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 57
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About one-fifth of the county is bottom lands and very productive. The upland is rolling and in many parts, especially along the water courses, is quite broken. Corn, wheat, oats, hay, tobacco, potatoes, butter, wool, pork and live stock are produced in abundance. No portion of the State is better adapted to fruit growing, and fruits and berries of all kinds are raised and shipped yearly
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from the county. A number of streams traversing the county, many of them fed by never-failing springs of pure cold water, render it one of the very foremost for stock raising. Fine quarries of oolitic are found in almost all parts of the county. In the eastern portion, however, it is a sandstone, and after being worked becomes quite hardened. Good clay for the manufacture of brick and tile is also found in abundance throughout the county. Fossils of every variety are found, espe- cially at Spurgeon's Hill, four miles east of Sa-
Chimney Rock in Washington County. Is ten miles south of Salem, formed by erosion. Rock is of hard limestone and about twenty feet high .- Photo by Orra Hopper.
lem, which has been visited by geologists from all over the United States. There are quite a number of caves in the county, the largest and most noted of which is located one mile west of Salem and has been explored for some distance. Clifty Cave, in the northwest part of the county. is quite a resort and the county is marked gen- erally with scenery of a romantic character.
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Organization .- Washington county was or- ganized December 21, 1813, by an act of the Leg- islature, which became effective January 17, 1814. It was created out of Clark and Harrison
counties. Orange and Jackson counties were taken from Washington county in 1815. and Scott was carved out in 1820. reduemg Wash- ington county to its present boundaries. Salem has been the seat of justice since the organization of the county.
Salem is particularly distinguished as the birth place of John Hay, one time private secretary to President Lincoln, who represented the United States abroad as secretary of the legations at Paris, Madrid and Vienna, and was charge
Lovers' Leap "Clifty." Washington County. This ledge is about twenty-five feet high and called "Laver' Leap" because many betrothed have tried to kap from the rocks to the main ledge, five feet away.
d'affaires at Vienna : ambassador to England. 1897-8: Secretary of State from 1898 to Septem- ber 20, 1905. He was the author of "Pike County Ballots," "Castulian Days" and the "Bio graphs of Lincoln."
Population of Washington county in ISH was 18.619: in 1900 was 19, 109, and according to United States Census of 1910 was 17.445. 01 which fifty-six were of white foreign birth There were 4, 140 families in the county and 4.093 dwellings.
Townships, Cities and Towns .- There are
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Washington County Court-House, Salem.
thirteen townships in Washington county : Brown, Franklin, Gibson, Howard, Jackson, Jef- ferson, Madison, Monroe, Pierce, Polk, Posey, Vernon and Washington. The incorporated cities and towns are Campbellsburg, Fredericksburg, Hardinsburg, Little York, Livonia, New Pekin, Salem and Saltillo. Salem 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 Washington county was $3,685,895 ; value of improvements
was $1,529,400, and the total net value of taxa- bles was $8,511,305. There were 2,793 polls in the county.
Improved Roads .- There were 225 miles of improved roads in Washington county built and under jurisdiction of the county commissioners January 1, 1915. Amount of gravel road bonds outstanding, $254,323.
Railroads-Steam and Electric .- There are 27.71 miles of steam railroad operated in Wash- ington county by the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railroad Company.
Educational .- According to the report of Orra Hopper, county superintendent of Wash- ington county, there were 124 schoolhouses, in- cluding six high schools, in Washington county in 1914, employing 161 teachers. The average daily attendance by pupils was 3,823. The aggre- gate amount paid in salaries to superintendents, supervisors, principals and teachers was $73,- 816.41. The estimated value of school property in the county was $179,290, and the total amount of indebtedness, including bonds, was $24,355. There are three commissioned high schools at Campbellsburg, Salem and New Pekin, and three non-certified high schools and one township con- solidated graded school in the county.
Agriculture .- There were in Washington county in 1910 over 2,600 farms embraced in 310,000 acres. Average acres per farm, 115.6 acres. The value of all farm property was over $11,000,000, showing 76.1 per cent. increase over 1900. The average value of land per acre was $23.20. The total value of domestic animals was over $1,500,000: Number of cattle 14,000, valued at $349,000 ; horses 7,600, valued at $750,000; hogs 26,000, valued at $169,000; sheep 16,000, valued at $71,000. The poultry value was $83,000.
WAYNE COUNTY
RICHMOND, SEAT OF JUSTICE
W AYNE COUNTY is located in the cen- tral part of the eastern tier of counties and is bounded on the north by Randolph, on the cast by the State of Ohio, on the south by Union and Fayette and on the west by Henry and Fay- ette counties. The Cumberland or National road
runs through it, and in the early days was the gateway to the State and the great Northwest beyond, over which the tide of emigration moved from the East. Its area is about 394 square iniles. The soil is rich and varied, from the alluvial to the heavy clays of the elevated por-
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tions, and all susceptible to a high state of culti- vation. Every section is well watered, and few localities are better adapted to dairying. Wayne county is famous for its production of wheat, corn, hogs, cattle and horses. The soil and cli- mate are well adapted to the production of fruit, and an eminent authority has said: "Wayne county lies in the coming apple belt of the Cen- tral States." Agriculture has received much en- couragement in the public schools, in associations and in institutes, conducted from year to year among the farmers, and it was among the first in the State to add agriculture to its common school course of study.
Organization .- Wayne county, the seventh in line in the State, was organized under an act of the Legislature of November 27, 1810, made effective February 1, 1811. It was named in honor of General Anthony Wayne, known to history as "Mad Anthony," whose name has been indelibly fixed upon the pages of the early his- tory of this country because of his victory at the battle of "Fallen Timbers" and the defeat of Little Turtle. The city of Fort Wayne is also named in his honor. He died December 15, 1796.
The first county seat of Wayne county was
located at Salisbury, which by a Legislative an was changed to Centerville De ember 21. 1816 The dissensions which this create i werd as not ing compared with the struggle that was precio tated following the change of the coulity seat from Centerville to Richmond. Un- stretched over a period of fifty years, and had a marked effect on the political fortunes of State aid county officials, judges and members of the Les- islature, as well as Governors. In- strugg's re sulted in the creation of a number of acts of the Legislature providing for the removal of county seats. The removal of the country sent of Wayne county from Centerville to Richmond occurred August 15, 1873, terminating the longest and bit- terest county seat war in Indiana. The rancor which it engendered has not entirely died out to this day.
Richmond has a population, a cording to the United States Census of 1910, of 22,324, and it is one of the most thriving industrial cites in Indiana. It is located on the east bank of the east fork of White Water on the National road. four miles from the Ohio line. It was first settled in 1816, and it was here that the "Friends' Boarding School" was established June
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Earlham College, Richmond. Wayne County.
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7, 1847, and from which has developed Earlham College.
Earlham College took its name from "Earl- ham Hall," the name of the Gurney home, at Norfolk, England, the source of the far-reaching humanitarian work of John Gurney, the promi- nent English Quaker banker, and his better known sister, Elizabeth Fry.
As to location no isolated spot was chosen. A large tract of land was purchased on either side of "The Great Road," as the Friends referred to the now historic "National road," which led straight into the unbounded west. Here, on the now beautiful campus they built "their house by the side of the road," a token of the service for which the college was to stand.
Nine years after Louis Agassiz came to Har-
First Log Schoolhouse, Wayne County, 1813.
vard, a young Earlham instructor, Joseph Moore, who was later to be Earlham's president, went east to work with him, and the young Indiana college was thus early linked with the movement to add natural science to its curriculum. In 1847 the college was the beneficiary of a contribution of £300 sterling from English Friends, two- thirds of which was set apart to the college authorities to purchase scientific apparatus and start a library. In 1853 the foundation of the Joseph Moore museum was laid, in the beginning of a permanent collection of materials in the field of natural science as a subject for instruction. On the Earlham campus was established the first astronomical observatory in the State, where is located the transit mounted at Fort Sumter at the outbreak of the Civil war. It was the first college in Indiana to establish a laboratory equipped for the use of students, and is one of
the very first institutions committed to the mod- ern policy of co-education. In a list, prepared at the request of the German universities, by the Association of American Universities, Earlham was listed as one whose work ranks with their own. It was one of the colleges among the six mentioned by Doctor K. C. Babcock, educa- tional expert of the United States Bureau of Education, as representing the most progressive and efficient work now being done among Amer- ican colleges.
Eastern Hospital for the Insane .- The East- ern Hospital for the Insane, "Easthaven," lo- cated a short distance west of Richmond, was the second of the additional hospitals to be opened. Its site was purchased August 9, 1883, and it was constructed on the cottage plan. The arrangement is in the form of a modified quad- rangle, with the power-house in the center and the cottages on two sides and a part of the front. As previously mentioned, some of the buildings were completed in 1887 and were occupied by the School for Feeble-Minded Youth.
The school was moved to its new location July 8, 1890, and on August 4 following the Eastern hospital received its first patient.
Population of Wayne county in 1890 was 37,628; in 1900 was 38,970, and according to United States Census of 1910 was 43,757, of which 2,044 were of white foreign birth. There were 11,404 families in the county and 10,958 dwellings.
Townships, Cities and Towns .- There are fifteen townships in Wayne county: Abington, Boston, Center, Clay, Dalton, Franklin, Green, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Newgarden, Perry, Washington, Wayne and Webster. The incor- porated cities and towns are Richmond, Boston, Cambridge City, Centerville, Dublin, East Ger- mantown, Fountain City, Hagerstown, Milton, Mt. Auburn,, Spring Grove and Whitewater. Richmond 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 Wayne county was $12,724,870, value of improvements was $9,371,110 and the total net value of taxables was $35,344,585. There were 8,099 polls in the county.
Improved Roads .- There were 312 miles of
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improved roads in Wayne county built and under jurisdiction of the county commissioners January 1, 1915. Amount of gravel road bonds outstand- ing, $311,088.
Railroads-Steam and Electric .- There are 110.81 miles of steam railroad operated in Wayne county by the Chesapeake & Ohio; Cin- cinnati, Richmond & Fort Wayne; Fort Wayne, Cincinnati & Louisville ; Grand Rapids & Indiana over C., R. & Ft. W. and the P., C., C. & St. L .; Indianapolis and Richmond divisions of the P .. C., C. & St. L., and the White Water railroads. The Ohio Electric Railway Company and the Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern Traction Company operate 27.80 miles of electric line in the county.
Educational .- According to the report of Charles O. Williams, county superintendent of Wayne county, there were sixty-eight school- houses, including twelve high schools, in Wayne county in 1914, employing 148 teachers. The average daily attendance by pupils was 2,748. The aggregate amount paid in salaries to super-
intendents, supervisors, principais and weather- was $176,818.03. The estimated value of schon property in the county was Shot, and the total amount of indebtedness, including banale was $224,900.
Agriculture .- There were in Wayne county in 1910 over 2,000 farms, embraced in 247.000 acres. Average acres per farm. 04 ile The value of all farm property was all $24,000,000, showing 70.2 per cent. Hereare 03Cl 1900. The average value of land per acre Was $68.97. The total value of domestic animals 3.15 over $2,190,000: Number of cattle 17,000, valued at $525,000; horses 9,600, valued at $1,000,000. hogs 85,000), valued at $532,000; sheep 12,00). valued at $56,000. The total value of poultry was $82,000.
Industrial .- According to the United States Census of 1910 there were 107 industries in Richmond, furnishing employment to 4,432 per- sons. Total amount of capital employed. $13.139 .- 159. Value of products. $10.373,837 ; value added by manufacture. $5,255.401.
WELLS COUNTY
BLUFFTON, SEAT OF JUSTICE
W TELLS COUNTY is located in the north- western part of Indiana, about twenty-five miles south of Fort Wayne. It contains 372 square miles and is bounded on the north by Al- len, on the east by Adams, on the south by Jay and Blackford, and on the west by Grant and Huntington counties. The Wabash river in the northern part and the Salamonie river in the southern part of the county afford ample drain- age. The soil is fertile, producing abundant crops. The southern part of the county is in the oil and gas field, which was opened up in 1897. Very few new oil wells are being drilled and the sound of the oil pump is fast dying away ; the oil peo- ple are moving to new fields of labor, while the farmer is paying more attention to agriculture in this territory, which is the main occupation of the people in the county.
Organization .- Wells county was organized by an act of the Legislature February 17, 1837, which became effective May 1, of that year. The
county was named in honor of Captain William H. Wells of Fort Wayne, who was killed by the Indians on August 15, 1812, near Chicago, in an attempt to escort the garrison of Fort Dearborn to Fort Wayne. Bluffton was selected as the county seat at the organization of the county.
Population of Wells county in 1800 was 21,514; in 1900) was 23,449, and according to United States Census of 1910 was 22.418, of which 330 were of white foreign birth. There were 5,566 families in the county and 5.489 dwellings.
Townships. Cities and Towns .- There ale nine townships in Wells county : Chester, Harri son, Jackson, Jefferson, Lancaster, Liberty. Not tington, Rock Creek, and Union. The meorpo- rated cities and towns are Bluffton, Keystone. Markle, Ossian, Poneto, Uniondale ind Vera Cruz. Bluffton is the county schl.
Taxable Property and Polls .- According to the annual report of the Auditor of State from
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the abstract of the tax duplicate for 1913, the total value of lands and lots in Wells county was $8,055,770; value of improvements was $2,793,- 000, and the total net value of taxables was $17,- 813,615. There were 3,527 polls in the county.
Improved Roads .- There were 728 miles of improved roads in Wells county built and under jurisdiction of the county commissioners January 1, 1915. Amount of gravel road bonds outstand- ing. $631,415.
Railroads-Steam and Electric .- There are 80.40 miles of steam railroad operated in Wells county by the Chicago & Erie ; Cincinnati, Bluff- ton & Chicago; Fort Wayne, Cincinnati & Louis- ville, and the Toledo, St. Louis & Western rail- roads. The Bluffton, Geneva & Celina Traction Company ; Fort Wayne & Northern Indiana Traction Company ; Marion, Bluffton & Eastern Traction Company, and the Union Traction Company of Indiana operate 43.36 miles of elec- tric line in the county.
Educational .- According to the report of Arthur R. Huyette, county superintendent of Wells county, there were ninety-six school- houses, including nine high schools in Wells
county in 1914, employing 160 teachers. The average daily attendance by pupils was 4,136. The aggregate amount paid in salaries to super- intendents, supervisors, principals and teachers was $178,789.96. The estimated value of school property in the county was $332,245, and the total amount of indebtedness, including bonds, was $58,800.
Agriculture .- There were in Wells county in 1910 over 2,600 farms, embraced in 226,000 acres. Average acres per farm, 85.2 acres. The value of all farm property was over $26,000,000, showing 116.9 per cent. increase over 1900. The average value of land per acre was $82.54. The total value of domestic animals was over $2,350,- 000 : Number of cattle 16,000, valued at $474,000; horses 11,000, valued at $1,300,000; hogs 69,000, valued at $418,000 ; sheep 25,000, valued at $120,- 000. The total value of poultry, $122.000.
Industrial .- According to the report of the State Bureau of Inspection for 1912, there were fourteen industrial establishments in Bluffton employing nearly 300 persons. The manufac- ture of pianos, oil-field machinery, drain tile and cooperage are the leading industries.
WHITE COUNTY
MONTICELLO, SEAT OF JUSTICE
W HITE COUNTY is located in the fourth tier of counties northwest of Indianapolis and is bounded on the north by Jasper and Pu- laski, on the east by Cass and Carroll, on the south by Tippecanoe, and on the west by Benton and Jasper counties. It contains 504 square miles. The soil is chiefly rich, black farm land, producing large yields of corn, oats, wheat and other agricultural products. Cattle and hogs are fed in large numbers. At Monon there is a lime- stone quarry, which is the only place where stone is found near the surface. The county is crossed by the Tippecanoe river in its lower course, a stream of crystal water that has cut a channel about 100 feet deep, with frequent rapids and fine fishing. The banks are dotted with sum- mer resorts.
Organization .- White county was organized April 1, 1834. It was named in honor of Col.
Isaac White, of Gallatin county, Illinois, who volunteered his services as a private in the Tip- pecanoe campaign and fell at the side of Major Daviess in the battle of Tippecanoe. The com- missioners, who were selected by the Legislature to choose the county seat, did not make a report until September 5, 1834, when they chose Monti- cello, which has been the county seat ever since the organization of the county.
Population of White county in 1890 was 15,671 ; in 1900 was 19,138, and, according to U. S. Census, in 1910 was 17,602, of which 589 were of white foreign birth. There were 4,29- families in the county and 4,249 dwellings.
Townships, Cities and Towns .- There are eleven townships in White county: Big Creek Cass, Honey Creek, Jackson, Liberty, Monon Prairie, Princeton Round Grove, Union and West Point. The incorporated cities and town
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are Monticello, Brookston, Burnettsville, Chal- mers, Monon, Reynolds and Wolcott. Monti- cello is the county seat.
Taxable Property and Polls .- AAccording 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 White county was $8,339,500 ; value of improvements was $2,392,- 160, and the total net value of taxables was $15,- 246,560. There were 2,979 polls in the county.
Improved Roads .- There were 349 miles of improved roads in White county, built and under jurisdiction of the county commissioners January 1, 1915. Amount of gravel road bonds outstand- ing, $449,876.25.
Educational .- According to the report of Henry J. Reid, county superintendent, there were ninety-eight schoolhouses, including seven high schools, in White county in 1914, employing 162 teachers. The daily average attendance by pupils was 3,571. The aggregate amount paid
to superintendents, supervisors, principals and teachers was $83,818.37. Estimated value of school property was $307,850, and the total amount of indebtedness, including bonds, was $55,909.52.
Railroads-Steam and Electric .- There are 69.35 miles of steam railroad operated in White county by the Chicago. Indianapolis & Louisville and its Michigan City branch, and the lffner branch of the P., C., C. & St. L. railroads.
Agriculture .- There were in White county in 1910 over 2,000 farms, embraced in 314.000 acres. Average acres per farm, 150.4 acres, The value of all farm property was over $30,000,000. showing 93 per cent. increase over 1900. The average value of land per acre was $77.69. The total value of domestic animals was over $2.4'X),- 000: Number of cattle 20,000. valued at $641 .- 000; horses 11,000. valued at $1,400,000; hogs 29.000, valued at $235.000: sheep 10,000, valued at $55,000. The value of poultry was $100,000.
WHITLEY COUNTY
COLUMBIA CITY, SEAT OF JUSTICE
W HITLEY COUNTY lies in the northeast corner of the State and is bounded on Ithe north by Noble, on the east by Allen, on the south by Huntington and Wabash and on the west by Kosciusko and Wabash counties. It contains 336 square miles. Eel river, flowing across the county from the northeast to the south- west, is the principal stream within its bound- aries. Fed by its main tributary, Blue river, and a network of small creeks, it affords an out- let for almost the entire drainage of the county. In the northern part of the county lie some of the most beautiful lakes in Indiana. Blue river lake, the largest, lies in Smith township near the town of Churubusco. In Troy township are Robinson, Cedar, Spruce and New lakes and several smaller ones. In Etna township is Old lake and a part of Loon lake. Cedar and Shriner lakes in Thorncreek township, widely known as Tri-Lake-Resort, forms the most at- tractive group. Here the State Fish and Game Commission has established a fish hatchery. A portion of Crooked lake, with its heavily wooded
shores, regarded by many as the most beautiful lake in the county, also lies in Thornereek town- ship. The abundant supply of fish with which these lakes are stocked. and their picturesque surroundings, attract many pleasure seekers from all parts of the middle west.
The character of the soil is a rich, clay loam, varied in parts of the county with sandy soil. and is very productive. All of the different varieties of the staple farm products are raised in abu- dance, and sugar beets, peppermint, hemp and millet are raised on a smaller scale. A large area of muck lands. once regarded as worthless. are now utilized for onion raising, which has he- come one of the principal industries.
Organization .- Whitley county was organ- ized by an act of the Legislature January 20. 1839, which became effective April 1. 1839. It was named in honor of Col. William Whitley. of Lincoln county, Kentucky, one of the bravest of the carly pioneers of that State, who, after being a successful leader in many daring expedi- tions, fell at last at the rest of of, in the battle of
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the Thames, where he had volunteered to serve as a private. Whitley county was formed out of what was originally Cleveland township of Hunt- ington county. The site for the first county seat, which was selected by the State commis- sioners, did not prove satisfactory and the Leg- islature passed an act February 18, 1839, naming five commissioners to relocate the county seat. On October 19, 1839, the commissioners met and decided to locate the county seat on fractional section 11, township 31 north, range 9, east, on land owned by Elihu Chauncey, of Philadelphia. He was to donate 2221/2 acres and build a saw- mill on the land. There was not a white family living within one mile and a half at the time, but its central location had been the determining factor in making the choice. The new town was first called Columbia and afterward changed to Columbia City. now particularly distinguished as the home of Vice-President Thomas R. Marshall, former Governor of Indiana.
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