USA > Indiana > Newton County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 27
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 27
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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 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
PUBLIC SCHOOL, KENTLAND
town has been immune from that menace. In January, 1902, the Kentland Public School, which had been erected in 1871 at a cost of $23,000, was burned to the ground, but a better and more modern structure soon replaced it.
DESTRUCTION OF MCCRAY-MORRISON ELEVATOR
Then, in April, 1910, the grain elevator owned by McCray, Morrison & Company, south of the Pennsylvania track and east of Third Street, was totally destroyed, with its contents, some 57,000 bushels of grain. The entire property wiped out was valued at about $75,000, upon which there was an insurance of $55,000. In
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money value, it was the most destructive fire which Kentland ever experienced, and, although confined to the elevator property, it threatened to be more widespread. Blazing firebrands were driven over the entire business and residence districts by a southeast gale, but the plentiful supply of water then available, with the work of the fire company and volunteers, prevented the spread of the flames.
Since 1900 the town site of Kentland has been increased by the Fair Ground addition, May 7, 1902.
WATER AND ELECTRIC LIGHT SUPPLY
The first pipes for the conveyance of water, both for domestic and public purposes, were laid in 1896 and the present standpipe or elevated tank was erected at the same time. In October, 1910, the present municipal system was established. The main water supply was originally obtained from a well more than 1,300 feet in depth; but at present is supplied by two wells only 85 feet in depth. A substantial power house has been erected; adequate pumps and other machinery installed; an underground reservoir of 17,000 gal- lons capacity constructed, and a pretty little park laid out around the plant. One of its features is a glass-domed pavilion, in which plays a cascade of water drawn from the wells and discharged into the reservoir beneath. At the present time the capacity of the Kentland waterworks is 432,000 gallons every twenty-four hours. The distributing system includes three miles of mains. The plant at the Waterworks Park includes I 70-horsepower boiler, I horizontal compound pressure pump, 2 deep well pumps, 2 10-inch wells 85 feet deep, I underground storage reservoir with a capacity of 17,000 gallons, and standpipe elevation 85 feet above ground, 105 feet to top of tank, with capacity of 47,000 gallons. The total value of the waterworks, including power house and equipment, real estate and the distributing pipes, is $30,000. Since 1910 the plant has been self-sustaining, and in addition thereto affords to the municipality some revenue.
The electric light and power, used so generously in Kentland, is supplied by the Interstate Public Service plant,
PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
As stated, the Kentland Public School building now occupied, was completed in 1902, the old structure having been destroyed by fire during the same year. The total enrollment in 1916 was 300-
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88 in the high school and 212 in the grammar and primary grades. Nine teachers are on the staff, of whom C. E. Vinzant is superin- tendent of schools and D. K. Frush, principal. H. L. Sammons is president of the board of education; A. D. Washburn, secretary, and T. H. Dixon, treasurer. Mr. Vinzant has been superintendent for seven years, and was preceded by J. C. Dickerson for three years.
THE CARNEGIE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Kentland has an attractive public library, erected under the usual Carnegie plan. The enterprise originated with the Woman's Club, in January, 1910. That old, useful and elevating organiza- tion collected a number of books and first established them in the lodge rooms of the Knights of Pythias; afterward the collection was moved to the courthouse basement. For about two years, the club maintained this small library, opening it to the public once a week.
In this preliminary work, Warren T. McCray was most prom- inent, and through him the Woman's Club obtained the gift of $10,000 from Carnegie. The tasteful building, which now houses a library of about 2,400 volumes, was dedicated January 25, 1912. It was completed at a cost of over $11,000, and since its dedication the librarian has been Miss Delia Kirkpatrick.
THE KENTLAND WOMAN'S CLUB
The mention of the Kentland Woman's Club, as the founder of the public library, calls for a more extended notice of that body of earnest women who have done so much for their home town. It was organized in March, 1896, as a literary club, with a membership limited to twenty-five which, a few years afterward, was raised to thirty. Soon after performing the gratifying work in the founding of the library, the Woman's Club advanced the limit of its member- ship to seventy and greatly enlarged the scope of its activities. Its work was divided into the departments of literature, civics and music, and, under those heads, it has proved a strong and constant uplifting force in the community.
The Woman's Club celebrated its twentieth birthday, in March, 1916, at the home of Mrs. W. T. McCray. Mrs. Carrie Kirkpatrick, who was its first president, was chairman of the committee on arrangements for the birthday party. Its present officers are: Mrs. James W. (Adda V.) White, president ; Miss Ardis Ade, vice presi-
THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY BUILDING
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dent ; Miss Ruth Higgins, secretary ; Miss Adah E. Bush, correspond- ing secretary ; Mrs. John W. Ryan, treasurer; Mrs. John G. Davis, parliamentarian.
WARREN T. McCRAY
Of late years, Warren T. McCray has, in a way, taken the place of A. J. Kent as a public spirited citizen of broad and varied busi- ness interests. Mr. Kent died in 1882, Mr. McCray being then a young bookkeeper in the Discount and Deposit Bank, of which his father, Greenberry McCray, was president. In 1889, after having been in the grocery business for several years, he established a grain trade in partnership with R. G. Risser, of Kankakee, Illinois, which extended to several other points. In 1893 J. L. Morrison bought Mr. Risser's interest, and the firm of McCray & Morrison, with elevators at Kentland, Remington, Morocco, Beaver City and other points, became widely known in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and else- where in the corn and oats trade of the middle west. It alone gave Kentland a standing as a leading grain center and the extensive busi- ness controlled by the firm has also been behind the growth of the Discount and Deposit State Bank, of which he has been president since the death of his father in 1913. In 1895 he assisted in the organization of the National Grain Dealers' Association and was chosen its president in 1897.
By marriage the members of the firm of McCray & Morrison are identified with two of the county's leading pioneers, as Mr. McCray married a daughter of John Ade and Mr. Morrison, a daughter of A. J. Kent. Aside from his prominence as a grain dealer and a banker, he has done much for the civic and public advancement of Kentland. While he was a member of the village board, and largely through his initiative, the electric-light system was installed, the streets were macadamized, stone crossings were constructed and other public improvements made which marked the commencement of an advanced municipal corporation.
KENTLAND'S MATERIAL STANDING
Kentland's standing in trade and commerce is told by such signs as the prosperous appearance of its stores, its large elevators oper- ated by the Kentland and the McCray grain companies, and its two banks.
1873-1911-
· DISCOUNT AND DEPOSIT STATE BANK ·
-
DISCOUNT AND DEPOSIT STATE BANK
KENT STATE BANK
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THE DISCOUNT AND DEPOSIT STATE BANK
The oldest of the financial institutions is the Discount and Deposit State Bank, which was organized as a private institution (with the State omitted from the title) in 1873, by C. B. Cones. In December, 1875, Greenberry W. McCray, who had become a well-to-do farmer of Iroquois Township and a prosperous business man of Kentland, during his residence of a dozen years in Newton County ; John Ade, who had resided at Kentland since 1860 as a county official, a farmer, a dealer in farm lands and a partner of Mr. Cones in the grain business, as well as his cashier in the bank- these two solid and influential men, with E. Littell Urmston, pur- chased the Discount and Deposit Bank of Mr. Cones, which they conducted under the firm name of Ade, McCray & Company until it was organized as a state institution in 1908. Mr. Ade served as its cashier until 1905.
When the bank was purchased in 1875 Greenberry McCray was made its president. The institution owned large tracts of real estate arid for many years Mr. McCray gave most of his attention to the management and increase of its landed interests, at the same time dealing in livestock and lands, personally. Thus both the bank and its president prospered. Greenberry McCray remained at its head until his death in 1913, when he was succeeded by his son, Warren T., who had had a training in the bank as bookkeeper and afterward, as noted, became prominent as a merchant, a grain dealer and a land owner. Mr. McCray is still president. J. V. Dodson is vice president, and Clyde Hurt, cashier. The bank be- came a state institution in 1908 and has since been conducted under its present title. The tasteful building occupied by the manage- ment was completed in 1912. The capital stock of the Discount and Deposit State Bank is $70,000; surplus, $30,000, and average de- posits, $300,000.
KENT STATE BANK
Kent State Bank was founded December 14, 1910, with Carroll C. Kent, a son of Alexander J., as president ; Angus D. Washburn, vice president ; Arthur A. Bishopp, cashier, and Robert Coughlin, assistant cashier. Besides Messrs. Kent, Washburn and Bishopp, its original stockholders were Hume L. Sammons, John W. Ryan, Otto P. Keesler, John Tally, Ephraim Sell, Perry Washburn, Clara C. Burrell, James R. Chancellor, Mrs. Oscar Phelps, Mrs. L. K.
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Morrison, and Mrs. Mary L. Kent. Kent State Bank opened for business December 27, 1910, with the officers mentioned, and there has been no change in management since. The capital stock of the bank is $50,000 ; surplus, $25,000, and average deposits, $230,000.
KENTLAND'S FIRST NEWSPAPERS
The local press of Kentland is represented by the Newton County Enterprise and the Newton County Democrat. The former is the successor of a number of other publications, the record of which extended over a period of thirty years before the newspaper adopted its present name, the Newton County Enterprise.
The first number of the Newton County Chronotype, the pioneer newspaper of the series, was issued September 26, 1861, five months after the organization of the county. V. B. Cowen was its editor and Cowen & Schoonover, proprietors. In April, 1863, Bissell, Ade & Ross bought the office, changed the name of the paper to the Newton County Union, and until the following December conducted it as a republican organ. Then H. Wyatt became editor and con- tinued to act as such until March, 1864, when the paper suspended. In February, 1865, Streight & Watson bought the office and until the following May conducted the paper under the name of the Newton County Gazette. It was then sold to J. H. Horrell & Com- pany, who gave it another name, the Citizen. As there seemed to be no special luck attending a new name, when H. O. Bowden pur- chased the office and good will in February, 1866, he resumed the title, Newton County Gazette, and thus it continued under successive proprietors and editors for nearly twenty-five years. That period of comparative stability was covered by McKernan & Horrell, O. P. Hervey, D. S. McKernan, John B. Conner, J. M. Arnout, S. P. Conner, John French, Edwin Graham, French & Conner, and French & Bramble. During most of its existence the paper, under its various names, had been republican, and has been consistently so since 1867. In 1870 and 1883, while being published as the Gazette, its office was burned.
THE NEWTON COUNTY ENTERPRISE
On April 30, 1891, John G. Davis and John W. Randall pur- chased the Gazette from French & Bramble and changed its name to the Newton County Enterprise. In the following year Mr. Randall sold his interest to Harry Strohm, and for a few months the firm
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name was Davis & Strohm. Shortly afterward, John G. Davis sold his interest to Dodson Brothers, and the paper was published by Strohm & Dodson until January 1, 1908, when Charles M. Davis became one of the proprietors. On that date the firm incorporated under the title of the Enterprise Printing Company, under which name and under the editorship of Charles M. Davis it is still con- ducted (August, 1916).
THE NEWTON COUNTY DEMOCRAT
The first issue of the Newton County Democrat is dated August 6, 1862, and bears the name of W. C. Rose as editor. John McCarty
WATER-WORKS PLANT AT KENTLAND
became its editor and proprietor in the spring of 1863, and con- tinued as such until its temporary suspension in the fall of 1865. In August, 1867, it resumed publication under W. C. Rose, its first editor. In November, 1867, John B. Spotswood became editor and owner, and in March, 1873, C. Root and Edwin Graham purchased the newspaper and conducted it together for several months. Mr. Root retired in June and Mr. Spotswood again assumed the editor- ship.
The Democrat suspended in July, 1873, and in August, 1874, came forth as the People's Press, with John B. Spotswood and W. L. Dempster as editors and publishers. In the following month
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Mr. Spotswood became sole editor and proprietor, but the fire of 1883 destroyed the plant and no effort was made to restore the Press. The Newton County News, a democratic paper, started in 1881, was also destroyed beyond hope of revival by the same con- flagration.
But on the 12th of September, 1884, the Democrat was resusci- tated, with A. J. Kitt as publisher and editor. On February 13, 1885, John B. Spotswood, so long connected with the old Newton County Democrat and the People's Press, became editor of the Kentland Democrat. and retained control of the paper until his death, October 1I, 1893.
From that date until June, 1894, the paper was conducted by the administrator of the Spotswood estate, with Edward Steinbach as editor. It was then sold to Charles F. Wigmore, who conducted it until November 17th of that year, when it was purchased by its present editor and publisher, Edward Steinbach.
EARLY KENTLAND CHURCHES
It is said that the first religious service in the Town of Kent was held in the loft over the storeroom of Ross & Peacock, which stood facing the railroad. A Baptist minister preached in that "meeting house" a few times during the year 1860.
After the Kent Hotel was completed, the United Brethren, under Jacob Kenoyer, held services in the waiting room until their church building was completed, and it was occasionally used by other de- nominations, including the Methodists. Services were also held in the courthouse, during the early '6os, by both Protestants and Catholics.
THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST
The first denomination to organize a church and erect a meeting house in Newton County was that known as the United Brethren. In 1836 Jacob Kenoyer came from Southeastern Indiana and settled near Spitler's Creek, a northern tributary of the Iroquois. He was then but a youth. His father, Frederick, and other members of the family, arrived soon afterward and, with others, formed what for years was called the Kenoyer Settlement. While Jacob Kenoyer was still a young man he erected the pioneer sawmill and corn- cracker in the county, as has been noted. But the religious con- victions of both father and son were stronger than their business
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instincts and they became widely known in Northwestern Indiana and Northeastern Illinois as preachers and exhorters of the United Brethren Church. The younger man became especially prominent, and his death in 1870, in his forty-ninth year, was much deplored by numerous settlers outside the church.
The first church of the United Brethren was built on the farm of Frederick Kenoyer, probably in the late '30s, and soon after Kentland was laid out he contributed to the organization of a society and the erection of a building at the county seat. His son, Jacob Kenoyer, was then at the height of his local fame and often preached to the Kentland organization. George Myers and Robert Edmondson, residents of the colony, across the Iroquois River from the Kenoyer Settlement known as the Myers Settlement, were also preachers of that denomination and gave Kentland the benefit of their exhortations in the early period of the church there. But the United Brethren gradually lost ground at the county seat, their virtual dissolution being marked by the purchase of their building by the Christian Church in 1876.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
In 1861, the year after the platting of the town, the Methodists organized a class under Rev. D. S. Dunham, a circuit preacher. Rev. Miles H. Wood also ministered to their wants, as a temporary supply, and in 1864 Rev. E. W. Lawton located in town, preaching to the congregation Sundays and working in Rettinger's shoeshop during six days of the week. Rev. Isaac Sailor had charge in 1865, although he was not located at Kentland; then followed Revs. H. C. Woodhams, Miles H. Wood, J. M. Blye and Charles W. Tarr. It was during the pastorate of the last named, in 1870, that the society erected its first house of worship. It was dedicated July 19th of that year by John M. Reid, D. D., about $3,000 being raised on that day on the church indebtedness of $4,000.
The building then dedicated, with subsequent improvements and additional accommodations, was occupied by the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Kentland until 1911, when the handsome edifice of the present was completed at a cost of $15,000. From 1872 to 1900 the church was served by Revs. G. W. Bower, Wilson Beckner, Joseph Foxworthy, H. N. Ogden, C. B. Mock, Wilson Beckner (second term), W. G. Vessels, W. B. Slutz, G. R. Streeter, J. H. Siddall, Samuel Godfrey, R. D. Utter, W. F. Clark, S. P. Edmond- son, J. J. Claypool, Samuel W. Goss, A. T. Briggs, W. A. Matthews Vol. I-19
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and W. R. Mickels. Since the year 1900 the following have been in charge: Rev. J. C. Martin, Rev. C. A. Stockbarger and Rev. R. O. Kimberlin.
ST. JOSEPH'S CATHOLIC CHURCH
St. Joseph's Catholic Church of Kentland originated in the mission established at that place under Rev. J. A. Stephan, in 1864. The Catholic families living in town and in the neighborhood of Kentland had been visited, before that time, by Father George A. Hamilton, of Logansport, but Father Stephan was the first settled priest of St. Joseph's mission and the founder of the local church. In 1864 the congregation erected a little wooden church, 24 by 40 feet. Father Stephan was succeeded by Rev. Anthony Messmann in 1870, and he added thirty feet to the church building to accom- modate the increasing attendance. Father Messmann's pastorate continued until 1881, during which a brick parsonage and school- house were erected. Rev. F. X. Baumgartner, who was in charge from 1881 to 1883, added a sacristy, a belfry and a bell. Father W. C. Miller served the church from 1883 to 1891, and under his ministry, in 1888, the present brick church was completed at a cost of $8,000. The old church building was transformed into a school- house and the old school and sacristy were made into a teachers' dwelling. Rev. Charles A. Ganzer was pastor of St. Joseph's from 1891 to 1903, and since that year Rev. Charles V. Stetter has been in charge. The present membership of the church is about 580.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
The Presbyterian Church of Kentland was organized in 1867 by Rev. C. Palmer, of Watseka, Illinois, ten members forming the original society. Rev. A. Jones preached for about two years, services being held in the old courthouse, in Kent's Tavern and else- where. In October, 1870, Rev. J. B. Smith was called to the pastorate and really founded the church. A small frame meeting house was built at a cost of about $1,000 and during the following two years of Mr. Smith's service the church membership increased. In 1872 Rev. R. E. Hawley was placed in charge, continuing as pastor until 1875, and Rev. C. McCain served from 1875 to 1883; Rev. Joseph McHatton, 1883-92; Rev. R. Hooke, 1892-95; Rev. W. E. Price, 1895-98; Rev. James Cooper, 1898-1904 ; Rev. Howard Billman and Rev. Chester W. Wharton, since 1904. The handsome
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edifice now occupied, a brick structure, was completed in 1896 at a cost of about $11,000.
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Previous to the organization of a regular society those who sub- scribed to the faith of the Christian Church were obliged to be content with transient preaching by Silas Johnson, S. M. Conner, L. L. Carpenter and others. In March, 1876, the first Christian Church of Kentland was organized and in the following May W. H. Graham, Ezra B. Jones and John Ade were elected its trustees. As such, they purchased the United Brethren meeting house, adapted it to the wants of their society and occupied it until 1907. On December 15th of that year the new and handsome building was completed which has since been used. A parsonage was built in 1910. Under the pastorate of Rev. Elvin Daniels the membership of the church is now about 260.
In the early existence of the church the pulpit was filled tem- porarily by A. M. Atkinson, S. Rohrer, J. P. Davis and others. Among those who have served as regular pastors may be mentioned Rev. J. H. Edwards, Rev. John Ellis, Rev. L. M. McDermott, Mr. and Mrs. Crank, Rev. Lewis Hotaling, Rev. H. A. Wingard, Rev. J. L. Brady (1902-09), Rev. J. N. Cloe, Rev. J. Bennett, Rev. A. L. West, and the present incumbent, Rev. Elvin Daniels, who has been minister since January, 1914.
SECRET AND BENEVOLENT BODIES
Kentland was without a lodge for seven years after it was founded but on the 13th of May, 1867, a charter was granted by the Grand Lodge of the State of Indiana, on the petition of eighteen Master Masons of the Town of Adriance (as Kentland was then called) for the organization of Newton Lodge No. 361, Free and Accepted Masons. The first master of the lodge was Alfred Bre- count ; E. Littell Urmston, senior warden; Elem G. Smith, junior warden. Three duplicate charters have been issued by the lodge, made necessary by the destruction of all its records and property by fire, as follows : December 13, 1870, April 5, 1883, and December 28, 1884. Since the fire of 1884, nothing has materially interfered with the progress of the lodge, which has a present membership of eighty-five. The worshipful masters of Newton Lodge No. 361 have been Alfred L. Brecount, George N. Stewart, E. Littell Urmston,
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William Perry (five terms), John Peacock, John Ade (five terms), Frank M. Oswalt, John Z. Johnston, Robert F. Seal, J. A. Hatch, John Higgins, Ephraim Sell (seven terms), C. C. Kent, White S. Harbison, Charles W. McClain, Clermont Rider, Levi S. Rehard and Egbert S. Hess.
Kentland Chapter No. 89, Royal Arch Masons, was organized in January, 1873.
The Odd Fellows organized in May, 1872, by forming Kentland Lodge No. 390, and the Knights of Pythias, in November, 1876, by instituting Damon Lodge No. 72.
The Red Men and Knights of Columbus also have strong and growing organizations.
·
CHAPTER XXI
GOODLAND
ORIGINALLY TIVOLI, A RAILWAY FLAG STATION-FIRST BUSINESS MEN AND ADDITIONS-GRAIN WAREHOUSES AND ELEVATORS- EXTENSIVE GRAIN AND PRODUCE TRADE-INCREASE IN POPULA- TION AND AREA-ABUNDANT SUPPLY OF WATER AND LIGHT- THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS-GOODLAND'S TWO BANKS-THE GOOD- LAND HERALD-THE CHURCHES-THE LODGES.
Goodland, a village of some 1,200 people at the junction of the Pennsylvania and Chicago & Eastern Illinois lines, in the south- eastern part of Newton County, is an index of the large area of beautiful and productive country of which it is the trading and financial center. It is a pretty, clean, substantial place, with good water and light to conserve health and cheerfulness, and its public park, a short distance from the business district and fronting its large public school, is being nicely improved; it is a reminder of the several vigorous attempts made by the people of Goodland to snatch county-seat honors from Kentland and have the courthouse planted therein.
ORIGINALLY TIVOLI, A RAILWAY FLAG STATION
Goodland and Kentland were founded as towns at about the same time. When the Logansport & Peoria Railroad was opened for traffic in the early spring of 1860, a shanty was built near the present Pennsylvania Depot for the section hands. This was made a flag station and called Tivoli.
FIRST BUSINESS MEN AND ADDITIONS
David Creek, his sons Moses and John, Blake Wilson, and John and Charles Wilson, were living upon farms in the neighborhood at that time. In the fall of 1860, William Foster bought some 800 acres of land and built a store and warehouse on the north side of
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