USA > Indiana > Centennial history and handbook of Indiana : the story of the state from its beginning to the close of the civil war, and a general survey of progress to the present time > Part 42
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Population of Marion county in 1890 was 141,156; in 1900 was 197,227, and according to! United States Census of 1910 was 263,661, of which 21,210 were of white foreign birth. There were 65,695 families in the county and 60,292 dwellings.
Townships, Cities and Towns .- There are! nine townships in Marion county : Center, De- catur, Franklin, Lawrence, Perry, Pike, Warren, Washington and Wayne. The incorporated cities and towns are Indianapolis, Beech Grove, Broad Ripple, Castleton, Clermont, Southport, Univer- sity Heights and Woodruff Place. Indianapolis is the county seat.
Taxable Property and Polls .- According to the annual report of the Auditor of State from the abstract of the tax duplicate for 1913, the total value of lands and lots in Marion county was $121,391,300, value of improvements was $80,293,380 and the total net value of taxables was $262,709,780. There were 51,259 polls in the county.
Improved Roads .- There were 449 miles of improved roads in Marion county built and under jurisdiction of the county commissioners Janu- ary 1, 1915. Amount of gravel road bonds out- standing, $142,859.20.
Railroads-Steam and Electric .- There are 177.63 miles of steam railroad operated in Ma-
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rion county by the Central Railroad of Indian- apolis ; Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville; Cin- cinnati division of the Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Western ; Springfield division of the C., I. & W .; Chicago, Indianapolis & St. Louis divisions of the Big Four; Indianapolis branch of the Illinois Central; Indianapolis Union Belt Railroad ; Belt Railroad & Stock Yards ; Indianapolis and Michi- gan City division of the L. E. & W .; Peoria & Eastern ; Indianapolis and Louisville divisions of the P., C., C. & St. L .; St. Louis and Vincennes divisions of the Vandalia and the White River railroads. The Beech Grove Traction Company ; Broad Ripple Traction Company ; Indianapolis & Cincinnati Traction Company ; Indianapolis, Newcastle & Eastern Traction Company ; Indian- apolis Street Railway Company; Indianapolis Traction & Terminal Company ; Interstate Public Service Company ; Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern Traction Company, and the Union Trac- ion Company of Indiana operate 245.11 miles of electric line in the county.
Educational .- According to the report of Lee A. Swails, superintendent of Marion county, there were 140 schoolhouses, including thirteen
high schools, in the county in 1914, employing 1,345 teachers. The average daily attendance by pupils was 34,799. The aggregate amount paid in salaries to superintendents, supervisors, prin- cipals and teachers was $1,130,343.45. Esti- mated value of school property in the county was $4,864,290, and the total amount of indebted- ness, including bonds, was $2,137,220.
Agriculture .- There were in Marion county in 1910 over 3,200 farms, embracing 218,000 acres. Average acres per farm, 67.2 acres. The value of all farm property was over $42,000,000, showing 74.4 per cent. increase over 1900. The average value of land per acre was $152.85. The total value of domestic animals was over $2,100,- 000: Number of cattle 18,000, valued at $624,- 000; horses 10,000, valued at $1,100,000; hogs 29,000, valued at $224,000; sheep 5,600, valued at $125,000. The value of poultry was $93,000.
Industrial .- According to the United States Census of 1910 there were 855 industries in Indi- anapolis, furnishing employment to 37,929 per- sons. Total amount of capital employed, $76,497,- 083. Value of products, $126,522,113; value added by manufacture, $+2,371,177.
Marion County Court-House, Indianapolis.
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HISTORICAL
Indianapolis From the Earliest Period .- Indiana was organized as a territory July 4, 1800, and admitted as a State December 11, 1816. In 1810 the Territory of Indiana had a population of 24 520, and in 1820, four years after its admis- ston to statehood, the population had expanded to 147.178. The settlers had not strayed very far away from the Ohio river, but there were a few settlements along Whitewater, and a few along the Wabash : but most of them were along the southern border of the State. The State stretched from the Ohio to the lake, but the cen- tral and northern sections were an unknown wilderness given over to the Indians. Dense forests covered the central section, while to the north stretched away the trackless prairies. It was not an inviting field for the hardy pioneer.
It was a struggle for existence. The soil was rich enough, but it was the work of years to clear a farm and get it ready to produce, and when its productions were ready for the harvest there was no market, and the malaria arising from the de- caying vegetation made the outlook anything but favorable. It was under such circumstances In- diana became a member of the great Federal Union. Indian wars had about ceased east of the Mississippi river, but Indian massacres had not come to an end. It was not safe to stray very far away from the confines of the few set- tlements, and if human life was spared stock was stolen and driven away. thus depriving the settler of all means of cultivating his homestead. Cory- don, the capital, was a little village on the south- ern border, some miles back from the river, and hidden among the hills ; hard to get at in the best of seasons, in the winter it was almost inaccessi- ble. Around it there was nothing that gave promise of future growth ; there was no future for it even if the capital remained there. There was absolutely no foundation on which to build a city.
The Beginning of Indianapolis .- When the State was admitted into the Union Congress do- nated to the infant commonwealth four sections of land on which to build a capital city, the land to be selected by the State from any that re- mained unsold. So, in 1820, the Legislature de- termined to go out into the wilderness and hunt toi a site for its future capital city. Commission-
ers were appointed and sent out to seek for the site of its future city, and make selection of the land donated by Congress. It might have been a prescience of what was to come that led the com- missioners to seek a spot as near the geographical center of the State as possible. It may be they naturally concluded that in time the geographical center of the State would be also the center of population, but it is more probable they thought only of finding a spot to reach which would take about the same number of miles travel from the four corners. Whatever may have been their mo- tive, they did determine on the geographical cen- ter. Water furnished then the only, or rather the best and surest means of communication with the outside world, and as they did not want to get too far away from some stream supposed to be navigable, they clung to the banks of White river. Three sites were offered, one a few miles south of the present city, and one a few miles north- east. They came here through the wilderness, and after much debating and considerable disputing, decided on accepting four sections of land around the mouth of Fall creek. It was a most unprom- ising site. White river itself was not very invit- ing, while deep bayous and ravines cut up the land in a way to make it look anything but at- tractive to one seeking for town lots. But here were the four sections with only half a dozen or so settlers. It was in the wilderness, it was near the geographical center.
With the exception of a lonely cabin here and there, it was sixty miles away from the nearest settlements. All around were dense forests; to the south were the hills reaching to the Ohio river, and to the north the woods and prairies stretching out to the lake. Only a few miles away was the boundary which divided the "New Pur- chase" from the lands still claimed by the In- dians. There was no town, no people, not a road leading anywhere. A town had to be built, people induced to come, roads to be opened. No farms had been opened up, and supplies of every kind would have to be wagoned many miles over roads often almost impassable, and at that time pack- horses were the only means of conveyance. But here, in this unpromising locality, the commis- sioners staked off a city that in less than three- quarters of a century was to become the largest inland city on the continent. They believed that White river would prove to be navigable for the
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Birdseye View of Indianapolis, Southwest from Blind Asylum, 1854.
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Birdseye View of Indianapolis, Southeast from Blind Asylum, 1854.
CENTENNIAL. HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
North Side of Washington Street, Indianapolis, Looking East from Illinois Street, 1854.
only boats then known on the western waters, and by it the people of the new city could be fed und clothed.
Naming the Capital .- The Legislature ap- proved the report of the commissioners and pro- ceeded to hunt for a name for the new city. It was a difficult thing to find. Every member of the Legislature had a name to propose. Some were of Indian origin, and some compounded from Latin words, and others from Greek. Finally "Indianapolis" was determined upon, and the city in embryo had a name.
First Survey .- In April, 1821, the work of "laying off" the city actively began. Christopher Harrison, representing the State, appointed as surveyors, Elias P. Fordham and Alexander Ral- ston. Some years before, Ralston had been em- ployed in some of the work of mapping out Washington, the national capital, and at his sug- gestion the city was to be one mile square, with streets crossing each other at right angles, and with four wide avenues pointing toward a circle that was to be the center of the new city. The ground was uniformly level, but a slight knoll was found, and it was determined the city should start from that point, or rather that the knoll should be in the center, and that it should be crowned by a residence for the chief magistrate of the commonwealth.
Streets were marked off, lots laid out and the new city was ready for business, that is, the sale of lots. The streets ran through the woods and the lots were all heavily timbered, but could be determined by the stakes set by the surveyors.
Certain plots of ground were reserved for pub- lic purposes. One was to be the site of the ex- pected state-house. One was for the court-house, and one was reserved on which to build a great State educational institution, which already had been designated as a university. The university never materialized. It having gone abroad through the settlements that the new capital city had been located, and information given as to where it could be found, immigrants began to arrive, and among them was the first lawyer. A store had been opened up and a sawmill started.
Most of the settlers had located along the bank of the river, taking it for granted that the choice corner lots would be in that section. The land outside of the mile square was to be laid off into out-lots and farms. Mr. Ralston and the com- missioners evidently thought that the mile square would contain all the inhabitants the city was ever likely to have, and had provided no division of the city lots from the out-lots but the imagi- nary line, but some one suggested that it would be the proper thing to bound the city by streets, and name them East, West, North and South streets, and it was done accordingly.
First Sale of Lots .- In October, 1821, the sale of lots began. The money arising from the sale was to be used in erecting the necessary buildings for the use of the State, and it was ex- pected that there would be a great demand. After continuing the sale for several days, and dispos- ing of 314 lots, the real estate business was stopped for a while. Something more than $7,000 was realized in cash, the rest of the purchase-
South Side of Washington Street, Indianapolis, West from Little's Hotel, 1854.
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price of the lots being evidenced by promissory notes running over a period of four years. But few of the lots were eventually paid for, the pur- chasers forfeiting the advance payments and abandoning their purchases. Ten years afterward the State still owned three-fourths of the lots in the city limits, and nearly all of the out-lots. They were not finally disposed of until 1842, and for its mile square of town lots, and the three outlying sections, the State realized less than $150,000.
more new settlers, and the town began to show some signs of improving. It had been rumored around that notwithstanding the town had been laid out for the capital of the State, the capital would not be removed here on account of the unhealthy location, and this deterred a number from coming who had designed doing so. The town thus received a "black eye" at the very start, and then, too, the seasons were not favor- able for crops for a year or two, and this gave Indianapolis a bad name. A few hardy souls
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View of Washington Street, Indianapolis, Looking East from Meridian, 1862.
First Birth and Marriage .- This first year of the life of the city witnessed the birth of the first child, and the marriage of the first couple, the happy bridegroom having been compelled to go to Connersville, sixty miles away, for his li- cense.
Last Indian Killing .- In the spring of the year, about the time the commissioners were busy laying out the new town, George Pogue, the tra- ditional first settler, was killed by the Indians, and this tragedy kept up the excited fears of the people for some months, but it was the last of the Indian killings in this section.
The spring of 1822 came, and brought with it
stuck to it, however, and began to clamor for rec- ognition. They were tired of being the capital of the State and having the county seat sixty miles away. They were also anxious for mail facili- ties.
First Mail Facilities .- In the beginning of 1822 the little town boasted of about 500 inhab- itants, and they thought it was time they were be- ing served with mail. So a meeting of the citi- zens of Indianapolis was called at Hawkins' tav- ern. Mr. Aaron Drake was appointed postmaster, and he made regular trips to Connersville, re- ceived the mail for the new settlement and trans- ported it through the woods to its destination.
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This was all done by private enterprise. He re- turned from his first trip, reaching the settlement some time after the pall of darkness had fallen over the woods, but the loud blowing of his horn called the people together and he was given a royal welcome. A few weeks later the govern- ment assumed the duty of conveying the mails and distributing them and appointed Samuel Henderson as postmaster.
First Roads Built .- The settlers also began asking that the streets be cleared, and the com- missioners undertook to have the streets opened by cutting down the timber. Roads were needed, and the Legislature, in the winter of 1821-2, ap- propriated $100,000 to open up and construct a number of roads to its new capital. One led from the Ohio river, near Lawrenceburg, to In- dianapolis, and another came up from Madison, while Noblesville, Crawfordsville, and other set- tlements were to be connected in the same way with Indianapolis. The trees were cut out, leav- ing the stumps still standing, and in rainy sea- sons, when the mud was deep, those stumps were terrible annoyances to wagoners. The wheels would sink so deep in the mud that the axle-tree of the wagon would strike on the stump, and thus
the wagon would be stranded sometimes for hours. The wants of the new settlement began . to be numerous, and all supplies had to be hauled over these roads, that in the winter were some- times impassable for weeks. They were just as bad in the rainy seasons of the spring and fall.
Organizing Marion County .- The Legisla- ture of 1821-2 also organized Marion county, making Indianapolis the county seat, appropri- ating a square of ground and $8,000 to build a court-house. Attached to the new county, for ju- dicial purposes, was the territory now compris- ing the counties of Johnson, Hamilton, Hancock, Madison and Boone. A new county demanded a new judge and a new sheriff. Hon. William W. Wick was made judge, and Hervey Bates sheriff. The new city might now be said to be fairly launched on the road to greatness. It had a judge of its own, a lawyer, Calvin Fletcher, to look after the legal wants of all the people, a store, a tavern, a sawmill or two, a postoffice, and was soon to have its first paper.
The First Newspaper .- Among the enter- prising citizens of Indianapolis were George Smith and Nathaniel Bolton, and they became the editors and proprietors of the Gazette, Indian-
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GOTT & FEATHERSTON.
View of Pennsylvania Street, Indianapolis, Looking North from Washington Street, 1856.
CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
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apolis' first newspaper. It made its appearance January 28, 1822.
First County Election .- The Legislature could name a judge for the new county, but could not choose the other officers, so in February, 1822, Sheriff Bates issued forth his proclamation calling on the people of the new county to meet together at certain named polling places and choose for themselves two associate justices, a clerk, a recorder and three county commissioners. Two of the voting places were in Indianapolis, one near Noblesville, one at Strawtown, one at Anderson and the other near Pendleton. Only 336 votes were cast in the entire county. The vote of Indianapolis was about 100. James M. Ray was elected clerk, James C. Reed, recorder ; John T. Osborne, John McCormack and William McCartney, commissioners; Eliakim Harding and James McIlvain, associate judges. In the August following, the election for Governor took place, when 317 votes were cast, 315 of them be- ing for William Hendricks.
First Session County Court .- On September 26, 1822, the court began its first session. There being no court-house, its sessions were held in the cabin of Jonathan Carr, it being the most pre-
tentious structure in the town. The grand jury returned twenty-two indictments for sundry and various offenses against the peace and dignity of the commonwealth. A candidate for naturaliza- tion appeared, in the person of Richard Goode, late of Ireland, and a subject of George IV. No jail had been provided, and as the laws then made imprisonment for debt permissible, certain streets were named as the boundaries within which im- prisoned debtors should confine themselves.
Building First Court-House and Jail .- The county commissioners, as soon as they had been inducted into office, set industriously about the work of erecting a court-house and jail. The State had appropriated $8,000 to assist in this work, and in September the plan for the pro- posed structure submitted by John E. Baker and James Paxton was accepted and the contract for the building awarded them. They did not begin the work of construction until the next summer, and it was not until 1824 the building was com- pleted. The square of ground selected for a court-house and jail was covered with heavy tim- ber. A jail made of hewed logs was erected and remained as the bastile of Marion county until 1833, when it was destroyed by fire. A brick
T IING OVER 25 CENTS AMERICAN
Same View in 1915.
CENTPANTAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
jail Was then constructed, and in 1845 it was en- larged by an addition made of logs a foot thick.
First Fourth of July Celebration .- In the midst of the turmoil of starting a new city on its upward way patriotism was not forgotten, and the fourth of July, 1822, was duly celebrated by an oration, the reading of the Declaration of In- dependence and a barbecue.
First Camp-Meeting .- The first camp-meet- ing was also held that fall, under the auspices of Reverend James Scott, the first Methodist preacher of the town.
First Militia .- This year was also signalized by the organization of a militia regiment, the fortieth, with James Paxton as colonel; Samuel Morrow, lieutenant-colonel, and Alexander W. Russell, major. Those days all the able-bodied citizens had to attend regular musters of the militia.
Beginning of Progress .- The year was not one of prosperity to the new settlement, but was marked by several important events, among them being the establishment of a ferry across White river ; the opening of a brick yard ; the erection of the first brick and the first two-story frame house. The first brick house was erected by John Johnson, on Market street, opposite the present post-office. The frame house was on Washington street, a little east of the present site of the Lyceum theater. It was long used for the stor- age of documents belonging to the State, and afterward became a tavern.
At that time the capital of the State had no member of the Legislature to represent its in- terest. and so the actual capital remained at Corydon. Again the rumors began to circulate that after all Indianapolis would never be the capital, and holders of real estate began to get a little shaky over their purchases. There was a leaven of faith, however, and the citizens began to petition the Legislature for representation, and at its session in 1823 the people of the new county were authorized to elect a representative in the following August. In the early days of the spring a new newspaper was started with a rather startling name-Western Censor and Emigrant's Guide-by Harvey Gregg and Douglass Maguire. This was now the third year of the town, and the second since it had been given its name, but the election in Angust disclosed the fact that its growth during the last year had been very
limited. In August, 1822, at the election for Governor, the county had polled 317 votes, and at the election in 1823 only 270. It was an "off" year, and that may account for the falling off of the vote.
First Theatrical Performance .- Having a representative in the Legislature, the town began to prepare for the advent of the capital, and a new tavern was built by Thomas Carter. It was now a rival of Hawkins' tavern that had first opened out its doors for the "entertainment of man and beast." It became celebrated as being a place of the exhibition of the first show ever given in Indianapolis. It was given on the last night of the year 1823, the bill being "The Doc- tor's Courtship, or the Indulgent Father," and the farce of the "Jealous Lovers."
First School and Church .- The first school was started in 1821, but its teacher was shortly afterward elected county recorder and it was temporarily suspended. Religious teachings be- gan with the advent of French missionaries preaching among the Indians. When the country was wrested from the French the order was changed somewhat, but it was never very long after the hardy pioneer had erected his cabin until the "itinerant circuit rider" was knocking at his door with his bible and hymn book in hand. It has never been definitely settled who preached the first sermon in Indianapolis, the honor lying between John McClung, a preacher of the New Light school, and Rezin Hammond, a Methodist. They both preached here in the fall of 1821. They were soon followed by Reverend Ludlow G. Haines, a Presbyterian. The Presbyterians organized the first church, and in 1823 began the erection of a house of worship on Pennsylvania street opposite where the Denison hotel now stands. It was completed the following year at the cost of $1,200. The Indianapolis circuit of the Methodist denomination was organized in 1822, under the charge of Reverend William Cravens, but Reverend James Scott had preached here before that and held one or two camp-meet- ings. The Methodists did not begin the erection of a church building right away, but in 1823 pur- chased a hewed log house on Maryland street, near Meridian, to be used for religious meetings. The Baptists organized a society in 1822, and held meetings at different places until 1829, when they erected a church.
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First Permanent School .- Not long after the school of Joseph C. Reed suspended on his being elected to the office of recorder of the county, a meeting of the citizens was called to make ar- rangements for a permanent school. Mr. Reed's schoolhouse had been at the intersection of Ken- tucky avenue and Illinois street. Arrangements were made with a Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence to open out a school and keep it going. There were no free schools then maintained by public tax, but thus, soon after its first settlement, Indian-
that year, State Treasurer Samuel Merrill set out on his journey to the new capital with the archives of the State, in a large two-horse wagon. It was a slow journey over the hills and through the woods, a dozen miles a day being all that could be accomplished, and that by the hardest effort. By the end of November the State was settled in its new quarters, and the meeting of the first Legislature was impatiently waited for.
When the members of the Legislature came to the new capital in 1825 they found it a straggling
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