USA > Indiana > Kosciusko County > A standard history of Kosciusko County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development. A chronicle of the people with family lineage and memoirs, Volume I > Part 23
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The celebration at Warsaw included a grand parade of civic and military bodies under the marshalship of Capt. William Ostermaier, then commandant of the training station at Camp Winona. The Warsaw Military Band led the march; the boys at camp turned out in force and were ably seconded by the Winona High School cadets. The Civil war veterans, although most of them professed their eagerness and ability to walk with the younger boys, were carefully tucked away in autos and had the place of honor following the band. Then there was the giant bonfire on the grounds of the Center Ward School, and the final gathering at the courthouse square where Kaiser Bill was appropriately devoured by the flames, without hav- ing a chance to once "go over the top."
AMONG THE LAST HOME WAR VICTIMS
Afterward it was learned, with deep regret, that several Kos- ciusko County boys had paid the last sacrifice not long before the signing of the armistice. Harry N. Robinson, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Robinson, who was a sophomore in the Warsaw High School when he was drawn into the National army, was killed by the burst- ing of a shell, after he had been in France since August. John C. Peterson, who was killed in action during October, had only been over a month, in the artillery with the Rainbow Division. He had been in military service for three years and was a member of Com- pany H, Third Regiment, Indiana National Guard, having seen some practical campaigning in Mexico before being sent overseas from Camp Winona.
TOTAL MAN-POWER OF THE. COUNTRY
From the figures prepared by Charles A. Kelly, chairman of the examining board for the county during the later period of the
LIEUTENANT COLONEL O. B. KILMER
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
war, it is gleaned that 500 volunteers went from Kosciusko County and 1,700 men were drafted.
LIEUT. COL. O. B. KILMER
At the conclusion of the war, Lieut. Col. Orville B. Kilmer was commanding a brigade of heavy artillery at Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky. He was one of the most thoroughly trained officers rep- resentative of the soldiery of' Kosciusko County. He had resided in Warsaw from early boyhood and at the age of twenty entered the service as a member of Company H, Fourth Infantry, Indiana Na- tional Guard, serving with it through the Spanish-American war. When the Indiana National Guard was reorganized in 1900 he con- tinued his identification with it, and passed through all the officers' grades to the captaincy in April, 1903. In June, 1912, he was pro- moted to major and assigned to the First Battalion, Second Infan- try, Indiana National Guard. Owing to another reorganization of the guard regiments, twenty-four officers (including Major Kilmer) were placed on the retired list.
The call of active service, however, brought the major at once from retirement and in July, 1916, he was called to the Mexican border as captain of the machine gun company of the Third Indiana Infantry. He was reappointed to the grade of major in March, 1917, and in April, 1917, being the senior of that rank in the Indiana National Guard, he was promoted to the lieutenancy and assigned to the Third Indiana Infantry.
Lieutenant Colonel Kilmer was called into Federal service in May, 1917, and during the following two months completed a course of training at the School of Musketry, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and afterward conducted a school in military science for field and staff officers of the Third Indiana Infantry at South Bend, Indiana. In October, 1917, that regiment was changed to the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Field Artillery and located at Camp Shelby, Mis- sissippi. The first three months of 1918 were spent in the Artillery School of Fire at Fort Sill and the courses completed with satisfac- tory grades. Lieutenant Colonel Kilmer then returned to the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Field Artillery at Fort Shelby, and served there until September, 1918, when he was transferred to the Field Artillery Replacement Depot at Camp Zachary Taylor, Ken- tucky. After filling the position there for several months as assistant to the senior instructor, he was assigned to the command of the First Brigade, Field Artillery Replacement Depot, which consisted of the
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
First and Seventh regiments of heavy artillery. That post he was holding until several months after the war ended.
THE FRAZERS IN THE WAR
At the conclusion of the war, besides those already mentioned, James R. Frazer, a leader in all the sustaining movements in Kos- ciusko County, had been called to Washington, with the rank of major, and assigned to duty in the office of the judge advocate.
Theodore Frazer, another son of William D. Frazer, was a captain at Camp Custer.
The father of the major and the captain had himself been tire- less in every home work recommended by the Government, and Miss Harriet D. F. Frazer, the sister of William D., had been among the foremost of the women who gave unstintedly of their time and strength to "carry on."
AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR
Carl W. McConnell was director of a band in France, holding the rank of chief musician and first lieutenant, at the war's close.
Of the Warsaw physicians, Dr. C. C. DuBois and Dr. C. Norman Howard were captains overseas and Dr. Orville Ricker, a first lieu- tenant, was in Siberia.
P. G. Fermier of Leesburg and Cecil Whitehead, Howard Obern, Frank Swihart and Arthur Shepler of Warsaw, with others drawn from the patriotic men of the county, were holding the rank of first lieutenants "over there"; which was often a most convenient term to use, when men had dropped out of sight in the fearful European war of 1917-18.
The last important home act in connection with the war was the transfer of 900 men from the Winona Camp to the Indianapolis Fair Grounds, there to continue their training until such time as the defeated Germans and associates should show whether they in- tended to keep the peace, or their professions were all camouflage to mask their real intentions. Followed rather weary months of wait- ing and uncertainty before the Kosciusko County boys, who had not been sent overseas, were discharged and returned to their homes, farms, offices, stores, factories and other welcome surroundings of peace.
CHAPTER XIII TOWN AND CITY OF WARSAW
PIONEERS OF THE WARSAW NEIGHBORHOOD- FIRST STORE IN THE TOWN- SHIP-JOHN B. CHAPMAN, WARSAW'S GOD-FATHER-PIONEERS OF THE WARSAW NEIGHBORHOOD-THE COUNTY SEAT PLATTED FIRST CABIN AND STORE IN WARSAW-PIONEER LOCAL INDUSTRIES --- BUILDINGS AND RESIDENTS OF 1837-POTENTIAL CONGRESSMAN WIL- LIAMS-HARD RAISING FROM THE GROUND FIRST POSTOFFICE AND EARLY POSTMASTERS-JOSEPH A. FUNK, PIONEER TEACHER-IN- CORPORATED AS A TOWN-BIRTH OF LOCAL SYSTEM OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION-PRIVATE FIRE DEPARTMENT ORGANIZED FAMOUS INDEPENDENT PROTECTION ENGINE-GETTING FIRE WATER UNDER DIFFICULTIES-BECOMES PUBLIC FIRE DEPARTMENT-FIREMEN AS UNION SOLDIERS-FIRE OF 1866-EXPANSIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT -"'CHIEFLY FOR SPORTING PURPOSES"-FIRE DEPARTMENT IN 1875-76-BUILDING OF SCHOOLS IN 1872-73-PUBLIC SCHOOLS AT MUNICIPAL INCORPORATION-THE HIGH SCHOOL OF 1904-NEW CENTER WARD SCHOOLHOUSE-PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF TODAY- THE WARSAW PUBLIC LIBRARY-PUBLIC UTILITIES AND NECESSITIES -WINONA ELECTRIC LIGHT AND WATER COMPANY-THE WARSAW GAS COMPANY-COMMERCIAL TELEPHONE COMPANY.
Neither Kosciusko County nor its seat of justice has experienced a mushroom growth; neither has suffered "growing pains," occa- sioned by an undue expansion of their bodies politie or the pre- scribed limits of their territories. Their development has been con- tinuous and substantial, and consequently all the more dependable; like the constitution and physique of a sturdy man, with broad shoulders and average height, who stands fairly and squarely on his feet.
The first distinct period in the development of Warsaw com- mences with the platting and settlement of the place in 1836, jand concludes with the incorporation of the town in 1854. That period may be ealled its villagehood.
PIONEERS OF THE WARSAW NEIGHBORHOOD
Two years before the county was organized and Warsaw platted, a number of settlers had located in Wayne Township, most of them
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
not far from the future site of the place; in fact, that fact may have determined in some measure the location of Warsaw.
In the summer of 1834 Peter Warner, William Kelly and John Knowles migrated thither from Wayne County, Ohio. Mr. Warner settled just northwest of the future county seat on the farm occu- pied long afterward by John Sloan. After looking the neighborhood
A TYPICAL PIONEER WOMAN
over, however, he decided to build a sawmill farther south and did so, on the west line of section 36, on the Tippecanoe River.
FIRST STORE IN THE TOWNSHIP
James Comstock, who was to be appointed one of the first two associate judges of the Circuit Court when the county was organized, opened the first store in Wayne Township and one of the first in the county, two days before the first of July, 1835. He undoubtedly wished to be prepared for the rush of the Fourth, and on that memo- rable second of July exposed his merchandise for sale on the north-
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
east quarter of section 29, also in the southern part of the township. Judge Comstock had hired Metcalfe Beck as his clerk, and his first sale was half a pound of Cavendish tobacco to Benjamin Bennett.
JOHN B. CHAPMAN, WARSAW'S GOD-FATHER
In the following year Hon. John B. Chapman, the eccentric law- yer and politician, pushed the bill through the Legislature which created Kosciusko County. He also had the consistency to stand sponsor for a town near the territorial center of the new political division, and named it Warsaw, thus bringing the Polish patriot and his home city together in Northern Indiana. Mr. Chapman, how- ever, did not identify himself with it until it seemed quite probable that Leesburg had definitely lost the county seat.
THE COUNTY SEAT PLATTED
The first plat of Warsaw was filed by W. H. Knott, proprietor, on the 21st of October, 1836, and acknowledged before Jacob Ran- nells, justice of the peace. Christopher Lightfoot, the county sur- veyor, did the practical laying out of the lots. The county had ar- ranged with Proprietor Knott that, in consideration of fixing the seat of justice in his town, half the proceeds from the sale of lots should go into the public treasury.
FIRST CABIN AND STORE IN WARSAW
The first cabin erected on the site of Warsaw was placed on Lot 6 by Matthew D. Springer, and stood near the edge of what was then a tamarack swamp. Poles cut from the marsh constituted the chief material in its construction. The structure, which is thus de- scribed, was used both for a residence and a tavern: It was about twenty by twenty-four feet; the floor laid from the north end to within six feet of the south end, which space was occupied by a fire- place, cupboard, etc. The back-wall for five or six feet was built of niggerhead rock. Stakes were driven each side of the fireplace, having forks at the top in which a pole could be placed for hanging pots and kettles over the fire. The range for beds was made by poles and forks around the walls, with hickory bark stretched for the beds to rest upon. The landlord and the landlady officiated as hosts, cooks, chambermaids and hostlers, and all slept in the same room and were happy.
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
The first store within the limits of Warsaw was erected in the fall of 1835, before the town was platted, and was located on what became the northwest corner of Lake and Market streets, by Wil- liam J. Pope. It was also a tamarack pole concern, one story high.
The second tavern was built in the year Warsaw was platted by Jacob Losier, and was located on the southwest corner of Lake and Center streets. It was more pretentious than Springer's inn, being a two-story hewn log building, and also considerably larger upon the ground.
PIONEER LOCAL INDUSTRIES
The first industries to arise in Warsaw were the blacksmith shop of Phillip Lash and the chair shop of John Giselman, which were both opened in 1836.
H. Higby started a regular furniture shop in 1837.
BUILDINGS AND RESIDENTS OF 1837
At that time, on the east end of the lot afterward occupied by the Wright House stood a one-story frame building, eighteen by thirty-six feet, divided into two rooms. The west room was occu- pied by a store and the east room, weather-boarded and having a stick chimney, was the office of R. H. Lansdale, county clerk and auditor. The building was burned in 1838, the fire having originated in aforesaid chimney.
A little one-story frame building stood on the lot afterward occupied by the book store of Runyan & Milice, but in 1837 it was the headquarters of Mahlon F. Davis, county treasurer-both his home and his official residence.
Clement B. Simpson, attorney, had his office and dwelling place in a log cabin eighteen feet square on the west end of the lot after- ward occupied by the Lake City Bank.
POTENTIAL CONGRESSMAN WILLIAMS
South of the Weirick House stood a small log building in which was displayed a small stock of goods by William J. Pope & Company. The eighteen-year old clerk of the concern was William Williams, who had served as a chain-bearer to the county surveyor when War- saw was laid out, and who, within thirty years, was gradually ad- vanced through many stages to a seat in Congress. But when he
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
carried Lightfoot's chain and sold Pope's goods, he had no inkling of coming events ; he just put everything which was in him to the busi- ness at hand.
In the brush north of the cabinet wareroom of Richard Loney stood a small frame building which represented the grocery of An- drew Nye. One who sampled various items of his stock at the time says that it comprised a few pounds of candy, a barrel of whiskey, a bottle of brandy, one of gin, and several quarts of filberts and al- monds. A small box stove supplied the required heat and a long bench the sitting accommodations for both customers and visitors.
Not far from the site of what afterward was the West Ward schoolhouse stood the log cabin and home of Jacob Baker, who be- came probate judge and was then postmaster. On the high ground south of what is now the Pennsylvania Company's depot was the log house of Ludlow Nye, surrounded by a clearing of about an aere and a half. Mr. Nye was elected sheriff several years afterward.
HARD RAISING FROM THE GROUND
South of Eagle Creek, in a small cabin, lived Philip Lash (the blacksmith) and his family, and his experience in providing for his household when he first located in this new country was not uncom- mon, although none-the-less trying. He had cleared a small piece of ground that spring and planted it to corn, but the ground squirrels were so numerous and industrious that they gathered the crop while it was underground. As it was then too late in the season to plant again, Mr. Lash put in some potatoes. But before even the potatoes could sprout, the family larder got so low that the household pro- vider had to dig them up to ward off hunger from the wife and chil- dren. Still hopeful and undaunted, Mr. Lash sowed some buckwheat and actually raised it from the ground .. Much depends on the per- sistency applied to the task of "getting a start," and Mr. Lash's future of comfort proves the contention.
Arnold J. Fairbrother, recorder of the county, occupied a com- bination of office and home in a log cabin situated on a knoll north of the outlet of Eagle Lake.
In November, 1837, Alfred Wilcox came from Ohio to become a resident of Warsaw, and one of the prominent men of the county. Several years after he located at the county seat he was elected auditor and served for a decade. To him the local historian is in- debted for many of the facts connected with the first years of War- saw's existence.
Vol. I-17
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
FIRST POSTOFFICE AND EARLY POSTMASTERS
The postoffice at Warsaw was established February 11, 1837, and Jacob Baker was its first master-in other words, the first postmaster of the place. He held the office for more than four years, or until the appointment of George W. Stacey by President Harrison, the whig. Judge Baker was a democrat and a Van Buren man.
JOSEPH A. FUNK, PIONEER TEACHER
In all probability, there were schools and teachers in Wayne Town- ship and Warsaw, supported and boarded by householders with their customary quotas of children, previous to the '40s, but the first definite account we have of either comes from J. A. Funk, who himself taught during the winter of 1844-45. He was employed by John Rogers, the probate judge, in behalf of the township, at a salary of $17 monthly, out of which was to come his board. The schoolhouse was on lot 218, Fort Wayne Street.
Mr. Funk was succeeded by a Mr. Clark, who taught in the old court house, and the former resumed his teaching in the new school house on Indiana Street, South Warsaw. At the time the town was incorporated in 1854, Mr. Funk was also in the pedagogic traces and pulling steadily and efficiently for the good of the increasing body of juveniles. In the year mentioned, the subscription school under his charge had an enrollment of about 140, with an average attend- ance of 120. He was assisted by Miss Emeline Yocum. This was the first school in the county in which two teachers were employed.
Mrs. Jane Cowan also started her school about this time. It was afterward known as Mrs. Cowan's Seminary.
INCORPORATED AS A TOWN
On March 8, 1854, Andrew J. Power and John Rogers peti- tioned the county commissioners, Nelson Baker, Samuel Wallace and John McNeil, that Warsaw might be incorporated as a town. Judge Rogers had occupied the Probate bench for several years- but not immediately preceding the steps taken to incorporate-and was especially influential.
According to law, they represented more than one-third of the voters within the limits of the town intended to be incorporated, and their petition to the commissioners contains other interesting facts required, before the place could legally become a town. The peti-
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
tioners, through these representatives, stated that S. R. Gordon had made the survey of the proposed town limits, which embraced 236 acres, and described them as follows: Commencing at the south- west corner of section 8, township 32, north of range 6 east; thence north 83º 12', east 194 poles (rods), 12 links; thence north 3º, west 68 poles, 20 links; thence north 82°, east 65 poles, 14 links; thence north 4° 30', west 80 poles, 7 links; thence south 83º 150 poles; thence north 3º 30' 11 poles; thence north 51°, west 53 poles, 11 links; thence north 56°, west 62 poles, 15 links; thence south 4° 30', east 250 poles, 15 links.
The census, taken on the 4th of February, 1854, indicated that on that day there were 752 residents within the limits described.
Affidavits were attached to the petition verifying the facts con- tained in it, signed by S. R. Gordon as to the survey and Messrs. Rogers and Power as to the accuracy of the census. The map ac- companying the survey was verified by G. W. Fairbrother, the county surveyor, and it had been deposited in the recorder's office for public examination during the month required by law.
All the other provisions of the law having been complied with, the county commissioners ordered the voters within the proposed town limits to meet on the 25th of March to determine the question of incorporation. The auditor of the county was directed to give the legal ten days' notice of the election by publication in the Kosciusko Republican and by public postings in town.
All of which was done, according to the law, made and provided, and Warsaw duly became an incorporated town.
BIRTH OF LOCAL SYSTEM OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
After Warsaw had continued under town government for twenty- one years, its people decided that it had reached its majority and was entitled to a municipal form. Several years passed as a town before the efforts of the citizens to provide adequate educational advantages and a reasonable measure of protection against fire took definite form. The year 1858 was most fruitful of the earlier times in these regards.
It was during the year mentioned that the first public school of Warsaw was opened, in charge of Professor D. T. Johnson, who sub- sequently was principal of the graded school. It is said that the building contained three rooms on the ground floor and one large room above. Five teachers were employed.
The successive town superintendents were - Brown, Violus Butler, D. W. Thomas, A. H. Elwood, E. O. Miller and W. H. Wheeler.
WINONA LAKE
INDIANAS POPULAR SUMMER RESORT TAND CHAVTAVOVA CENTER
ON WINONA LAKE NEAR WARSAW
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
Among the early teachers, all serving under the superintendency of Mr. Thomas, were the following: Miss V. A. Rundles, high school ; Mrs. A. C. Wait, grammar school ; Miss E. M. Huffman, intermediate ; Miss L. A. Baldwin, senior secondary; Miss Ella Dresser, junior ; Mrs. S. A. Holbrook and Miss Florence Frasier, primary.
PRIVATE FIRE DEPARTMENT ORGANIZED
By the fall of 1858, the town had quite an array of frame structures and several of them had already been scorched, or more seriously damaged, and others had gone up completely in the flames. The volunteer bucket brigade had been outgrown, and quite a collection of the real wide-awake citizens gathered at the Court House to discuss ways and means of organizing a regular department. First they de- cided to interview the town trustees to ascertain what they could do toward furnishing equipment. But the capacity of the town treasury was stretched to the utmost and no funds were available for that pur- pose, necessary as it was admitted to be. The outcome was a joint stock company which issued shares of $5.00 each, and shortly raised enough money to purchase a second-hand engine. Although this was the nucleus of a fire department, this initial organization was not, strictly speaking, a public institution. Nor did it become such for a number of years.
A permanent organization of the department was effected in Feb- ruary, 1859, with the following officers: Foreman, Peter Marvin ; first assistant foreman, William B. Boydston ; second assistant, A. T. Skist ; secretary, William S. Hemphill ; treasurer, Dr. Joseph P. Leslie ; company engineer, Bradford G. Cosgrove ; chief of the fire department, Joseph A. Funk, likewise the schoolmaster-evidently a man of many parts.
FAMOUS INDEPENDENT PROTECTION ENGINE
At first, the department was Independent Protection Engine Com- pany No. 1, and its foreman, Mr. Marvin, was sent to Adrian, Michi- gan, to look over an old hand-engine there which "might do." The engine was purchased, on his recommendation, and on March 10, 1859, it was tested through 300 feet of old leather hose. Despite the ragged condition of the conveyor the test was quite imposing, although it was demonstrated that a couple of hundred feet of absolutely new hose was a prime necessity of the "department."
The new hose on hand, the boys bought some bright red jackets,
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
drilled weekly and as promptly responded to what they knew were false alarms, as to the bona fide call-outs.' The company leased a strip of land opposite what is now the First National Bank Building and erected a shed for the Independent Protection engine, which was soon to redeem itself and all concerned. How this came about is another story.
The night of November 14, 1859, was bitter cold-just the kind of a night when every capable stove was run to its utmost capacity. Some- body overdid the matter in a certain frame building on Center Street and when the boys of Independence Protection Company got the alarm dense clouds of smoke and rolling, darting flames were pouring from it.
The company was promptly on hand, but the outlook was bad; and much worse when it was found that the moment the water en- tered the cylinders they froze solid, and naturally were paralyzed. Fortunately, the fire was in the vicinity of the Wright House. By this time the day had dawned and the good landlord of the tavern had a large boiler of coffee already steaming hot for his cold and hungry patrons. A member of Protection Company, with a long, cool head, called that fact to mind, when the congealed cylinders of the engine refused to budge and the fire still raged. His idea and message were flashed to the foreman and chief of the depart- ment, and simultaneously the action occurred by which the boiler of steaming coffee was transferred from the Wright House, diverted from its primary purpose, and poured into the cylinders of Pro- tection Engine No. 1. The valves were immediately loosened, "down brakes" rang out on the frosty air, and a free and welcome stream of water poured into the flames.
In fact, the water started with such momentum and force that although the fire was extinguished the stream played havoc with the old leather hose. One of the participants in the excitement, who long afterward was classified as an Old Settler, says: "There was scarcely five feet along the entire line that had not burst and been wrapped with bed-quilts, sheets, silk and linen handkerchiefs, and calf and sheep skins. This incited a subscription at once, and a sufficient amount was contributed to finish the engine house and procure the needed supply of hose."
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