Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Indiana, Part 77

Author:
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Baskin, Forster & Co.
Number of Pages: 472

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CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS,

Indianapolis, the conuty sent of Marion County and capital of the State of holmna, is silunteil en the east bank of While River, in latitude 80º 5h ** b I BU4 miles southeast from Chicago, 239 enst from St. Louis, und llo warth. west from Ciueinuali. The ilistance of the capital city from the principal cities of liliana is, respectively : 180 miles from Forl Wuyue, T8 from Lo- guisport, 14 from lafayelle, 71 from Terre Haute nnil 168 fram Eraunville, The city is one of the finest muilrond centers in the West, having in netire eurration omt raulinting in all directions from her grannt nuiou depel the fol- hiring railromls :

Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Imlinunpolis. l'olumbus, Chicago & Initiunu Central.

St. Louis, Vamlatin, Terre Hunte & Imolinnapoli -.

Indianapolis & SI. Louis.

Julianapolis, Cincinnati & Iabuyelle. lilinnnpolis, Pern & Chicag», lilianapolis, Bloominghin & Western. Imlinnapolis & Viacemie".

Jeffersonville, Maulison & Imitmnapolis holmapolis Junction Rnilrond

HOPUI. ITION.

The popolufin of the rity fools up considerably over 100,000, hnring mbre thno ilonhled in the last five years The fuets ou which this estinmie of Twinlution is basel nre the following : By the United States census of 1850. Ixidl and 1870 the population wns, respectively, 8,001, 18,011 und 48,244 The inte of the city in 1810 was 7,236, muking the ratin hefiveen vole mul pupulution 1 lo 6g. The vote of the city in 1876 was 17,196; amil, if the bruine ratio existed bel ween role and popnintion in 1876 as dil in 1870, tho population of the city in Mny Innt iras 114, 178. The inerense in population fron 1850 10 1860 was 130 per cent ; from belift to 1Sitt, In0 per cent .; mid from thi0 to 1875 (only hre yours), il uns 133 per cent.

Asidle from the nbore figures, the business of the city h hicules n populn- hon uf ronsblerubly over 100,000. The commercial Transnetious mol the Lineof mannineninkl nrfieles inch amomis to liveen $ 10,000,000und] $40,- OtJuHt nonmally, mul thy taxable property lins risen from $20,000,000 in IVill to >[11,000,000 in 1876.

During the year 1871 9,60 buildings and business houses were built, il MIDAInf SitiKO), (Rt; also, ahont thirty large hnsiness blocks, al a cost of from $10,(KHI lo ittil,tu)) each. During the first nine wonlle of the year 1875, 1,dakt builtling permils were issueil, awl mong those buildings irere forly. .rien busiupey blocks, costing from $6,000 to $Th, 000 euch Wilbin the same hune, Intweeu 500 mol 1,000 buildings were erecled ontsble the corporation, In which perunts were not issueil. The citizens are nuually building houses ruungh in Indianapolis to furnish homes for 15,000 people, and the muet nf thp Enterprise in the city is married on with home enpilnl.

11 is interesting to tmed the growth of snob n ony from its incipient stages in the rule Inunlet uf half a century ugo lo its present greatness mil importuner All ihnt ne have apace fur is the merest outlines of some uf The principal ereuls which mark the different steps in its progress.

Col. W Ds. Holloway, in his " listury uf the City," protisbed in 1870, with excellent unmulysis, Irnces her ileretement through font successive sluges

Prat. That from the first settlement iu 1820, 10 the removal of The Capital hoto Corydon in 1825. This way a period of isolution, mul, for ahme, of struggle for existence. During this five yours, uo other village of The Slut> Imvl so much lu resist, and so litle to assist il. It was for fono all navigable whenur and all juosable romuls, nud, for the first two years, irns without clearing or adleyjunte enHivalion, withont mills or means of undsislenco, excepl whit uns brought on horselinek through sixty miles of forest. Sickness in the second yenr, which prostrated nearly grerybody, muily its isolatiun more Inngerous, nml sickness having prerenteil Jubor, an unpleasant nppronel 10 sturenfiun follon el the ugue, But The sirkly seulement grew u liltle larger wwil n little healthier. li built n jail, bro or threo churches, patronizeil a Teu shops, mul two or three of The inevitable noirspapers, hnul a few Im erus HIDI a Sandny sehol, und ahmerril erhlen sigus that it meant to live, whether feil Ly Slute pay or not. Then, though not free from feurs of the sentfernt Shun nees of Full freek, il we ileemed remily for the Capitul.

Seeand. The peril from 1826, when the Capital camp, In 1945, when the first milrond emme. This nay' be said to linve been n porhul of Legislative ilprwtenee, os tho possession of the Capital uns the only infinence that conseil Iudimmpolis nbure the position of un umilinner conuly towit. lis cen- Irul silnntion uns nothing then, ur mather it was a drawback. In the first yrars of this primul, the rreent nequisition of the Capital gure an nupules to The ingreasy lutth of population and the price of tuin luty, Int the sfuummulus was lost by 1827, and thencefornari growth was steady ont slow, depemlent ou the selflement of the snrrompling country, strengthened, as befine re- icked, by the pussession of the Capital. Toward the class, the expectation of mulrumi romtounlentinu excited n spirit of puterprise, ar nt leust n ferprisb treling of innest, and with the impulsr which the Incomolivo thus sent uheul

of it, began a nen rra. During this period, business was entirely of n lveal chinmeter. Some little jobling min done lo country dealers, but nothing ture, brenusr, will all the onturprise in the world, nothing mure ins possi- ble. Manufucluring was morely for home eunsumplion. All Irudle nus cir- cuinseribed by the limits of lecal demmul. Little irng expected to go, further than a former conbl Irive his lool of corn nud get home the same day. hu- porinfinns nere mulle in heavy romil wagons , exporintions in return buggies nul form ingons, Au oerasional fintbont, lomled with hay or chickend, wrnl down with The spring freshels to New Orleans, if it didn't hrenk ity bnek ms the ilam at the Bluffs. An annual drove of hures ment South for some years. llogs were driven to Cincinnati or Mailison, or the nearest lown on a nuvi- gable streum, Woolen-mills spun yarn for olil nomen, or mnude jenny fir country wear, Whent was gromel for the owner, or banght enly to griml for home nye. Cuirn iras listilleil ur feil to hogy; none nus shipped, Iron Mumling hud bren tried frier and failedl. No husmiss ires expected to exceril a few humtreil dollars per week. In this cenilition of things the city would linee remained to the end, if the railroads had not renched it. The Gral stirring of this singualion was made by the shin but ylendy approaches of the Mailison Railrond from Vernon, where it had been lying np helpless since the great crash,

Third, The period from 18-17 to 1861. This was a period of nen life. "The railroadle, like "> one fool," ureording to the prorerb, " maile many " The greal profits of the Madison Romut, the obvious benefit to the country, the fully restored financinl health pro-truted in 1837, with a score of lesser in- Buences, combineil lo give an impelos lo mailroul building, which nas the great feature of Ing wew ern. The enterprise thus stirred into netivity showed itself in all business. Ohit brouthey were eulargeil nul uris onts were rsinblishel The formlutions af most of those which bate nt length provedl so successful, und contribinted so greatly to the greuth of the city, ivere Inbl then. White business iras putting on its men's eluthey for manily rTurl, the city wux ileing the saine. Not a few changes u err inuile front the villugo chamneter uf the post. But this nelivity iros vastly increased turing the lust period ur stage of growth.

Fourth. The perivil from 1861, the brenking oul of the war, In the present time. What the nar might have lone for n loun, even as large ns Inulin li- upolis, with the muscles of ils energy rendered feebtr und Ilatin for nunl of rigorous exercise, il would he huril to say. 11 woubl have brought a vast increase of business, aml brought out a rust mldilion of netirity, but it might hurr laken both nway with il, mno, tudinipolis, skilled mil etrong, rigor- ons unil enterprising, from the schunling of the past fourteen years, was able un] prompl lo uve nll its wienuluges. The concentration of troops here, with the immense demaud they created for muy kinds of supplies, undl the Ancking herr of husjuess men to meet il ; the fuereagr of the business of those aleady here; and the ufteminut smaller rinsses of Immile uhich follow uny crowd, muiumined thrungh four years, go'e a strong impulse in the utrevly rapidly growing prosperity of the city, and created some sneh fererish feeling of being able lo do impossible things, as was so long pres 4- lent ni San Francisen, aud still is, probably, in Chicago, But the adinutages were generally safely held. They fell into strong hawls, und when the war possen off, and its impulse was removed from trwle, nothing nus lost lo Il city hut what uns ils gain-the crowd of cormoruls thut fellou eil the camps Business ivas hebl ut high water mark, or neur il. In the fire year- smo .. what little, if any, nos lost, has been regaineil, nuul a vast oblition has been mile. The growth of population and frale in all forms has gone steadily nul sirinly on. In manufactures especially hus the change been marked and promising. M the same lime Tho improcements of the city have not been less umrked. Whole streets nf enperh business blocks hare been erreled, nul miles of streets pared owl lighted. Ibnulsome residences him y spreul ontunnl farther und farther, lill they croust up the hunting forests of a few yenry ugu, ,\ system of miler marks is in process of construction. Bil-mes, flint used to swing hek mol forth uluug Washington street ns beme occasional impnler directeil, Ind nerer left ils 6xel groore, hus turned out, ir filled nu unil run over, inlo n Brore of uther streets. All the features of a well-gronn city hure superveued upon the face of the village that the first rmlrond entereil. How far this derelopmem may continue, or how it muy terannule, nill be consiilered in another place

The nel of Congress, of April 19, 1816. proriding for the ailmission af Indinua into the Unien, donntel fonr sections of unsald land for u permanent Capifut. On the 11th of .Imuary, 18Nt, the Legislature appointed the fol- lowing Commissioners lo minke the selection : George llunt, John Conner, John Gilliland, Stephen Ludlow, JiNeph Bartholomew, John Tiplou, Ipsse 15. Durhum, Freilerich Rapp, Willim Prince nund Thomas Kmersin. They irere lo meet at the house of Withnm Cuuner, in the spring, and make their elwiee. Only five ef then necepled uml urtel upon their appmutigen, These five Immersed While liver Valley, making examinations, and very naturally came le eunfieling conclusions, They, hou erer, lecided by rule, There being one majority in furor of the presem lecation. On tho 6th of Juumary, 1821, the Legislature confirmed ihr choice of ibe L'ommissioner, uml eilled the new-born city Iniliunapelis Jilge .Jeremiah Sullivan, of Jefferson County, formerly of the sinte Supreme Court, suggested the name to the legislative Committee, on the straffing the bill of approval.

Christopher Harrison, Inines hines unul Samuel P. Bopker were, by the Anne nel, appointed Commissioners to lay off the toru, amit directed in meel here un the first Montoy in April, uppoint In surveyors nil u clerk, umke n surrey nal tun maps, niul muleerlise awl sell the alternate Ints, IN BOTH As proticible, the proceeds of the stles to constitute a builling fund.

The first senters were Gearge Pogur, James wmil lohn MrCormick, John Maxwell, lown Comun, Heury and Snunel Imis, Corboly, Van Binrien, Barnhill, Harding mul laune Wilson. The Inst- mentioned built the first lionse on the lewen plat, near the nerthurst corner of The State Ibmmise sjunre

'The etleel of this location of the t'apital uns to muld Inegely le the slender popu lutin of the fhinre meltupolis. Brfore the Int sales took place, or soun nftor, There muv Dr. S. G. Mitchell, Morris Morris, Jalm Given, tamr's Gium, lumea M Ray, Matthias Nowhun], Nathaniel Cox, Johu Han kins, Dr 1 .. Itunlup, Invil Wouil, Daniel Yuodes, Alexumler Rulsion, Hr. 14me I've, Itonglas Mugmire, Obed Foole, Calvin Fletcher, James Blake, Alexutpler W Hussell, Caleb Sembler, Nicholus MeCarly, George Snuth, Nathaniel Bolton, Wilkes Reagan, Jaunes l'axiun, Samuel Henderson and others less kyonm. They enme in nearly equal proporlious frumu the South und Fast, or " Kenineky mul Whitewater," A> the divisions were then called. .. population of smine hundreds hail been gatherel by the fall, mel the village inay bo snill to lun e fairly cutered upan i's career.

The first child born in Inulinnapolis wus, probably, Merdecai Hurdling, in 120, Thongh spoLo chuam that a son of Mr. Cortaly is entitled to that honor. The first murringo wns Ibnt of lereminh Johnson to Miss June Brugun, it the same year. It is mentienen among the gallant bels of thuse dlays that Mr. .lohnson walked all the nay tu Younoraville, sixty miles, to obtain hits innrringe license, holiunpolis being qtill moler the jurisdiction of the tuother settlement. He had also lo u nil several weeks for b mimster Iu per- form thr reremtony,

Thy first store uns upenel on the south toiuk ef lugo's Creek, by Daniel Shaffer, in 1841. Juhu mil Juines Giren, and Jolin V. Osborn ful- leired in the same Imsiness alouil the same time, uenr the bouk of the river; aml Inter, Luke Walpole, Mr. Wilmnul nul Jeremiah Johnson opened stores. The first ane-quilt w is hinilt by Jnuies Linton, on Fall Creek ; he built, also, the fra grist-mill. for INaute Wilsnu, ou the same stream. James Blake pul up The first frame nud plustered hunse, just most of where the Museuie 11 dl.

TIEI ORIGINAL LITI PLAT.

The Onmissinners appuinled hy the Legislalitre to minke n plat of the praporel city dit mut mert on the first Wemvlny in April, na onlered. Only Julge Harrison was present. Br proccedlet at once to execute the opler, appainting Elius P. Fordman nol Vexamler Hlulatan Surveyurs aml Benja- mit J. Blythe, CImik. Ralston seems In hur bern the nelive man in the survey the lind, when gung, aided in the survey of Washington City, anil in the ilens uhtainel in Ihint work are the people af Imlimunpolis inlebreil for The plun of the city, especially ils wide and regular streets. The motona- lion " of feur sections nas wort ryel, n frachon on the iresi shle of the river heing wldled to fill unt one of the sections feum which a corner iras cut off hy the east ward hemel of the river In the center of this intel, a plat of une urile square was momte for the city A circle of about Diur arres being Init off ny the starting point, n elrrel eighty ferl wide ions thrown arouml it. From the extremne euruers of the fuur adjacent squares, menues were sent oul lo the nurthenst, northivest, southeast uml southwest, the first street south being 190 feel wile, and the remainter of the synre mille being buil off in regular squares of 420 feet, separated by uinely-fool streets following the cardinal points of the compass, aml divided by alleys of thirty and fifteen feet, erussing euch other at right angles in the center. The boundary streets, enst, west, north and south, were not included in the original sur- vey. The Cormaissinners seem to lire thought that nobody would ever live on the outside of the list line of squares, and made na provision to reach uny hul the entsule, These streets ewe their existence 10 James Blake, who represented their importance to Commissioner Inrrimo, and he subsequently ablel them to the plat, The livisions of the donation yulsile of the plal vere mule some time afterwant Nohoily then itreated that the young city wonbt ever sprend over the space il now beenpies

FIRST SALE HI LOTA

The first sale of lots was helt in n cabin, neenpied as ni lavern by Mal- thius Nowluail, n little west of The present line of the cannl, on Washington streel, on the Ittth of October, 1821, Gen. John Carr, State Agent, being salesmon The sule lasted wererul days. aml :114 lots were suld, for $15,506.25, of which one-60h, or $7. 11- 25, mis part Inwo. and the remember to be paid in four equal annum) installment-, The lois on the Dortlivegl corner of Delaware und Wasbington streets branght the highest price, chti, amil oue, west of the State Itonse sunre, subl for the next highest price, $500; thr priers generally tanging beliveen SKWinod &HNt

After this sale, hard times sel in, and The groisth of the lown was so slow, thut, for the next leeale, three-fourth+ of the lown site and the stona- lion remained unsoll. In 1831, the Legislature, by' pulling a minimum prire of 810 npon the lots, mnanged to get rid of most of them ; oud, when the sules iverr elosed, iu 1842, it was fourl, that The whole of Indianapolis bwl brought bul $125,000, Ditt uf this fund, Ihr Slale House, Court House, and the Gorernor's House, in the Circle, the t'lerk's office aml Treasurer's house nbl «thee were mil far.

The city. as thins sebl out, www a ferest wave where a clearing. here bol there, hindl'openeit the ground to the light.

EARLY HOLDS TO THE FIFTH.

The greut billmonee lo Imliauspolis, for inauy years, Was the want of roals. It was a " tom !- bound city."'h was not till Ises, that the great Thoroughfare, called the " National Ronil," uns extendel hevotul the Ohio line. It did nel do much good to tudiauapoli- titt 1838, navl. even then, il berime more of n thoroughins for emigration to the Mississippi aml beyonil than a tributary to the wew copilul. bolinnapolis, however, Jerivel one importaul avantuge from it, nud that was the suncadumizing of Ansh. inglon street. Equally sinll was the guin to the city, far many years, frons The olber State Roady, though the " Obio tiwl White Water" nus laid out by the legislature, and an appropriation of one hundred ibuusand dollars mude for il, in 1822. The " Michigan State Road,' from the Olno River lu the urw capital, through Greensburg : The " Molison Road," Through Franklin and Columnbns, and the Northern lines, through Pendleton, Nublesville and Cran forilsville, were all, for the mest part. " mud wr crossum," being con. strurteil through n conbiry of heavy limber mul deep, lonror soil, And su they renmined, till neighborhood, thrift mot convenience graveled or plonked them inlo passability, It needs no very long memory lo recall the merchant's journey to l'incinnati, consuming double the time und leu fold The comfort of a trip now lo New York ; or the voyages of goods wagons, quite equid to an Wilnutie voyage now, in the day's when the stucks. Lemus. iers, Perrys and their associates ruled trau- portalion with the wugon n hip. as nhsolutely us Viuplerhilt or Scott can ilo with their tarifs, nud ihuge whu ron recall those ilys nnit scenes can easily interstand what the isala- lation of Indianspelis was, when il had m pools of ill. Memupts to improve the river, were innde, ul intervals. fuir years, but never accomplished nothing but a demonstration that nothing roubt be lone a all, except npon u senle nalikely to be atmupfel

FIRAT PORTIL FICILITIES.

In the remote, awl almost inaccessibile, sitnaligu af ibe lill le communit) . the nonl of pestol facilities was, next to the supply of the necessaries of life. most krenly felt, and one of its first efforts, after veliling into the form and snlslunce of a rillnge, uus to epen communication with the world they bad left. A meeting of the ellizeus uns beld, nt llun kins' lavern, on the Binh of Innunry, lo esluttish a private mnil, which, juefficient ns it must be, was better than the chinnec of trusling to ner eurigruuls ar occasihasl visitors to carry Jellers .\ Postmaster, whose chief Inty was mail carrying. Ivas chuyeu, in Mr. Auron Drake, and he notified Post master> lo forward luchan. opalis maffer lo Cunuersville, where he would receive it and take it la 114 ilestinulion. He kerabled bis frei nrriral by an uproarims blowing of his horn, and although il way after night fall, The people furnish vui en massr. It welcome him and his budget of news. The government, in a few weeks completed the work Ilins irresponsibly begun, nud, in February, sent Samuel Henderson, as a regularly commissioned Postmaster, to displuce Mr Drake's enterprise. le opened his offee un the fib ef March, aml a month after publisbed Ibe first list of fire umalle l-for leffers, n number inthealing, with abont equnl clearness. u meager rorrespendence and an enger inquiry for what There was, Newlerson held the phice till 1231. The office was muvedl about with the changes mode by the growth of the lonn, bur ius, en the ubole, much less vugrunt than might have been anticipitel, even by those who could bury foreseen the slagrs in its contre lu ils present maguilude. H was first kept noir where the canal now muy, that then bring a half-ivay point belireen the rurhier >eifirmeul on the river mul the later und larger In ibe erstrvanl. H wus next kept in Hemilerson's Inveru, eu the site of Glenn's block, then in what used to be called " Union Kay," u line of wo-story hirick buililiugs of surpassing splenilor. for tunt olay, of which John Cain, The Post magier, uunrit uue and put his office in it, luter. in the building on the wrest side pf Merilinn street, near Washingtonu, now jurorpirsied in " Hubbard's Block ; " ul Que limy, it was kept on the west sutle of Pent-rl- vania street, in The same building with the Journal office. nul a fire, which hroke ont in the Wushuglou street front of the block, endangerel it greatly . subsequently' it was remorel In Blackford's bnibling, un the east side of Meruliu street, opposite lo a formuer location, and there it remained, till ils remural In the building which Ibe Gorerament ereried expressly Girin. Of the history of its business, morr will be said in anuther phirr.

YINET NAU'SPIPERS.

Ahnost simultaneously with the establishment of the first mail cathe thr first urnspaper of the town-the Indianapolis Gazette, h was issued ot the 28th of January, und nunounced Ihn ils owners and cliture were George

270

COUNTY HISTORIES,-CONTINUED,

Smith und] Nathaniel Ballon. The former was rather a runspicuous clinrac- ler, aside from the notoriety afinching lo u magnate of the press. Hr wure a queur carefully lied with an cel-skin string. The " old sellers" believed fully Hlinl wathe worl uf virine Iny in anch u string that no birine or altip of buckskin could lorist, Mr. Smith, moreover, hodl n mol sonrons anceze, which, to all the inlinbitants in the vicinity of his resilence, on the corner of Gungin andl 'feunevece alreels, where the Catholic inshlutions now stand, proclaimed The early dawn ns regularly ny enek-crow, and could be hearil ns for us the arsenal gun. He irasu man of some eccentricily af chamneler, and ralermed of o rniher intellectual east in that day of malerinl interests And influences. Mr. Rollon is hellor known as the liral husband af Mrs. Saralı T. Ballon, nol unfriendly called the " pocless of Indiana," amil, unquealionahly, for many years more widely known than any other literary personage in the State. A nuthe of the press of the city will give further particulara respecting this paper.

Mirly in 1823, mother piper was started, called The Western Censor andd Emigraut': Gundde, with That peculiar inverse proportion of length of uame lo intrin,je ralur That distinguishes young country newspapers crerynhere. Ilnrvey liregg nnl Hanglass Magnire were the propriet ors and editurs, Mr. Greg; Ins pased Toin the memory of ull ont a rory for uf the present generation, Int hir nuy known na n lairyer uf dreided nhility, ondt, liko his Titul, Mr. Smith, nf some personal reeentricity. Mr. Muguire is still well Trinnherril hy mny ier one of our prominent citizens, a capabile and faith- ful Sinin officer ( Amlilor) a true friend, amil a most kimlly nul gonial gen- lemon, Though irritable withal, rasily reseil and ns easily plnentel, His connerlion with the imper, in our' enpaoily or nuother, continned till 1836, hul flint of Mr. fregg Terminated in 1821 Mr. G. imns succceiled by John DongInas, then rrerully froma Coryilan, the mpilal, where he lind heen printer lo The Stair, Mr. Magnire neling ns editor

Early in 1823, the name was changed In In fusiand Jurut.

Thy Crmnor umt Cuide look the politiml path that hnally led Ja Whigism, us the flu th's did lo Demurracy , but this was lho "ern of' gunil feeling," ns it has been calhul, wrben parties were in u transition stato, solidifying from the hrmk up nf the olil I'ederal and Demaeralir parties into the future Whig mund Democratie parties,

HTIEN FIRST THINGS,

The first theiricil entertainment that u r- erer weilhrsguil in Indianapolis WH4 gnen in L'irler's inern, on the night of Welnesly, the 31st of Ureember, 1821, Amil einsiste of the " Puclor's Courtsbip, ur thy' hululgent Father," anil thu firco of the "Jealous Lovers. " Price of mlmission, thirty - rien mul a half centy. In dleferener to the religious notions of the people, Mr. Cortar insisted on the performance only of serious musio-lyon loocs mpì the like - by the single fillle Thol constituted the orcheslen.

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Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Indiana, Part 77

Author: Publication date: 1876 Publisher: Baskin, Forster & Co. Number of Pages: 472

Author:
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Baskin, Forster & Co.
Number of Pages: 472