTY-MALARIAL EPI- DEMICS-CORN HUSKING BEES REPLACE LOG ROLLINGS- WOOLEN MANUFACTURE A HOME INDUSTRY-PREPARING CORN AND WHEAT FOR FOOD-GETTING SALT UNDER DIFFICULTIES- ALSO, ON GETTING RELIGION-PRIMITIVE AGRICULTURE-PIO- NEER HISTORY LARGELY A PERSONAL MATTER-GOSHEN AND ELKHART PIONEERS-SOUTHERN TOWNSHIPS FIRST SETTLED- EASTERN AND NORTHERN TOWNSHIPS-COL. JOHN JACKSON AND HIS DESCENDANTS-OLD-TIME SOUVENIRS-MAJ. JOHN H. VIOLETTE AND PLAIN JOHN H .- THE IRWINS-THE COOKS OF ELKHART AND GOSHEN-JESSE D. VAIL-ASSOCIATE JUDGE DIDDY-"FRIENDS, LET'S PAUSE A MOMENT"-GOSHEN PIO- NEERS ANTEDATING 1840-ANTHONY DEFREES-THE VIOLETTS AGAIN-THE CARPENTERS-DR. SPARKLIN'S RECOLLECTIONS- JOEL P. HAWKS LOOKS BACK-PIONEER MILLS OF THE COUNTY -THE OLD HAWKS MILL AND "OFFICE"-THE NEW HAWKS MILL-GETTING TO MARKET AND ARKING-STONE-DRESSING- MILL MOVED TO GOSHEN-THE VAIL REMINISCENCES-THE GOSHEN COOKS-MINOR INDUSTRIES- BEFORE THE VILLAGE WAS-GOSHEN VILLAGE FOUNDED-PULASKI, PREDECESSOR OF ELKHART-DR. HAVILAH BEARDSLEY AND THE BEARDSLEY FAM- ILIES-J. R. AND ELIJAH H. BEARDSLEY-HOW ELKHART WAS NAMED ORIGINAL TOWN AND FIRST ADDITION-FIRST RESI- DENTS AND BUILDINGS-POSTOFFICE MOVED FROM PULASKI TO ELKHART-FIRST NATIVE TOWNSMAN-SETTLERS OF 1836- IMPRESSIONS OF THE VILLAGE (1838).
The decade following the organization of the county in 1830 is the pioneer period beyond dispute. It was not until its close that Goshen town was incorporated, and the flail and tramping horses
179
180
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
·wils Berry
TYPICAL PIONEER CABIN-EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR
181
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
were yet to be displaced by the first crude threshers. Elkhart city was still in decided embryo, as the little settlement then consisted of a small flour mill, a few stores, two little schoolhouses and perhaps thirty houses altogether. The Beardsleys had not commenced to erect their mills and stir things up generally at the mouth of the Elkhart River. The river trade was just taking on some proportions. But everything was raw and crude, even to the cattle, hogs and sheep raised by the farmers. Improved breeds were innovations which only figured in dreams. Wheat crops were only commencing to alternate with those of corn, and about the only sizable flock of sheep in the county was owned by Major Violette.
SPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO ELKHART COUNTY
The general conditions of those days in Elkhart County are similar to those which always prevailed in what was then the Western country, and book space is too valuable to be filled with the thread-worn descriptions of the old log cabin-round, hewed and otherwise-with its latch string ever out; the old-time house raisings ; the details of the typical fireplace; the little red school- house ; the construction of the beds and other home-made furniture, etc. The writer will therefore select only such features of this pioneer period as apply specially to Elkhart County. Mr. Bar- tholomew, president of the historical society, has gone into these special matters so thoroughly, and has had such unusual oppor- tunities to gain access to the best and most authentic data, that we select the following from some of his contributions.
MALARIAL EPIDEMICS
The families of the pioneers suffered a great deal from sick- ness, chiefly ague and bilious fever. There were many swamps and marshes in this section of the state, and these were breeders of malaria. Consequently old and young alike suffered more or less from those diseases. They were spring and summer diseases, and did not trouble the people in the winter time. There were few physicians here, and they were kept very busy during those portions of the year when sickness prevailed. The first settlers knew some- thing of the remedies employed in those days, and administered medicines to their own families. Although the neighbors lived
182
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
several miles apart, everybody was quick to respond to a call for assistance in case of sickness. Usually the members of each family took turn about in caring for one another. It was seldom that assistance became necessary, except when all or nearly all of the members of the family were sick at the same time. As the period of illness usually came during the busiest season of the year, it was necessary to care for the sick and do the work on the farm at the same time, and this made it considerable of a hardship. The work alone was hard enough, but when to this was added the care of the sick it made a heavy burden to bear. The year 1838 has been referred to frequently by the oldest residents as the sickly season. That year nearly everybody was sick and there was scarcely anyone to take care of the suffering ones. Those who were the least ill had to take care of the others. There were occasionally some who escaped entirely, and these would go from place to place taking care of the sick people and helping them to do their work. The late Dr. M. M. Latta was a young man at that time, and he frequently spoke of that season as being particularly memorable.
CORN HUSKING BEES REPLACE LOG ROLLINGS
After the settlers had been here for a number of years and were raising large crops of corn, husking bees began to take the place of the log rollings of the earliest days. This does not mean that the log rollings ceased when the corn huskings began, for both were kept up at the same time throughout a number of years. But after each farmer had a comparatively large acreage cleared the log rollings became less frequent and the corn huskings more frequent. The women, too, had their methods of co-operation as well as the men, and they also made opportunities by this means for social gatherings. Wool pickings and quiltings were among their frolics, and those occasions were not less enjoyable to them than the log rollings, raisings and corn-huskings were to the men. Many of the women knew as much about outdoor work as the men, and some of them even more. Often they assisted their husbands in the fields in order that the farm work might be done at the proper time and the necessaries of life provided for the family. And their house- hold duties were more ardnous than are those of the farmers' wives of the present day. Besides, on account of living so far apart, their isolation was more complete. The occasions on which women of
183
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
the neighborhood would get together to help one another with a portion of their work afforded a pleasant relief from the toilsome labor at home, whether it was the labor of the field or of the house- hold. Besides the diversions already mentioned there were apple parings, in which both men and women took part, and taffy pullings for the younger people in the season of maple-sugar making.
WOOLEN MANUFACTURE A HOME INDUSTRY
The clothing worn by the pioneers and their families was home- made. Some of the farmers had sheep, and from the wool shorn from those sheep were made the flannels and all other woolen goods that were needed. Others raised flax, and this, by means of a process of which the present generation knows nothing, was transformed into linen. There were some who were fortunate enough to have both flax and wool, and who consequently could produce a greater variety in their wearing apparel than those who had only one. Most of the homes were equipped with the tools necessary for the manufacture of the goods to be used for clothing, and there were few housewives who did not thoroughly understand the process by which the transformation was wrought. Each home was a miniature manufactory. But few articles of home consump- tion were procured elsewhere at first. Those things which were not made at home had to be brought from a long distance and trans- ported in wagons, so it was only at long intervals that any foreign merchandise could be obtained. For these reasons about all of the wearing apparel both of young and old was of homespun, and there was not much of a variety in the articles worn. All were content for the time being to be comfortably clad, without much regard to outward appearance. According to the evidence of some of those who were boys at that time the girls looked just as attractive in the homely garb of that period as do those of the present day in all of their expensive finery.
PREPARING CORN AND WHEAT FOR FOOD
The food presented little variety in comparison with that which we have at this day. Corn at first entered largely into the diet, probably because it could be grown more easily and more quickly than other grains. This was beaten into a coarse meal in a hominy
184
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
mortar, another article which long ago passed into disuse and of which perhaps there is not one in existence in the county. As soon as the first wheat crop was harvested it became possible to procure flour from the home-grown crop. But for some years there was such a rapid incoming of settlers that it was impossible to grow enough to feed all of them. Besides the wheat had to be ground into flour before it was ready for use, and this necessitated the long, tedious trip to mill. The nearest mill was at White Pigeon, Mich- igan, which would be considered quite a distance by the present generation. It took a great deal longer to make the trip then than it would now, because there were no roads except the mud roads. Besides there were streams to be forded and other difficulties to be encountered which made the trip a disagreeable one and sometimes even a dangerous one. So the pioneer farmers did not go to mill very often, and when the supply of flour was exhausted the family had to be content with corn bread until more flour could be procured. Corn meal and bacon were the standbys, and to those two articles may be credited the chief support of our ancestors during the earliest period of Elkhart County's history.
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.