USA > Indiana > Huntington County > History of Huntington County, Indiana : from the earliest time to the present, with biographical sketches, notes, etc., together with a short history of the Northwest, the Indiana Territory, and the State of Indiana > Part 35
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*Prepared by T. L. Lucas.
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HISTORY OF HUNTINGTON COUNTY.
schools, together with such other items of interest as we have been able to obtain, for be it known that there is no record of the early schools, and we have been compelled to seek our infor- mation from other sources, and in which we have been very materially aided by the labors and researches of the present able and efficient principal of the schools, Prof. John W. Caldwell.
From the best source of information we can obtain, we learn that the first school in Huntington was opened in December, 1834, in a part of the hewed log hotel lately erected by Jonathan Keller. The location was a little west of the American House. William Delvin was the first teacher. He was a native of Ire- land, but had emigrated to this country with his parents when quite young and had been educated at Hagarstown, Maryland. He was surveyor of the county for several years after its organi- zation and died in the city January 29, 1841.
In the winter of 1835-36, C. H. McLure taught in the new log school house used for both school house and court house. It was situated on West State street on the present site of the frame house built around a tree. In 1836-7 the school was taught by Jonathan Sargent. He was noted for his piety and scholarship; he boarded around among the pupils, but stayed the most of the time with the family of Mrs. Roche, for the reasons as he gave them, "that Mrs. Roche baked good, palatable corn pone, and her boys did not swear."
Mr. Sargent has the credit of organizing the first Sabbath School in the city, supplying the books therefor from his own private means. But feeling that his efforts were not properly appreciated he stayed but a short time.
A summer school was taught in 1837 by Miss Amy Swift, who was the first lady teacher in the school.
In the winter of 1837-8 Leonard Winans taught the school and was succeeded in 1838-9 by Raleigh Madison.
The late. Gen. James R. Slack taught the winter school in 1840-1; he taught in the new frame building situated near where the Wabash Elevator now stands. The old school house is still in existence and stands a short distance east of its first location. It is now occupied as a residence by Mr. Rodabaugh.
Miss Lucy Montgomery taught a summer school in 1841 and the winter school of 1841-2.
Harmon Montgomery taught the winter term of 1842-3, and John B. Fairbanks that of 1843-4; in 1844-5 John K. Snyder was the teacher.
In 1845-6, E. P. Washburn and Miss Rose Ferry, were the teachers. Their joint efforts at school teaching were so succes- ful that they were joined together "for better or for worse " at the close of the term.
In 1846-7, a Mr. Walker taught the school, and was succeeded in 1847-S by Mr. John Skiles, who still resides in the city.
Mr. Skiles taught his school in the old court house, on the corner of Franklin and Jeffersons Streets. He says his pay was
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$1.50 per pupil for the term of three months; that he had seventy-five pupils and about fifty classes, as very few of the pupils brought the same kind of books.
In 1849-50, Miss Harriet S. Delano was the teacher.
She was succeeded in 1850-1, by Prof. Joseph H. Swail and his wife; the school was taught this winter in the old court house.
The schools were taught from 1851 to 1853 by Mr. Walter Richards and his wife. They were the first teachers in the new brick school house, on the hill near the Catholic Church. The brick building had two rooms and was used for school purposes until 1862. It is now owned and occupied as a residence by Mr. Jacob Walter.
In January, 1853, Benjamin Orton, Joseph W. Purviance and F. G. Fraine, were appointed by the Town Council the first School Trustees of the town.
The statutes authorizing the levying of a school tax for public schools having become a law a short time prior to the appoint- ment of said trustees.
Misses Celia Sprague and Maria L. Freeman taught the schools in 1853-4, and Miss Sprague continued as manager of the schools until 1854-5.
Mr. Adrian Spalding and daughter, Miss Julia, had charge of the schools from 1855 to 1857.
Joseph Z. Scott, still residing in the city, and Miss Lizzie Tyson, a lady of fine scholarship and address, were the teachers from 1857 to 1859.
From 1859 to 1861, Mr. George S. Brinkerhoff and Miss Tyson were the teachers.
In 1861-2, Mr. J. O. Packard and Miss Mary Oliver, taught the school.
In 1862 the School Board sold the brick building on the hill and purchased the old "Rock House," an old stone hotel building that had been built by Gen. John Tipton in 1835, situated on the southeast corner of the present school property in the Second ward. The cost of this building and four good lots was $1,800, and its purchase by the Board produced some severe criticism at the time, but time has shown that the Board were wiser in the purchase than their critics.
This building was occupied by the schools until the completion of the present commodious school building, on the same grounds, in 1873.
Rev. R. A. Curran, J. O. Packard, Miss Mary Oliver and Mrs. Butler, mother of Thad Butler, Esq., of the city, were the first teachers in the Rock House, in 1862-3.
The same year Mr. B. F. Ibach, still a resident of the city, and Miss Fidelia Anderson taught the first school in the brick school house in the Third ward.
Rev. R. A. Curran was the Principal of the schools for the years 1862-3, 1863-4 and part of 1864-5 and 1865-6.
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HISTORY OF HUNTINGTON COUNTY.
Benjamin F. Ibach was Principal for part of the term of 1864-5.
Prof. - Bell was Principal in 1866-7, until near the close of the term.
William Weaver closed the term of 1866-7 and for a part of the term of 1867-8, and R. S. Gregory in 1867-8. Prof. Gregory's teaching was very acceptable and it is probable that the demand for better school accommodations and a better system of teach- ing that afterwards led to the building of the present school houses of the city grew out of his work while Principal of the schools.
In 1868-9 James McAfee was Principal. In 1869-70 S. J. Blan- pied was Principal and also for the following term of 1870-71. In 1871-2 C. W. Church served as Principal, and in 1872-3 James W. Gusman was Principal.
The first decided movement toward a graded system of schools in the city was made in 1872 by Mayor S. F. Day, Dr. A. H. Shaffer and William C. Kocher, Esq., although there had been a growing demand therefor for several years, who were at that time the Board of School Trustees.
To them belongs the honor of planning and constructing the present Central school building, a building which for comfort and convenience is nowhere excelled.
In 1873 the building was ready for occupancy, and the schools were organized under one general system and management, by Prof. James Baldwin, the first Superintendent under the new organization. Prof. Baldwin was Superintendent of the schools from July, 1873, to June 30, 1883, and was a very successful and efficient manager of the schools. Prof. Morgan Caraway was Superintendent from 1883, to June 30, 1884, and Prof. John W. Caldwell, the present efficient Superintendent, has filled that position since July, 1884. It is worthy of note that the present wife of Hon. Frederick Douglass, of Washington City, D. C., was a teacher in the public schools in the years 1874-5, and 1875-6. Her name was at that time Miss Helen Pitts.
The course of study adopted by the School Board in 1873, and revised from time to time, while rejecting those branches usually regarded as ornamental, has spared no pains to secure thorough- ness in all the essentials of an English education. Many of the pupils, whose education ceased in the Grammar School, hold licenses from the County Superintendent, and have done efficient and satisfactory work as instructors in the district schools, while the graduates have had no difficulty in finding ready admission to the best colleges.
The cost of text books to parents has been reduced to the smallest possible amount. In the first three grades it is nothing at all, since all the necessary books are supplied free.
There has been throughout the school a mutual feeling of kindliness and confidence between teachers and pupils, which, more than any repressive measures, has secured the best of dis-
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cipline in every department. A continuance of the liberal meth- ods of school government pursued during the past, will no doubt, secure a lasting prosperity to the schools.
CHAPTER VII.
BY T. L. LUCAS.
CITY OF HUNTINGTON - THE RED MAN'S RESORT -THE HELVEY BROTHERS - OTHER EARLY COMERS -GEN. JOHN TIPTON - SECURING THE COUNTY SEAT - EARLY RECORDS - FIRST ELEC- TION - EARLY TRADE AND COMMERCE - SOME OF THE OLD SETTLERS - WABASH & ERIE CANAL - INDIAN AGENCY - IN- CORPORATION - LIST OF OFFICERS - CHANGES IN THE BUSINESS CENTER - ADDITIONS -- THE CHOLERA SCOURGE - CHURCHES OF THE TOWN - SECRET SOCIETIES -THE PRESS - BANKS - MANU- FACTURING AND OTHER INDUSTRIES - FIRE DEPARTMENT - GOLD AND NATURAL GAS EXCITEMENTS - COMING OF THE RAILROAD.
T' HE present site of the city of Huntington was known among the Indians as Wa-pe-cha-an-gan-ge, meaning " Flint Place," owing to the abundance of flint at the mouth of Flint Creek; and among the Indian traders, white men and half breeds, who traded with the Indians long before any permanent settlements were made, as "Flint Springs," from the fine springs of pure water that flowed from the flinty ground at the foot of the little hill near the mouth of the creek. The ground was white with the hard flint for many rods around the springs, and was a noted camping ground with both Indians and traders, the flint being always dry and solid and nearly clear of underbrush. There is a tradition that Gen. William H. Harrison and his army en- camped here on their march from Fort Recovery to Tippecanoe, in 1811; but the late Samuel Jones, of Warren, this county, who was a soldier in Gen. Harrison's army in the campaign, could not recollect the place as a camping ground of the army, although well remembering passing through the county with the army at or near this point.
It was upon this then well known camping ground near the springs, on the banks of this little creek, now walled in and built over by the business houses and streets of our flourish- ing city, but then surrounded by a dense forest, that the first white inhabitants located the new settlement. Their names were Joel Helvey and Champion Helvey, brothers, natives of Tennessee. They built a large double log cabin and gave entertain-
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HISTORY OF HUNTINGTON COUNTY.
ment to "man and beast," their house being known as the " Flint Springs " Hotel, and was for many years a popular resort for the traveling public. The old log building remained standing, a monument of the past, until a few years ago, when it was torn down by the present owner of the property. Its legitimate suc- cessor in the hotel business being the present Exchange Hotel, situated on the adjoining lot. The land selected by the Helveys, upon which the original plat of the town was afterward laid out, is the fractional northeast quarter of Section 15, in Township 28 north, Range 9 east; and the date of their settlement, the year 1831.
The land was a portion of the grant made by the United States Government, in 1827, to the State of Indiana, to aid in the construction of the canal, afterwards known as the Wabash & Erie Canal, connecting the navigable waters of the Wabash River at Terre Haute, Indiana, with Lake Erie, at or near Toledo, Ohio. The records do not show how the the interest of the Helveys in this tract of land was transferred to Gen. John Tipton, of Logansport, but the transfer was doubtless made in a manner satisfactory to both parties. Gen. Tipton obtained the patent for the land from the state, and by his agent, Capt. Elias Murray, platted and laid out the town, in the year 1833; Capt. Murray giving the new town the name of "Huntington," in honor of Samuel Huntington, one of the signers of the Declar- ation of Independence, and Capt. Murray's uncle.
The Helveys removed to the tract of land east of the town, afterward known as the Gephart farm, now nearly all included in Whitestine's, Grayston's, Bippus' and Gephart's additions to the city. But the advancing tide of civilization was not suited to their manner of living, and being strongly suspected of deal- ing in counterfeit money, a suspicion that has since been con- firmed by finding, upon the premises last occupied by them, the dies and instruments used in the manufacture of counterfeit coin, they removed west, keeping on the borders of the new set- tlements until their death, several years afterward.
Gen. Tipton, through Captain Murray, donated a large number of lots in the new town to the county to aid in the erec- tion of county buildings, and Huntington became the county seat of the county upon its organization in May, 1834.
Gen. Tipton also erected at his own expense and donated the same to the county, the frame building now standing on the corner of Jefferson and Franklin Streets, owned by George J. Bippus, Esq., for the use of the county as a court house; this building, however, was not completed until about 1840. There are but few landmarks remaining of the early settlement of the town.
Flint Springs, near which the Helveys built their cabin, still flow with pure water, and are situated on the rear of the lot lying between Purviance's livery barns and Flint Creek, on the south side of State Street.
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CITY OF HUNTINGTON.
Flint Creek flows through the centre of the city in essentially the same channel it flowed in when the Indians and Indian traders camped on its flinty banks.
Little River, or more properly speaking, the Little Wabash, remains the same it was at the date of the first settlement, except that the dense growth of willows and underbrush that then lined its banks has long since disappeared, and the further exception that at that time there were no bridges nor mill dams to obstruct the view of the river or the flow of the water.
The records of the town, if any were kept, before its incorpor- ation in 1848, have been lost or destroyed and we are un- able, therefore, to glean from them any matters of interest in the early history of the village, but it is known as a matter of tradition and from the recollections of the oldest inhabitants, that soon after the location of the county seat that additions were rapidly made to the citizenship. Among the earliest were Capt. Elias Murray, Dr. George A. Fate, William Delvin, James Delvin, William S. Edsall, Dennis O'Brien, Townsend G. Bobo, Obediah Brown, Henry Brown, Jonathan Keller, David John- son, Patrick Johnson, Martin Roche, Samuel Moore and others.
The first election held in the town was to elect two Justices of the Peace for the county. It was held on the first Monday in June, 1834, and the votes polled for the whole county were only 134. The last survivors of those voting at that election were the late Samuel Moore of the city, and Patrick Johnson of the town- ship. We have been very materially aided in the collection of the facts and incidents of the town's early history by a number of the older citizens.
Mr. John Roche came here with his father's family in 1834, and from him we obtain many of the following facts:
Dr. George A. Fate opened the first business house, a general store, situated on the property now occupied by Daniel Shepper. William S. Edsall followed with a store nearly opposite the pres- ent residence of John F. Fulton, afterwards taking William Delvin into partnership with him. Dennis O'Brien opened a grocery store in a building situated on the site of the late resi- dence of Mrs. Hannah Halle. Jonathan Keller built a second hotel on the property now owned by John Beiteman, a large two story hewed log house, which was destroyed by fire about the year 1836 or 1837. The little stone building situated on the cor- ner of Mayor Day's residence property, was early built and occu- pied as a general store, all on West Market Street.
The principal articles of trade were pork, from wild hogs, furs, pelts, coon skins, deer skins and " sich like " varmints. Hunting was as much of a business as any other avocation. It was more uncommon to see a man without his gun than with it. Game was so abundant that the first meat market, kept by a man named Denand, was supplied from the woods and kept up as regularly as the butchers do now-a-days, but venison was the principal meat instead of beef. To give some idea of the extent
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HISTORY OF HUNTINGTON COUNTY.
of the fur trade. the following is a list of the kinds and quan- tities shipped by one merchant in May, 1834:
1452 Deer Skins.
3141 Coon Skins.
76 Wild Cat Skins.
2 Wolf Skins.
135 Muskrat Skins.
10 Fisher Skins.
6 Mink Skins.
15 Otter Skins.
28 Bear Skins.
The Miami Indians yet remained in the county in large num- bers, and it was no unusual thing to see more Indians in town than there were white people. The Indians remained in the county until 1846, when they were removed to Kansas by the United States Government, with the exception of a few families, who were privileged to remain.
The first white child born in the town was Bridget Kennedy, daughter of Michael and Mary Kennedy, on the 11th of March, 1834. The first wedding was that of Champion Helvey to Mary Barrett in May, 1834.
The first death of a white settler was that of the wife of Will- iam Delvin in 1833.
The first term of court began on the 5th of May, 1834, and was held in an upper room of Jonathan Keller's tavern. Hon. Gustavus A. Everts was the presiding judge and Jonathan Keller and Murdoch McLane were the associate judges, the law then requiring a court to consist of one presiding judge " learned in the law," and two associate judges chosen from the citizens of the county. William S. Edsall was the first Clerk, Champion Helvey the first Sheriff, Capt. Elias Murray the first Treasurer, and his salary for the first year was the munificent sum of $4.50.
Mr. Roche says the town at that time, in 1834, consisted of only a few houses, nearly all of which were log cabins, the streets were full of stumps and logs, the greater portion of the town as then laid out was covered with the primeval forest, the largest cleared space in any one spot being a field cleared on the side of the hill between where the canal was afterwards dug and the present residence of Jesse Davies, containing a few acres. The two acre out lot on which are the present residences of Dr. F. S. C. Grayston, William McGrew, William H. Hessin, Will- iam Ewing and others, sold for $40 in 1834, as did the two-acre lot immediately north of it, occupied now by James H. Ewing, Mrs. Bartlett and others, while he, John Roche, paid $82 for the two.acre out lot on which he now resides on the opposite side of the street two years afterward. *
County Sheriff James M. Bratton came here in 1839; the town had grown somewhat at that time but the stumps and logs yet remained in the streets in many places, and the streets were without gutters and with but few sidewalks, and those mostly of
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puncheons or hewn logs, and were filled with mud and mire after every wet spell. Mr. Bratton did his first work in the town in helping to build the new court house on the corner of Jeffer- son and Franklin streets.
Mr. John Kenower came here in January, 1841, with a Baptist Colony, consisting of between twenty-five and thirty persons. They were Charles Taylor and family, of whom Mrs. A. Q. Ken- ower, of this city is the only surviving member, William Taylor and family, Mr. Taylor is still residing in the city, H. J. Betts and family, none of whom survive, Hugh Montgomery and family, of whom Mrs. Samuel H. Purviance, of this city is the only survivor, and four young men, John Green, Sewel P. Barnes, John Sheets and John Kenower, of whom John Kenower is the only survivor. This colony established the Baptist Church of this city, a history which is given with the other churches of the city.
At the date of his arrival in the city, Mr. Kenower says there were only fourteen resident families in the platted portion of the town, although there were a number of families residing within a radius of a few miles.
As Mr. Kenower recollects them, these fourteen were the families of Capt. Murray, - - Osborne, - - Dial, Widow Roche, William Johnson, Patrick McCarty, William Delvin, - Schoolcraft, Beeby, Widow McDellan, J. E. Taylor, Julius Murray, - Ingram and Chelsea Crandall.
Sheriff Bratton then resided up the river, on the Thompson farm. There were however, a number of young, or unmarried men here, of whom the late Gen. James R. Slack was one, then the village school master.
The business part of town was on West Market Street, and the dwelling houses, log cabins, were scattered over the original plat, with forest trees, brush, logs and stumps filling the unoccupied lots. There was no bridge over Little River and the ford for horses and wagons was from near the mouth of Flint Creek to the opposite bank, near Young's Factory, while an old dug-out canoe served the purposes of a ferry boat for foot passengers, to and from the south side of the river.
The roads into the country were mostly only " blazed " traces with the underbrush cut out, and the means of travel through the country was almost exclusively by horseback or on foot.
The first " boom" the new town received came from the con- struction of the Wabash & Erie Canal. In the year 1827 the United States, by act of Congress, granted to the State of Indi- ana, every alternate section of land five miles in width, to aid in the construction of a canal connecting the waters of Lake Erie with the navigable waters of the Wabash River.
By the terms of the grant work had to be commenced on the canal within five years from the date of the act. The formal beginning of the work was near Fort Wayne, on March 1st, 1832, just within the time allowed by the grant.
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HISTORY OF HUNTINGTON COUNTY.
Work became general along the line of the canal in Hunt- ington County in the year 1834, large numbers of men being em- ployed in its construction. These men were paid off at Huntington at stated times, and a large part of the money spent here, making times easy and money plenty, and the population and business of the town increased very rapidly. The work was completed and water let into the canal to the upper lock at Huntington, then known as Burke's lock (its ruins may yet be seen opposite the residence of John Mishler, in the Second ward) on July 3d, 1835. The event was the occasion of an enthusiastic meeting of the citizens. The canal boat "Indiana" had come down from Fort Wayne with the waters, having on board a large number of the citizens of Fort Wayne, who were greeted on their arrival, by the people, with loud cheers, and salutes from a cannon which Dr. George Fate had brought across the country from Dayton, Ohio, expressly for the occasion. The Fort Wayne guests were given the hospitality of the citizens of Huntington, and early on the morning, the fourth, returned to Fort Wayne, accom- panied by a large number of Huntingtonians and Dr. Fate's cannon, and celebrated the completion of the canal between the two places, and the glorious fourth, in a manner long remem- bered by the participants. Although completed to the town, the canal was not completed through the county until the following year, 1836, and not finished to Terre Haute, its western terminus, until 1843. It gave the first means of communication with the older settled portions of the country, other than the old trace and wagon road, and although afterwards killed by its more expedi- tious competitor, the railroad, the canal was a great boon to the early inhabitants in its day, and gave to Huntington and other towns and cities along its line a business advantage and su- premacy they yet maintain over other points off of its line.
After the completion of the canal large warehouses were built on its banks to accommodate the rapidly increasing trade of the town and county, and for many years large numbers of boats plied up and down on its waters, carrying grain, lumber and pro- duce to the eastern markets and returning with merchandise and other freight. Owing to the competition of the railroads, the decay of the locks and the gradual filling of the channel, the canal was abandoned in 1874.
Scarcity of money is one of the greatest obstacles against the development of a new settlement, felt a great deal more severely at that time than it is in the new settlements of the West at the present day. But for many years Huntington enjoyed an advan- tage in this particular over her adjoining settlements and towns, in the annual payment by the United States Government of be- tween $60,000 and $70,000 to the Miami Indians at and near Hunt- ington. These payments were made in compliance with the pro- visions of the several treaties between' the Indians and the General Government, and were in payment for the Indian title to the lands of this part of the State and the interest on the deferred
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