History of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, from the earliest times to the present, with biographical sketches, reminiscences, etc., Part 14

Author:
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: [Madison, Wis.] : Brant & Fuller
Number of Pages: 714

USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > History of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, from the earliest times to the present, with biographical sketches, reminiscences, etc. > Part 14

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building. The next lot toward Main street, II, contained a small frame house, painted red, and in its day known far and wide as " The Little Red," in which a store was kept for years, first by Lister & Wheeler, next by Joseph M. Caldwell, and afterward by the Rev. Robert Parrett and his son, John Parrett. On the rear part of the same lot Nathan Rowley had a double one-story log house, in one end of which he conducted a shoemaker's shop, employing two or three journeymen. Mr. Rowley was also a justice of the peace, and had his magistrate's office in the other end of the building: Lot 12, old plan, at the upper corner of Main and Water streets, contained a two-story frame house, which was occupied by Robert Barnes when he first came to Evansville. The house, however, was built and in use long before Mr. Barnes ever saw the town. There was also another two-story frame house, at the rear or alley part of lot 12. It was sometimes used as a dwelling house, and occasionally as a place of business.

At the corner of Main and First streets, on lot 38, old plan, where the Kazar House was afterward built, and which is now occu- pied by the banking house of the First National Bank, was a two-story frame dwelling, the residence of Dr. Seaman. On lot 39, adjoining the Warner tavern, was a two-story frame knownas " Warner's Den." It was here that the fast young men of the village congregated nightly to take a hand in cards and other games of chance, and from the carousals they had there the place took its name. It was a noted quarter in the early days of the town.

Going out Main street, at the east corner of Main and First, on lot 59, old plan, there was a one-story frame house in which John M. Lockwood kept a grocery. On the same lot, fronting on First street, stood a tall one-

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THE CITY OF EVANSVILLE.

story log house, entered at the front door by a flight of wooden steps, which was the residence and office of John Conner, then a justice of the peace. On lot 60, the next above on Main street, there was a two- story frame house, which was the property of one of the McClain family, of Henderson county, Ky. Next to the alley, on lot 60, a Mr. Avery had a cabinet shop. On lot 85, across the alley, was a large two-story frame, the property of Samuel Mansel. On the next block between Second and Third streets, upon lot 108, and adjoining the alley, stood a two-story log house, where Ansel Wood kept a tavern. On a part of the same lot, but a few feet down the street from the tavern, was,a small frame house, which af- terward became the property of James Scantlin, Sr., and was occupied by him for a series of years as a tin shop. On lot 234 of the Donation enlargement, being on Fifth street between Locust and Walnut, where Thomas Bullen's livery stable now stands, was a two-story frame dwelling, the resi- dence of Judge John M. Dunham. His brother, Horace Dunham, occupied the same house for many years afterward.

On the " Evans homestead," which em- braced the entire block bounded by Main, Fifth, Locust and Sixth streets, occupying a gentle rise of the ground, stood a pretty one- story cottage, surrounded by trees and shrubbery, which was much admired.

The old court-house, yet standing, but hemmed in by other buildings, occupied the south corner of what was known as the " public square," at the intersection of Main and Third streets. On the opposite diagonal corner of the public square where the present court-house and jail stand, and occupying the precise location of the present jail, was a log structure twelve feet square in the clear, inside, but with walls three feet thick, made of hewed white oak timbers,

which was the first jail of Vanderburgh county. It was from this structure that John Harvey was taken to suffer execution June 27, 1823. A considerable knoll arose in the rear of the court-house, and on its crest at the back end of lot 135, stood a two-story building originally a log structure, which was afterward framed over. This house stood until within a very few years past. It was built by William R. McGary, a brother of Col. Hugh McGary, and was for some years the home of Capt. James Newman, and while he lived there was a fashionable residence. On lot 136, old plan, at the west corner of Third and Locust streets, stood the blacksmith shop of Col. Seth Fairchild, where the augers were made with which to bore salt wells. Near by, on the same block, ornamenting the crest of a small knoll or hill, stood. the two- story house built by Wm. R. McGary, and which for a time was the fashionable resi- dence of Capt. James Newman.

The sketch of Evansville on the upper side of Main street is now complete, with the addition of the first jail, which was below Main.

On lot 13, old plan, at the lower corner of Main and Water streets, stood a two- story frame building, the property of Will- iam and James Lewis, wherein these gen- tlemen kept a miscellaneous store, dealing in most all kinds of wares sold in the market. It was the principal store of the town for a considerable time. On the same lot adjoin- ing Lewis' store, Robert Armstrong also kept a store.

Fronting on Main street adjacent to the alley that runs at the rear end of lot 13, stood the warehouse of Col. Hugh McGary in which the first court was held in Vander- burgh county. The courts continued to be held in McGary's warehouse until the first court- house had sufficiently progressed to be used

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PANORAMA OF 1820.

for court purposes. During all this time the warehouse continued to be used for com- mercial purposes. In later years Bement & Viele opened a wholesale grocery in this same warehouse, presenting to their cus- tomers the largest stock of goods that had ever been brought to Evansville. The firm continued to do business in the premises until they finally erected their own store- house. Subsequently this celebrated ware- house was removed to Sycamore street, between Fourth and Fifth, where it was util- ized by John Gavisk. and others for packing pork. It is still standing, now in use as a livery stable, and may be regarded as a relic of former days closely identified with the history of Evansville.

Where the Evansville National Bank building now stands, there was a one-story log house in which J. V. Robinson kept store. It was afterward occupied by Garrett Jones, a brother of James W. Jones. Two or three years later, J. V. Robinson built a frame warehouse on the corner of First and Main, lot 36, old plan, which was afterward occu- pied at various times as a store by Charles Stewart, John S. Hopkins, and probably others. In this building W. & C. Bell opened their drug store in later years. On lot 83, old plan, where the Lahr-Hopkins dry goods house now is, Mr. Posey had a two-story frame house. At the corner of Main and Fifth streets there was an odd kind of a rookery somewhat resembling a huge chicken coop.

Returning to Water street, on lot 14, old plan, the second lot below Main street, stood the historical hewed log house of Col. Hugh McGary. It was one story and a half high, 36 feet long by 18 feet wide, with an L running back and connecting at the rear with the warehouse which fronted on Main street, as above described. This house of Col. McGary was a marked feature of the

pioneer era. Before the plan of Evansville had an existence, there was a small store kept there, and it was the hostelry for per- sons passing through the wilderness who sought temporary accommodations. In that house the first post-office was opened in ISIS, and there the county commissioners held their early meetings.

Fronting on First street, on the rear part of lot 61, old plan, Daniel Tool had a small frame tailor shop. Tool was an Irishman and a Catholic. One of his failings was that he would occasionally get drunk and have a fight. On such occasions, there being no Catholic priest at hand, as soon as he got over his little spree he would mount his horse, ride to Vincennes, visit the priest stationed there, and confessing his error ask for absolution.

Next to Tool's shop there was a two-story frame house occupied by William Kelly as a residence. On lot III, old plan, near the corner of Sycamore and Second streets, was the two-story frame residence of Andrew Graham, who was a son-in-law of Mr. King, a long time resident of the farm on the op- posite side of the river from Evansville. After several transfers, the Graham property was purchased by the Reverend Father Deydier for the use of the Catholic church, and upon the ruins of the old frame house of IS20 arose the walls of the first Church of the Assumption, some twenty years later. The church building, later known as Viele hall, has been torn down within the present year and on its site the . building of the Business Men's association is being erected.

On lot 65, old plan, at the corner of First and Sycamore streets, where Sweetser & Caldwell now have their wholesale notion store, there stood a two-story log dwelling house, and one of similar size and material stood on the adjacent corner across First street, being lot 32 of the old plan.

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THE CITY OF EVANSVILLE.

Farther down First street, on lot 30, old plan, stood the finest brick residence of the city. This was a large, double front, two- story brick dwelling, built by Nicholas Thompson, and occupied at different times by various old residents. Mr. Edward Hop- kins resided there for a while after returning from Saundersville, and partially put the finishing touches upon its construction. In after years a large public hall was attached in the rear and the premises converted into a restaurant and theater. It was first called the Apollo, and subsequently the Mozart hall. On the opposite side of First street from this building, on lot 67, old plan, stood a one-story log hut in which dwelt a man named Paxton.

On lot 120, old plan, where the city hos- pital now stands, stood a commodious two- story frame dwelling, erected by Varner Satterlee. On lot 3, Douglas addition, at the north corner of Division and First streets, was a large two-story log house, occupied by the Sullivan girls. On lots 1, 3, and 4 of the Lower or McGary's enlargement there stood three two-story log houses.

The foregoing were all the houses of the embryo city in 1820, except two which were far removed from the center of the village. One of these was a good sized two-story frame dwelling, which stood below Goodsell street, and the other a two-story log house in the Upper enlargement, occupying a part of the site of the present water works, which was for a considerable time the residence of William Stinson, the father of Thomas J. Stinson, the well known river pilot.

The drive down the rugged river bank at that time was protected from caving by interlaced wooden buttresses. Some old citizens have believed that this work was constructed nearly a generation after the time here mentioned. In support of their belief they assert that they saw the laborers

preparing and putting the timbers together. This is possibly true, but the work then being done was probably repairing and not original construction. Taken altogether the description of the town as outlined above is very nearly perfect. The picture from which it is taken stood the severe test of a critical examination by many old residents, now gone forever, who pronounced it accu- rate in all its details.

In viewing Evansville's condition during the period of adversity following 1820, it may be well to examine briefly the causes of that condition. During the war of IS12, manufactories had grown up in the eastern and middle states, which employed much of the capital and industry that had previously been engaged in commerce. This created a demand for western produce, which con- tinued active until the change of times soon after the peace was effected, when large im- portations of foreign goods induced many of the manufacturers to relinquish the busi- ness for a time and engage in commerce or emigrate west. Prices of produce were, however, kept near the previous rates until after 1819. In this year the banking sys- tem of the west began to be seriously con- vulsed. Specie payments were suspended in all the states south of New England. The government paid its soldiery in the west and bought provisions for them in money issued by the banks of Ohio. A large cir- culation was required, and banks were estab- ished on fictitious capital, and, as a naturall consequence, the country soon became flooded with a depreciated and often worth- less currency. By 1822 the western banks had failed, and there was no longer any cir- culating medium. Even cut silver (which has been facetiously described as an at- tempted division of a dollar into five quar- ters) disappeared, and the coonskin became the basis for all financial transactions of lim-

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PERIOD OF ADVERSITY.

ited dimensions. The Bank of Vincennes had been established in 1814, and was pru- dently managed at first, but its failure was one of the most discreditable occurring in

and had failed to pay for them. Property to large amounts was sacrificed for costs merely, and even creditors got no benefit. The details of many cases are almost beyond the country. Its paper became entirely belief. In one instance, the purchaser of worthless, and the government received only a small proportion of some $200,000 which, as the proceeds of public land sales, had been deposited with the bank.

certain lands had paid three-fourths of the purchase money, and had mortgaged the property to secure the payment of the re- maining one-fourth; on a foreclosure of the mortgage, the property was sold for one- half the amount due -- that is, for one-eighth of the original purchase money; and the mortgagee, after the return of better times, collected the one-half remaining unpaid from the debtor out of other resources. Relief laws, the fruits of wrong principles and wrong feelings, were enacted, and efforts were made to prevent the collection of debts. These but added to the business stagnation. Congress lowered the price of public lands, extended the time of payment tempted to afford relief against forfeitures, and in various ways sought to relieve the general distress, but with little success.

The commercial disasters and the wide- spread want among the people are a part of the nation's history. The village of Evans- ville shared the general distress prevalent throughout the states of the nation, and had additional woes of a local nature to endure. The years 1820, 1821 and 1822 were at- tended with more general and fatal sickness than ever before had been experienced. Bilious and intermitting fevers were preva- lent in all parts of the state. Not a neigh- borhood, and, indeed, hardly an individual, escaped the ravages of some form of mala- on lands already entered by settlers, at- rial poison. The larger towns in the state lost from one-fourth to one-half of their population, and some villages were entirely depopulated. All business was, in a meas- For a time after this period of adversity was begun, some imagining it to be only temporary, continued to invest their means ure, suspended, not because of any general seriousness produced by so much sickness, for even in the chambers of death and at the in business ventures. In 1821 the publica- grave there was much apparent levity, but ition of a newspaper was commenced in the more on account of a carelessness respecting village. This was the Evansville Gazette, all kinds of business, that seemed to possess established, and for a time conducted, by all alike. As a direct result of the hard Gen. Elisha Harrison, a prominent man of times and the general sickness, immigration his day, self-taught, energetic and able, and William Monroe, a practical printer, under the almost wholly ceased. The price of lands went down rapidly, and there seemed no | firm name of Harrison & Monroe. Later it limit to the decline in values. There was passed into the individual ownership of Mr. Monroe and after a brief struggle for life passed out of existence about the latter part of 1824. William and James Lewis, Robert Barnes and John Mitchell were then engaged in mercantile pursuits here, and during this period of depression, probably about 1823, the firm of Shanklin & Moffatt was estab- absolutely no money to be had, and it was one . of the pioneer's misfortunes that the government would not accept produce or coonskins for land, but insisted on receiving cash. The county of Vanderburgh was suing, or threatening to sue, all who had bought lots in the Donation enlargement

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THE CITY OF EVANSVILLE.

lished. The first-named member of this firm, the late John Shanklin, on account of his probity, integrity, and intelligence in busi- ness, drew about his name a lustre which time has not yet dimmed.

Original plan. $21,681 00

Donation enlargement 2,115 06

Upper enlargement. 2,690 00

Lower enlargement. 848 00

Total $27,334 06

Among the improvements in the town which evidenced the faith that some had At this time the following persons were the in its ability to withstand the storm and come trustees of the town: Amos Clark, presi- out safely in the future, were the first dent; Charles I. Battell, Harley B. Chan- dler, Nathan Rowley, and Joshua V. Rob- inson. brick houses erected. The old court- house still standing at the southeast corner of Third and Main streets, was Like a pall, hard times settled down upon the village. Taxes were unpaid and the collector was without a remedy. He might levy upon property and expose it to sale, but he found no purchasers. There was plenty of produce, and the spectre Famine was not invading the homes of the poor, but business was paralyzed and motionless. Men ceased to make efforts to enliven trade, their apparently sole aim being to exist and, Micawber-like, wait for something to turn up. The maintenance of civil government in the village received no thought or care. From March 14, 1825, to January 28, 1828, there appears to have been no meeting of the town trustees, and Evansville almost ceased to maintain its existence as a cor- porate body. There were few acquisitions to business circles, and some who had estab- lished themselves in a period of brighter hopes, were forced to retire and resort to other means of gaining a support. the first structure of this kind erected in the village. Various make-shifts were resorted to by the county officials to meet the de- mands of the contractors. Lots in Donation enlargement, the notes of purchasers of other lots, judgments secured by the county against individuals, and other credits of a like nature, in the absence of ready money, were used to keep up the work on this public building. The bricks for its construction were burned on the northwest quarter of the public square, on the site of the court house now in use, the wood for the purpose being cut from the forests in the immediate vicinity. The first brick residence was quite a preten- tious two-story dwelling built by Nicholas Thompson, on First street, between Vine and Sycamore. The next brick house was erected on Main street just below the cor- ner of First, by J. V. Robinson, about 1825. This building was one of the most preten- tious habitations in the town in its day, and stood for nearly a generation. It was after- ward occupied for several years by Mr. John Walsh as a residence, and was finally torn down by Judge M. W. Foster, when he erected the storehouses now standing on that corner.

It may be of interest to know that in 1824, for the first time, the assessed value of real estate appears upon the public records, as follows;

It is a pleasure to turn from this dark pic- ture and look upon a canvas illumined with brighter tints. Congress, by legislative en- actments, guaranteed a degree of protec- tion to home industries against disastrous foreign competition, and in the larger cities of the land, and in the country generally, the beneficial effects of the policy adopted were soon apparent. Here, in the immedi- ate vicinity of Evansville, about 1828, steady industry and economy had paid off most of

115

RETURN OF PROSPERITY.

the individual debt of the country; the peo- ple had accustomed themselves to hard times, and by the tireless work of their own hands brought back prosperity. The com- mencement of the national road to the state capitol, which in 1825 had been removed from Corydon to Indianapolis, turned the attention of emigrants towards the state: the interior counties of the state were filling with a class of good citizens, progressive and industrious; congress had made its first grant of lands to the Wabash & Erie canal, and the subject of internal improvements had begun to wield its exciting influence upon the minds of men. The great west, with its apparently boundless stores of wealth, with the revival of prosperity throughout the country, began to attract the capitalist seeking profitable investment for his means, as well as the impoverished pioneer who came seeking a home and a field for the display of his energy and native shrewdness, his only talents.

On the 2Sth of March, 1828, a board of trustees was again organized, and Evansville revived. John Shanklin, president, John Conner, Alanson Warner, Jay Morehouse and William Lewis, all men of more than ordinary ability, whose names were subse- quently conspicuous in public affairs in the town and county, were chosen as trustees. The tax duplicate for that year shows that the assessment of taxes amounted to $107.2812, a sum considerably less than that which appeared upon the duplicate nine years earlier, when the town was more pop- ulous and flourishing. But from that time onward the pulsations of new life were felt, and these grew in strength as the years advanced. Up to this time Evansville had not even boasted of a blacksmith's shop, one of the earliest conveniences de- manded by an agricultural community. To supply the demand for a smithy, Gen. |by the way of Petersburgh to the rich lands

Evans brought a negro, by the name of Worsham, from Kentucky, for the purpose of operating his trade. In the course of a year or two Jonathan Fairchild and his sons emigrated from New York, and established a smithy in the village of Mechanicsville, which became quite an institution in its day. For several years all the livery horses in Evansville were taken to Fairchild's shop to be shod. All kinds of iron work was exe- cuted there, the smithy running five forges a good deal of the time.

Other mechanical industries began to be represented, and the list of merchants grew in length. Stocks carried were enlarged in quantity and improved in variety to satisfy the growing demands of a diversified popu- lation. Concerning this period, Judge Will- iam F. Parrett, in an address delivered in 1880, used these words: " You may readily imagine those who were engaged in business here as merchants closely scanning the natu- ral advantages of this locality. They saw, 200 miles above us, the falls of the Ohio, and about the same distance to the northwest the old city of St. Louis, which had been established a little more than a half century before by a trader by the name of Laclede, the navigable condition of the Wabash river for the greater part of each year, the elegant and almost continuous fit- ness for navigation the year round of the Ohio river to the Mississippi river, and thence to the Gulf: they saw Green river and other tributaries above, and the Wabash, Cumberland and Tennessee below, not only supplying the Ohio with water, but these were themselves destined, at an early day, to be made to contribute largely to the trade and commerce of this city and locality. They also saw the feasibility of good roads by the way of Princeton and Vincennes to the prairies of Indiana and Illinois, and also

116

THE CITY OF EVANSVILLE.

bordering on the Patoka and White rivers; nor did they forget that unsurpassed and almost unequalled body of land near by, lying in the counties of Spencer, Warrick, Gibson and Posey. These merchants were soon joined by others, both German and American, of whom the late Asa B. Bement, Samuel Orr and others were true types. Ships began to run from New York and the Atlantic coast to New Orleans, and a superior class of steamboats began to move like ' things of life' upon the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; and there are men here who well remember the trains of large wagons heavily loaded going out to, and coming in from as far out as, Rockville, Terre Haute, Vincennes and many interior towns, both in Illinois and Indiana. It is needless to say that under such men and conditions all the diversifications of commer- cial business prospered, and the citizens generally hailed a bright prospect in the near future, and yet it may well be said of these men that they builded wiser than they knew."

and dull; plenty of vacant lots and no sales mentioned; any number could be had for $20 or $25; dog-fennel and stumps in every direction. Of the early inhab- itants, the men having families in 1831, were : Gen. Robert M. Evans, Dr. William Trafton, John Mitchell, Amos Clark, Thomas Johnson, Silas Stephens, John M. Dunham, Mr. Ruark, Capt. James Newman, Maj. Alanson Warner, William McNitt, William Lewis, Joseph Hughey, Alpheus Fairchild, John W. Lilliston, William Scates, Camillus Evans, Edward Hopkins, Robert Barnes, Alex Johnson, William Dougherty, Daniel Tool, Alex McCallister, Henry Greek, Levi Price, L. J. Stinson, Dr. Phillips, James Lewis, Samuel Mansel, Abel Sullivan, Daniel Sul- livan, Clark Lewis. The unmarried men in Evansville, in 1831, were: John Shanklin, John S. Hopkins, John M. Lockwood, Will- iam Caldwell, William Campbell, John Mansel, Horace Dunham, Henry Carring- ton, George Thompson, James Johnson, Joseph Leonard, John Young, Marcus Sher- wood, Jolin Newman, William T. T. Jones, James Johnson, William Johnson, Capt. Bar- ber, Nathan Rowley, David McArthur, John Ross, George Leonard, Richard Leonard, Stephen Woodrow. Allowing six for each family, the population of Evansville at that time was about 216. The following are the names of farmers living in the vicinity in 1831: Robert Parrett, Emanuel Hall, Charles Dunk, John Duncan, James Neal, George W. Lindsey, Luke Wood, John B. Stinson, Benoni Stinson and Daniel Miller."

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History of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, from the earliest times to the present, with biographical sketches, reminiscences, etc., Part 14

Author: Publication date: 1889 Publisher: [Madison, Wis.] : Brant & Fuller Number of Pages: 714

Author:
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: [Madison, Wis.] : Brant & Fuller
Number of Pages: 714