USA > Indiana > Boone County > History of Boone County, Indiana : With biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families, Volume I > Part 39
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It is intensely interesting to note the kaleidoscopic changes that have taken place in the life-time of this good woman. Born as we have said in a log house with its great open fire place that with tropic heat drove back the frost line from the window pane. This early home giving place to the pres- ent modern house with its conveniences and equipment. The old swinging crane and bake pan for the corn pone to the modern culinary effects. The tallow dip giving place to candle "by which you could read and not be nearer than four feet," then that revelation the kerosene lamp, "that lighted all the room" and then the present acetylene plant that rivals the daylight.
She saw her father haul great logs and place them end to end for fence, with chunks between to keep the pigs in or out. She saw him cut his grain with the sickle, this giving place to the rythmic swing of the cradle and then the drone of the modern harvesting machinery. In her early days the rap, rap of the flail, then the steady tramp of horses in the threshing of grain and now the whir of the modern thresher.
When she was a girl the nearest markets were LaFayette and Cincinnati. On the farm are still the old tanning vats where hides were prepared for the annual arrival of the shoemaker who came and stayed until he had made shoes for the whole family.
Mrs. Burckhalter walked to Thorntown to see the first train arrive on rails made of wood and shod with iron and "you must not get closer than twenty or thirty feet for fear of getting hurt."
During her time she had witnessed the coming of telephone, telegraph, wireless telegraphy, electric lights, automobiles, balloons and flying machines. Space forbids to enumerate further, but what a wonderful age in which this pioneer lived, and what a legacy such people as she have left to their children and to generations yet to come.
There is a little romance connected with the home place of Mrs. Burck- halter. Two young Indian chieftains fell in love with the same dusky maiden
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and fought a duel with knives over her, each struck the other a fatal blow at the same moment and the graves of these young chieftains are known today by members of the family.
Mrs. Burckhalter's life was spent at home caring for her children; this was her Christian duty and it was performed well and today her boys and girls can rise up and call her blessed.
WARD.
The above village is located in the northeast part of Jackson township, in section 20. It was laid out in 1883 and named after Congressman Thomas Ward, who was instrumental in getting a postoffice established there. It is situated in a fine, productive country, about seven miles southwest of Le- banon, and five miles northeast of Jamestown. The first merchant was John B. Bennington, succeeded by Greenville Dodd, and he by Thomas Burris & Company. The first postmaster was J. C. Bennington, followed by G. Dodd, and he by Thomas Burris. There is a Christian church, a brick school house, and several residences. About the year 1870 George Jackson built a steam sawmill here, which is still in operation.
WHITESTOWN.
This town is the capital of little Worth, the baby township of the county. It is situated near the middle of the township on the Chicago division of the Big Four, midway between Zionsville and Lebanon, about seven miles from each. It is the center of trade of the best agricultural districts in the county. It was laid out in 1851 at the time the railroad was built, on the land of Abram Neese. Harrison Spencer is said to be the first man to sell goods in the town. He was soon followed by Henry Lucus and William Laughner. Isaac Dye and Alfred Osborn were the first to venture to build a grist mill to manufacture breadstuff for the people. The milling privileges at Whites- town were poor. They would have to go to Zionsville, Mechanicsburg or Thorntown to have grain made into flour or meal. There was no water power in Worth township so the early citizen had to depend upon steam. The first mill was in a few years burned and Henry Lucus rebuilt it. The
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third mill was built by J. W. Bowser and was the most improved pattern. It gained a reputation throughout the county and other counties for good work and was patronized from near and far.
Among other early business men may be mentioned F. M. & Caesar Echman, Neese & Keefe, Drs. I. T. Ross, Starkey, Larimore and Hardy. The early school houses and churches were up-to-date, and every interest of the community was looked after with great care and earnestness. The village soon rose to be an important trading center for the township and from other townships and has held the position to the present time. Worth township could not do without Whitestown. There, all elections are held, and all the business of the township is transacted. It is the center of trade, of politics. of social interests and of every other interest of the people. It is near the highest point in the county and is trying to conduct itself so as to be worthy of the respect of all its neighbors and hold a high place in the estimation of its neighbors.
ZIONSVILLE.
Zionsville is located in Eagle township in the southeast part of Boone county, on the banks of Eagle creek, just below the junction of Big and Little Eagle creeks. It was organized and laid out in 1852, on the com- pletion of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati and LaFayette railroad now known as the Big Four and belonging to the New York system. It was named in honor of William Zion of Lebanon. It is about half way between Indi- anapolis and Lebanon.
Among the first business men were John Vaughn, John Smith, Daugh- erty and Nichols, B. M. Gregory, merchants; C. H. Tingle, J. M. Biggers, grocers; J. M. Bradley. Perrell and Perrell, druggists; Croplen and Mills, undertakers: M. S. Anderson, wagonmaker; doctors, S. W. Rodman, Samuel Hardy, N. Crosby, M. S. Larimore, F. Long, G. W. Duzan and H. T. Cotton; J. O. Hurst, dentist ; attorneys, Jesse Smith, H. D. Sterrett, M. M. Riggins, John A. Pock and C. N. Beamer. The first hotel was kept by John Miller. John Holmes built an extensive grist mill in 1854. It was afterwards perverted into a distillery and operated a short time and failed. M. S. Davenport built and operated the first tan-yard.
The thriving town grew rapidly from the beginning, owing to the rail- road and the beautiful rich country that surrounds it. The country was
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rolling and easily and naturally drained and developed into productive farms. Zionsville soon became an extensive trading center. Beautiful dwellings, extensive business rooms, excellent school buildings and churches evidence the energy and thrift of her citizens. The census of 1910 gives the popula- tion to be eight hundred and forty and the third town in size of the county. There are few towns of its size that can boast of better school buildings and facilities and none have more beautiful locations for such. There are four churches in the town, Methodist, Presbyterian, Christian and Christian Union, all of which support ministers and are alive in the work. In addi- tion to these, the enterprising citizens have established Zion Park and main- tain it from year to year by ten days of program each August with the best of talent for religious and intellectual instruction. Zionsville is above the average of towns of its size for its beautiful location, business enterprise and the social and moral character of its inhabitants.
As Zionsville was an afterthought, not coming until after the location of the railroad, it does not figure in the early settlement of the county. Eagle village on the Michigan road claims that credit. This was the first town established in the county by white men. It was noted in the early day for its energy and push. It was the first hotel center of the county and led off in many enterprises. The building of the railroad was its death knell. The laying out and building of Zionsville on the railroad so close was more than it could endure. Its most enterprising men moved to the new city and took their business with them and soon the town was gone. The fact that Eagle Village flocked to the new city gave it a great boom, and it soon became very lively and pushed forward rapidly, so that its friends thought it would become the metropolis of the county. It pushed forward for a few years until. Lebanon got out of the mud and other towns along the railway line began to wake up and move into life.
Zionsville at this juncture settled down to business and became one of our steady growth substantial towns. It soon became a center of trade for a considerable area of rich country and business of all lines was established to supply the demand. Mills, shops, stores and industries of all kinds neces- sary to meet the wants of the people were established and are maintained to this day. Zionsville is a live town with energetic business men, up-to-date schools, spiritual churches, beautiful residences and a hopeful outlook for the future.
CHAPTER XVII.
COUNTY BUILDINGS.
The Boone county court house was dedicated July 4, 1912, and is one of the most classic and commodious court houses in Indiana. It is of Oolitic limestone, three stories and a basement for storage purposes. On the first floor are located rest rooms for women and men, the surveyor's office, county superintendent's office, county assessor's office, prosecuting attorney's office, and the Grand Army of the Republic hall. On the second floor are the offices of the auditor, clerk, treasurer and recorder, with vaults for each office for the storage of books and records. The circuit court room, a small court room, an assembly hall, 'witnesses' rooms, the library, and the sheriff's room are lo- cated on the third floor. There are ample storage rooms for books and rec- ords in the upper part of the building, with lavatories for men and women on every floor. Every want of the county and community is embraced in the arrangement of the building for the next hundred years to come.
The agitation for the new building was commenced the last week in De- cember, 1908, and continued until it resulted in the commissioners making an order for the building.
After mass meetings, and circulation of petitions asking for the construc- tion of a new court house, the commissioners made an order April 7, 1909, for a new building.
That there might be no question of graft or politics, the commissioners asked that a citizens' committee be appointed to work with them; this was done and Messrs. W. J. DeVol, James M. Nicely, John E. Frost and Dr. H. N. Coons were selected.
After visiting several Indiana court houses, to get ideas, the committee employed Joseph T. Hutton, of Hammond, Indiana, as architect to draw up plans and specifications, these being approved by the committee August 16, 1909. The contract for the erection of the building was let to Caldwell & Drake, of Columbus, Indiana, on the 4th day of October, 1909. The work
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of tearing down the old building completed in 1857 was begun August 17, 1909, it being sold August 16, 1909.
Excavation for the new structure was begun in October, 1909, the first concrete in foundation placed November 17, 1909, and the building completed and accepted December 20, 1911, at a total cost of $265,000.00, and the build- ing thrown open to the public New Year's day, 1912.
The building which is of granite and Bedford stone has a total width of 105 feet and a total length of 142 feet, exclusive of entrance projections, and is 120 feet, 9 inches from the ground to the top of the clock tower, the flag staff extending about 20 feet above this point.
The main square of the building is 51 feet, 6 inches high, the stone work in the tower 80 feet high and the floor of the clock tower 101 feet and the north and south pediments 66 feet. The huge monolithic columns at the north and south entrances are a distinguishing feature of the structure being the longest one-piece limestone columns in the United States and perhaps in the world, being exceeded in size by a few granite columns in New York City.
The eight were quarried in one huge piece, 80 feet long and having no machinery at the mills sufficient to work them out they were scabbled into hexagonal shapes about 38 feet long and 41/2 feet in diameter and shipped here one to a car, each one weighing about 40 tons. They were then cut by hand to their present shape, being 35 feet 534 inches long, exclusive of cap and base and 3 feet 6 inches at top and weighing about thirty tons each. The cap on top of each weighs about five tons.
The smaller columns on east and west are 251/2 feet long and 2 feet 10 inches in diameter. Another distinguishing feature is the size of the dome, being 52 feet across, it being said that there is but one other dome in the state having a greater diameter, the one at West Baden.
The interior of the building is exceptionally well lighted, there being no part of the building that is not well lighted, there being no dark corridors or rooms.
The building has a basement, and four stories above; the basement is unfinished and houses pipes for heating, water, ventilation, etc., the fresh air for the building being taken in through the basement passes through a current of running water to remove dust and other impurities, and in winter passes over heated coils to raise the temperature, and is then driven by a huge motor driven fan to various parts of the building.
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On the first floor is found the Grand Army of the Republic room, set apart for the use of the old soldiers. This room is very appropriately deco- rated with the emblems of the Grand Army of the Republic and the names of some of the battles of the Civil war that Boone county boys were en- gaged in.
The old soldiers have nicely furnished it, decorating the walls with pictures of war time leaders and have started a collection of war time relics.
The county offices on this floor are prosecuting attorney, superintendent of schools, surveyor and county assessor. Each has a private office separated by a partition of ornamental imperial plate glass.
Toilet rooms finished in white Parian marble, tile floors, and nickeled brass fixtures are found on each floor. The rest room for men on the first floor is one much visited, but perhaps the most appreciated room is the wom- en's rest room, in the southwest corner of the building. This latter room is a large, airy, well-lighted one, fitted with chairs, rockers, settees and tables with a telephone booth, a dressing room and toilet in connection.
The floors of the corridors, rotunda, lobbies, toilets and public space in offices on the second floor are of ceramic mosaic tile with a border in colors, laid on a reinforced concrete base; the floors in the various rooms are 11/4 inch quartered oak laid on reinforced concrete or hollow tile and con- crete base.
An attractive feature of the building is the immense rotunda, which floods the interior with sunlight by day and electric light by night; the in- terior dome is very attractively finished in art glass, as are the ceiling lights of the court rooms, convention hall and court library. The distance from the first floor to the top of the art glass dome it 84 feet.
The wainscoting of corridors and rotunda is a white Italian marble, five feet high on the first floor and three and one-half feet high on the others, with a verde green Vermont marble base. The stairways from first to sec- ond floors are massive ones of white marble throughout; those from the second to the third have marble treads and platforms.
The columns in the rotunda are heavy steel, protected by concrete, cov- ered by an imitation marble called scagliola, made of a Keene's cement, shipped from England with the coloring incorporated to imitate the kind of marble chosen.
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In the south corridor is a massive bronze tablet, costing $500.00 in- scribed with the date of construction, names of commissioners, citizens' com- mittee, architect, builders, etc.
Up to the time of the Revolutionary war, lands were described by "metes and bounds," and that system is still used in New York, Pennsyl- vania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, part of Ohio, and all of the New England states. In this system all lands were described by following roads, streams, or compass lines, and as compass lines vary, and the other lines shifting or easily changed, litigation was constantly coming up.
At the close of the Revolutionary war, when the United States had re- ceived a title to all the lands lying between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and Virginia had ceded all her right by the Ordinance of 1887, Thomas Jefferson devised a better plan for the survey of lands in this territory. Up to that date lands had been marked and designated by the French system. For an example, note how the lands in Knox and Clark counties are laid off. The system introduced by Jefferson was to designate a meridian line as a base from which to measure land east and west, and designate this line by number. The first meridian is the boundary line between Ohio and In- diana. The second meridian is a line from the Ohio river due north to the northern boundary of the state. This second meridian passes through the hall of the court house at Lebanon, and divides the county into two equal parts east and west of this line. Each meridian line has a line crossing it at some point at right angles running east and west and it is called the base line. The base line of the second meridian crosses in Orange county. Par- allel with the meridian line are drawn lines six miles apart, dividing the land into strips six miles wide called ranges, and numbered from the meridian one, two, three, etc., east or west, owing to which side east or west of the line it is located. The lines that are drawn parallel with the base line six miles apart are called town lines and numbered one, two, three, etc., north or south of the base line. These range lines running north and south and the town lines running east and west, cut the lands into squares six miles on each side and each forms a Congressional township, and each is named by num- bers range east or west and town north or south of the second meridian or whatever may be the number of the meridian line the survey is made from. For example, Lebanon is located in the east half of section 36, town 19 north,
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range I west, second meridian, and in the west half of section 31, town 19 north, range I east of the second meridian. Each Congressional township is divided into thirty-six sections, each containing six hundred and forty acres and numbered, beginning at the northeast corner, counting to the west until six, then drop down one and count east to twelve, thus back and forth until you reach the southeast corner No. 36.
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois were surveyed as one unit, and a base line was established in southern Indiana, the first principal meridian on what is now the Ohio-Indiana line, the second through central Indiana and the third through central Illinois.
This second principal meridian passes through the center of the court house, and is marked by a tablet consisting of an arrow of white and black marble, with the words "Meridian Line" in bronze letters, the design set in a mat of brown tile.
On the second floor are found the four main offices, the county auditor, recorder, clerk and treasurer, with commissioners' room located between the auditor's and treasurer's offices and toilets on the north.
Each of the main offices has a private office and a fire-proof record room; these rooms have heavy brick walls, hollow tile and concrete floors, and iron doors and fitted up with metal furniture, making them as nearly fire-proof as is possible. Each main office is about thirty-five feet by forty- two feet square; the record rooms about seventeen feet by thirty-two feet.
On the third floor are the large and small court rooms, the convention hall, court library, sheriff's office, judges' and stenographers' rooms, jury rooms and toilets.
Court room number one, or the large court room, is eighty-two feet long and forty-two feet wide, with art glass ceiling lights, making it a well lighted room. This room is very artistically decorated and has an eight-foot paneled Keene's cement wainscoting. On the north, over the judge's stand is a very fine oil painting costing $500. The pilasters of the court rooms and convention hall are of verde green scagliola work surmounted by artistic caps and brackets.
The small court room is thirty-two feet by forty-two feet, with art glass ceiling lights. The convention hall is forty-two feet by fifty feet, with art glass ceiling lights; this room is fitted up with opera chairs and arm chairs to be used for writing. On the landing of the stairs from the third
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to the fourth floor or mezzanine floor is a cell room for placing prisoners in during trial intermissions ; it has a steel cell and toilet.
On the fourth floor is the upper part of the library and fire-proof rooms for the storage of old records; these old records have been arranged in proper places, each office separately. On this floor are also found two motor driven fans which take the foul air from the toilets of the entire building. The building is heated by about 14,000 square feet of radiation attached to the city hot water plant, so arranged as to heat the building nicely at all times. The lighting is taken care of by about 1,500 sixteen-candle power electric lights, there being 245 in the corridors and rotunda, 100 in the large court room arranged around the art glass ceiling lights, fifty-six in the small court room, and sixty in the convention hall. The offices on the second floor are also fitted up with gas lights. The lighting fixtures are of plain antique brass.
The wood trim throughout the building is of heavy quarter sawed oak, finished a medium golden oak as is the furniture, which is plain and mas- sive. Each room and corridor is very artistically decorated in oil, no two rooms being decorated in the same color designs.
The busy officials are reminded of the time by a system of clocks, which are regulated and worked automatically by a large master clock lo- cated in the janitor's room on the first floor, the smaller clocks being run by compressed air. The tower clock is of the Seth Thomas type, worked by weights, and automatically wound twice a day, by an electric motor.
The four faces are each six feet in diameter, and lighted at night by five electric lights back of each dial; the bell weighs 1,500 pounds and the weights about 1,400 pounds, the ball of the pendulum weighing 175 pounds.
The following are some of the principal items of cost: The building proper, $217,891.90; heating, $9,400; lighting fixtures, $3,000; wood fur- niture, $7,032.20; metal furniture, $5,000; art glass and- decorations, $5,250; architect, $13,000.
PRELUDE TO HON. CHARLES FAIRBANKS' SPEECH. (Dedication of Boone County Court House. )
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen-We are assembled under happy auspices to participate in an event of historic importance. Our people are in
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the enjoyment of the fruits of orderly government, which they have won in the various avenues of activity which call into play the qualities of a fine order of citizenship. Our state, which celebrates a few years hence the one hundredth anniversary of her admission into the union, has achieved high place in the respect and admiration of the country; she has become a factor of consequence in the commercial and industrial world; and in the literary field she occupies a position of exceptional eminence. Our popula- tion of nearly three million is enamored of its state and has a profound respect for its self-enacted laws and yields to them loyal obedience.
We are a state in which there are no great extremes of either poverty or wealth. We are not divided into classes, warring with one another. Here men are appraised for what they are and not for what they possess. We are essentially a state of home lovers and home builders. We have a neighborly, genuine regard for each other's welfare, and I hope that neither increasing population nor growing wealth may destroy this splendid characteristic of Hoosier life.
The people of Boone county are to be congratulated upon the erection of this building. There is no other in the state of Indiana which surpasses it, either in architectural design or in the excellence of its construction. There is a beauty, strength and majesty about it which in the best sense typifies the citizenship of the county which has built it.
Long after this scene has faded from the memories of men this temple of justice and this home of the public business of Boone county will stand as physical evidence of your breadth of view in public affairs and of your regard for the future. These massive walls will long survive you, blessing your children and their children yet to be. A great edifice dedicated to pub- lic uses should symbolize the character of the community; it should be a truthful expression of its intellectual, artistic and material attainments, and in a measure anticipate its future needs.
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