USA > Indiana > An illustrated history of the state of Indiana: being a full and authentic civil and political history of the state from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 29
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To-day, Evansville has a population of over 30,000, and is the second city in Indiana, in wealth and importance. Her public schools are fully up to an advanced metropolitan grade, and her religious and literary institutions do credit to the State. Evansville is believed by many to be the handsomest city in the State. It is certainly a very beautiful city, and the streets always present a scene of wholesome activity.
We will close our historical and descriptive sketch of Evans- ville with a brief notice of her public schools, for which we are in a great measure indebted to Mr. Charles E. Robert, of that city: Evansville has fostered her educational interests with peculiar care, and has sought by a liberal and judicious expen- diture of money, and by the employment of first-class educators to manage her institutes, to place her schools among the very first in the country. So well has she succeeded in attaining this desired object that the splendid facilities here offered for the free education of the young, more than any other canse has
* Robert's Evansville.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
induced immigration to that point, from a large section of the surrounding country. This is a potent argument with those citizens from other states and countries who are invited to settle there. Many of them have families of growing children -all of them, it is hoped, education and tastes, or natural instincts that would make them prefer the elevated to the degraded, the moral to the immoral, in the intellectual atmos- phere of a new home. All that has been said in behalf of Evansville as a commercial centre, as an inviting field for new enterprises, for the investment of capital, and for the transfer of manufacturing or mechanical skill from the old to this new home of labor, would be unavailing with many, if something more could not be presented than mere appeals to selfish moneyed interests. Those whom Evansville most desires as citizens, hesitate to remove from Eastern cities to identify their interests with Western communities, no matter what the inducements for the employment of their capital, business exper- ience or skill, to new fields, because they fear it will be at the sacrifice of educational advantages, moral influences, a thousand individual comforts, the loss or practical deprivation of which might not be compensated for by the pecuniary advantages to be gained.
But the social and practical characteristics of the citizens of Evansville are in nothing more clearly and favorable mani- fested, than in their zealous support of their scholastic interests. The city abounds in public, semi-public and private schools and colleges. Yet the quantity of the instruction given is, perhaps, less noteworthy than its quality. Public teachers compete with private teachers, and vice versa; and the result is, a lively spirit of emulation has ensued and been productive of some very beneficial results. The central location, the fer- tility and beauty of the surrounding country and the salubrity and healthfulness of its climate, have doubtless been among the causes which have led to the concentration there of those intellectual elements which have given tone and tenor to the society. And in addition to all this we may state that Indiana has the largest school fund of any State in the Union, and Evansville has taken full share of this great advantage, thus
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VANDERBURGH COUNTY - EVANSVILLE.
securing permanent and satisfactory basis for her scholastic structure.
From the report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction made in September, 1874, we glean the following valuable facts:
Estimated value of school property including grounds, seats,
$10,015,344.48 etc.
Estimated value of school apparatus 358,298.10
Total $10,373,642.58
No. of pupils in attendance
489,044
" teachers 12,655
" " volumes in township libraries 265,029
Amount of revenue on hand September 1, 1874. $1,704,413.81
Amount special "
498,396.96
This admirable system of free public schools was established in 1853. They were organized under the assiduous efforts of H. Q. Wheeler, Esq., who having been made the first Superin- tendent, to his credit very much of their after success is to be set down. Each year, however, has witnessed additional growth and improvement, until at present the public school property will amount to $460,000, including fifteen supurb and costly buildings, erected in the most modern and excellent manner, finely ventilated and so located as to afford convenient school privileges to children in all quarters of the city.
The schools are under the supervision of a Board of Trustees, three in number, elected by the Common Council, and at pres- ent is as follows: Luke Wood, president; Dr. H. W. Cloud, treasurer; J. H. Polsdorfer, secretary. The direct manage- ment is under Prof. Alexander M. Gow, as Superintendent, with the following excellently appointed staff: Prof. Phil. Baker, first supernumery teacher; Prof. M. Z. Tinker, teacher of music; Prof. A. Bourgeois, teacher of writing; Prof. F. W. E. Peschau, teacher of German, and Simon Hecht and Miss Huldah Rahm, assistant teachers of German; assisted by a corps of one hundred and seven teachers, many of them ladies and gentlemen of superior talents and accomplishments for their work, and all laboring faithfully to build up this most important and fundamental interest of the city. The total
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
number of pupils enrolled December first, 1874, was 4,316; which was increased to 4,600 February first, 1875, when three new school buildings were completed. We can but congratu- late Evansville on the rare fortune which has placed her edu- cational interests in the hands of so able, experienced and suc- cessful an educator as Prof. Gow. Under the wise discipline of mind and conduct which he, during the past four years, has inaugurated, the schools are becoming nurseries of right and honorable principle, and diffusers of an invigorating atmos- phere of thoughtful study. Any community that builds up such a system of schools as, from personal knowledge, we know those of Evansville to be, is deserving of the credit of being known as a national benefactor-for it is to that extent helping to meet the greatest demand of the nation,-the demand for men of brains and honesty.
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CHAPTER LIII.
PARKE COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
P ARKE county was organized in 1821, and was named in honor of Benjamin Parke, the first member of Congress from the territory. The county contains about four hundred and forty square miles, with a population of nearly 25,000. The county was first settled in 1818, by John M. Doty, who located on Henry's prairie. Judge Joseph Walker settled near where Numa now is, in Florida township, in 1819. Judge Seybold settled on Big Raccoon, not far from Bridge- ton, in the same year. The mills at Roseville were erected by Chauncey Rose, Moses Robbins and Andrew Brooks, as early as 1820. When the county was organized, an Indian reservation was made, running up and down the Wabash, from the mouth of Sugar creek to the mouth of Big Raccoon, and about seven
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PARKE COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
miles in width. Most of this territory was afterwards included in Reserve township. The last Indian representative who lived on these lands was a half-breed named Christmas Dozney. John Adams settled in 1820, at the forks of the two Raccoon creeks, and Judge Steele, now a prominent resident of Terre Haute, settled at Portland mills in 1821. Moses Hart settled at the same place about one year before. Judge 'Strange and Tobias Miller settled in Raccoon valley, in 1820, as also George and Alexander Kirkpatrick. James Kelsey and Francis Dick- son built Dickson's mills (now Mansfield mills), in 1821. Thomas White and James Allen were also among the early settlers. Daniel Buchanan settled in the county in 1822, and Selman Lusk settled at the narrows of Sugar creek in 1821, where he built a mill and had a postoffice. John Beard built mills near the mouth of Sugar creek, in 1822. In 1821, Perley Mitchell setttled in Penn township.
In the year 1825, the friends settled in Penn township. Prominent among them may be mentioned Peyton Wilson, James Morrison, Solomon Allen, James Pickard and Jeremiah Siler. The Friends added much to the settlement, in the way of industry and thrift. They have now an excellent church and high school at Bloomingdale. The latter is under the super- vision of Prof. B. C. Hobbs, who has made it a superior school for the education of boys. Dr. E. Allen was one of the first settlers in Reserve township. His associate pioneers were William Cook and Joseph and Daniel Wolfe. Mr. Cook was father-in-law to Governor Joseph A. Wright.
The first settlers of Wabash township were James and John Laverty, Samuel Hill, Dr. Taylor, Colonel Hays and A. Punteny. Quite a number of the old log cabins of pioneer days are still standing- some that were erected in 1820.
The first county court was held in 1821, at Roseville, and was removed permanently to Rockville, in 1824.
With regard to the soil and productions, we will remark that Parke is a county of timbered land. Although situated on the very margin of the great western prairie region, it has, with but the exception of a.few acres, or bottom prairie along the Wabash river, nothing deserving the name of prairie in the
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
county. Nearly every other variety of soil found in the north- west is represented in the county. However, for agricultural purposes, the soil is excellent, and most of the farmers have become wealthy.
The available coal in Parke county belongs to the lower members of the great western coal field. Measuring from the base of the coal measures upward, the seams number one and two are the only reliable coal beds in the county; but these are productive, and sufficient for all practical purposes.
Rockville, the county seat of Parke county, county, was laid out in the fall of 1823, and became the permanent county seat in the following year. Previous to the latter date, the county courts had been held in Roseville and Armiesburg. "The donors of the land on which Rockville is situated, were the first settlers of the town," viz. : Arthur Patterson, Andrew Ray, Aaron Hand and James B. McCall. Andrew Ray built the first house, which was a log cabin, situated on the public square. It was the place of entertainment for all land " pros- pectors " in that section of the country for many years. He also built and conducted the first hotel in Rockville, which was opened first in 1824. Mr. Ray was a careful pioneer, lived economically, practiced industry, and died in 1872, a wealthy and respectable citizen of Parke county. The first white child born in Rockville, was James B. Ray, son of Andrew Ray, in 1824.
Rockville being situated some distance from the Wabash, and only accessible over almost impassable roads, it was for many years backward in its growth and improvements. The first house built expressly for school purposes, was a small brick structure, north of the old Baptist church, and the first teacher was a Mr. Patterson. The celebrated Lorenzo Dow preached in Rockville in 1832, in the woods, on a lot south of the public square. That was a great day for the infant town. The settlers gathered from far and near to see and hear the eccentric preacher. "A man came into the meeting with a cigar in his mouth, and was peremptorily challenged and ordered to throw it away." There were some other interesting incidents connected with the meeting.
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JOHNSON COUNTY - HISTORICAL.
The first church organized in Rockville was by the Baptists. . They held their first meeting in the old county court house.
During the last ten or fifteen years Rockville, and, indeed, the whole of Parke county, has improved rapidly. The man- ufacturing and commercial interests of the former are now full of promise, while the agricultural prospects of the latter are a source of material comfort to the farmers. The railroad facili- ties of Rockville have done considerable to promote its com- mercial enterprise, and have been largely instrumental in placing it on a solid footing.
The educational facilities of Rockville are second to no other town of equal population in the State. The new public school house was begun in the fall of 1872, and finished in January, 1874, at a cost, including grounds, of $36,000. It is a fine three story brick, containing ten rooms, besides the large chapel, or lecture room, and is arranged to accommodate five hundred pupils. Rockville is a pleasant place to reside. The people are intelligent, sociable, and sensible; and the same remark holds good wherever you go in Parke county.
CHAPTER LIV.
JOHNSON COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
THE surface of Johnson county is quite level. There is scarcely an acre in the county that may not be cultivated. The only elevations that can be called hills, are to be found in the southwestern corner, and along the western border. The soil is rich and deep, and is underlaid by extensive beds of gravel. The streams are sluggish, and there are no rock-quar- ries of consequence in the county. The gravel beds are a source of immense wealth. Dirt roads are really impassable during three or four months of the year, so that before the
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
introduction of gravel roads, farmers, and, to a great extent,
· manufacturers and villagers, were obliged to suspend business. Now these roads extend in all directions from Franklin, the county seat, and as a consequence, all classes are nearly as active in business during winter as summer. Owing to the level surface, and the vast accumulations of carbon and other elements from the old forests, the prevalence of fever and ague was very manifest for many years. But owing to the later very general use of underdrainage, the miasma has almost disappeared. At least it may be truthfully said that Johnson is as free from fever and ague as any of the river counties. The main industry of the county is agriculture and stock- raising. The leading products are wheat; corn, and hogs. Most of the grain and stock find a ready sale in the county at the very highest prices. Vawter, Herriott & Co., slaughter from twenty-five to fifty thousand hogs each year at their establishment in Franklin, while Tilford & Co., of Edinburg, could find use for all the surplus corn in their immense starch factory. Flouring mills are abundant, and the railroads that cross at right angles at Franklin furnish as many shipping- posts as the farmers and manufacturers need.
The county was organized in 1822. Among the very first settlers were Jacob Whitzel, John Campbell, and Abraham Sells. Elizabeth Campbell, (born in 1821,) is said to be the first white child born in the county.
Among others who came in the early settlement, are George Cutsinger, Samuel Herriott, William R. Hinsley, William Hunt, James Ritchey, Daniel Trout, James Jacobs, George King, David W. McCaslin, the Webbs, the Davidsons, the Adamses, the Thompsons, the Wishards, and the everywhere- present Jonses and Smiths. The county was named in honor of Judge John Johnson, of the supreme court.
The district and graded schools of Franklin county have made very decided progress within ten years. The old log houses were replaced by frame ones, and these are now giving place to substantial and commodious brick houses.
The school-term has come up from two months to over six months. The standard of teaching has materially advanced,
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JOHNSON COUNTY - DESCRIPTIVE.
.
and better wages are paid teachers. There are about one hundred district schools in the county, and teachers' institutes are held in nearly every township during term-time.
There are several graded schools in the county, and this fact speaks well for the prosperity of education. At Hopewell, four miles west of Franklin, is a school of long standing, and a good record. It is now under the superintendency of Prof. Cole, formerly of the State University.
At Williamsburg, in the southwestern portion of the county, is a prosperous graded school, under the care of Prof. Moore, formerly of Hopewell. At Greenwood, on the northern bor- der, is a prosperous graded school, at present under the care of Mr. Burdick. Edinburg, on the southern border, has an efficient graded school. Prof. Martin is superintendent, and has the assistance of from eight to ten teachers. The citizens have also presented the school with a very fair supply of philosophical apparatus. The trustees feel the necessity of adding to their school building. Franklin has one of the most convenient city school-buildings in the State. Prof. Hunter is the superintendent, and is aided by from ten to twelve teachers. The trustees have spared no expense in pro- viding the school with ample apparatus. There is also a good supply of philosophical apparatus, besides maps, charts, blocks, etc., and one of Estel's programme clocks in each room. The high school organizes a lecture course each year and the proceeds are applied to the purchase of a library for the school.
Franklin College, the State Institution for Baptists, is sit- uated on a pleasant rise of ground in East Franklin. It was founded in 1834, as a " Manual Labor Institute," and it was so in fact. The students built log huts in which to study, and chopped wood to defray their necessary expenses. For many years the school had no endowment, but the endowment of earnest Christian workers, both in its Faculty and Board of Trustees. In 1844, Rev. G. C. Chandler, D. D., (now of Oregon) became President, and brought the school up to a high state of efficiency, and a high grade of scholarship. He resigned in 1852, and Rev. Silas Bailey, D. D., LL.D., became
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
President. He worked in the Institution ten years with rare power and self-sacrifice. A nominal endowment of sixty thousand dollars was raised, but a real endowment of only twenty-seven thousand dollars. Seventeen thousand dollars of this was expended in buildings and the liquidation of debts, in accordance with the agreement of the subscription. Under Dr. Bailey's administration a large number of young men were sent out into the State prepared for work, and they have uniformly done good work. In 1861, the war called almost all the students into the United States service. In 1862, declining health obliged Dr. Bailey to resign, and for lack of students the Institution suspended instruction till 1869. But it suspended only after a long struggle. For six weeks pre- vious to suspension there were but two students -and they were both lame. Their names are Oliver H. Stout and Mar- shall Grinstead. In 1869 college instruction was begun again. In 1870, Rev. H. L. Wayland, D. D., of Michigan, was elected to the presidency. He resigned in 1871.
The present financial status of the college is: Real estate, forty thousand dollars; endowment subscription, fifty thou- sand dollars; bequests, representing, forty thousand dollars.
Besides this, the board has completed a conditional addition to the endowment of twenty-five thousand dollars.
Dr. Bailey, the former president, has given his private library (consisting of eight hundred volumes) to the college, and also his estate, valued at ten thousand dollars.
The institution has had long and severe struggles, but it is now emerging into the sunlight of prosperity. It affords its advantages alike to young men and young women.
Its present faculty of instruction are: Rev. W. T. Stott, A. M., president and professor of intellectual and moral phi- losophy; Miss R. A. Thompson, A. M., professor of math- ematics; , professor of ancient languages; J. W. Moncrief, A. B., tutor in preparatory department; Miss T. Parks, A. B., instructor in preparatory department ; Mrs. Belle R .. Stott, teacher of painting and drawing; Miss Cattie McCoy, teacher of instrumental music.
CHAPTER LV.
WABASH COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
T THERE are four hundred and twenty-six square miles in Wabash county, the surface of which is generally level. There are no very high hills,* notwithstanding the land is rolling or undulating, near all of the water courses, excepting at the head of them, where it is generally level, and taken as a whole the face of the country is very pleasantly diversified. Almost the whole county is abundantly supplied with water by fine springs and running streams. The northern portion is watered by Eel river and its tributaries. Wabash passes through the centre, and is intersected by the Salamonie, four miles from the county line on the east, and Mississinawa runs through the southern part of the county. Among the larger streams are Josina, Grant and Ten Mile creeks, emptying into the Mississinawa, Rush, Lagro, Treaty, Mill and Charley creeks which empty into the Wabash; Clear, Paw-Paw and Squirrel creeks emptying into the Eel river. These rivers and streams are of sufficient size, and finely adapted for man- ufacturing purposes. The land north of Eel river being about fifty-five sections, is composed of prairie barrens, interspersed with small and beautiful lakes. The balance of the county was heavily timbered with walnut (black and white), hickory, oak, maple, beech, poplar, linn, cherry, etc. Along the Wa- bash and Mississinawa there are many fine quarries of lime- stone, suitable for building purposes. The soil is rich and very productive. There are few, if any counties in the State that promise a greater reward to the manufacturer or hus-
* From a sketch by Hon. Elijah Hackleman.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
bandman than this. The county was organized in 1835, and is divided into six townships.
Not long after the general treaty with the Indians, in 1818, a mill was erected in the agency of Benjamin Level, on Mill creek, by order of the general government. This mill was located about four miles and a half southwest of the present town of Wabash, and was intended for the use of the Indians. The place of its location is known by the name of the Indian Mills. The mill was kept up for several years, and proved efficient for the purposes designed by its projectors, but it has long since been demolished. In the autumn of 1826, General Tipton and Mr. Barron, the Indian interpreter, selected the Paradise Springs, on the north bank of the Wabash, as a suit- able place to hold a treaty with the Indians. James H. Kent- ner (now of Logansport) was present when the location was made. Suitable buildings were erected for the accommoda- tion of the commissioners, military, etc. The treaty was signed on the sixteenth and twenty-third days of October, 1826, respectively by the Pottawatomies and Miamis. The commissioners for the United States were General Lewis Cass, General John Tipton and Governor James B. Ray. The site of the treaty grounds and Paradise Springs are those near the residence and now owned by Colonel Hugh Hanna, on the east side of the town of Wabash. The land south of the Wabash river and west of a line running due south from the mouth of the Salamonie, were reserved for the Indians, and constituted a part of the thirty miles reserve. In the year 1827, the land between the Wabash and Eel river was sur- veyed, and the following year that north of Eel river was sur- veyed. On the fifteenth day of January, 1827, three months after the treaty, Samuel McClure moved from Ohio into the cabins at the treaty grounds, and during that winter he cleared fifteen acres of ground, and in the spring planted it in corn, and in May, when the section reserved to the Indian, Charley, was surveyed, McClure's clearing was included in its eastern limits. On the tenth of June of the same year, McClure built a log house on the north bank of the Wabash, three miles below the treaty grounds, where his son-in-law, Jonas Carter,
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WABASH COUNTY - DESCRIPTIVE.
now lives. This was the first house built within the limits of this county for a permanent residence. In the spring of the same year, Champion and Joseph Helvy arrived at the treaty ground, and shortly after settled opposite the mouth of the Salamonie river. The next settlers were Benjamin Hurst and Robert Wilson, who arrived at the treaty grounds in May of the same year; soon after Mr. Wilson was employed as gov- ernment blacksmith at the Indian Mills. The next settlers were David Burr, who settled at the treaty grounds, Jonathan Keller at the Indian mills, and Frederick and James H. Kent- ner, who settled at the mouth of Kentner's creek, and estab- lished a saddle and harness shop (the first in the county). In 1830 a post office was established at the treaty grounds. David Burr, postmaster, and Jonathan Keller had a contract to carry a weekly mail from the treaty grounds to Marion, Grant county. Samuel McClure, Jr., now a citizen of Marion, opened the first dry goods store on the twenty-eighth day of August, 1827, in a log building at the bluffs, where Jonas Carter now lives.
The town of Wabash was laid off in the spring of 1834, by Colonel H. Hanna and David Burr. It is situated on the north bank of the Wabash river, at the treaty grounds, partly on the first and partly on the second bottoms. The latter is elevated about forty feet above the former, and contains an abundance of excellent building stone but a few feet below the surface of the ground. It is about ninety miles northeast from Indianapolis. The sale of town lots was on the fourth of May, 1834. The first settlers in the town were George Shepherd, Colonel William Steel, Allen Smith, Alpheus Black- man, Jacob D. Cassett, John Smith, Zara Sutherland, Michael Duffy, Andrew Murphy, Dr. J. R. Cox, Colonel Hugh Hanna, David Cassett, Dr. I. Finley, Dr. James Hackleman, and James W. Wilson.
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