USA > Indiana > Vermillion County > History of Parke and Vermillion Counties, Indiana : with historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 35
USA > Indiana > Parke County > History of Parke and Vermillion Counties, Indiana : with historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 35
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
The transportation facilities are provided largely through the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad and the Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern Trac- tion Company.
THE OLD WAGON BRIDGE, CLINTON, IND., ERECTED 1852, REMOVED 1899
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THE BEGINNINGS.
The first mercantile establishment in Clinton was opened by John and Benjamin R. Whitcomb, who kept a small general store. Other early business men were John Payton, John R. Whitcomb, H. B. Cole, John Ferrel and John Marks. Later business men were James McCulloch, Otis M. Conkey, Jones & Chestnut. from Paris, Illinois, Leander Munsel, from the same place, Alanson Baldwin, of Baldwinsville, Illinois, who were extensive pork packers at Clinton. This city was for many years a noted pork market and shipping point for packed pork.
Lesser business was carried on by J. W. and Fielding Shepard, and Volney Hutchison, mechanics, who afterward moved into the country and became successful farmers : S. E. Patton, a cooper: H. F. Redding, carriage- maker and blacksmith, and others.
Many of the buildings occupied by these pioneers were still standing in the nineties, on the bank of the river, near the railroad bridge, where the old boat landing was, as monumental relics of that long-ago steamboat period. The scenes of the past ever and anon rise in the vision and memory of the older citizens of Clinton, who seem again to hear the shrill whistle of the steamer and the wharf-talk of river boatmen and roustabouts, as they loaded and unloaded the great cargoes of merchandise to and from the boats bound north and south from this landing place.
The population had not reached over one thousand eight hundred in 1890, but modern development, the growing industries, and general trend of the times of peace and real prosperity, will not long permit a city located as is Clinton to stand still. hence its present size and business enterprise.
EFFECTS OF CIVIL WAR.
At the close of the Civil war there was a complete change in commercial and industrial life. It can only be compared in physical nature to an up- heaval that obliterates old paths, landmarks and structures. Prior to the Civil war Clinton and the surrounding country had many industries. It was the era of the small industry under individual control. Such towns as Per- rysville, Eugene, Mecca. Clinton and many others were centers of this kind of industry. In Clinton we had a wagon factory conducted by B. F. Morey, father of W. I .. Morey. In that shop wagons were made complete, from end-gate to the tongue. And they were good wagons, too. They were like Holmes' wonderful "One-Hoss Shay," "that ran a hundred years to a day."
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They were like the characters of the men who built them-strong, close built and enduring. In connection with this wagon factory was the black- smith shop, where the iron work was made, the paint shop where they were painted.
Today these wagon factories have all been brushed away by the big fac- tories, owned and controlled by corporations backed by millions of dollars. We had a tan yard at the foot of Crompton hill, where an old man, named John Crompton, tanned hides and prepared them for the boot and shoe fac- tory, conducted by John E. Ryan, on South Main street. Between these two, we used to get boots and shoes made, pretty high priced 'tis true, but built like the garments of the children of Israel for wear.
There was Harry Redding's famous copper shop, where barrels and casks were made. There were the great pork-packing industries. There was Robert Chambers' cabinet shop, where furniture was made. There was Greenwat's blacksmith shop, where horseshoes were made, and Wiley's place, where cradles, bedsteads and coffins were made to order. There was the Mallory mill, where cane was ground and the juice was converted into sorghum molasses, which our mothers used in making ginger cake about three inches thick, as hig as the oven would take in, and which was compar- able only to the food of the gods. And there were saw-mills and shingle- mills and grist-mills all over this country. At Mecca, a woolen-mill used up the raw wool that was raised on the backs of sheep that roamed the hills of Parke and Vermillion counties. It was a Mecca indeed, for to it the mothers for miles around made their annual pilgrimages every fall, to lay in a supply of good woolen clothes for use in the family during the follow- ing winter. The motive power of this woolen-mill was water that had been accumulated by placing a dam across the Big Raccoon. Perrysville was a thriving. humming town and easily the best town in this county, doing an immense business in manufacturing and merchandising.
West of Clinton was the Indiana Iron Furnace, which employed a host of men, scattered a large pay-roll throughout the township, and which used up the iron ore found everywhere in the beds of the creeks. In fact, the people were so self-dependent that they could practically get along for long periods without any outside aid. And yet all these industries were paralyzed and forever silenced by the after-results of the war. The fires died out of the smelting furnace, the boats came no more for their usual cargoes.
At this time Main street was only a second-rate affair. All the business was done along First street. The river bank was built up almost solidly in wood yards, coal yards, grain elevators, great warehouses, pork-packing
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houses, stores, etc. It was river commerce. I have seldom ever gone over into Illinois that I do not meet some old farmer who, half a century ago, brought his grain and pork to Clinton to be shipped off south in payment for the product of slave labor. There was no outlet for all this surplus product. There was no place to ship it and no way of getting it on to the ยท markets of the world. And the industries, in and about Clinton, wilted at the blast of war as a sensitive plant will wilt in the hand. The men left the furnace to go to the front. . Although they were all Democrats, they were all loyal to their country. The fires went out, never to light the midnight skies again. And today the place is almost a tradition. The flouring mill of William Hedges closed down, to never again turn a wheel and was later taken down, brought to town and rebuilt and burned in March, 1891. The pork-packing houses all closed down, never to re-open. The coal and wood yards and river traffic all fell into decay. The grain traffic alone held on until in the seventies, when the railroad came to its relief. Boys used to climb up into the warehouses and over the huge timbers to chase the bats and owls out from their hiding places. ( The above picture of Clinton and neighborhood was published in the Argus by L. O. Bishop and is doubtless true to life forty and fifty years ago.)
INDUSTRIES OF CLINTON, 1912.
Among the leading industries of the city of Clinton may be here cited the Clinton Paving Brick Company, which was established in 1893, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars; M. L. Morey, president; H. C. Dies, treas- urer : J. W. Robb, secretary and manager ; B. H. Morgan and M. C. Wright, directors. The first output of this extensive plant was in August, 1893, the capacity being forty thousand brick per day. The specialty is paving brick of a very superior quality. The company own sixty-five acres of land, and thus produce their own raw material. They employ about sixty-five work- men, and run the year round. The output is nearly all sold in the great Middle West. The clay this company owns will furnish all that is needed for many years to come. It is one of the most extensive plants in this sec- tion of Indiana, and is the largest of any, save that at Veedersburg alone, which is the greatest in Indiana.
This has come to be almost a clay and cement age, and as timber be- comes scarcer, the construction of almost all kinds of structures will be ac- complished by the use of brick and cement materials. For street paving there is nothing now known so excellent as the proper grades of paving brick. and in this Clinton excels. For this reason the city is indeed fortunate
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in having this modern plant situated within her limits, furnishing employ- ment for so large a number of men.
Other industries include the overall and skirt factory, in the south part of the city, which employs about seventy-five persons, mostly women; the Clinton Canning Factory, which institution puts up large quantities of vege- tables : the ice company, making artificial ice of a splendid quality ; the ma- chine shops of Hays & Balmer and that of R. P. Shattuk; the hard-wood saw mills, located in the central eastern portion of the city, near the Wa- bash river front, the property of Butcher & Cooper.
Of the greater industry, that of coal mining operations, the chapter on Mining will treat.
The milling interests are well represented by the Clinton Milling Com- pany, whose large plant is situated in the heart of the city, near the river front, where a fine grade of flour, meal, graham and feed is produced.
THE POSTOFFICE.
Clinton has the most important postal business of any postoffice within the county. It is the only second-class office and is now looking forward with great anticipation to the time when it will become a free delivery office, the population of the city long since having passed the limit for such a change. There are four rural routes extending out from this office to the outlying country, and the parcel post is now installed and in active operation. Again. it is promised that the coming session of Congress will appropriate for a postoffice building not less than sixty-five thousand dollars.
There being a very large foreign element in and near the city, this has long been a good paying money order center, especially in foreign orders. The postal savings department of the office was established in October. 1911, and on December 13, 1912, the books showed an amount of $14,604 on deposit. The other business of the office, aside from money orders, amounted to $11,795, in the last fiscal year.
The postmasters of Clinton have included the following: The first was Dave Patton; then, commencing with James McCollough, who served from 1856 to 1860, the postmasters have been John A. Campbell, 1860-65: John Payton, 1865-69; John G. Campbell, 1869-72; Thomas H. Allen, 1873-77; John F. Leighton, 1877-85 : George W. Edwards, 1885-89; Marietta Blythe, 1889-93; L. O. Bishop, 1893-97; W. H. Bonner, 1897-01 ; J. N. Foist, 1901- IO; John O. Stark, 1910-14.
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PARKE AND VERMILLION COUNTIES, INDIANA.
CHURCHIES AND LODGES.
Clinton has the following churches and lodges :
Roman Catholic, Sacred Heart, No. 548 Nebeker street.
Christian, northeast corner Blackman and South Seventh streets.
Finlanders Lutheran, No. 326 North Eighth street.
Methodist Episcopal, Blackman and South Fourth.
African Methodist Episcopal, Fifth and South Main streets.
Presbyterian, northwest corner South Third and Mulberry streets.
First Italian Presbyterian, North Eighth and Oak streets.
United Brethren, No. 910 South Main street.
Fraternal Order of Eagles.
Columbian Federation Societies.
Grand Army of the Republic, P. R. Owen Post No. 329.
Knights of Pythias, Hazel Lodge No. 217: Victor Lodge No. 553; Uni- form Rank No. 105; Pythian Sisters.
United Mine Workers of America, in which all the fifteen mines about the city are represented.
Masonic, Jerusalem Lodge No. 99: Royal Arch Masons, Chapter No. 125; Knights Templar, Commandery No. 48; Order of Eastern Star, Chap- ter No. 254.
Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 3105.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Unity Lodge No. 827: Clinton En- campment No. 143: Vermillion Rebekah Lodge No. 82.
Owls, Lodge No. 1199.
Improved Order of Red Men, Waukeena Tribe No. 175.
MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
Clinton was incorporated about 1848-49, by special act of the Legisla- ture, which empowered the trustees to prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors. In about 1879 the place was incorporated under the general laws of the state, and was divided into five wards, from each of which there was elected one trustee, the term of office being for two years. The president was elected by the board and the members by the people. The records of the place have not been preserved complete, but such as have been kept in- tact show that the officers between 1880 and 1887 were as follows: Presi- dents-Neil J. McDougall, 1880-84: Decatur Downing, 1885; W. L. Morey, 1886-87. Clerks-D. C. Johnson, 1880; L. O. Bishop, 1881 ; Decatur Down-
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ing, 1882: J. M. Hays, 1883-84; Ed. H. Johnson, 1885-87. Other officers to the present have been as follows: The city was made a fifth-class city in 1895 and the mayors have been William G. Merrill. 1895: N. C. Anderson, 1896-98: C. M. White, 1898-02: D. C. Johnson, 1902-06; C. E. Lowery, 1906-10: H. M. Ferguson, 1910-11; M. M. Scott, 1911; M. J. Tucker, 19II and present incumbent. Mayor Ferguson resigned October 16, 1911, and was followed by Scott, who resigned November 20, 1911.
The city officials in 1912 are: Mayor, Morgan J. Tucker; clerk, T. L. McDonald; treasurer, Arthur B. Roberts: attorney, John 'A. Wiltermood ; board of health, Drs. W. D. Gerrish, C. W. Ashley, Ivan Scott : aldermen, first ward, Louis Antoninnie: second ward, James P. Tutwiler ; third ward, William T. Reid: fourth ward, Lawrence W. Vogel; at-large. John R. Paine and H. S. Pinson : chief of police. W. D. Vanness ; police, W. S. Vanhousen. James Buffo, A. M. Clark, David Bowser, Raphael Bunde.
The fire department consists of a volunteer company of about twenty men, with a chief and a driver of the city team; the former is now Carl Balmer and the latter ( the only salaried man) is I. B. Hupp. The company is said to be one of the most efficient in all Indiana. The city owns a fine fire-fighting apparatus.
The board of education at present (1912) is: President. Dr. D. C. Schaff ; secretary. Harmon K. Morgan ; treasurer, Frank Slater : superinten- dent of schools, Prof. E. E. Oberholtzer.
The city has a fine public library, the gift of Andrew Carnegie, which building was completed in 1909, at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars. This library is held jointly by the city and Clinton township and a tax is levied for the purchase of books annually. The present board consists of: Presi- dent, H. M. Ferguson : secretary, J. W. Strain: H. T. Harger. Roy Slater, Valzah Reeder, H. S. Pinson, Mrs. F. L. Swinehart. Miss Callie McMechen, Miss Bessie Vandyne. The librarian is Miss Faye Tillotson. The shelves of this new library are not well supplied with standard books, not even many of the state and United States government reports, but as time goes on doubtless the board will see to it that such works are added to the library, which now is really largely of interest to the school children and readers of fiction and the standard papers and periodicals. About $1,800 is raised an- nually by taxation for the purchase of books. The coming year it is ex- pected the levy will furnish $2,800 for the extension of the library book stock. In December, 1912, there were 3.263 books on the shelves. The library was established in 1908 under the act of 1901-03.
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PARKE AND VERMILLION COUNTIES, INDIANA.
THE WATER WORKS AND LIGHT PLANT.
Up to about 1904 Clinton had no system of water works, but in that year the present system was installed. Wells were sunk to the gravel, in pure, living water, in the vicinity of the plant, which is near the heart of the business portion of the city and near the bank of the Wabash river. Bonds were floated in order to secure means with which to build the works, the cost to date being about $73,520. The plant was put in in 1910 under the direction of Superintendent W. M. Hamilton, who is still in charge. The total number of miles of water mains in the city now is thirteen. The plant was greatly enlarged in 1910 and is now supposed to be sufficient for a city of twenty-five thousand population. The quality of water is second to none in the state. There are now thirteen wells, ranging in depth from sixty to seventy-five feet, going fifty feet below the waters of the Wabash river, terminating in white gravel and sand, making a fine natural filter. The daily capacity of this system is two and one-quarter million gallons. There are now ninety-two fire plugs or street hydrants, and in December, 1912. there were nine hundred customers. Water is sold both by meter and flat rate, the rates ranging from fifteen to thirty cents per thousand cubic feet. Three huge pumps are installed at the plant, but usually one is sufficient. In case of fire, another is set in motion and a pressure of one hundred pounds per square inch is realized in the business portion of the city. One of the mains extends about one mile out from the pumping plant. The present officers of the water works are the water committee of the city, with Will- iam Hamilton as superintendent, with Leslie Galloway and Jesse C. Patch as engineers, one for day and one for night.
ELECTRIC LIGHTING PLANT.
While not a part of the municipal improvements, the electric lighting system in Clinton is here given. It is a private corporation, which organ- ized and commenced operations in the summer of 1891, the turning on of the current being on July Ist of that year. and on the Fourth of July it was a feature of the city's Independence day celebration. It is known as the Clinton Electric Light and Power Company. Its first directors were J. E. Knowles, Daniel McBeth, B. H. Morgan, W. L. Morey, W. H. Bonner, J. W. Robb, secretary and manager, who has served in this capacity since then with a few years interim, and constantly since 1905. At first simply an arc system was installed, but in 1892 the incandescent system was put in
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operation. The plant is located on Vine street, near the water works plant of the city, close to the railroad and river front. They now furnish power to all the factories and mills in the city, save two newspapers, even furnish- ing the power for the roller mills and refrigerating plant. It is all home capital and is a financial success. The plant has three immense Corliss engines and three dynamos, though but one usually is employed, the others being for emergency and power extension when needed. The present presi- dent of the company is David McBeth; vice-president, Mark Nebeker, and J. W. Robb is secretary and manager ; the other director is B. H. Morgan.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Among the experiences of the people of Clinton, in years gone by, the following may be of interest to the present-day and future generations :
Here, as elsewhere in Indiana, the liquor question has ever been a thorn in the side of respectable citizens. Here has been fought many a hard con- test between temperance and anti-temperance people. The saloon is still here and will likely exist until some state or national law wipes the business from the face of the commonwealth. One of the most remarkable move- ments along this line, in modern days, was the "Woman's Crusade" of 1874- 76. In 1874 a band of praying women laid siege to a saloon, day and night. being on duty in divisions, by turns. The proprietor finally surrendered. In April, 1875, a company of ladies, headed by Mrs. Malone and Mrs. Kibby, marched in double file to the saloon owned by Tice & Melcher, to hold an interview with the proprietors; but on arrival found the fort evacuated and the doors wide open. The ladies guarded the place until evening and then retired. The next night one of the proprietors was arrested, and while he was in custody the citizens gathered at the point of contest and demolished everything that contained intoxicating liquors. The proprietor then sued fifteen of the citizens for $5,000 damages, but the case was compromised or dismissed. Other events of this crusade occurred, but of minor importance.
There are now numerous saloons doing business under a license sys- tem, while the work of the temperance press and pulpit, of temperance so- cieties, including the Christian Temperance Unions, goes bravely on, with the hope of making public opinion in the state and county strong enough in the near future to forever do away with drinking places in the city.
CLINTON DAVING
AND BUILDINGTRICK
-
1.1
MANUFACTURERS
VITRIFIED SHALE PAVERS
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PARKE AND VERMILLION COUNTIES, INDIANA.
NATURAL GAS.
What was styled the Clinton Natural Gas Company was organized in the spring of 1887, with a capital of from two to four thousand dollars. The president was C. Mathews; secretary, W. H. Hamilton; treasurer, N. C. Anderson. The other directors were J. J. Higgins, Decatur Downing, J. E. Knowles, C. B. Knowles, and W. A. Hays. Drilling followed, but the word failure was finally stamped on their laudable efforts.
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CHAPTER XIX.
THE TOWN OF NEWPORT.
Newport, the seat of justice for Vermillion county, Indiana, was platted, or recorded as a "village," July 28, 1828, and re-platted and corrected up for permanent record, March 8, 1837, by S. S. Collett; its location is in section 26. township 17, range 9 west.
The first dry goods store 'opened here was by Daniel E. Jones, whose entire stock could have easily been carried on a wagon. This business was established in this manner: Jones was shipping hogs, some of which died. These were rendered into soap, which was sold for goods. Later, Mr. Jones became a wealthy man, went to Chicago, where he became a millionaire, and died in that city.
The first good residence in Newport was a building north of where the Methodist Episcopal church was erected. For many years the trees of this town were noted for their beauty and size. A number of locust trees were planted in 1832 and in 1887 had grown to measure over two feet in diam- eter, while one apple tree had grown to the unusual size of over three feet in diameter.
Newport was incorporated as a town early in the spring of 1870. The records show that the first officers were: William E. Livengood. president of the board; Clark Leavitt, Benjamin K. Dicken and E. Y. Jackson : J. A. Souders, clerk. Other presidents have been : E. V. Jackson, James A. Bell, F. M. Bishop, S. H. Dallas, James A. Foland, William P. Henson, Oliver Knight, James Hasty, Robert Landon. Calvin Arrasmith, Robert E. Sears, John W. Cross. Passing down to the present time the officers are: Presi- dent. I. M. Casebeer; other members of the board, William Ashton, Her- bert C. Sawyer and John A. Darby: clerk, Clarence Magers; marshal, Mathew C. Ashcraft ; treasurer, Robert A. Wiltermood: William C. Wait, solicitor.
Three attempts have been made to dissolve the incorporation of New- port, but all failed. The last was in 1877, when the question was put to the voters and by a majority of nineteen it was decided to hold the incorpora- tion. The town is still without a system of water works, but is furnished (under a ten-year contract) from Cayuga with a good electric lighting sys- tem. The town hall is leased.
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PARKE AND VERMILLION COUNTIES, INDIANA.
Going back many years, the town was noted for its milling interests. An old mill stood on Market street, called the Eureka Mills, run by steam. It was built by James A. Bell, who sold to Curtis & White, who in turn sold to B. J. Abbott, and while in the possession of the latter, January 26, 1882, it was burned, by a careless act of an employe, and was never rebuilt. The loss was estimated at three thousand five hundred dollars.
The chief industry is now the extensive tile works of William Dee, a Chicago capitalist, who has a series of plants for clay-working in this and Parke county. These works run day and night, the year around.
The banking interests have been already noticed in another chapter. The newspapers of Newport will be found in the Press chapter, and the churches and schools in other chapters.
On the night of May 5. 1884. the Newport postoffice was robbed of three hundred and fifty dollars, the safe being blown open. The burglars were frightened away by the passing of a young man in the vicinity before they obtained all that they had intended to. These thieves were never cap- tured.
The town is built in a pleasing style, and many good residences are seen here and there. The site is an ideal one. and has a beautiful natural landscape surrounding it. The Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroad runs north and south, through the eastern part of the platting, about one mile from the court house and business section. The business houses are built largely around the four sides of the court house square.
While the saloon business is no longer a great menace to Newport, in times past it was an "eye-sore" to the better clement, and many wrangles grew out of the liquor question. The town finally, in 1906, had its last saloon.
The population of Newport in 1912 was 732.
TEMPERANCE MATTERS.
Newport has had her own share of trouble over the liquor traffic, and the usual number of crusades and temperance societies and great temper- ance revivals. This was a vexations question back before the Civil war period, when whisky was supposed to be better in grade than since Uncle Sam exacted a large revenue. But passing over these early trials, we come down to a time of which many now remember the circumstances and events. in attempting to make Newport a "dry" town. First the then popular Or- der of Good Templars was set on working basis at the place in 1868, with a
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