A twentieth century history and biographical record of Elkhart County, Indiana, Part 19

Author: Deahl, Anthony, 1861-1927, ed
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publ. Co.
Number of Pages: 1044

USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Elkhart County, Indiana > Part 19

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Elkhart is now constituted along the lines of a metropolitan city. It has a well organized and thoroughly efficient police department. There was a time when a solitary individual wore a star of office and took care of the reckless and criminal minded and otherwise protected his fellow citizens. For some years a marshal was elected by the people and a proper number of policemen appointed by the council. Now all this is changed, and the Elkhart police system is being operated under the state law, the commissioners being appointed by the governor. The Elkhart board of metropolitan police commissioners was organized un- (ler the state law. May 20, 1893. The police force now numbers twelve, inclusive 'of superintendent and the humane officer.

Like all cities of its class, the present municipal fire department is the outgrowth of the "bucket brigade " and the old hand pump. In the early days whenever the cry of " Fire " was heard all work was in- stantly stopped, a line was formed, stretching from the river to the scene of the conflagration and buckets were passed to and fro, until the fire was out or the building destroyed. The first fire of importance is recorded as occuring October 9. 1848, at which time the Penwel! Tavern. John Davenport's general store and the office of a weekly newspaper were destroyed. The "bucket brigade " was present at this fire.

" Mike Shuey's Pride " was the name of the first hand engine owned by the village. This put in an appearance in the fall of 1863.

ELKHAR SEPT.

POST OFFICE

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY

Mike was a well known citizen of the town in those days and it was through his efforts that the engine was purchased.

The present paid fire department was organized in 1894. The first company comprised Mac. Dotson, chief; Charles Wilcox, assist- ant chief: E. LaBelle, second assistant chief: Frank Little, pipeman ; Algie Darling, hydrant: Charles A. Sanford, driver hose carriage ; W. H. Eller, driver hook and ladder: John Ulrich, ladder man.

The present Elkhart fire department is a matter of just pride to the citizens. There are two fire stations, one at the city hall, and two others are at this writing in process of construction on the west side. Well trained and uniformed firemen are always a strong source of confidence to business men and prospective investors in industrial enterprises, and no forward step in municipal improvement of recent years has been more profitable than the establishment of this paid fire department. The number of paid firemen at present consists of seven- teen, soon to be increased to twenty-three. Twelve horses are constant- ly in their stalls awaiting the signals to dash to duty, pulling behind them three hose carts, one combined hose wagon and chemical engine, and one hook and ladder truck. For most purposes the pressure in the mains is sufficient, but engine power is always available.

ELKHART POSTOFFICE.

The Elkhart postoffice has a record for magnitude of business and efficiency of service which places it among the foremost postoffices of the state; in point of net receipts it ranks next to Indianapolis. The historical progress noted between the old Pulaski office, on the north side of the river in 1830, with its weekly mail, to the present fine office with its immense volumes of hourly in and out going mail. its gross receipts of over one hundred thousand dollars annually, with its large force of employes, is in itself a striking résumé of the history of Elkhart city. At this writing W. H. Anderson is postmaster. He is soon to be succeeded by Dr. Charles Eisenbeiss. J. M. Hughes is assistant postmaster. There are ten clerks in the office, with one substitute, and eleven regular carriers with two substitutes.

Elkhart has been fortunate in the additions to her public archi- tecture of the past few years, and any justifiable criticisms in the past must soon resolve into absolute praise of the character of permanent buildings which are being constructed either for public or business pur- poses. \ beautiful library and several splendid business blocks have

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY

marked wonderful progress in this regard, and just at the time this history is being written the record culminates in the federal building, where during the month of November, 1905, the Elkhart postoffice. whose quarters have been outgrown by the rapidly increased business, will be installed in a permanent and modern home.

In March, 1903, Congress appropriated eighty-five thousand dol- lars for a new postoffice building at Elkhart. The grounds for the structure, whose value is estimated at twelve thousand dollars, are situated on Main street near the Century Club. The contract for the general construction of the building called for $62,400, which does not cover the cost of lock boxes, light fixtures, safes, etc. The con- tract, dated July 26, 1904, called for completion by December 1, 1905. and at the time of this writing the work had so far progressed that November i was set as the date of completion.

The postoffice is splendidly situated. Built in the Ionic style of classic architecture, with two Ionic columns at the east facade, the base and steps of granite and the upper walls and cornices of light Bed- ford stone, the brick, stone and steel construction is as nearly fireproof as any building can be. The ground dimensions are 63 by 103 feet, the height over all is 32 feet, while the main story is 21 feet high, and the basement 9 feet and 10 inches. The public entrances are from the east and the south, and the public lobby and all the depart- ments are finished in quartered white oak with marble base. The front vestibule is entirely of moss-figured Vermont marble. The di- mensions of the main room are 39 by 51 feet, lighted from overhead by a large skylight, in addition to the many stained-glass windows at the south and north. The money order and registry division occupies the southwest corner in a room 22 by 25 feet. while the postmaster's office, on the east side, is 14 by 16. In the basement are the carriers' room, fitted up with private lockers, toilet rooms and shower bath, and the heating plant. One of the provisions showing the modern safe- guards thrown about government work are two mezzanine stories, each reached by secret passageways, from which a lookout window gives an inspecting official full view of all the proceedings in the different de- partments, though the official himself cannot be observed. The super- intendent of construction, in charge of the erection of this building. is O. H. Dirham.

ERECTED

SILAS BALDWIN IN HONOR OF THE UNION SOLINERS REBELLION

PONERVER

SOLDIERS' MONUMENT

SILAS BALDWIN

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY

With a population conservatively estimated at twenty thousand, Elkhart has all the other features of a modern industrial and residential center. Situated in the two civil townships of Concord and Osolo, with an approximate area of nine square miles, splendidly advantaged by its water power and railroad situation, the city's resources are now increasing at a rate never before equaled. The total assessed valua- tion of property, real and personal, shows the following figures: Elk- hart city in Osolo township, $158.395, of which $25,690 is personal ; and of Elkhart city in Concord township. the total is $4,307,440, the personal assessment being $1.362.335 of the total. In 1904 the total amount turned into the city treasury by taxation amounted to $76 .- 887.49. The railroads furnish a large quota of this total. The Lake Shore paid taxes of $4,439.10 for the past year, the Indiana Trans- portation Company contributes $974.35, and the Big Four about $600. In 1904 the total tax levy upon each hundred dollars of assessed valua- tion was $1.30, distributed as follows :

General City Fund. $ .85

Street and Alley Fund

.05

Water Fund 16

Sinking . .IO

Special School Fund .05

Park Fund.

Library Fund. .05

Elkhart pays out a goodly sum for its chief utilities, water and light, the water bill for the first half year of 1905 being $7,387.50, and for the month of July it cost $1.093.90 to light the city.

In this chapter may fitly be recorded the life history of SILAS BALD- WIN, who was for forty-five years one of the most conspicuous figures in the business and civic life of Elkhart. Dying in Elkhart May 22, 1889, he had passed the age of seventy-seven years, and his career from boyhood till death was filled with usefulness in every department of life to which he turned his attention.

Born in East Bloomfield, New Jersey. September 23, 1811, being one of the nine children of Daniel S. and Elizabeth (Kent) Baldwin. when ten years old he accompanied the family to near Pittsburg. Penn- sylvania, thence two years later moved to Warren county, Ohio, and in April. 1828. settled on Beardsley Prairie, St. Joseph county, Indiana.

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY

He was therefore one of the pioneers of northern Indiana, and in order to reach the spot selected for settlement they had to practically hew their way through the dense forests, Indian trails being at that time the nearest approach to a highway.

Silas Baldwin began to meet the responsibilities and hardships of life at an early age, and attended the log-cabin school. He had begun working on a farm when ten years old, and at the age of twenty-one, in 1832, volunteered his services for the Black Hawk war. He was a lieutenant in a company commanded by Captain Isaac Butler, and was stationed in Chicago until relieved by Major Whistler of the regu- Jar army. In 1836 he began speculating in government land and finally engaged in the mercantile business at Edwardsburg, Michigan, where he remained until he located permanently in Elkhart in 1843. At the time of his coming the village contained a sawmill, grist mill, a dis- tillery, two hotels, stores. and about three hundred inhabitants. For a number of years he was connected with the commercial life of the city, and though twice burned out he every time rose superior to and master of circumstances and lived to see a satisfactory culmination of his ambitions.

Mr. Baldwin was identified with a number of enterprises which have formed the very foundation of the material prosperity of Elk- hart. In 1850 he took an active part in the movements which finally brought the Michigan Southern Railroad through Elkhart. He acted as agent for the company in securing the right of way from Baugo to Bristol, and on the completion of the road he was installed as first station agent at Elkhart. He held the office of postmaster of Elkhart from 1844 to 1848. In 1850 he became interested in the Elkhart Bank, and later he and his associates organized the First National Bank, which is now the oldest bank in the city. He was the first cashier of the institution, which position he resigned in 1867 on account of ill health, and thereafter till his death was vice president and a director. In early life he was a Democrat, being twice nominated for the legisla- ture by that party, but changed his political views when Fort Sumter was fired upon and thereafter was a consistent Republican.

In 1837 Mr. Baldwin married Mrs. Jane Gephart. Their daughter Elizabeth is the wife of Mr. A. R. Beardsley, of Elkhart. Another daughter. Helen Jane, became the wife of Colonel John W. Shaffer. She spent a great deal of time with him on the field of war, especially when he was under General Mcclellan. Volunteering as a nurse at

InoMEilis

CLARISSA W. ELLIS

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY

the Jeffersonville Soldiers' Hospital, as a result of the disease con- tracted in that service she died July 24, 1865. The patriotic record of the family during the Civil war culminated in the gallant young Frank Baldwin, who was killed at the battle of Stone River. Only a short time previous to this engagement he had been promoted to lieu- tenant in recognition of his personal bravery on the field of battle. He was only eighteen years old at the time of his death.

Through his love for the Union cause in general and from a sense of his own great personal loss in connection with the great tragedy of the rebellion, Mr. Silas Baldwin caused to be erected and dedicated to the soldiers and sailors of the Civil war the splendid monument which stands on Main street near the Lake Shore tracks. Mr. Bald- win did not live to see the completion of this memorial shaft, which was not ready for dedication until the August following his death.

Another pioneer family of Elkhart is represented by J. W. ELLIS, who probably deserves to rank as the oldest living pioneer of the city of Elkhart. A pioneer he should be named, although he was but a lad of some six summers when he arrived in this county. For very nearly seventy-five years since that time he has witnessed and partici- pated in the great activity which has transformed this county from a wilderness into a region of prosperity and modern civilization. The mere statement cannot picture to us the kaleidoscope of changing con- ditions through which he has passed. On the day of his arrival in this county in 1831 his boyish eyes looked upon a country whose primeval forests rolled away in every direction, scarred only here and there by the earliest settlers: the St. Joseph river poured its floods along, un- polluted by factory or city, the wild denizens of the land, whether ani- mals or red men, were so commonplace as to cause little more than passing notice on the part of this lad, and altogether Elkhart county was very much as it had been for centuries preceding the advent of white men. When Mr. Ellis came here the present city of Elkhart contained three or four log cabins. the postoffice was officially called Pulaski, at which the postman stopped and delivered mail just once a month, the seat of justice for the newly organized county of Elkhart was still located there, and, instead of a great trunk line of railroad, the only means of communication with the outside world was either by the river which flowed by the settlement or by team and wagon

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY

across the country over new and rough highways. In the presence of a man whose memory connects this state of affairs with the won- derfully transformed present, the true Elkhart county citizen feels that historical reverence which ever attaches to the men and institutions surviving from the earliest years of this county.

Born in Oswego county, New York, August 12, 1825, Mr. Ellis at this writing is in the shadow of his eightieth birthday. Himself a pioneer, he is also connected with a family of pioneers. Of Welsh descent. the first member of the family settled in this country during the colonial epoch of our country's history. Mr. Ellis's great-grand- father was Dr. David Ellis, a resident of New Hampshire; the grand- father, Jacob Ellis, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, one of the patriots who endured the sufferings of Valley Forge, and who, after the war, pioneered his way into the wilderness of New York, set- tling on and improving a farm in Oneida county, where he followed farming until his life came to its peaceful close at the age of seventy- two years. Longevity is another characteristic of the family, nearly all of them living to advanced age.

The father of Mr. Ellis was also named Jacob, whose portrait appears herewith. Born in New Hampshire, where he was also reared and educated, he emigrated to Onondaga county, New York, when it was a wilderness. He was one of his father's four children. After his marriage. at Saratoga, New York, he located in Oswego county and reared his family of seven children until he made his next great move and migrated to Elkhart county. Arriving in this county in 1831. he located on government land just east of the present city of Elkhart, and became one of the large landholders in this part of the county. The early development and commercial prosperity of Elkhart owed much to his enterprise and public spirit. He erected the first big ware- house on the St. Joseph river at this point, and for a long time did the largest storage and forwarding business in the county. He de- pended entirely on team and wagon and boats to transport merchandise and commodities out of and into the county, and these methods were not superseded until the advent of the railroad in 1851.

In his early life a stanch upholder of Whig principles, Jacob Ellis in the fifties became one of the organizers of the Republican party in this county. He held some minor offices but his public spirit and effective co-operation were felt in everything that made for the true welfare and progress of the county. Seventy-three years old at the

JACOB ELLIS

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY

time of his death, he had been identified with the Congregational church practically all his life, and had been the principal factor in the erection of the first church in Elkhart.

Through his mother's family also Mr. J. W. Ellis is connected with Revolutionary ancestors. Before her marriage his mother was Catherine Birch, a native of New York state and a daughter of Thomas Birch, also of Welsh origin, who served through all the years of the war for independence. Mr. Ellis was the fifth of his parents' seven children, four daughters and three sons, who were all born in New York state and one of whom died young. Only two survive, Fannie Loomis, the living daughter, being a resident of California, whither she went in 1852.

Mr. Ellis, who is thus the only one of his father's family yet living in this county, gained his early education in the log schools which only the very oldest residents remember as having stood in Elkhart during the early days. It is stated that his oldest sister, Maria, who was well educated, taught the first school in the village of Elkhart. Mr. Ellis lived with and assisted his father up to the age of eighteen, after which he clerked in a store two years, had charge of his father's ware- house a like period, and in 1847 established himself in the mercantile business at Elkhart, having a general store. Two years later, how- ever, he moved his business to Wakegan, Illinois. In a career of such varied experiences as that of Mr. Ellis presents, it is natural to find the spirit of argonautic enterprise which, in the spring of 1850, induced him to sell his business in the east and cross the plains to California in search of his fortune on the golden slopes of the Pacific. Crossing the Missouri river at Council Bluffs, at a time when there was scarcely a permanent white settler west of that river and north of the Platte, he followed along the course of the latter river to Fort Laramie, crossed the Rocky Mountains and took the short cut by which he passed Salt Lake one hundred miles on the south ; down Bear River valley, through Thousand Springs valley, to the headwaters of the Humboldt, follow- ing the same to the Humboldt Sink, thence across the Great American desert. overcame the crest of the Sierra Nevadas, and finally, as the concluding stage of an ever memorable journey, descended into the valleys of California and arrived at Placerville. Mr. Ellis was unusually successful as a gold miner, although failing health compelled him to relinquish the occupation at the end of a year. On the last day of his mining he took out one hundred and twenty-eight dollars of gold, but

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY

the six months following were spent on a sick bed and he was obliged to leave the west and by Panama and New York returned to Waukegan. Resuming the mercantile business at that point. he remained only a year or so, when he sold out and in 1854 returned to Elkhart, with which city he has been identified through all the subsequent half century.

For the first seven years he was located on a farm adjoining the city on the west, then conducted a grocery and crockery establishment for two years, after which he became interested in the building of the Excelsior Starch works, being secretary and an active member of the firm for twenty-three years. Since 1880 he has also been interested in the Elkhart Paper Company, as president of the concern for twenty- five years. He was a prominent factor in the formerly well known Mitten and Hosiery factory, and was one of the promoters and builders of the first street railway in this city. Elkhart has profited in many ways by the enterprise and liberality of Mr. Ellis, and his name will always be found among those of the men who formed the solid and substantial foundation of Elkhart's development and prosperity during the first century of its existence. Since 1899 he has lived retired from the main activities of his life, spending much of his time in visiting friends and relatives in California.

Mr. Ellis is one of the oldest members of the Masonic order in this county, having passed through the initiatory rites in 1862 and tak- ing all the degrees including the Knight Templar's. He has been one of the prominent factors in the Congregational church, and has been deacon since 1872. Originally a Free-soiler, he identified himself with the Republican party at its organization and has voted for all the candi- dates from Lincoln down. He held the office of assessor of Concord township from 1860-1872. His associations with the life and affairs of this county cover nearly all the important annals of the county, and in Elkhart he is now the only man living whose memory goes back to the three log cabins which formed the nucleus of the City of the Forks. His father built the first large frame house in the county, and during the early days this house formed the stage station and hotel or " tavern." as it was then called.

Mr. Ellis married, in 1849, Miss Clarissa W. Green, a daughter of Isaiah and Mary ( Gage) Green, who came from the Green Mountain state. Five children were born of their marriage: Mary is the wife of Roswell F. McGregor and resides with her father. Dr. J. Bartlett

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY

Ellis is a prominent physician of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Dr. C. F., also a physician, is located at Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Lulu B. is the wife of W. A. Billows, of Elkhart. James S., the youngest, died at the age of twenty-two years.

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY

CHAPTER NII.

NAPPANEE.

The people are the city.

-SHAKESPEARE.

Divine Nature gave the fields, human art built the cities. -VARRO.

If this history of Elkhart county had been compiled two decades ago, a consistent representation of Nappanee, with regard to its relative size and commercial importance among other Elkhart county towns and cities, would have given its history a place in the chapter on " smaller centers." But so rapidly has this phenomenal center of popu- lation in the southwest corner of our county forged to the front in respects of population, business activity, and industrial resources, as well as the various other phases of urban life, that Nappanee deserves separate consideration under a distinct capitular title as one of the three chief centers of this county. To celebrate the thirty odd years of Nap- panee's prosperous existence Mr. G. N. Murray, the well known editor of the Nappanee Newes, has just compiled a comprehensive history of the city which he has kindly furnished for publication, in its essential points, in this work.

A clean town morally, socially and religiously. A town with beau- tiful shaded streets and well kept lawns, with many handsome homes, and more miles of cement sidewalk than any small town in the state, and creditable business houses and hotels ; a town where farmers can sell their produce, grain and stock, and buy from merchants who carry up-to-date stocks of goods in all the various commercial lines, as well as building materials and wholesale manufactured products. . \ town with ten churches, of Sunday-schools, of good public schools, of places of amusement, a town of industrious and sober mechanics, of public- spirited citizens who work together unselfishly to improve the commun- ity in which they live; a town with all the modern benefits of banking, of railroad. telegraph, telephone, electric lights and water works and pure water. \ town with many large fraternal and insurance orders, and courteous, well-read professional men. A town in the midst of

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MARKET STREET, LOOKING EAST VIEW TAKEN APRIL 1, 1905

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY

the most fertile farming regions in the middle west, where crops can be and are so varied that a total failure or farmers' " famine " is un- known; where energetic, industrious farmers own beautiful homes, well nourished lands and enjoy all the privileges of city life, and yet in touch with the health-giving influences of the country. \ town in touch with the great onion lands of the state- lands which have within a few years been transformed from a marsh to garden. \ town, the youngest in Elkhart county, yet the third in size and importance commercially and politically, with a population in the year 1905, just thirty-one years after the first plat was made, of two thousand seven hundred souls. Such, says Mr. Murray, is the Modern Nappanee.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of Elkhart County, Indiana, Part 19

Author: Deahl, Anthony, 1861-1927, ed Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publ. Co. Number of Pages: 1044

Author: Deahl, Anthony, 1861-1927, ed
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publ. Co.
Number of Pages: 1044