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 28
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 28
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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
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the railroad, in which his brother Timothy opened up the first busi- ness house at this point. It served also as station house, postoffice and rallying point for this section generally.
In 1861, Timothy Foster laid out the Village of Goodland, which consisted of forty-seven lots, with Jasper and an unnamed street along the railroad, and Union streets, passing east and west, and Newton and Benton streets crossing these at right angles. The town made rather slow progress for five or six years, the surround- ing lands finding little sale, and several crop failures adding to the general depression. Good lands within two miles of the station
سكاكا - دشتلك ..
BUSINESS STREET OF THE PRESENT GOODLAND
could be bought at from $5 to $8 per acre that are now worth from $25 to $50 per acre. In 1868, Abner Strawn, of Ottawa, Illinois, commenced the purchase and sale of land, and brought a large num- ber of buyers from his own and other sections of Illinois. These attracted others, and lands advanced in price and sold rapidly ; the country filled up and improved more in three years than it had in the six years preceding. The village felt the new impulse, and in 1869, three additions were made to the original town site-the Harris, Currens and Teay & Woods.
GRAIN WAREHOUSES AND ELEVATORS
The class of farmers attracted to the surrounding lands were men who had tried Illinois prairies, but attracted by these rich lands
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adjacent to a good market, have been ambitious to improve their property, the effect of which is seen in the fine farm property which lays on every side of the village. Their preference for grain culture built up a lively market in the village with mutual benefits. In 1870, Osborne & Pierce erected a large warehouse, and a year later doubled its capacity and added steam power and elevator machinery. Abner Strawn, in the same year, erected a large corn elevator. Mr. Foster added steam and improved machinery to his warehouse, and these three elevators handled the bulk of the grain of southeastern New- ton County for many years.
Mr. Foster sold his pioneer store to O. W. Church, who, in 1866, received C. W. Hartley as a partner. Church & Hartley became a familiar name to all the business men of Goodland and its vicinity. For several years he had a monopoly of the grain trade. But a number of his elevators burned, and eventually he sold his interests to the Goodland Grain Company.
EXTENSIVE GRAIN AND PRODUCE TRADE
The grain trade is still the mainstay of Goodland, its two large elevators being at present controlled by Rich Brothers and Hugh Murray. During the period of its development, which covers more than forty-five years, the facilities for handling the large crop of the surrounding district have improved continuously until now the village stands high in that regard with the farmers, shippers and business men of a large adjacent territory. That well known fact has added greatly to its growth and standing as a trade center.
Goodland is not only a leading grain center of the state, but re- ceives and ships large quantities of poultry, butter, eggs and wool, and, though it makes no claims to industrial prominence, it takes pride in the H. & D. plant, which manufactures automobile shock absorbers. Its trade mark is "Aitchandee," the significance of which a little study will fathom.
INCREASE IN POPULATION AND AREA
In 1868 Goodland was still only a small hamlet and railroad station, with perhaps a score of buildings and less than 100 people. About 1870 a substantial class of farmers from the Illinois prairies commenced to settle at and around Goodland, attracted thither by the fertility of the country, the reasonable prices of land and the
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facilities for storing and shipping grain. The village received such an accession of this immigration that by 1880, when its first regular census was taken, it had a population of 620. It was 1,105 in 1910, and within the past six years there has been considerable of an increase over those figures.
For the past forty-five years Goodland's municipal site has been increased by the following additions: Foster's West addition, and Crider's addition, April, 1872; Port Wilson addition, May, 1872; John Wilson addition, August, 1872; Perry's addition, March, 1888; Sapp's addition, April, 1889; Griggs & Babcock addition, May, 1892.
ABUNDANT SUPPLY OF WATER AND LIGHT
Perhaps the most noticeable public improvement of recent years is the installation of a good system of waterworks. The work was commenced in July, 1915, and the town has now an adequate supply of water for all purposes. It is drawn from three wells in the southeastern part of the village, sunk to a depth of forty-five feet, and stored in a large reservoir in that locality. The waterworks are operated under what is known as the compression system and, with power house and four miles of mains, cost about $22,000. Electric light and power are furnished by the Interstate Public Service Com- pany, which also supplies Fowler, Monticello and other points in Northwestern Indiana.
In the establishment of the waterworks, as well as in the realiza- tion of other public improvements, Goodland owes much to the efforts of its Commercial Association.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The first public school building at Goodland was erected in the early '6os. It stood upon the site of the present three-story structure, contained one room and faced north and south. About seventy-five pupils were in attendance when it opened, some of them drawn from a distance of several miles. In 1871 a small room was added to the northeast, and in 1875 two additional rooms made it a sizable school.
In 1887, with the growth of the village, it was found necessary to build a larger and more modern brick building. It was erected on the site of the old one, a two-story brick, with four rooms on the first floor and three, besides the superintendent's office, on the second. It was a year and a half before the schoolhouse was completed and the community was proud of it, as it was one of the most up-to-date
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buildings of the kind in the county. In 1894 the Goodland institu- tion was commissioned, the high school having been incorporated as a part of a regular four years' course.
On January 21, 1908, the second Goodland schoolhouse was entirely destroyed by fire, and while it was being replaced by the present structure the scholars pursued their courses in temporary rooms in the center of town. The new building, erected on the foundation of the old, was completed in January, 1909. It is of brick, three stories and basement in height, with four rooms on the first floor, five on the second and one on the third; rooms for
GOODLAND'S PUBLIC SCHOOL
athletics, manual training and toilet accommodations in the base- ment. It is a handsome, massive building, and a credit to Goodland. Nearly 300 pupils are trained within its walls under the general superintendency of George N. Porter, who has been at the head of the local public school system for the past eight years.
GOODLAND'S TWO BANKS
The financial transactions of Goodland are conducted through the First National and the State Trust and Savings banks.
The First National Bank was organized in August, 1905, with Dr. B. W. Pratt as president and Mort Kilgore as cashier. Doctor Pratt served as such until April, 1913, when he was succeeded by
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J. W. Oswald, who is still president. There has been no change in the cashiership since the organization of the bank. George H. Smith is its vice president. The total resources of the First National amount to about $317,000. It has a capital of $50,000 surplus, $10,000; average deposits, about $180,000.
The State Trust and Savings Bank was chartered in December, 1912, and opened for business in the following January, with A. G. Jakway as president ; T. T. Snell, vice president ; C. Oliver Holmes, secretary and treasurer, and R. L. Weil, cashier. Present manage- ment : James Bell, president ; J. T. Hamerton, vice president ; H. J. Brook, cashier. The capital of the bank is $25,000 ; surplus, $2,250, and average deposits, $100,000.
THE GOODLAND HERALD
The first newspaper published in Goodland was the Saturday Herald, which was founded in 1877 by Ingraham & Keyes. It was published for several months and then suspended. William C. Cop- pock started another paper in 1878, and when his plant burned out in September of that year A. J. Kitt, who had been employed on the Coppock publication, founded what is now known as the Good- land Herald. In December, 1882, the office was again swept by fire, but in a few weeks the Herald was going forth as usual. There have been several owners, but Mr. Kitt was connected with the paper until 1908. In the spring of 1902, Henderson & Shepard launched the Newton County Star, but in 1903 it was consolidated with the Herald. On August 1, 1908, the Herald was purchased by Will C. Logan, the present owner, who now occupies the ground floor of the Masonic Building. The operating power of the plant is furnished by electricity.
THE CHURCHES
The churches of Goodland, mentioned in the order of their founding, are the Methodist Episcopal, the Presbyterian, the Bap- tist, the Lutheran and the Catholic.
The earliest records of the Methodist Church of Goodland bear date of 1852, when the society was called Cherry Grove Class. In 1860 it was known as the Tivoli Class, and in 1863 when the name of the railroad station was changed to Goodland the church became known accordingly. Rev. George E. Deuel is now pastor of the church, and has been in charge for a number of years.
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The Presbyterian Church was organized in November, 1866, under the ministry of Rev. J. P. Patterson. In 1897 the brick structure in present use was erected through the contribution of members and friends. Rev. C. B. Johnson is the pastor now in ·service.
The Baptist Church was organized in July, 1867, under Rev. L. Cool, its first services being held in the old schoolhouse. The first house of worship was built in 1895; was burned and rebuilt the same year. Rev. B. H. Truman is now pastor.
The Lutheran Church at Goodland was founded in 1875 by Rev. Schlesselmann, who first preached in the houses of some of the members. Three years afterward the present meeting house was erected. Rev. Henry A. Paul is in charge.
In the year 1880 the nucleus of the Catholic Church at Good- land, known as SS. Peter and Paul's, was formed by Father Anthony Messmann. Services were first held in Brigham's Hall once a month for a year. Then a small wooden church was built, which served for twenty years. In November, 1902, was completed the large brick building now occupied. The church is in charge of Father Hen- neberger.
THE LODGES
With the exception of the Moose lodge, which is less than two years old, the secret orders represented at Goodland are of long standing. Goodland Lodge No. 445, Free and Accepted Masons, was instituted in 1869; Goodland Lodge No. 346, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in 1870; Western Encampment No. 126, of the same order, in 1874, and Harmony Degree Lodge No. 108, in the same year.
CHAPTER XXII
THE TOWN OF BROOK
PUBLIC SCHOOLS-THE BROOK PUBLIC LIBRARY-MCKINLEY PARK AND THE SOLDIERS' MONUMENT-THE PIONEER METHODISTS- MISS ELLA LYONS' STORY-FIRST CHURCH AND SCHOOL AT THE LYONS HOUSE-CHANGES IN CIRCUITS-LIST OF PASTORS- UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH OF THE BROOK CIRCUIT -- THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH-THE WELFARE CLUB- HISTORY OF BROOK MASONRY-KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS-THE INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS-MODERN WOODMEN OF AMERICA-THE BANK OF BROOK-THE BROOK REPORTER-PIONEER TIMES IN TOWN AND TOWNSHIP-EARLY MILLS AND THEIR OWNERS-SEVEN GOOD STRONG MEN-SAMUEL H. BENJAMIN-MORRIS LYONS- JOHN LYONS-OLD-TIME HISTORY BY JOHN HERSHMAN AND MORRIS JONES-BROOK IN 1856-MR. HERSHMAN'S ADDRESS- STOVE WITHOUT A FIREPLACE-OTHER HOME IMPROVEMENTS- EARLY SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS-A LITTLE JUDICIAL AND CIVIL HISTORY-MORE ABOUT THE TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS.
The Town of Brook, Iroquois Township, has now about 1, 100 people, and is one of the most promising centers of trade and social life in the county. Its actual accomplishments are also great, as will be evident by the facts stated in this chapter. It has a substan- tial bank (the Bank of Brook), a good newspaper (the Brook Re- porter, Rich & Forsman, proprietors), three well-organized churches and a creditable school; the last-named, which enrolls 326 pupils, under the superintendency of Fred Longwell. Its secret, social, reformatory and benevolent societies, some of which are about as old as the town, are also features of its life, which make it desirable as a place of residence and all-around development.
No citizen of Brook is better qualified to write both of the pres- ent and past of the town than John R. Hershman, who has con- tributed the following to its history.
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PUBLIC SCHOOLS
"The history of Brook's school houses dates back to 1853 when a small frame building eighteen by twenty-four feet was erected on the site now occupied by the library building. It served as a school house until 1865, when it was sold to John L. Bicknell who used it for a dwelling about fifteen years when it was torn down and moved away. In 1865 a school house twenty-four by thirty-six was built on the ground where the monument now stands. In 1889 a second story was added to this structure by W. P. Griggs, the Township Trustee. The Brook school now had two teachers, and an enrollment of eighty pupils.
BROOK HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING
"The rapid growth of the town and increased population soon made it necessary to have more school room. The town was incor- porated in 1894, and in 1895 erected a four-room brick building on the ground where the present school building now stands. In 1898 the township purchased a one third interest in this building and the grounds, thus forming a joint graded school which is still in opera- tion.
"It soon became necessary to rent an extra room to accommodate the increased population of the town. In 1903 and 1904 the school board and the township trustee jointly erected the present school building. The members of the school board were John P. Fox,
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Joseph Merchant and Edwin D. Zook; trustee, Edward Hess. The building has a large assembly or high school room with two recitation rooms and two grade rooms, superintendent's office and corridor on the upper floor. The first floor has four grade rooms and corri- dors. The basement has manual training room, domestic science room, chemistry room, furnace and fuel rooms, toilet rooms and corridors. It is steam heated and electric lighted and has a good water supply. It also has an iron stairway fire escape.
"The manual training department is well equipped with benches and tools. The domestic science room is furnished with good steel range, eight electric hot plates, work tables, cooking utensils, cup- boards, sink, a kitchen cabinet, dishes, chairs, two sewing machines and a cutting table. The school received its commission as a high school in 1906 under the superintendency of E. E. Vance. A class of nineteen graduated in the school year 1915-16. Eleven teachers are employed-three in the high school, six in the grades, one in domestic science, and one in music and art. One more will be added the coming year for the manual training department. The enroll- ment the past year was, in the high school, seventy-three; in the grades, two hundred forty-seven; total, three hundred and twenty. The present superintendent is Fred H. Longwell who is serving in his sixth year. Members of the school board are M. Foresman, president ; Dr. T. E. Collier, secretary ; E. M. Thayer, treasurer, and John R. Hershman, township trustee."
To the foregoing may be added facts obtained directly from Superintendent Longwell, who fixes the approximate cost of the 1904 building at $26,000. E. E. Vance, the first superintendent of the Brook schools, held that position four years ; was followed by James McIntosh, who was superintendent for two years, and Mr. McIntosh was succeeded by Fred Longwell, the present incumbent, in I9II.
THE BROOK PUBLIC LIBRARY
"Brook Public Library was erected in 1914; architects, Brookie and McGinnis, of Indianapolis, and Cory and Lathrop, of Brook, contractors ; building committee, E. E. Hess, R. E. Hershman and Frank Davis; cost of building, $7,000 and of grounds, $1,500; total, $8,500. The grounds were paid for by individual subscription and the building, from the Carnegie Library Building fund. The build- ing is a substantial one made of shale-brick and roofed with slating; is fifty-two feet long by thirty-two wide; has a basement with fur-
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nace and fuel room, an assembly room that will seat two hundred and fifty, and a room in the southwest corner in which the town- ship trustee has his office. The main floor consists of the library or reading room thirty-two by thirty-six, and a ladies parlor or rest room, a toilet and a librarian's office. It has the hot-water system of heating, is electrically lighted and uses the town system for water supply. The building stands on historic ground, as it occu- pies the site where the first schoolhouse stood that was built in Iroquois township with public funds in 1853-this schoolhouse being also memorable as the place where the first company of soldiers was organized that went from Newton County to the Civil War. This was Company B of the Fifty-first Regiment Indiana Volunteers, with David A. McHolland as captain.
"The library is financed by the town and township jointly from a special tax levy. Under the management of a librarian the doors are open to the public from one to six week days and, in addition to this, the library is open on Wednesday and Saturday evenings of each week. Under a card system books may be taken from the library by any resident of the town or township and retained for two weeks. To persons living outside the township who desire to take out books a membership fee of one dollar per year is charged. A good set of reference books is available at all times, when the library is open, to be used in the reading room only. There are now in the library 2,026 volumes, besides periodicals and newspapers. During the year 1915, 8,856 books were circulated.
"The library is controlled by a board of nine members com- prising E. E. Hess, R. E. Hershman, Frank Davis, John Lyons, Jr., Mrs. Anna Reed, Mrs. Ida Lawrence, Mrs. T. E. Collier, Mrs. John Foresman, Jr., and Mrs. Harry Bruner. The librarian is Miss Ethel Reed.
MCKINLEY PARK AND THE SOLDIERS' MONUMENT
"In 1895 when it became necessary to erect a larger school build- ing, a more desirable site was found necessary. This Messrs. Lyons and Esson, who were platting the Lyons & Esson addition to the town of Brook, offered to donate, provided that the old school ground should be made into a public park. The terms were ac- cepted. The old frame schoolhouse, which had done service since 1865 as schoolhouse, church, public hall and election room, was sold, and moved onto the property of J. D. Rich on North street, where it is now doing service as a barn.
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"The ground was planted to trees, graded, sown to grass and walks of crushed stone made. A concrete archway stands at the southwest entrance capped by a horizontal beam on which in raised letters appears the name of the park given to it in honor of the then newly elected president of the United States, William McKinley, in 1896.
"A concrete bandstand or pavilion stands near the center of the park, which makes a fine speaker's stand and, as it is lighted by electricity, it is used on Sunday evenings by the churches of the town in the summer seasons for union services. Near the southwest corner of the park facing the main entrance stands a fine granite monument erected in honor and to the memory of the men and boys who enlisted for soldiers in the war of 1861-65, who were living in Iroquois Township at the time of enlistment; also soldiers of the Civil War who have lived and died in this township and soldiers of the same war who were living in this township at the time of the erection of the monument. The names of all of the above and the number of their regiments and name of State from which they en- listed are engraved on the monument. Near the monument stands a mounted cannon which was loaned to the monument committee, through the influence and efforts of J. B. Lyons, by the war depart- ment ; also, two pyramids of cannon balls, to be used as park orna- ments and souvenirs of war. The erection of this monument came about from a suggestion of John Hershman to Bennett Lyons on the day following Decoration Day, 1909, to the effect that a tablet or monument be placed in the cemetery with the names engraved on it of all soldiers who had enlisted from Iroquois Township that were killed in battle, or died during the war, and were buried in the south, that their names should not be forgotten. The suggestion appealed at once to Mr. Lyons' veneration for the fallen soldiers, and he pro- posed that a larger monument than the one suggested be erected in McKinley park, and that the names of all the soldiers of the Civil War be engraved on it who had enlisted from Iroquois township, or are buried in the Brook cemetery, and that he should contribute $100 toward it himself. An informal meeting was called and the plan suggested by Mr. Lyons adopted. There were present at this meeting Thorp Beagley, Morris Jones, G. F. Merchant, A. M. Snyder, J. B. Lyons, John Hershman and some others whose names are not recalled. A monument committee was appointed consisting of Thorp Beagley, A. M. Snyder and John Hershman, with instruc- tions to raise a fund by subscriptions and secure plans for the mont- ment. Donations were liberal and sufficient money was soon raised
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and plans adopted, as Bennett Lyons and George Ade each donated $150.
"The Cunningham Brothers of Brook secured the contract for the concrete base at $125. The contract for the monument was lec to Knox, Lynch & Company of Danville, Illinois, for $800. The work was completed in due time, and the monument unveiled at a reunion of the Soldiers of Newton County held at Brook, September 15, 1909. The Hon. E. D. Crumpacker, then member of congress from the Tenth district, delivered the address. Near the monu- ment stands an iron flag pole one hundred feet high, from the top of which Old Glory may be seen floating on all patriotic occasions.
THE PIONEER METHODISTS
"The Methodist Episcopal Church was perhaps the first religious society to effect an organization in the neighborhood of what is now the town of Brook.
"The first religious services recorded in the territory of what is now Iroquois Township was held in the camp of a tribe of friendly Indians who had a temporary home on the banks of the Iroquois River. John Lyons, one of the earliest white settlers, who located here in 1831, said that he had frequently attended these meetings. It is not known to what sect they belonged, if to any.
"The late Aaron Lyons has been heard to say that he remembered meetings that were held at his father's home by a Methodist Preacher when he was only four years old, and as he was born in the year 1832 that would bring the date of the meeting back to 1836. So it is a safe conclusion to say that from that time on, for several years, the faithful circuit rider made his rounds as regular as health and weather would permit, using the cabins of the settlers as places of meeting, with an occasional basket meeting in the grove in summer. The camp meeting was quite popular in those days, a favorite camp ground being on the north side of the river at the bend, now cut off by the dredge ditch crossing the land of Perry Gains south of town and just south of the railroad bridge. Some of the pioneer fam- ilies who helped sustain this early society were John Lyons, John Montgomery, Abraham Dewees, Edgar Hawkins, Samuel Bard, Cor- nelius Jones and William Neisz.
"In 1853 Brook and the district south of the river known as the Iroquois district each had a new schoolhouse and the following year Salem schoolhouse was built. All of these places were used more or less for places of preaching. Especially is this true of the Brook Vol. I-20
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schoolhouse where they had a regularly organized society and a few years later built their first parsonage and had a resident pastor. The church continued to use the first frame schoolhouse built in 1853 in Brook for a place of preaching until 1865, when a new and larger building was erected on the ground where the soldiers' monu- ment now stands in Mckinley Park. The church people of the community agreed with Morris Lyons, the trustee of the township, to pay $370 by individual subscription toward the cost of the build- ing for the purpose of making it large enough for church services. This schoolhouse was used for religious services about twenty-one years.
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