USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 21
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Bunker Hill has a bank with a capital stock of $25,000, a canning factory, a number of well stocked stores, the usual quota of hotels and
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restaurants found in towns of its size, lodges of several of the leading secret orders, and in 1910 reported a population of 668, a gain of 100 during the preceding decade. In addition to the Lake Erie & Western and Pan Handle railroads, a line of the Indiana Union Traction Com- pany passes through the town and adds materially to the transporta- tion facilties. In point of population, Bunker Hill is the fourth town of the county, being exceeded only by the city of Peru and the towns of Converse and South Peru.
BUSACO
Little can be learned of this old town. An old atlas of Miami county, published by Kingman Brothers, of Chicago, in 1877, contains a map of Indiana, which shows Busaco as a station on the Lake Erie & Western Railroad, about a mile north of Denver. It was probably one of the towns projected purely as a speculation and perished without leaving a history.
CARY
This old town was located on Honey creek, on the southeast quarter of section 22, in Harrison township, and not far from the Jackson town- ship line. A congregation of Wesleyan Methodists and also of the Friends or Quakers had churches here at an early date, but little can be learned of the business enterprises of the town. After the completion of the Pan Handle Railroad and the establishment of Amboy, about a mile way, Cary sank into insignificance.
CHILI
Chili is the only town of importance in Richland township. It was laid out by Jesse Mendenhall in October, 1839, and the plat was recorded under the name of New Market. The original plat showed twenty-two lots and six streets-Broadway, North, Third and South, running east and west, and Bluff and Lime, running north and south. One of the first to locate in the town was Daniel Lander, who built a small store and put in a stock of goods. Mr. Lander was the first postmaster at Chili and was for many years a justice of the peace. John Belew started a harness shop while the village was still in its infancy, and in 1845, N. C. Hall opened a store in a log house. Dr. W. J. Chamberlain located there about the same time and was the first physician to practice his profession in Chili.
When the Eel River railroad, now the Vandalia, was completed through the county in 1872, the town of Denver sprang up at the cross-
.
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ing of the Lake Erie & Western, about three miles west of Chili, which detracted somewhat from the growth of the latter place. In 1886, the Peru & Detroit railroad was built from Peru to Chili, which offset, to some extent, the competition offered by Denver. This road is now used by the Winona Interurban line, which connects Chili directly with the county seat.
A Methodist church was organized about the time the town was laid out and subsequently a Baptist congregation was formed. Both have neat church edifices and are in a prosperous condition. There is a graded school here, so that the educational advantages are as good as in many towns of greater size.
In 1900 the United States census reported Chili as having a popula- tion of two hundred and forty-five and ten years later it was two hundred and seventy-five. The principal business enterprises are the mill and two general stores. Chili is a trading center and shipping point for a considerable portion of the rich Eel river valley. It has a telephone exchange, telegraph and express offices, etc.
CONVERSE
When this town was laid out in April, 1849, by O. H. P. Macy and Willis Elliott, it was given the name Xenia. The first house was erected by Henry Overman the following summer. It was a log structure fifteen by eighteen feet and stood on the Delphi road, now known as Miami street. Later an addition was made to the building, in which the first stock of goods ever brought to Converse was offered for sale. In order to reach the "store," customers were compelled to pass through the living rooms of Mr. Overman's family. James Mote, a carpenter, and Joseph Brazington, a cabinet-maker, were among the early settlers. The former built his residence at the corner of Marion and Jefferson, and the latter at the corner of Jefferson and Sycamore streets. In 1852, Mr. Macy, one of the proprietors, erected a building for mercantile pur- poses and opened the first general store of consequence in the town. This building was afterward occupied for several years by Daniel Men- denhall. Other early merchants were John and Quincy Baldwin Christian Life, Cooper & Scott, John Grimes and Elisha Draper.
The original plat of Converse embraced a small tract in the northern part of section thirty-two and showed thirty-two lots and four streets -Jefferson, which runs north and south and is crossed by Wabash, Marion and Sycamore. About a year after the town was laid out all these lots had been sold. In March, 1856, O. H. P. Macy and Thomas Addington platted an addition of forty lots. F. M. Davis' addition to
1890, not 18
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the town, consisting of twnety-nine lots, was made in 1867, and two years later J. W. Eward and J. N. Converse each platted additions, the aggregate of which was thirty-two lots. Several additions have been made since that time as the growth of the town demanded more room.
Converse, or Xenia, as it was then called, experienced a boom soon after the close of the Civil war, when the Pan Handle Railroad was built through the town. Then a number of saw-mills were established in the immediate vicinity and large quantities of lumber were shipped from Converse, scarcely a day passing without one or more carloads going out to some of the factories in the large cities of the east. E. S. Lee established a planing mill and stave factory about 1869. A mill for making tow from flax was afterward added and the firm of Lee & Pat- terson carried on this line of business until the destruction of the mill by fire in 1874. A. B. Fisher began the manufacture of staves in 1870 and a few years later John Coyle started a tow and flax mill. Fisher removed his stave factory to Union city about 1875, and Coyle, after oper- ating his flax mill for some time sold out to Lehman, Rosenthal & Kraus, of Peru, who removed the mill to that city about 1879 and 1880. Other early industries were the flour mill of Wright & McFeely, which changed hands a number of times during the first decade of its existence, and the tannery started by A. J. Saxton, about 1866.
In 1873, the auditor of Miami county directed the surveyor of the county to lay off and plat all the irregular lots in the town so that they could be listed for tax purposes in a systematic manner. The survey was accordingly made and the plat filed by the county surveyor has since been known as the official plat of Converse.
A second boom came to the town upon the discovery of natural gas in the vicinity and a number of new manufacturing concerns located at Converse. Among them were the Xenia Hoop Works, the Woolen Mills, the Hoosier Canning Company, the Peerless Glass Company, the Chandelier Works, a carriage factory and the Malleable Steel Works. When the supply of gas failed some of these factories were discontinued or removed elsewhere.
The first hotel in Converse was opened by James Mote and a large part of his patronage came from prospectors who visited the new town in quest of business opportunities. He was succeeded by Clayborne Wright and in 1868 a regular hotel building was erected by George Wood on Jefferson street, a short distance south of the railroad. It was destroyed by fire in 1884.
In 1868, Charles P. Thew, a journalist who was not afraid to venture, started the Xenia Gazette, an account of which, as well as its successors, will be found in the chapter on Educational Development.
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The first school house erected for the accomodation of the children of the town was built in 1866. It was a modest frame building and stood in the western part of the village. By 1872 it became too small to serve the purpose for which it was erected and a two-story brick building took its place, at a cost of $8,000. Two rooms were afterward added to the building and as thus remodeled it was used until about 1896, when the persent commodious building was erected at a cost of $25,000. In 1894 the superintendent of the town schools made application to the state board of education for a commissioned high school and, after an investigation as to the condition of the schools, the state board granted the commission early in 1895. In the school year of 1912-13, there were ten teachers employed in the Converse public schools and they received in salaries $5,021.50.
A fire department was organized on July 1, 1885, with twenty-two members, and those who have witnessed its work assert that it is one of the best of its kind in the state of Indiana. Converse also has a well equipped system of water works, using both the direct pressure and stand pipe methods. The supply of water comes from tubular wells, over two hundred feet in depth, in which the water has risen to within six feet of the surface, affording an abundance of pure limestone water for domestic use and fire protection.
About two years after the town was laid out a class of Wesleyan Methodists was organized and a little later a small log church was erected. After several years dissensions arose among the members and the last meeting of the church was held some time in 1870. The United Brethren church was organized in 1856; the Methodists a year before that date; the Christian church in 1868, and the Presbyterian church in 1870. A more complete account of these congregations will be found in the chapter devoted to church history.
The Converse of the present day commands a large trade from the people living in the southeastern part of Miami county, the north- western part of Grant and the northeastern part of Howard. It is the principal shipping point on the Pan Handle Railroad between Marion and Logansport. Converse has a bank with a capital stock of $25,000, a Home Telephone Company, some manufacturing enterprises, a large grain elevator, more than a score of mercantile establishments, and a number of handsome residences. The United States census of 1900 gave Converse a population of one thousand four hundred and fifteen. About the time that report was issued the supply of natural gas gave out and in 1910 the population was officially reported as one thousand one hundred and sixty-four. Although these figures show a decrease in the number of inhabitants, there has been no diminution of energy
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on the part of the people of Converse and the town holds second place in Miami county, being excelled in population and wealth only by the city of Peru.
The Miami County Agricultural Association holds its annual fair and races at Converse and every autumn it is the Mecca for the people of Miami county, the citizens of Peru usually turning out in large num- bers to this, the only fair in the county. Converse has for a number of years supported a summer Chautauqua, which is likewise well attended.
COURTER
Six miles north of Peru, on the Lake Erie & Western Railroad, is the little hamlet of Courter. It was laid out in August, 1869, by R. F. Donaldson, on the northeast quarter of section thirty-four, in Jeffer- son township. The original plat consisted of twenty lots and no addi- tions to the town have ever been made. At one time there was at Courter a general store, a blacksmith shop, a public school, and it was at center of trade for a considerable agricultural district. Courter now consists of a few dwellings and only one train each way daily stops at the station. The few inhabitants are supplied with mail by rural delivery from Peru.
DEEDSVILLE
In June, 1869, the Cincinnati, Chicago & Louisville Railroad, pop- ularly known as the "Huckelberry Line," was completed through the . northern part of Miami couny and William Deeds built a warehouse on his farm in Union township, on the line of the new road, for the purpose of handling grain and produce. In September following E. H. Hill opened a general store near the warehouse. The town was regularly laid out July, 1870, by Albert Deeds and Samuel M. Leedy, the original plat consisting of eighty-four lots. In December, 1872, Mr. Leedy laid out on addition of twelve lots and Mr. Deeds afterward made an addi- tion of sixteen lots. E. H. Hill was the first postmaster. In 1910 the population was one hundred and twelve. Deedsville has several general stores, a grain elevator, a creamery, a public school house, a money order postoffice, from which one rural route emanates, and does considerable shipping.
DENVER
The town of Denver was laid out under the supervision of and for Harrison Grimes in August, 1872, about the time the Eel River rail-
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road was being built through Miami county. The original plat included sixty-five lots in the northeast quarter of section twenty-one, north of the Eel River (now the Vandalia) Railroad, and east of the Lake Erie & Western. In the development of the town it extended into Union and Richland township, which caused some confusion with regard to taxes, schools, etc., and in response to a petition of the citizens the county commissioners changed the township lines so as to throw the town all in Jefferson. Among the earliest residents, after the town was laid out, were Frank Moody, Asel Griffith, W. H. Howe, David and William Fetrow, and Jeremiah Johns. The first residence was erected by Mr. Moody, who opened a blacksmith shop, the first industrial concern to be established in Denver. W. W. Fetrow started the first store and Mr. Griffith built a steam saw-mill. Grimes & Charles opened a general store not long after the town was surveyed, and the firm of Constant Brothers in 1876 established a planing mill, equipped with machinery for the manufacture of barrel hoops and various articles of wooden ware. Cloud & Son erected a flour mill in 1880, but about eighteen months later sold out to a stock company. This company in turn sold the mill to Amey & Newbold, who refitted it with modern machinery.
Denver College was founded in 1876, a building was erected and school was opened with every indication of success, but after a some- what varied career the company was disbanded and the building was turned over to the public school authorities.
In November, 1883, Dr. O. F. Snook issued the first number of the Denver Sun, the first newspaper to be published in the town. An account of this newspaper and its successors will be found in the chapter on Educational Development.
In 1873 the Denver Methodist Episcopal church was organized and a house of worship was erected the same year. Later the Baptists and Seventh Day Adventists organized congregations and built church edifices.
The Denver of today has a bank with a capital stock of $10,000, a cooperative telephone company, a large basket factory, several good mercantile establishments, a money order postoffice with two rural delivery routes, a good public school building, and ships large quantities of grain and other farm products. Several attempts have been made to incorporate the town, the last in the winter of 1913-14, but so far all have failed of realization. The population in 1910 was eight hundred and fifty.
DOYLE
Rand McNally's atlas of Miami county shows a hamlet called Doyle on the east side of section nine, in Jefferson township, a short distance
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
from the southeast corner of the township, and vouchsafes the informa- tion that the inhabitants receive mail by rural delivery from Peru. Strictly speaking, Doyle is not a town. It is merely a siding on the Lake Erie & Western Railroad for the accommodation of the adjacent farmers in the shipment of live stock, etc.
FIVE CORNERS
In the southwest corner of Allen township a settlement grew up in an early day, which became known as Five Corners, on account of its location at the intersection of roads leading in five different directions. No town was ever platted there, but the converging roads made it a point easy of access and it became the center of trade for a large territory in the northwestern part of Miami county, as well as for portions of Cass and Fulton counties. About 1857, a large general store was opened at Five Corners by the firm of Moses & Williams, who sold out to Nathan Shackelford some five or six years later. William Harp succeeded Mr. Shackelford, but remained only about eighteen months, when he closed out his stock. A postoffice was established in 1859, with Nathaniel Bryant as postmaster. After the railroad was completed to Macy the postoffice was removed there, trade was diverted to the railroad town and in a few years all that remained of the old settlement at Five Cor- ners was the Methodist church and a few dwellings.
FLORENCE
On October 20, 1849, Alexander Galbraith filed for record a plat of a town known as Florence, located on the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 29, township 26, range 4, on the north bank of Big Pipe creek. This town was situated about half way between the present town of Bunker Hill and the old village of Leonda. The plat shows sixty-six lots, but it does not appear that any buildings were ever erected in Florence.
GILEAD
This is one of the old towns of Miami county. It was founded about 1840, by Adam E. Rhodes, who settled upon the site in 1835. The original plat consisted of twenty-nine lots and two squares in sections 12 and 13 of range 4 and sections 7 and 18 in range 5, a little north- west of the center of Perry township. Dr. E. H. Sutton located in the village, about the time it was laid out, and practiced his profession there for some fifteen years. Among the first residents was a man named Swayzee, who opened the first store. William H. Wright started a
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general store in 1845 and Zera Sutherland began in the same line of business about a year later. Other early merchants were William D. Smith, James T. McKim 'and O. P. Mohler. Peter Onstatt removed his blacksmith shop from his farm, about two miles and a half south- east, and was the first to follow that vocation at Gilead. Samuel Essig had established a small tanyard on the site of the village as early as 1837, and it was one of the primitive industries. Caple Brothers built a steam saw-mill in 1868, and A. M. Grogg and his partner made some of the plows used by the early farmers of Perry township. Joseph Watie was for many years a general merchant. He sold his store in 1913 but is still postmaster.
The Methodists organized a church at Gilead as early as 1843 and three years later a Presbyterian congregation was formed. A Masonic lodge was organized in 1866.
After the completion of the Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago Railroad, and the Eel River Railroad, the village of Gilead began to show signs of decline. It remained the postoffice and trading point, however, for a considerable territory in the northeastern part of the county, and upon the completion of the Winona Interurban Railway a few years ago the village took on the appearance of renewed activity. In 1910 the pop- ulation was reported as being one hundred and sixty. The principal busi- ness enterprises are the saw-mill and two general stores. Gilead has a good public school building and a number of neat homes.
GRANDVIEW
The old town of Grandview was laid out by J. M. Dickson and John Wilson on June 1, 1854, on sections 7 and 8, township 25, range 5, about a mile east of the present village of McGrawsville. The original plat showed fifty lots and was filed for record on August 1, 1854, by Ben- jamin F. Shaw. The town never fulfilled the hopes of its founders and seems to have perished without leaving any history.
HOOVERSBURG
Situated near the line dividing sections 3 and 10, in the northwest corner of Perry township, was the old village of Hooversburg, the history of which has been practically lost. About all that can be learned of it is that it was named for one of the pioneer families in that part of the county and that it was a trading point in an early day. A post- office was once located at Hooversburg, but the people in that neighbor- hood now receive their mail by rural delivery from the office at Wagoner.
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LEONDA
Shortly after the completion of the old Peru & Indianapolis Railroad the little town of Leonda, situated about a mile north of the present town of Bunker Hill, became one of the principal trading points south of the Wabash river. Leonda was projected before the railroad was finished, having been laid out by Harvey Hoover and Jacob Pottarff in 1851. The original plat showed seventy-two lots, with the railroad running directly through the center of the town. Not long after Leonda was laid out, Walter P. Shaw opened a general store. Other early merchants were Jacob Arnold and Samuel Jones, the latter also con- ducting a hotel. A postoffice was established in the early '50s, with Joseph Arnold as the first postmaster. Bunker Hill was laid out about the same time and spirited rivalry commenced between the two towns. When the Pan Handle railroad was built, crossing the Lake Erie & Western at Bunker Hill, the postoffice was removed to that town and Leonda gradually declined until now it is remebered by only a few of the old settlers.
LOREE
This village is a station on the Pan Handle Railroad, in the northern part of Clay township. The railroad company put in a siding there in 1888 and soon afterward E. B. Bottorff opened a general store. He was succeeded after a time by M. P. Conn. Thomas & Smith established a saw-mill at Loree a short time after the siding was built and a post- office was located there a little later. In 1910 the population was given as thirty . The saw-mill and the general store are the only business enter- prises.
MCGRAWSVILLE
About two and a half miles east of Loree, on the line between Har- rison and Clay township, is the little hamlet of McGrawsville, which is a station on the Pan Handle Railroad. About two years before the railroad was completed to this point, Nelson McGraw built a small store-only eight by ten feet-and put in a small stock of goods. When the railroad was finished a siding was put in here and the name of McGrawsville was given to the place, in honor of the pioneer merchant. A church was soon afterward built on the Clay township side of the town and a blacksmith shop was opened. D. F. Deisch succeeded Mr. McGraw in the mercantile business, enlarged the store and increased the size of his stock. The general store is now owned by T. R. Dawson.
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Besides this store a saw-mill and the postoffice are the principal attrac- tions of McGrawsville, the population of which in 1910 was forty.
MACY
In June, 1860, George and Anderson Wilkinson laid out a plat of twenty lots where the town of Macy is now located and gave to the place the name of Lincoln. William Cordell soon after purchased one of the lots, upon which he built a blacksmith shop, and John Inscho, a carpenter, built the first residence. Before the close of the year George Wilkinson opened a store. A little later J. W. Hurst and A. L. Norris
DINE CASE HARDWARE
STREET SCENE IN MACY
formed a partnership and purchased the stock of Mr. Wilkinson. For several years the firm of Hurst & Norris was the leading mercantile concern of the town. The town grew so rapidly that in 1869 a large addition of eighty lots was made to the original plat by Wilkinson & Powell. Louden Carl purchased a lot in this addition and removed his store from Five Corners. Alonzo Hudson established the first drug store and David Goldsmith the first clothing store.
A steam saw-mill was started, soon after the town was laid out, by J. L. Peck, who later sold an interest to John Garner. The firm of Peck & Garner then remodeled the mill and converted it into a flour mill. The first physician was Dr. James McKee, who was soon followed by Dr. M. M. Boggs, and the first hotel was opened by H. C. Ewing. Vol. I-13
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The first newspaper was established in 1885, by M. L. Enyart. It was called the Macy Monitor and is still in existence.
The first school house was a frame building in the southwestern part of the town. It was built some time in the '70s, and was afterward enlarged by having a second story added. In 1880 the township graded school building, a brick structure of eight rooms was erected, at a cost of something over $6,000.
In 1869 the postoffice was removed from Five Corners to Lincoln, but it was discovered that there was already a postoffice called "Lincoln" in Cass county, and, as the postal regulations prohibited two offices of the same name in the same state, the name of "Allen" was adopted. In time this gave rise to confusion, and as goods intended for the town of Lincoln, in Miami county were sometimes delivered to Lincoln, in Cass county, the people of the town in 1875 petitioned the county commis- sioners to change the name to Macy, for David Macy, president of the Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago Railroad, which was accordingly done, and a little later the name of the postoffice was changed to correspond. In 1884 an election was held to vote on the question of incorporation. A majority expressed themselves in favor of the proposition and the town of Macy was accordingly incorporated. The first board of trustees was composed of A. C. Waite, M. Freeland and Jeremiah Hatch.
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