History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions, Part 17

Author:
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Indianapolis : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 904

USA > Indiana > Lawrence County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 17
USA > Indiana > Monroe County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 17

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

175

LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.

opportunity to get to the firing line in Cuba. Certain men enlisted in the regular army, and thus were able to participate in the fighting.

After the peace between the two countries, many other men enlisted in the regular United States army, and were sent to the Philippines, to quell the insurrection there. The Thirty-fifth United States Regiment, the Fortieth, and the Second United States Artillery received most of these men. All together, during the war period, approximately three hundred men joined the American forces from Lawrence county.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE CITY OF BEDFORD.

Bedford exists because the location was selected by the county seat locating commissioners in 1825 as the seat of justice for Lawrence county, after it had been located at old Palestine (now defunct) for about seven years, mention of which is made in the chapter on "County Government." The original plat contained two hundred acres; in length this tract was two hun- dred rods and in width' one hundred and sixty rods. The survey was to begin, as per order of the county board, on March 30, 1825. It took several days, but when finished the platting was a fac simile of the original town of Pales- tine. Many lots were lawfully exchanged in Palestine for ones in Bedford, but other lots were sold at public auction commencing June 2, 1826. The proceeds of the lot sales was $1,849.25. The geographical situation of the city is (or the first platting was) in sections 14 and 23, township 5 north and range 1 west.

The land was located in consideration that the county seat should be located here. The donation was made by Samuel F. Irwin, Joseph Glover, John Owens, Reuben Kilgore, Moses Woodruff and Isaac Stewart. It is a beautiful town site now, but when first occupied was not of the most charming, although the eminence of its higher lands and general landscape view was even by nature always sightly and fine to behold.

Among the first to reside in Bedford were John Lowrey, clerk and re- corder of the county; Henry Lowrey, merchant, of the firm of Lowrey & Simpson, the latter being a non-resident, however ; Samuel F. Irwin, merchant; Joseph Athon, hotel proprietor ; Rollin C. Dewey, a lawyer ; L. N. Livingston. lawyer : John Vestal, merchant; Samuel D. Bishop, carpenter ; John Brown postmaster ; Jacob Mosier, a Methodist minister; Samuel Wilson, laborer; Richard Evans, miller ; Gotleib Byrer, a hatter ; David Borland, tanner ; Joseph Cowan, stone mason; Turner Sullivan, wagoner; William Sullivan, black- smith; Joseph Cuthbertson, cabinetmaker; Henry Parsell, laborer; William Benefield, hotel keeper; William Kelsey, deputy sheriff; Henry Hendricks, saddler : John Quackenbosh, carpenter ; Henry Quackenbosh, laborer; Jacob Huff, wagoner; Winthrop Foote, physician; A. H. Dunihue, merchant for Isaac Stewart; Andrew Hattabaugh, liquor dealer. These men, with their

VIEWS OR BEDFORD. IND.

:: LIVE TERY

COURT HOUSE

----

WEST SIDE SQUARE .

177

LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.

families, and possibly a half dozen more, constituted the first to locate at Bed- ford, all having settled here by the spring of 1826. The next five years saw many additions to the population, and they were too numerous to here enumer- ate. But suffice it to state that many of their offspring still reside in and near the city.

FIRST BUSINESS HOUSES.

The start in merchandising here was effected by the firm of Irwin & Stew- art (Samuel F. Irwin and Isaac Stewart), who occupied the first frame build- ing in the town. They carried a four-thousand-dollar stock of general mer- chandise. A. H. Dunihue, who came to the town in 1826, entered this store as a clerk, continuing as such for a number of years. In 1830 the store was sold to Joseph Rawlins, and he followed mercantile business for thirty years, accumulating a fortune.

The second store was opened by Lowrey & Simpson, who commenced soon after the first store started. They thrived many years.

The first "grocery" was started by Andrew Hattabaugh in 1826. It was really a saloon, but then known as a "wet grocery"; it was kept in a log build- ing on the east side of the public square. In 1827 came a man of much prominence named Moses Fell and he opened a general store which he success- fully conducted until his death, in 1840. William McLane, who had been dubbed colonel, and who had conducted a store as early as 1815 at Orleans, Orange county, located at Bedford, where for many years he was engaged in merchandising. For a time he was president of the Bedford Branch of the old Indiana State Bank, and was the owner of a large drygoods business at Louisville, Kentucky. He amassed a fortune of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and in 1854 removed to Texas, where he died in 1873, aged eighty-five.

In 1828, John Vestal, who had been engaged in trade at Springville, opened a general store in Bedford on the southeast corner of the public square, continuing until about the date of his death in 1873.

William Benefield opened the first tavern in Bedford in 1825. David Kelley opened a liquor store in 1829. Foote & Fell opened another liquor store at about that date and the following is a true copy of their "recommend" :

"Bedford, January 4, 1830.

"We, the undersigned subscribers, do certify that Winthrop Foote and Moses Fell are men of good moral character." Signed by John Brown and eleven more.

(12)

178

LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.

FROM 1830 TO 1840.

This was a very prosperous decade for Bedford. In 1834 the first news- paper was founded and a little later the branch of the old Indiana State Bank was established here. This bank brought the town much ready money and advertised it far and near, so that many speculators found their way here. It was this class who started to buy and transport much pork, grain, etc., down the rivers to the Southland. Vaughn & Moberly dealt extensively in liquors. There were no less than seven firms engaged in this business at one time here in that decade. Some became very wealthy from the profits of the whisky trade. In fact nearly all of the pioneer merchants got their start in this busi- ness. The only exception among these merchants was perhaps A. H. Dunihue, who refused even to attach his name to certificates of "good moral character" for those who sought a license to deal in liquors. But it must be admitted that the sale of liquor those days was not fraught with the debauchery seen in later times. Good, moral, religious men countenanced the sale, and even conducted "groceries," as saloons were then styled, of their own. Other merchants during the thirties were E. C. Moberly, D. R. Dunihue, Lankford Trueblood, John Brown, Mason & Harvey, Jacob Clark, Medicine. Vestal & Crooke, M. A. & W. H. Malott, F. W. Dixon, and others whose names are lost from view with the passage of years.

DURING THE FORTIES.

The decade from 1840 to 1850 saw many changes in the role of business men in Bedford. Henry J. Acoam at first sold liquor, but later opened a large merchandise store. In 1845 permission was granted the citizens by the county board to erect a market house, which was carried out. It was during this eventful ten-year period that the effort to banish the sale of liquors from "groceries" in the town was almost successful, at least the number was greatly reduced, but a few old establishments, like Phillip Reuter's, continued to thrive in spite of opposition. Strong efforts were made to prevent the issuance of licenses for Reuter, and several petitions with that object in view, after con- sideration by the county board, were duly granted, but the sale did not stop. One of these petitions which was granted was as follows, being given here as an example of the times and for the old-time names attached thereto :

"Bedford, Indiana, December 24, 1844. "To The Honorable Board of Commissioners of the County of Lawrence, if in session : if not in session, to the Auditor and Treasurer of said county :

179

LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.

The undersigned citizens of the Town of Bedford, believing that retailing spirituous liquors within the town limits is pernicious in its effects, therefore respectfully remonstrate against the granting of license to any person or per- sons to retail spirituous liquors within the limits of said town for the term of five years.

"D. R. Dunihue, Isaac Denson, William Newkirk, W. V. Daniel, M. W. Houston, William Smith, Daniel Dunihue, Sr., C. P. Reed, A. G. Young, Horatio Jeter, John Vestal, Joseph Rawlings, T. N. Robertson, James R. Glover, James G. Duncan, Robert Biggs, Eli Dale, Henry Quackenbosh, John Webb, Edmond B. Kennedy, William McLane, William S. Watson, Solomon Eldridge, John Gyger, S. F. Irwin, H. B. Richardson, William Perkins, A. S. Ferguson, John Owen, A. H. Donihue, Elizabeth Barner, Isaac Rector, Alex- ander Wall, William Ross, F. T. Raymond, Olly Owens, J. G. McDonald, Nancy Wilder, Edith H. Hendricks, Levi H. Dale, David Borland, William Porter, Dr. Laforce, Luke Barker, W. W. Williamson, Ezekiel Blackwell, N. D. Glazenbrook, R. M. Parks, James C. Lynn."

Mr. Reuter was denied a license, but, through his attorney, James Hughes, demanded a re-hearing, but this was refused, and an exception was filed. The matter was settled in the circuit court in such a manner that Reuter was per- mitted to go on with the sale of liquor. During this time a full list of the resident families of the town was made up, but it is too lengthy to here ap- pend. These families represented a population of five hundred people.

CIVIL WAR PERIOD.

The business interests of Bedford from 1850 to 1870 were largely in the hands of the following men and firms: In the fifties, Dunihue & Kelley, M. A. Malott, Josephi Rawlins, John Vestal, J. C. Cavins, drugs; W. M. Northcraft, clothing; John Sues, Portman & Francis, E. & E. M. Braxtan, hardware; Houston & Buskirk, furniture; Krenking & Schmidt, grist mill; Godfrey Schlosser, marble dealers ; J. G. Unkel, jeweler ; W. W. Owens, post- master; Malott & Sons, general store; J. S. Wigmore, watchies and clocks; James Calvert, furniture ; R. H. Carlton & Company, drugs ; Malott & Reed, general store; Newland & Hostetler, drugs; B. Lepman, dry goods and cloth- ing.

In the sixties the business was carried on by some of the above, with others as follows: Park & Williams, general dealers; Henry Ewald, grocer ; Adam Ruth, furniture; J. P. Francis, general store: Charles Kramer, bakery ; Kahn & Brother, clothing ; George Roberts, drugs; Glover & Driscoll, dentists ;

1 80

LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.

A. G. Gainey & Company, general store; Howell & Johnson, drugs; J. V. & Z. C. Mathes, hardware; D. Barnes & Son, furniture ; J. J. Hardy, livery ; Mrs. S. A. W. Brown, millinery ; Abderson & Hamilton, books, etc .; J. W. Acoam, harness and saddles. The merchant tailors were Palmer & Messick.

EARLY MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS.

One of the first manufacturing plants of Bedford, odd as it may now sound, was a distillery operated by steam, fitted up by Samuel F. Irwin in a log cabin. At the same time he started a horse mill to supply his distillery with ground grain. These two enterprises were popular and well patronized by the surrounding farming community. Then, there was scarcely any other market for corn than at the distilleries of the country. The present uses for corn, such as glucose, etc., were then unknown. Corn was fed to hogs, which were packed and shipped in large numbers to the South, on flat-boats. Some- times the corn sold for cash, but usually it was made up into liquor on the shares. The large amounts of whisky and brandy made at the Irwin still house were sent mostly to Louisville, Kentucky. An average of about three barrels per day were turned out at this one distillery. This represented the consumption of thirty-five bushels of corn, or an annual capacity of about ten thousand bushels, equal to eight hundred barrels of liquor. Rye was also used for the same purpose. Whisky sold at a shilling a gallon. After ten years distilling by Irwin his business was abandoned.

In about 1836, a cotton factory was erected by William McLane, Samuel F. Irwin, Moses Fell, John Vestal and a few more. The machinery came by two-horse wagons from Lexington. Kentucky. H. B. Richardson and six workmen operated this factory, he being the superintendent. The cotton was purchased in Kentucky and hauled out to Bedford by wagons. Yarns were made here, but no cloth was woven. In 1840 the factory was sold and shipped to Salem.

In 1834, Barker & Phelps started an ashery, which they conducted three years. They paid three cents a bushel for 'ashes and sometimes had to pay as high as seven cents per bushel. From these they manufactured a fair quality of black salts, which found sale in Louisville markets. Connected with this plant was also a shingle factory owned and operated by the same men and propelled by the same steam. The rough shingles, made from native woods, found ready sale at home. As early as 1826, Richard Evans built a tread- power saw mill near Bedford, which he conducted until about 1830; at first it was well patronized.

181

LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.

A large tannery was built in 1826, some say earlier, by David Borland. He conducted this twenty years. It had forty vats, and he did an extensive business, the leather here made going mostly to Louisville. About a year later another tannery was started by Samuel and Thomas Biggs, consisting of twenty vats. Later this was sold to Biggs & Young and operated for about fifteen years longer, or probably up to 1855. These tanneries, in a good season. made work for about a dozen workmen.

In 1826 Thomas and Robert Carlton bought the machinery of the old woolen factory of the Lockharts, at Palestine, removed it to Bedford and installed a factory here. Carding in all of its various forms was carried on here on a large scale. A large custom business was done and from May to September six hands were kept busy. Wool raised over a wide scope of country was brought here to be carded and then returned to the families, where it was woven into cloth. The Carltons also bought and shipped to Louisville large amounts of wool. This industry lasted several years. In 1834. John Lynn started a carding factory and continued to operate it a dozen or more years. His plant was really of more importance than that of the Carltons, and gave work to as many men, also advanced beyond carding to fulling and coloring without dressing. His work was known by its rough- ness, its warmth and wearing qualities.

At an early day there were three important cabinet shops in Bedford. These were owned by Matthew Borland, William Templeton and Joseph Culbertson. Each made tables, stands, bureaus, cupboards, chairs, bedsteads, coffins, etc. About three workmen were constantly employed in each shop. Two of these shops ran for many years.

THE PORK-PACKING INDUSTRY.

The packing and shipment of pork was a lively industry in Bedford in the early history of the town. Chief among the operators were William Mc- Lane, Samuel F. Irwin, Joseph Rawlins and David Borland. Michael A. Malott also packed and shipped considerable pork. McLane & Irwin com- menced this branch of business in 1827, when they erected a log building on Leatherwood creek, below town. It was thirty by one hundred and twenty feet in size, and it was occupied jointly by these two men, who, however, worked separately. Hogs were bought over a large section of the country, on credit, for which payment was made after the pork was marketed in the South. The great cotton and sugar plantations demanded a vast amount of this product, especially Mississippi and Louisiana, both sections liking the

182

LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.

flavor of the Indiana corn-fed hogs. The packing season extended from November to February, and from twelve to twenty workmen were employed in each packing house, where there were slaughtered and packed from five to nine thousand hogs, sufficient to load about six large flat-boats. Joseph Rawlins and David Borland each had a packing house on Salt creek, where they carried on about as extensive operations as the two last-named gentlemen. For many years from five to twelve thousand hogs were slaughtered and packed by these four men. It required about eight flat-boats to transport twelve thousand hogs. These boats were built as needed, from native lum- ber, at the packing houses, and sold in southern markets after having been unloaded. During those palmy days of flat-boating it is related that about seventy-five of these rude crafts were sent down the river from Lawrence county annually. During the busy months fifty men were employed by the Bedford packers. Nothing has ever been so large in the industrial line in Bedford until the opening of the Bedford stone industry a few decades since.

Another early industry was that of making hats. Gotleib Byrer, John Hovious and William Cook each owned a hattery, each giving employment to three to five men. Each made hats from fur and wool. Byrer began as early as 1826. continuing ten years. Hats were made from mink, otter, beaver, coon and other furs, and from lamb's wool. As many as fifteen hun- dred hats were manufactured in Bedford in a single year. They sold at prices ranging from fifty cents to six dollars.

The Bedford Woolen Mills were built about 1859, by Charles Mason & Son, of Michigan. They had an excellent business. J. H. Mason & Company owned the mills at the close of the Civil war, and at the time sixty-cent cassi- nieres, sixty-cent jeans, sixty-five-cent satinets, forty-five to ninety-cent flan- nels, and four dollar and fifty cent blankets were the chief articles made. Also this firm did an extensive carding business, at ten cents a pound. Carding and spinning was twenty-seven cents per pound. Soon after this, however, the business declined and war prices no longer obtained, and the property was transferred to Dr. J. C. Cavins, who owned it until 1871, when it passed to Jesse A. Mitchell, who, with W. C. Windstandley, owned it in the middle of the eighties. At one time goods made here went freely into nine states and amounted in the aggregate to thirty thousand dollars annually. Weaving was discontinued in 1882 and within a few years the business, with hundreds of others in that line, took on a different mode of operation and got into the hands of trusts, etc., and at last closed down permanently.

A good flouring mill was built here about 1870 by Charles Cramer, who did an immense business for many years, until the flour industry also shaped

183

LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.

itself into milling trusts, such as the great mills at Minneapolis, after which the mills only ground for local demand.

Then there was the furniture factory of James McPheeters, with which was connected a large saw mill. All the patented and latest machin- ery for making chairs, tables, etc., was used and prosperity was with this branch of home industry, but in later years it went down with the inevitable change wrought out by the larger concerns of the country centralizing.

PRESENT INDUSTRIES OF BEDFORD.

In the fall of 1913 the following included about all the industrial con- cerns of Bedford :

The railroads were the "Monon," the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern, the Terre Haute & Southeastern, and Belt Line.

There were four saw mills for timber sawing.

Within three miles radius there were stone quarries and stone dressing mills having a capital of not less than six million dollars.

The Bedford Boiler Works were located at No. 1306 Seventh street.

There was one bottling works; two brick-making plants; the car shops of the Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern railroad; the United States Cement Company's plant in the eastern limits of city; the Lemon Flouring Mills, No. 1128 Seventeenth street; Bedford Foundry and Machine Shops, at Fifth and K streets; John Hartman's planing mills, at Sixth and J streets, and a few lesser plants.

CITY LIBRARY.

While the present city library is really a county institution from the fact that the people of the county are taxed a small amount annually for its support, yet it is styled a city library. Its history runs back many years as a city or town library.

Long before the great iron master, Andrew Carnegie, won fame at the steel works in Pittsburg and amassed his fortune, Bedford had a public library. In the organization of the various counties in this state, very wisely the lawmakers set apart ten per cent. of the sales of the county seat town lots for the establishment of a county library. As the proceeds in this county were considerable, the library was placed on a firm footing at a very early day in the history of the town and county. The books kept in this library were read and reread many times by several generations who had grown up in Lawrence county. The first books were purchased in 1819, and

184

LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIAN.A.

were kept in the court house by John Lowrey, county clerk, and consisted of about one hundred volumes of standard books of that period. By Febru- ary, 1823, the library fund had amounted to about seven hundred and fifty dollars, a greater portion of which was placed out on interest. In 1821 a neat book case was made and placed in the northeast room of the old court house at Palestine, the old seat of justice of this county. Nearly every old pioneer had been a member of the board of trustees for this library. In 1840 there were five hundred volumes of books. In 1824 the fund was nine hundred dollars, and reached at one time about twelve hundred dollars. About half this sum was used and the remainder was loaned out. At one time the library owned a lot in town, which was finally sold. In 1895 the permanent fund amounted to two thousand dollars and the books were being kept in the county recorder's office at Bedford.

In 1856 the state furnished the county with eight township libraries, distributed in proportion to the population. Each library composed three hundred volumes of general matter. But few of these survived more than twenty-five years.

Late in the fifties the McClure libraries were received, two or three in the county, but after six years the design of the benevolent testator was carelessly thwarted by the distribution of the books, to individual members, or in cases actually sold at auction.

But to return to the public library at Bedford, properly speaking, it should be said that the books were finally removed from the court house and taken to the old Baptist church building, near the present federal building on Fourteenth street, and there the library was kept until its removal, about 1902, to the present public library, the building of which was the gift of Andrew Carnegie, and the lot donated by the city. This fine stone structure cost twenty thousand dollars and now has about eleven thousand volumes on its shelves. A board of trustees, holding life-time terms, has charge of the library, which faces the new United States building, the postoffice on K street. The librarian is Georgia Friedley, who has been in charge since the removal to the new building.

POSTOFFICE HISTORY.

The postoffice at Bedford was established in 1825, having first been at the old county seat town of Palestine, where it was established in 1819, with John Brown as first postmaster. The following is a list of postmasters in

CARNEGIE LIBRARY, BEDFORD

185

LAWRENCE AND MONROE COUNTIES, INDIANA.

Bedford, with date of appointment, as furnished by the department at Wash- ington :

June 1, 1825-John Brown.

October 17, 1829-Robert M. Carl- ton.

May 7, 1836-Robert Mitchell.

May 31. 1841-Gustavus Clark.

August 19, 1845-Samuel Mitchell.

October 30. 1848-Benjamin New- land.

November 21, 1849-Willie W. Owens.

March 18, 1851-William M. North- craft.

May 7, 1852-Willie W. Owens.

June 7, 1853-Robert M. Parks.

March 5. 1855-J. Wesley Newland. March 13. 1857-James C. Carlton.

March 19, 1861-Isaac Rector. March 30, 1863-William S. Riley. June 30, 1864-Paris T. Vestal. September 21, 1864-James M. Mathes.

August 17. 1866-James C. Carlton. March 17, 1869-J. M. Mathes. March 14, 1877-Henry Davis.

May 6. 1885-James C. Carlton. December 21, 1889-William Erwin. January 9. 1894-John Johnson, Jr. January 10, 1898-Vinson V. Will- iams.

January 29, 1906-Sherman L. Keach.

Bedford is now a second class office and has six rural free delivery routes extending out into the surrounding country, with routes averaging about twenty-four miles each. It was made a free city delivery office in November, 1900, and now has five carriers. There are now thirteen mail trains a day in Bedford. The federal postoffice building, on K street, near Fourteenth street, was erected at a cost of seventy-one thousand dollars. It was com- pleted in October. 1909. The site is included in the above cost of the build- ing. The present are the employes and officers of the Bedford postoffice : Sherman L. Keach, postmaster; Doyle W. Graham, assistant postmaster ; Albert H. Dunihue, postal savings department ; Walter A. Pitman, Lew W. Cosner, William E. Cannedy, general utility clerks: Arthur J. Boy and Albert H. Fletcher, mailing clerks; Joseph L. Glover. Leroy R. Trueblood, Oliver L. Rayburn, Harrison M. Ramsey and Edward C. Consalus, city carriers : Frank M. Carlton, Lawrence Stutz, Isaac H. Crim, James W. An- derson, Opal Armstrong and Harley S. Abderson, rural carriers. Basil Miller is special delivery messenger; Dell Hazel, char-woman. Postal sav- ings amount to $15,811.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions, Part 17

Author: Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Indianapolis : B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 904

Author:
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Indianapolis : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 904