History of Allen County, Indiana, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 38

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Kingman Brothers
Number of Pages: 366

USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of Allen County, Indiana, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 38

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" On the north side of the canal, where the gas- works are, stood a brewery, owned aud carried on by George Fallo, a French German, whose bcer got a repu- tation from the peculiar manner in which old George set the fermentation to work ; this, however, was hearsay, hut it was often told and never denied; let

HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.

those who drank his beer tell the rest. Along the canal east, to where Rudisill's woolen-factory now stands, were many log cabins, mostly occupied hy French people, and, indeed, it was no unimportant part of the town, as it was at the land- ing. which was where the St. Mary's bridge strikes the shore ; here, in the spring of the year, were arriving and unloading cargoes of whisky, flour, bacon, pota- toes, ete., shipped from St. Mary's, and which had been hauled there from Dayton, Piqua and other places. We do not think that any arrivals took place after that spring by river.

" Following up the north side of the cannl, were a few houses located along the bank of the slough, through which now is discharged the water which pro- pels the City Mills. If we remember aright, Henry Sharp lived about where he does now, north of Townley's Block, and Capt. John B. Bourie at the north end of the Calhoun street bridge, then a Ingh bridge with approaches extending half a square each way, where Dr. Brooks now lives, southwest corner of Calhoun and Water. These, we believe, constituted all who lived thereabout, and the names of whom we now remember.

" The main road north led out of Calhoun street, and crossed the St. Mary's River on the only bridge in the county, a part of the trestle-work of which may be uow seen in the river at that spot. This was owned by a company, was a toll- bridge, and was kept by an Americanized Irishman, John Simonton, father of Hiram Simonton, our worthy but eccentric fellow-citizen, who, in his youth, col- lected the tolls, at. the rate of 3 cents for each footman, 6 cents for each horse- back rider, 12 cents for a horse and wagon, and 15 cents for a double team. A few rods beyond the bridge, the road divided, the Mongoquinong, now Limn, road leading to the right, crossing Spy Run southwest of Rudisill's Mill, intersecting tbe other road at the mill. The Goshen or Wolf Lake road, bearing to the north- west, crossed the feeder at llinton's, where the present bridge is, at the end of Wells street iu Bloomingdale, at which place a hospitable Englishman named Hin- ton kept the . Bull's Head Inn,' taking its natue from the picture of a bull's head on his huge sign-board, an idea doubtless eonecived in the ' old country.'

" The Maumee River was crossed at a rocky ford just below the junction of the two rivers ; the going in place being now plainly seen from the bridge, being indentations in the west bank, the going-out place being under the east end of the bridge, and now entirely ohseured by the action of the water. In this connection, it is well to say that the ford is now covered up by the rise caused by a mill-dam une mile below, which then did not obstruct thic erossing.

" Coming back to town, we found on the corner of Calhoun and Main (south- west eorner ). the yellow frame building seen yet back of Merget's beer-shop, and then owned and occupied by F. D. Lasselle. The next south was a cabinet-shop, built in 1833, by Gardner Wilcox, and which stands on the salue spot, being the same lately ocenpied by Louis Peltier as a coffin-shop, on the present site of Root & Co.'s story. On the west end of the same lot. facing the alley, was a large car- penter and joiner shop, occupied by Henry Williams and Ely Q. Davis. Mr. Williams is now the senior member of the firm of Williams & Huestis, now Huestis & Hamilton. On the spot where we now write, and where our present office is Sidel's Block ), stood a nice frame house, then the residence of John E. Hill : across and south of the alley were the remains of a building, which had then but recently been burned, presenting the same appearance that it does now. It was on this lot that Col. Spencer, in 1839, began to build the American House, afterward called the Spencer House, which he finished in 1840. South of the American House lot, stood a frame house owned and oceupied by Capt. William Stewart, since torn away and n splendid brick erected in its stead. We add that the briek is torn away, and B. Trentman's store erected on the site. Next south was a frame bouse occupied as a residence and bakery by one Joshua Housman, a German ; and then Work's Row, before described.

" Turning now at Miller's, northwest corner of Calhoun and Berry, we go to the west along Berry street, and, at that day, might have seen a large car- penter-shop, owned by John Rinehart, wbere Dr. Daily's residence is, the present site and the building of the Anderson House ; and then across the street, a little east, an old frame occupied by James Barnett, ' Uncle Jimmy,' who was as hos- piable and honest a man as the country afforded, and whose swear-word ' by Hedge> Molly,' was the nearest we ever knew him to come to profanity. A few years afterward, be built west of the alley, a few feet from his old place, and after- ward ended a long life thercin ; this building is still standing (1879). The next tbing of note west was Shawnce Run, which is now barely visible on the west side of Harrison street, to the west of the Berry Street Methodist Church, and which is now confined to a ditch through town, and through which but little Water now passes. This ditch is now confined to a brick sewer. Owing to a ditch which is opened south of the free schoolbouse, at the southwest side of the city, this ditch discharges itself into a small creek to the southeast of tbe grave- yard.

"Shawnee Run was once quite a branch, or creek, full of deep holes, and from which large fish were taken, before the year in which we write, and even then some were known to he taken therefrom. This run crosses Main street, east side of Harrison, and under Columbia street, south of the canal basin, and discharges.under the hasin through a culvert, and into the St. Mary's just above the new iron bridge. An iron bridge was, at the time this article was penned, across the river on the road to Bloomingdale.

" West of Shawnee Run, on Berry street, we recollect hut two houses; one was owned and occupied by Benjamin Smith, and stood where P. Hoagland now lives, a little cast ; and the other by Dr. Lewis Beecher, just across the street, and amid the hazel-brush ; this house is still standing. The traveled road left Berry street immediately on the west of Shawnee Run, and bore southwest along the high ground or bank of the run, through a vast thicket, leaving where the new free schoolhouse is to the right, about which place commenced a race-track, which ended at where the south side of the graveyard is. This road, in the spring of the year, afforded a most pleasant walk, and we recollect of often meeting

innocent lovers, hand in hand measuring the distance out, and, we suspeet, sighing that it was so short between town and what was then considered out of town. Along this road from where the free school is (Jefferson Street School), and ineluding a large scope up and about the round-bouse (Wabash Round-House), and from that to and ineluding the graveyard and a part of what is now Hanna's Addition. West of the Bluffton Plank Road ( Broadway) was a pigeon- roost. In the fall of that year, the noise of the pigeons flying caeh night sounded like the approach of a violent storm, and the frequent report of musketry of sportsmen gave one strange feelings. Our friend, John Hamilton, will recolleot this.

" All west of the old plat was then called ' Ewingtown.' Near the present residence of W. S. Edsall, southwest corner of Main and Cass streets, stood the frame of an inclosed building ealled the Methodist Church, and which, for want of funds, was not completed, and, from its great distance out of town, was deemed an ineligible site. Hon. William Rockhill lind a small residence just opposite his present residence, on the south bank of the canal. Mr. William Rockhill resided for many years in a yellow briek house which still stands on tho corner of Greeley and Van Buren streets, Lot 7, Reed's Addition, and all south and west of this was a enltivated field-that is, so much as is Rockhill's Addition. The old frame house on the south bank of the canal, just west of the foot-bridge ; this foot- bridge was a high bridge across the canal on Ewing street, and had steps at either end. The house referred to was on Lot 1, Block 8, Ewing's Addition, the present site of August Reiling's shop, belonged to the Ewing family, and a little to the southeast of this bouse, and in the common, stood the paling which inclosed the grave of Col. Alexander Ewing, the father of G. W. Ewing, W. G. Ewing and Charles W. Ewing.

" We bring the reader baek to the southeast corner of Calhoun and Berry, and proceed castward. The first house on the corner, we said, was occupied by a Frenebwoman ; the next thien is the next now, and was then occupied by Moses Yearin, the town gunsmith. Mr. Yearin subsequently moved his sbop to a small brick on the east side of Maiden Lane, immediately south of Main street, where he continued in business for many years afterward. John Majors lived then, as he does now, next east, in a state of celibacy and as one of the unsophisti- cated members of the 'Bachelor's Club.' Mr. Majors' location was on the pres- ent site of Evans' wholesale house. The house next and cast was on the south west corner of Clinton and Berry. This lot is now owned by the Baptist Church. On this corner lived, in a log house, the widow of Abner Gerrard, who yet survives (as she does yet, 1879); having struggled hard with a large family and raised all to respectability, etc., she finally moved far West, leaving behind a large circle of well-wishing friends.

". On the opposite corner, the southeast corner of Berry and Clinton, also stood a log house, which was afterward removed to give place to the First Presbyterian Church. The next stands yet, and was occupied by Mrs. Brown, a Frenchwoman, well remembered by many. The next was a small frame on the lot now noted by a large willow-tree. On this spot lived Robert Hood, a man ns well known as any in this region, at that time ; in his nature were combined good sense and hos- pitality, and as large a vein of dry humor as ever we saw in one man ; the anec- dotes eoneerning him and his eecentricities are most numerous, and when told by one qualified to do it, never fail to call out a hearty laugh.

" On Market Square, where the new Market House is, stood the old frame wbieb now stands to the south on the square. This old market house was used for some time after as an engine-house. Maj. Edsall lived on the next lot cast, where D. H. Colerick now lives, and next where he lives now was Capt. O. Fair- field. Then came the old First Presbyterian Church, now tho Lutheran, since torn away, of which the Rev. A. T. Rankin was the Pastor. In the basement of this church was kept a select school by Rev. W. W. Stevens, now Squire Stevens, and Alexander McJunkin, now deceased, in which school we spent the spring months of that year. East of this stood the present residence of N. B. Freeman, then occupied by Rev. Hoover, a Lutheran minister. Distant east of this stood the hotel now called the Kime House-then the Dahiuan House, just rendered celebrated for having been the secne of a serious conflict, between the Irish then Inboring on the eanal, and the Germans, who held a dance there on a certain occasion. In this confliet one German was killed, and Dahman had his nose nearly severed from his face, the mark of which he carried to his grave.

" The only house, as we now remember, which stood east of this, was one that stood about where Jolin Burt now lives, on the east end of Wayne street, then occupied hy W. L. Moon, a location which was considered 'clear out of town.' Going back west, on the north side of Berry street, the first building we found was exactly north of the Presbyterian Church, now Lutheran Church, which was made of logs from the old fort, and raised to the square of the second story, and which was finished early that spring by Daniel Reed, wbo had just removed here from Richmond, and taken charge of the Register's Office under appointment of President Van Buren. This house is now the residence of Benjamin Saunders, Esq., then a clerk for his cousin, Thomas Pritchard. Mr. Siunders was after- ward in the bakery business, and subsequently a Justice of the Peace.

" Between that and the alley west were two small framnes, and across the alley lived-in a house now occupied by the Rev. Ruthrauf-Henry Cooper, Esq., attorney at law, a self-made man. a profound lawyer, a good eitizen and an honest man. Our friend, whose memory we cherish, and with whom we for several years traveled this judicial cireuit in the practice of law. *

* * * * * *

" West of Mr. Cooper's. in a red house, now on the third lot east. of the northeast corner of Berry and Barr, lived John B. Dubois, now called the ' Old Squire," then a magistrate and a merchant. On the opposite corner west lived Judge Hanna, in the finest house in all the region, which house is now standing at the west end of the same lot, a specimen of palatial grandeur of other days. That square, or rather that part now occupied by Miller's board-yard, immediately

WAYNE TOWNSHIP.

opposite the First Presbyterian Church, and east along Berry street, was a willow swamp, standing deep under the water the whole year, and totally impassable, except when frozen over. Indeed, fish were found in it, and wild ducks made it a frequent resort, and a few years before the period of which we write (1860), it was so deep as to float canves, and two deer were killed therein hy five hunters. In the lumber- yard, Madden, Kcefer and Romine murdered a man by the name of Dunbar. It originally discharged across south of where the post office is now, corner of the alley, on the west side of Clinton, south nf Columbia street, and out very near the southeast corner of Columbia and Calhoun, and into the Shawnee Run about where Columbia crosses that run.

" Allen Hamilton lived then in a large frame just across the street north from the present branch of the Bank nf the State, now Fort Wayne National, then the branch of the State Bank, which was that spring completed and occu- picd. Hugh McCulloch, Cashier ; M. W. Huhble, Teller.

" Benjamin H. Tower and Johnson Miller then carried on a cabinet shop in a frame stand where John M. Miller's large factory is, in the same building which now stands to the west of the factory, about where Hattersly is now. East, on the next lot, lived L. G. Bellamy, and beside him on the cast, where the large apples may now be seen, in a little, old log house, lived Judith Shores. * * On the corner next-the southwest corner of Main and Barr-in the old, yellow frame still standing there, lived Stearns Fisher, then Engineer-in-Chief of the W. & E. Canal, and now of Wabash County, Ind., since deceased. On the opposite corner north was a little, low, log house. Thomas Johnson, Esq., now deceased, lived in the old frame which still stands on the third lot from the corner. on the north side, and the large locust-trees in front are those which Mr. J. brought from La Grange County in 1836, and which were then so siuall that he tied them on the pad of his saddle, and brought them home. On the spot where Mr. Hedekin now lives was the old Council House. Where Henry Baker now lives, southeast corner of Main and La Fayette, was a shop, we think built by John Browu, the blacksmith. That which is now the ' Old Fort House,' on the nortli- east eorner, was then the late residence of Capt. Robert Brackenridge. Between that and the ' Old Fort' was a solitary small frame, occupied by a family, namue now forgotten, and then the ' Old Fort,' or rather one building of it, tenanted by some Irish family. The pickets were mostly taken up, the lines were, however, vis- ible, and the old well then in use. The flagstaff stood in the center, but it was broken off about half-way up. The eanal was then being dug at that point, and eastward, aud when the scason for labor began, hundreds of Irishmen, and horses and carts, could be seen at one view.

" Nothing of great interest transpired that year, except the breaking of the aqueduct over the St. Mary's River-where the ' stone mills' are-caused by a flood, and the rebuilding of the same, and the trial of Asa Crapo for killing a man at Bull Rapids. * * * * *

" The social aspect of the place was good. It did not fall to the Int of any Western town to be favored with a better society, although much evil prevailed, owing to the unscrupulousness resulting from Indian trading, rum drinking, etc. Society was a mixture of French, Indians and Americans, with hut a single negro, Burrell Reed, a boot-black, a factotum, whose usefulness was generally appreciated, whose goodness of heart was proverbial, and whose laugh, loud as a young artillery. And, notwithstanding this mixture, it was a most agreeable place to live in, for true hospitality was a marked feature in society, and which we are proud to say has its liviug representatives still here to distinguish the place."

Such is a sketch of Fort Wayne as it appeared over forty years ago. And, as we close, we draw the curtain over it, and present the same place as it is now, a city with thirty, or thirty-five thousand souls; with its magnificent churches, with spires towering up hundreds of feet; its several spacious and commodious schoolbouses ; its almost innumerable bomes and palatial residences, witb inviting lawns; its immense manufactories, with millions of capital; its solid fronts of busi- ness houses ; its railroads stretching nut in every direction ; its banks with busy capital; its streets and sidewalks graded and paved ; its beautiful shade-trees arehing over its streets from side to side, making in all a delightful as well as a metropolitan city.

With Fort Wayne as Mr. Dawson saw it in 1838, it would not he presump- tuous to suppose there existed, at that date, elements of growth and prosperity warranting the enlargement of its corporate domain, and the utilization of the ahundant facilities for business to be developed in the near future. At that date, even, a city charter and the corporate powers therein guaranteed were subjeets of frequent converse among the good people of this, then, embryo city. These expressions were expressions of a manifest want in the community, and were not slow in assuming form and proportions. Hence, at the session of 1839-40, of the Legislature of Indiana, a script draft of such a cbarter as was demanded by tbe people, drawn by Hon. F. P. Randall, was presented for the consideration of that body. On tho 22d of February, 1840, having. been previously passed, it was approved by the Governor, and became a law unto the people for whose advan- tage it was prepared, and who were ready to be governed by its provisions. This charter provided for the election, by the people, of a President (or Mayor) and six members of the Board of Trustees (or Common Council), and the election of subordinate officers of the Board or Council. The following were the first officers chosen : Mayor, George W. Wood ; Recorder, F. P. Randall ; Attorney. F. P. Randall ; Treasurer, George F. Wright ; High Constable, Samuel S. Morss ; Collector, Samuel S. Morss; Assessor, Robert E. Fleming; Market Master, James Post ; Street Commissioner, Joseph McMeken; Chief Engineer, Samuel Edsall ; Lumber Measurer, John B. Cocanour; Aldermen-William Rockhill, Thomas Hamilton, Madison Sweetzer, Samuel Edsall, William S. Edsall and William L. Moon.

Since that time, the city government has continued, changing and modifying the provisions of the organic law accordingly, as the Legislature or the interests

of society made necessary. An idea of the growth of Fort Wayne, from the period of its incorporation as a city to the present, may be fairly gleaned from the population nf the city in 1850, which is shown hy the census report to bave been 4,282. 1u 1860, ten years later, a population of 10,319 is shown, and in 1870 it is stated at 19,480. With a like ratio of increase, the census of 1880 wilt show little short of 50.000. Indeed, the indications are favorable to the expect:t- tion of a much larger showing.

The present condition of Fort Wayne, however, is best ascertained from an aotual showing of its elements of enterprise, its business agencies and facilities, its public buildings, newspapers, churches and their congregations, its public schools and other educational facilities, its manufacturing establishments, their enpacity and what they bring forth; its business houses, its railroad aecomodations, etc. Let the following presentation best exhibit what Fort Wayne has accomplished :

OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. BY J. S. IRWIN.

Private Schools .- The first school, of which any account appears, was a mis- sion school, taught by Mr. McCoy, in the old fort, ahout the year 1821. He was assisted by Mr. Montgomery, and hy Mr. and Mrs. Potts. Mr. McCoy was sent out as a missionary to teach: the Indians, but he also made it his duty to instruct such white children as chose to apply to him. Mr. and Mrs. Potts afterward taught in a house situated on the banks of the St. Mary's River, just below the present site of French, HIanna & Co.'s woolen factory. The village at that time consisted of but eight or ten families, hence the school must have heen small. Hugh B. McKeen, then recently from Detroit, succeeded Rev. McCoy, and taught a small school in the old fort during part of the years 1823 and 1824, but just how long cannot now be ascertained. He subsequently removed to Logans- port and engaged in the Indian trade.

'The first schoolhouse ever erected in Fort Wayne stood on a lot adjoining the old graveyard, in the rear of the site of the present jail. The house was built in 1825, and was known as the County Seminary. Here, for many years, were the young of the place taught to make them wise, and " thrashed," may be, to make them sweet tempered. Mr. John P. Hedges taught in this building as early as 1826. and was, perhaps, the first teacher ever employed to take charge of the school. About this time, Mr. Henry Cooper, who afterward became a lawyer of considerable reputation, taught a school in the upper story of a log jail, which stood in the southwest corner of the public square. Light and air were admitted through the iron grates of the two small openings called windows. The floor and walks were of hewn logs, and the seats were of the rudest description. There are, probably, but few persons now in Fort Wayue who attended this school. Mr. Hedges was followed by Mr. Boggs and others, but the exact length of their respective reigus cannot now be accurately ascertained.

Mr. Aughinbaugh, who had, for a short time, heeu teaching in the old Masonic Hall, taught in the Seminary in 1832-33. He was followed by Small- wood Noel, in 1834, and by James Requa in 183-4-35. In 1833 or 1834, Mr. Boggs tauglit a small school in a building that stood on Columbia street. Myron F. Barbour taught in the Seminary in 1835-36, and Mr. John C. Sivey, now of Wabash, Ind., in 1836. Mr. Barbour was a popular and successful teacher, and from him some of our leading business men received their earlier instruetion iu wisdom's ways.

It is related that, about this time, a certain person wished to teach in the Seminary. It was necessary that the teaeber should bold a certificate of qualifi- cation from the Board of Examiners, to one of whom, R. E. Ference, can now be referred for the authenticity of the story. The Board, believing that the candidate was not quite as correct in his hahits as he ought to he, determined to subiuit him to a very severe examination, and thus subject him to a failure. They accordingly brought into requisition all the old spellers, arithmetics, ete., that could be found, and proceeded to polish their wit on the grindstone of letters in preparing for the onset. The fight commenced, and in about forty minutes the dougbty schoolmaster had " floored " the committee, books and all, and the license was issued.

In the spring of 1836, Miss Mann, now Mrs. Seeretary McCulloch, and Miss Hubbell, now Mrs. R. W. Taylor, came to Fort Wayne to teach school. They found no schoolbouse in which to commence operations, and they concluded to open a school in a room in the old Court House. After teaching here a short time, they were employed to assist Rev. Jesse Hoover, who opened a school August 2, 1836, in the basement of the Presbyterian Church, near the corner of La Fayette and Barr streets-the first church edifice ereeted in the city. Miss Hubbell subsequently taught a school in a house now standing on the southwest corner of Barr and Main streets, and afterward in the old Treasurer's office, which stood on the northeast corner of the public square. Mr. Hoover was succeeded, in 1838, by Rev. W. W. Stevens, as Principal, and Alexander McJunkin as Assistant. Mr. Stevens afterward built a house on Washington street, in which, assisted by his wife, he taught for several years.

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History of Allen County, Indiana, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 38

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Kingman Brothers Number of Pages: 366

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Kingman Brothers
Number of Pages: 366