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 42
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MIAMI COUNTY.
THIS county is situated in the center of the northern half of the State. About one-fourth of the county is bottom lands, one-sixth "openings " and prairie, and the balance was origi- nally very heavily timbered uplands. The timber is of the very best varieties and quality, consisting principally of walnut, poplar, white and burr oak, beech, sugar, hickory and cherry. The soil throughout the whole county, is of the very best quality, and well adapted to the production of all the articles common to the climate. The rich bottom lands on the Wabash, Mississinewa and Eel rivers, are not surpassed by any other locality in the State. The fine and wonderfully productive farms in these bottoms are known and sought after far and near. In the vicinity of the above named streams there is some hilly country, but not so broken as to preclude cultivation; the balance of the county may be called level.
The county contains 384 square miles, or 245,760 acres The Wabash, Mississinewa, and Eel rivers, with their tribu- taries, namely, Big and Little Pipe creeks, Deer creek, Wesau, and Paw Paw, render this county a well watered district.
The county was organized in 1832, and bears the name of the well-known confederacy of Indians which inhabited this portion of the State in an early day. In 1860 it possessed a population of 16,851; in 1870, 21,052, and in 1875 it contains not far from 25,000.
Peru, the county seat, with a population of 7,500, situated on the right bank of the Wabash river, near the center of the
HON. M
C.HUNTER.
HON.JAMES
N.TYNER.
HON.J. E. M DONALD.
HON.G.S. ORTH.
HON. HENRY.S.
LANE
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
county, is one of the handsomest, most thriving, and wide-a- wake towns in the State. Its location is superior, being on a strip of land about three-quarters of a mile in width, lying parallel with the river, with a gently and very uniform slope to its bank, thus giving the whole town a magnificent drain- age. The town is handsomely laid out, the streets being wide, and lots large and roomy. Broadway, the principal business street, is 100 feet wide, and is probably one of the best graded streets in the country. Nearly all of the streets are bordered with large full-grown locusts, elms, and maples, adding much beauty and comfort, and enhancing values of property. The county possesses a commodious and handsome court house, surrounded by a beautifully shaded court square. There are two large and improved graded schools, under efficient man- agement, and which afford to the youth of the town and vicinity most excellent educational facilities. The balance of the county is well supplied with excellent schools. Six large church edifices adorn the city, and show to the stranger that the citizens have not forgotten their religious duties. There is a steam fire engine here, and the streets are lighted by gas.
Peru stands eminent as a manufacturing town. Among the establishments located here may be mentioned the "Peru Woolen Mills," H. E. & C. F. Sterne, proprietors. This mill manufactures the highest and best grades of woolen goods, which have justly earned an enviable name throughout the whole country. About 150 people are employed at this mill. This is considered to be the finest woolen mill west of the Alleghanies. The western manufactory of the Howe sewing machine is located here; the works cover an area of 15 acres, and give employment to about 300 skilled mechanics. A spoke factory, doing an extensive business, has been in opera- tion here for some years. Also a large basket factory, with facilities for turning out 3,000 baskets weekly. The shops of the I. P. and C. railroad are located here, which furnish employment to a large force.
The county is not wanting in transportation facilities; five railroads pass through it, viz .: The Toledo, Wabash and West- ern; Indianapolis, Peru and Chicago; Columbus, Chicago and
led to
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Indiana Central; Logansport, Eel River and Detroit; and the Chicago, Cincinnati and Louisville railroads; also the Wabash and Erie canal. These roads furnish communication with twelve out of the thirteen townships of the county.
Mexico, five miles north of Peru, on Eel river, and the L. E-R. and D. road, and in the midst of the finest farming lands in the State, is a thriving and go-ahead town. Chili, five miles east of Mexico, on the same river, is another place of importance. Bunkerhill, seven miles south of Peru, and at the junction of the I. P. and C. and C. C. and I. C. roads, is a proud little city of metropolitan pretentions. Xenia, situated in the extreme southeastern corner of the county, on the C. C. and I. C. railroad, is a smart, wide-a-wake town, which bids fair to assume some proportions in the near future. It has already aspired to the forming of another county out of Miami, Howard, Grant and Wabash counties, with itself as the seat of government. Peoria, located on the Mississinewa river, seven miles southeast of Peru, is a pleasant little town, surrounded by the most picturesque scenery to be found in the county.
NEWTON COUNTY.
NEWTON county is situated on the west boundary of the State, its northern line being only thirty miles south of Lake Michigan. It comprehends an area of 390 square miles, or 249,600 acres. It is principally prairie land, although there is some good timber in the central portion. The northern third of the county is very wet and swampy. Beaver lake, covering an area of about 13,000 acres, and the Kankakee river, forming the northern boundary, renders this at present a very undesirable tract of country. However it only remains for the people of this section to inaugurate a grand scheme of drainage to render this one of the most fertile spots in the State. The southern half, or two-thirds of the county consists of dry and rolling prairie land, susceptible of the highest cultivation.
Kentland, the county seat, a town of about 1,500 inhabit- ants, is situated near the south line, and on the Toledo,
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Peoria and Warsaw railroad. This is a new but very fast growing town, full of wide-a-wake business men, and will very soon become a place of considerable importance. The county was organized in 1859.
PIKE COUNTY.
THIS county lies in the southwestern corner of the State. It is an irregular shaped county, and contains 300 square miles, or 192,000 acres. It was organized in 1817, and was named in honor of General Z. M. Pike, who fell at the capture of York, April twenty-seventh, 1813. The surface of the county is either level or rolling. In the western part of the county the soil is a rich, dark loam, with a mixture of sand, which renders it very friable. The bottom lands of the White river, which forms the northern boundary of the county, and the Patoka, which flows through the center, and which form about one- sixth part of the county, are very rich and productive; proba- bly no larger crops of corn are raised in any part of the West. Walnut, hickory, poplar, cottonwood, ash, pecan and elm, are the prevailing timber. The land in the eastern part of the · county is more sandy, and the timber consists mainly of oak, hickory, gum, sassafras, and dogwood.
Petersburgh, situated in the north part of the county, in Washington township, is the county seat. It is a town of 1,200 people, and possesses all the facilities usual for towns of this size. Pike county possesses no railroad facilities as yet, but the Wabash and Erie canal passes through the north western portion.
The numerous statistical tables in another part of this volume will be found to give additional information in regard to the counties, such as population, area, wealth and taxation, manufactures, agricultural products, value of farms and farm- ing implements, schools and value of school property, churches, etc.
CHAPTER LXXVI.
PRESENT AND FUTURE GREATNESS OF INDIANAPOLIS.
INDIANAPOLIS, THE FUTURE GREAT CITY OF THE WEST-ITS PRESENT IMPORTANCE AND FUTURE GROWTH.
T
THERE is no other city in the west or northwest that has been blessed with such a wonderful growth, during the past five years, as Indianapolis. Unlike most other cities that have attracted the attention of the world by their advancement, its growth has been as substantial as it has been rapid. Nor has this amazing development been unexpected by far-seeing business men, for the following reasons: Indianapolis is the centrally located city in the United States; it is the nucleus of the greatest net-work of railroads in the world; it is near the point of the funnel through which the whole west and southwest cattle trade must pass on its way east; it is near the centre of the corn belt of the United States; through Indian- apolis is the shortest route for the transportation to the eastern cities of all the agricultural products of the great Mississippi valley; the numerous competing trunk lines of railroads give superior advantages in freights, making it one of the best wholesale centres in the west; near Indianapolis are inexhaust- able deposits of a superior quality of coal, which can be deliv- ered in the city for steam purposes at six to eight cents per bushel, and which makes as good iron as charcoal, without coking; there are vast deposits of iron within a few miles of the city, which will largely take the place of Lake Superior ore; it is in the centre of a timbered region which is unsur- passed in the world for quality, variety and quantity; the Ohio river on the south, and Lake Michigan on the north, give Indi- anapolis a peculiar geographical position near the centre of a
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
narrow belt through which passes by rail everything moving from the east to the west or from the west to the east; the only complete double-track belt railroad in America is now being built around Indianapolis, thus bringing every manu- factory which locates on it, or any of its switches, in direct communication with every part of the vast net-work of rail- roads which surrounds it; Indiana has the largest school fund of any State in the Union, and Indianapolis has fully availed herself of this advantage; the city debt is less than 1} per cent. of the taxables; the entire State, county, township and city tax is only $1.76 on the $100; it is claimed that statistics show that Indianapolis has the lowest death rate of any city in the United States.
These are among the many things constantly contributing to the material and moral development of the city.
The first settlement upon the site of Indianapolis was made early in the year 1819,* before the cession of that portion of the State to the United States by the Indians, in pursuance of the treaty of St. Mary's in 1818. Though there has been some difference as to the person and arrival of the first settler, the conclusion of those most familiar with the history of the city is that the honor, such as it is, belongs to George Pogue, a blacksmith, who came from the Whitewater settlement and built a cabin near the point where Michigan street crosses the creek named after him. He was killed by the Indians in 1821. The next settlers were the McCormicks, who located near the river where the present National road bridge stands. On the eleventh of January, 1820, the legislature of the State appointed ten commissioners to select a site for the future capital - congress having provided in the act of April nineteenth, 1816, admitting the State into the Union, that she should have four sections of any unsold public lands that might be selected, as a gift. Five of the commissioners accepted the appointment, and in the spring of 1820 traversed the White river valley in
* Our sketch of Indianapolis is compiled from a pamphlet published under the auspices of the Real Estate Exchange of Indianapolis. We have re-produced the pamphlet, adding to or taking from it to suit the objects of our work.
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INDIANAPOLIS.
pursuance of the duty they were charged with. That was the central region of the State, and therefore the proper place of search. Opinions were divided between the bluffs of White river, sixteen miles south, Conner's settlement, about the same distance north, and the present location. Three votes finally fixed the selection here over two for the bluffs. The choice was made on the seventh of June, 1820, and confirmed on the sixth of January, 1821. The town was laid off in the summer of 1821, by Alexander Ralston, who had assisted in the same work at the National capital, and, no doubt, thence derived the idea that gave Indianapolis its four grand "avenues." As the course of the river bending to the east cuts off a part of the southwest section, an equivalent was given in a portion of a fifth section on the west side of the river, the site of Indi- anola. A mile square in the centre of the main body of the "donation," on the east side of the river, was "platted "; ten streets ninety feet wide, at distances of four hundred and twenty feet parallel with the meridian, crossing ten streets of the same width, except Washington - one hundred and twenty feet wide-and at the same intervals at right angles to the meridian, with a central space of a circular form, surrounded by a street, for the Governor's residence. From the opposite angles of the four blocks adjacent to the circle four avenues diverged, bisecting the quarters of the plat into eight huge right-angled triangles. The streets and avenues were named after the States of the Union at that time, as far as they would serve; but the principal street was called Washington. Those bounding the plat were called, from their locality, East, West, North and South, and the central streets crossing at the circle were called Market and Meridian. The blocks formed by the intersections of the streets were quartered by alleys parallel to the streets, one-half being thirty feet wide-many now converted into streets -and the other fifteen feet wide, each quarter containing three lots, and the length of the lots vary- ing a few feet, according as they abutted on the broader or narrower alleys. The "outlots" constituting the remainder of the " donation," a half mile wide on each side of the plat, were laid off subsequently, more in small farms than in city.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
lots. These are all as densely built up now as the original plat, while as much more has been platted and added by the owners since, conforming generally, except in the width of the streets - usually reduced to sixty feet, sometimes less -to the original survey. The name of Indianapolis was suggested by Jeremiah Sullivan, a member of the legislature from Jefferson county, afterwards one of the State's supreme judges, and was adopted by acclamation. The first sale of lots was held on the tenth of October, 1821, and after several days three hundred and fourteen had been sold, at an aggregate price of $35,596.25, of which one-fifth was paid down. The highest priced lot was on the northwest corner of Washington and Delaware streets, opposite the court house; it brought $560. The next was west of the state house square, and brought $500. The average was about $200. The current of settlement and sale was east- ward from the river. where the first pioneers had, with the backwoods instinct, built their cabins. A visitation of chills and fever, due to the dense vegetable growth and the malaria produced by decomposition - now and for many years as in- frequent a disease as any - had warned their followers to get further away from the river bottom. During this year crops failed, and provisions were mainly brought on horseback, through sixty miles of trackless forest, from Connersville, to which the new village was attached for judicial purposes. On the thirty-first of December, 1821, Marion county was organ- ized, with a large attachment for "judicial purposes " of terri- tory now constituting five adjacent counties. From the fund derived from the sale of lots was supplied the means to build the court house-used as the state house for ten years; a treasurer's office and residence; a governor's house in the circle - but never occupied except by public offices; a small office for the clerk of the supreme court, and the present state house, begun in 1832 and finished in 1835. The court house was begun in 1822, and so far completed as to receive the legislature in 1825 upon the removal of the capital from Corydon, Harrison county. The first jail, of hewed logs, was built in 1822. Indians remained in the vicinity for some years after the location of the capital, and the murder of nine
CROSSCUP & WEST-SC. PHIL A.
HON. DAVID S. GOODING.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Shawnees by six white men, some miles north of Pendleton, in the spring of 1824, created a good deal of apprehension of a bloody retaliation. But the arrest, conviction, and execution of three of the murderers pacified the savages. These were the first instances of the legal execution of white men for killing Indians in the history of the United States. A census taken in this year (1824) showed one hundred families on the " donation," composed of one hundred and seventy-two voters and forty-five unmarried but marriageable women, indicating a population - allowing for the unusual proportion of single men in a new settlement-of six to seven hundred. The first regular post office and postal service were established on the seventh of March, 1822, the mails previously having been an affair of private enterprise or accommodation. The first stage line for passengers was established on the Madison road in 1828. The capital was ordered to be removed to its new loca- tion by an act of January twenty-fifth, 1824, and Samuel Merrill directed to execute it. He did so in the following November, and the 'legislature met for the first time in Indianapolis on the tenth of January, 1825, holding its session, as above inti- mated, in the court house, the senate in the second story and the house in the court room below. No governor's residence was occupied as such till 1839, and it, on account of inconven- ience, was sold in 1865; and now the governor has no residence but such as he may own or rent, a liberal allowance for the latter purpose being made by the State. The first private school was opened in 1821. The first church built for that purpose was erected in 1823-4, and belonged to the Presby- terians. The celebrated Oriental scholar and eccentric George Bush, was the second pastor, filling the place from 1824 to 1829. The first Sunday school-composed of all denomina- tions, and called the Union school - was opened in April, 1823. The first public school house- rented to private teach- ers till the establishment of the free school system - was the old seminary, built in 1833-4. The first newspaper -the Indiana Gazette- was issued in January, 1822. The first market house was a shanty in the circle; but another, and now the only one, though greatly enlarged, was built in 1832
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INDIANAPOLIS.
directly north of the court house. The first municipal organ- ization was effected in the same year, by the election of five trustees. Previously, the only law was the State statutes, and the only officers squires and constables. Five wards were formed, enlarged to six after the reincorporation of 1838. This government continued till a city charter was granted in 1847. The first fire company was formed in 1835. and the first engine, half the cost of which was paid by the State, pro- cured in the fall of the same year. The first banking facilities were afforded by the branch of the old State bank, organized in 1834. In 1825 Alexander Ralston made a survey of White river to determine the practicability of making it permanently navigable, but nothing ever came of this or subsequent efforts in that direction. A little steamer, intended to carry stone for the National road bridge across the river, came to the town in the spring of 1831, but was nearly wrecked on a bar going back, and no other ever came within reach. The first dry goods store was opened in 1821; the first saw and grist mills in the same year; the first foundry in 1832, west of the river; the first steam mill - a sad failure -in 1832. " This epitome of the history of the city's origin is deemed a fitting intro- duction to an account of its development and an exhibit of its present condition."
With the removal of the capital in 1824-5, came a strong impulse to settlement, which was pretty nearly lost after 1827. The population in 1826 was 760. In 1827 it consisted of 529 white and 34 colored males, and 479 white and 24 colored females, a total of 1,066 - an average growth of nearly fifty per cent. in a year. In that year there were three churches - the Presbyterian, with thirty members; the Baptist, with thirty-six; the Methodist, with ninety-three, and the Union Sunday school, with one hundred and fifty pupils. There were twenty-five brick, fifty frame, and eighty log houses - six of the brick houses being two stories high. It was claimed . that $10,000 worth of goods had been sold during the year preceding, including two hundred and thirteen barrels of whisky and one hundred kegs of powder, the latter showing a large reliance upon game for food. The proportion of
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
whisky --- something like Falstaff's " sack"- was due to the fear of malarious diseases and the-lack of milk. At this time, though the plat had been a good deal cleared of trees, the outlots were all dense forests, and for years after trees were standing on what are now some of the principal streets. The town was confined to a narrow strip along Washington street. The annual meetings of the legislature made some excitement in the village, but beyond that there was little difference between the capital and other county towns, except that its central location, subsequently so vital to its development, was against it. The population in 1830, so far as can now be ascer- tained, did not exceed 1,200. In 1839, at the " corporation " election, 324 votes were cast for president of the board of trustees (who had no opposition), indicating an adult popula- tion of some 400 or 500, and a population of 2,000 or 2,500. In 1840 the census made it about 4,000. In 1850 it was about 8,000; in 1860, 19,000; in 1870, 52,000, on a second authorized enumeration --- 48,000 by the first -and is now, calculating upon the best attainable data, about 100,000. Its aggregate business has grown from $10,000 in 1827 to $114,000,000 in 1873; its belt of settlement along one street to over two hun- dred miles of paved and lighted streets; its little squad of mechanics to 10,000 skilled workmen, supporting a population of 40,000; its single stage line per week to 78 railway trains per day; its occasional four-horse wagon, with goods from the Ohio, to nearly 600,000 cars per year; its village insignificance to the place of the largest wholly inland city in the United States. The first indications of the possibility of such a development appeared as the first railroad, from the Ohio river at Madison, came within available reach in 1845, and they grew stronger after the completion of the road. on the twenty- fifth of September, 1847. Railroads, already contemplated or in progress, under the stimulus of the success of the Madison .road, were pushed on vigorously. In 1850 the Bellefontaine road was opened for business, and finished in 1852; in 1851 the Peru road was opened, and finished in 1854; in 1852 the Jeffersonville road was completed to a connection with the Madison at Edinburgh; in 1852 the Terre Haute road was
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INDIANAPOLIS.
opened; in 1852 the La Fayette road was ready; in October, 1853, the Cincinnati was in operation, followed by the Central in December, 1853. These eight roads speedily converted the backwoods village into a city; and even the promise of them, with the one already completed, showed decided results in the business of 1850, and the population increased to 8,000, mainly the addition of the two years between the fall of 1847 and January, 1850. The success of one road could not alone have instigated such activity of railway concentration here. There was another and an irresistable influence at work. This was the city's central situation.
Indianapolis is the geographical center of the State, and the most central town of the rich, populous and powerful section of the Union west of the Alleghanies and east of the Missis- sippi, between the lakes and the Ohio. The most direct lines of communication between the seaboard and the Mississippi would naturally pass through it, as would those striking the most available points for exchange of products between the lakes and the South. The generally level surface of the country invited railways, and the conveniences of the city pointed to it as an admirable terminus or "cross-roads." Thus it came that so many started from various directions to meet there. And with these came facilities for transportation that shame the uncertainties, the perils, and the speed of most river trans- portation, and yield nothing in capacity either. The original eight roads have become thirteen-one rapidly approaching completion-and they have put this center in a far more favorable situation for commerce and manufactures than most cities that are favored by rivers, which freeze up or overflow every year, and run dry every other year. But this primary influence could not have produced such a result as Indiana- polis exhibits in 1875, unless aided by powerful subordinate influences. It would have made a large and prosperous town, but not such a center of constantly and rapidly accumulating manufactures and trade as Indianapolis is. Every county in the State but seven can be reached by rail, and of the seven, five can be reached by steamboats.
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