USA > Indiana > Lake County > Lake County, Indiana, from 1834 to 1872 > Part 10
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HESSVILLE-1858.
Joseph Hess, the proprietor of this village, settled in 1850, and kept cattle. Store opened about 1858. Fami- lies now here, 20. One store, one blacksmith's shop. The families here live by cutting wood, picking berries, and working on railroad. There are two carpenters. Hess- ville contains a school house in which are instructed some seventy scholars. A Sabbath School has been opened there this season, numbering thirty members, and Lutheran meetings are also held at the school house. This village is distant from Gibson's Station, one mile ; and from Crown Point, 16 miles. A good grazing region is near Hessville, and some inhabitants live near the vil- lage, but the most of North Township is as yet sparsely inhabited.
DEEP RIVER-1838.
This place is the home of John Wood, whose name appears among the records of the early settlers. No lots were ever laid out and sold, as the proprietor here,
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who had paid one thousand dollars for the quarter sec- tion, it being an Indian reservation, patented to Quash- ma, saw no other way successfully to keep out strong drink. It has therefore contained no saloon, and has formed a pleasant home for the Wood family, and a few others.
The present number of families is fourteen. It con- tains one store, owned by Augustus Wood, a saw mill and grist mill, conducted by Nathan Wood, a physician, Dr. Vincent, son-in-law of John Wood, a blacksmith's shop, and a shoemaker's shop. It did contain a very good school house, which was consumed by fire and has not been rebuilt.
The residence of Nathan Wood is of brick, very sub- stantially built, and is one of the most city-like dwelling houses in the county. The saw mill here was erected in 1837; and the grist mill, in 1838. Deep River village joins the Porter County line, and its location as a mill seat has been very desirable. For years there was no other grist mill in the two counties. Distance from Crown Point, 10 miles.
CENTREVILLE-1842.
At Wiggins Point, near the present village of Centre- ville, was formerly an Indian village. The old burial ground and dancing ground still remain on the place now owned by E. Saxton. White settlers came here in 1835 and 1836, but I place the date of the commencement of the village when Miles Pierce built the first tavern here, and pouring out a bottle of whisky or breaking it upon the frame, after the manner of naming ships, called it "" Centreville Hotel." Well would it have been for that
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TOWNS AND VILLAGES.
village and many others, if all the whisky had gone the same way.
This village now contains twenty-three families, two taverns, and a two story brick school house, which is used for Sabbath school and for Religious meetings. It has no church. It has a store, blacksmith's shop, wagon shop, harness shop, a milliner, dress-maker, tailoress, two shoemakers, a sale stable, and one saloon. The post office is named Merrillville. The Indian name of the place was McGwinn's Village. McGwinn here lived, died, and was buried. The first settlers retained few Indian names. Distance from Crown Point, six miles.
ROSS-1857.
Forty acres of land are here laid out in town lots, all south of the railroad. Many lots are yet unimproved. The village lies on the Joliet Cut-Off, on which road it is a station. Number of families, 13. Store, 1 ; black- smith, I ; shoemaker, I ; carpenter's shop, I ; plasterer, I; saloon, none. This place is the residence of Amos Hornor, Esq., an early settler near Cedar Lake, who has here a clothes drier factory in successful operation, the machine being patented and of his own invention. Many families in the county have been supplied with these very useful machines.
There has also resided here for the last twelve years, Rev. George A. Woodbridge, who settled near A. Humphrey's, in the eastern part of Winfield, in 1839, and who spent two or three years in Crown Point. A native of Connecticut, a graduate of Yale, a New Eng- land Congregationalist, he has spent these years in almost entire seclusion from the busy and the religious world.
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He has a large library-large for this region-and his books and periodicals have kept him well informed. In October he will be eighty years of age, and retains the use well of his senses and faculties, working in his gar- den with as much apparent activity as a man of sixty.
Ross is on a ridge of sand. The woods around abound in huckleberries, and some of the marshes in cranberries.
It is not a place of much business. It contains a school house, but no church. The wells are dug here, not driven. The water is partly soft, and is quite cold and good. Depth of wells from twelve to twenty-two feet. Distance of Ross from Crown Point, eight miles.
ROBERTSDALE STATION.
This is a small place of four or five families, on the Michigan Southern Railroad. No business done.
ST. JOHNS-1846.
Number of families, 27. One store, I tavern, I dress- make, 2 wagon shops, 2 blacksmiths' shops, 2 tailors, 3. carpenters, and 4 shoemakers. Distance from Crown Point, six miles. This is a Catholic village. Its one store does a large business. Prairie West, of which it is. the business and religious centre, is thickly settled up with an industrious, thrifty, prospering German Catholic population. Near this village the first German family of the county settled ; and not far from it, on a beautiful elevation in the prairie, the Hack family cemetery, con- taining one of the finest gray marble monuments in the county, arrests the eye of the traveler. In this village is the large brick Church of St. John, the Evangelist, with other church buildings, and here, on the Sabbath morn- ings, gathers the largest congregation in Lake county.
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There are here some good, substantial dwelling houses, and many of the farm houses on the prairie are neat and tasty. Many evidences appear of the abundance and wealth of this community, of the existence and the prac- tice of patient industry. All over Prairie West, once so destitute of fence, and house, and orchard, and grove, are seen its results.
SHERERVILLE-1866.
Miles from Crown Point, 7; number of families, 27 ; stores, 2; shoemakers, 2; saloons, 2; shippers of live stock, 2 ; a tin and hardware store, and of the following trades one each: Carpenter, tailor, cooper, plasterer, saddler ; also, one contractor, and one physician, one grain warehouse, and a lumber yard. This village has grown up rapidly. It has a thrifty appearance. It is on the sand, and wells are obtained by "driving." The water is quite good.
LIVERPOOL-1836.
In 1835 or 1836 a company of three men, John C. Davis and Henry Frederickson, of Philadelphia, and John B. Chapman, a Western man, obtained an Indian float located on the Calumet, and laid out town lots for the founding of a western city. The location was con- sidered to be favorable, at the head of boat navigation on the Calumet, and on the great route of travel.
In 1836 a sale of lots took place, and the sales, in three days, amounted to $16,000. J. Wood and a friend bought lots to the amount of $2,000. A deed of nine of these lots, made out by J. B. Niles, as attorney, and acknowledged by Samuel C. Sample, the first Judge of Circuit Court in this region, is preserved among other
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papers at Deep River. In 1834 or 1835, a ferry boat was placed on the Calumet at Liverpool, and a hotel was there opened in 1835. The location of this town was about three miles westward and north from the present town of · Hobart.
In 1836 George Earl, of Falmouth, England, then from Philadelphia, came with his family to Liverpool, and soon became the proprietor of all that region. He resided in Liverpool until 1847. For about nine months, probably in 1837, the stage route from Detroit to Chicago passed through this place. Also for six months, in 1837, a line of stages was run from Michigan City to Joliet. This line, not paying, was discontinued. The other was changed to the North Road. In 1837 the Pottawatomies, a powerful Indian tribe, passed through this place on their way to the more distant West.
In 1838-1839 a charter was secured from the Legis- lature for a toll bridge. A store was opened here about 1840. Few families, however, came.
In 1839 Liverpool became the county seat of Lake county. A court house was erected and nearly com- pleted, but in 1840 a re-location took place ; Crown Point, or rather as it then was, Solon, Robinson's rival village, obtained the location, and this building was sold, floated down the Calumet to Blue Island, and set up in 1846, for a tavern. "And with it," writes Solon Robinson, " has gone almost the last hope of a town at that place."
In 1847, the Earle family removed to what has since become the flourishing town of Hobart. At present two families reside at the old Liverpool site, and two others at the railroad crossing not far away.
TOWNS AND VILLAGES.
INDIANA CITY-1836. I57
This was another of our early towns. I have been unable to find out exactly when it was commenced, but give it this date, as this was the era of western specula- tion, and four little places on Lake Michigan were about this time struggling for an existence. These were Chi- cago, Indiana City, City West, and Michigan City. The first was in Illinois, the second in Lake County, the third in Porter, the fourth in La Porte. To them might well be added the fifth-Liverpool, on the Calumet. And I have no hesitation in saying that no ordinary foresight of man could then, or did then, see much difference in their chances for success. Indiana City was laid out by a company from Columbus, Ohio. It was truly a "paper city." It was sold in 1841, for $14,000. As for inhabi- tants, I find no record that it ever had any. All these five places may be found on Colton's map of Indiana, compiled from "authentic sources," published in 1853. Of the four on the beach of the lake, Michigan City is now quite a place among its ever changing sand banks ; Chicago has become indeed a city; City West ceased to be in about 1839, and Indiana City, except on paper, and as shown by laid out lots, never was. An Indian half- breed states that eighty-six years ago traders had a fur station at Liverpool. In less than half as many years to come there may be an Indiana City at the mouth of the old Calumet, exceeding in size and wealth all the exist- ing towns and villages of Lake. Late explorations of the Calumet river serve to show that, as a location, it is favor- ably situated for the growth at some day of a commercial emporium.
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LAKE COUNTY.
DYER-1857.
This village is dated as commencing with the first store. Two or three houses were here many years be- fore, and a tavern in 1837, or earlier. Present number of families, 50.
Dyer contains a large flouring mill, a grain house, --- and it has the name of being the best grain market in the county -- a lumber yard, a sash, door and blind factory, a wooden shoe factory, and a tannery; grocery, and dry goods stores, 2 ; taverns, 3 ; shoemakers, 2 ; furniture stores, 2; physicians, 2; builder, I; wagon shop, I ; blacksmiths, 2 ; tinsmith, 1; butcher, I ; harness maker, I ; saloons, 4.
A fine Catholic Church and parsonage have been erected here, and there are two school houses. A. N. Hart, now doing business in Chicago, one of the large land owners of Lake county, resided here for many years with his family, and has done considerable to im- prove and build up the town. Dubriels' flouring mill at this place has done a good business.
Thorn Creek, a pretty little Illinois stream, enters this county at Dyer, but after winding about for a short dis- tance, returns again to the lower prairie lands of Illi- nois.
HOBART-1849.
Number of families, 95 ; dry goods stores, 4 ; hard- ware, I ; drug store, I ; furniture, 1; agricultural imple- ments, I ; bakery, I : blacksmiths' shops, 2 ; wagon shop, 1 ; harness shop, 1; shoe store, 1; shoemakers' shops, 3 ; cooper's shop, 1; millinery store, I ; dress makers, 4; mill wright, 1; lawyer, 1 : physicians, 3; carpenters, 3 ;
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TOWNS AND VILLAGES.
plasterer, I ; livery stable, 1 ; gardener, I ; notary publics, 2 ; hotels, 3; large flouring mill, I.
Hobart contains ten brick buildings. It has a brick school house, a frame church, a brick church, and an art gallery. This gallery, the property of Geo. Earle, now of Philadelphia, contains about three hundred paintings. It is the only collection of the kind in the county, and has been visited by many admirers of the fine arts. It reflects much credit upon the taste of the cultivated and wealthy proprietor of this town.
ORGANIZATIONS IN HOBART.
Hobart Literary Society, organized in 1871 ; members, 50; meets in Methodist Church, Tuesday evenings.
M. L. Mclellan Lodge, No. 357 ; members, 62; date of 1866. Value of property, $2000.
Earle Lodge, I. O. O. F. Number 333, date 1869. Value of property, $1000.
Hobart Real Estate and Building Company. Capital $3000. Dealers in real estate. W. H. Rifenburg & Co.
BandAssociation ; members, 15 : property, $500.
Trotting Park Association ; capital, $200.
Hobart is located on the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne Railroad, and its great branch of industry is brickmaking. There are four yards which turn out of pressed brick per day some 60,000. These yards give employment to one hundred persons, and pay out per month to the work- men $4000.
The Railroad Company pays out monthly about $700. A wax candle factory has also been started at Hobart, which promises success. This factory, and the brick yards, and the art gallery, showing useful arts and fine arts, are well worth visiting.
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LAKE COUNTY.
There seems to be in Hobart the atmosphere of a city, It has changed remarkably from what it was in earlier days. Population now 500. Distant from Crown Point, twelve miles.
John G. Earle has erected here a fine dwelling house and makes this place his home. The senator of Lake and Porter counties, Hon. C. R. Wadge, also resides at Ho- bart.
LOWELL-1852.
M. A. HALSTED, who, with his wife and mother, came into this county from Dayton, Ohio, in 1845, and settled on a farm in West Creek Township, is the proper founder of the town of Lowell.
According to the Claim Register, one John P. Hoff, of New York City, purchased " Mill seat on Cedar Creek," Range 9, Town 33, Section 23, which is the section on which Lowell now stands, Oct. 7th, 1836. He registered his claim October 8th, and also claims for four others from New York City were registered the same day in sections 22, 23 and 24. None of these city men seem to have actually settled ; instead of these I find the names of Wm. A. Purdy, H. R. Nichols, J. Mendenhall, and Jabez Clark. But the "mill seat" remained unimproved till about 1850. It is a somewhat singular coincidence that the first claimant of a mill seat on Sect. 23, T. 33, R. 9, should have been named Halstead. According to the claim register, Samuel Halstead first entered here "Tim- ber and Mill-seat." The claim was made August, 1835, and was registered November 26, 1836. There is added, " This claim was sold to and registered by J. P. Hoff, October 8, who has not complied with his contract, and
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TOWNS AND VILLAGES.
therefore forfeits his claim to it." And under date of November 29, 1836, the record is "Transferred to James M. Whitney and Mark Burroughs for $212."
Number of families, 106; dry-goods stores, 4; drug stores, 2 ; hardware stores, 2; millinery establishments, 2; dress makers, 2; jeweler, I; shoemaker's shops, 2; barber's shops, 2 ; harness shop, I ; blacksmith's shops, 5 ; wagon shops, 3 ; cooper shop, I ; meat market, I ; bakery, I ; cabinet shop, 1 ; agricultural store, I ; saloons, 2 ; pho- tograph gallery, I ; livery stable, I ; hotels, 2 ; notary pub- lics, 2; attorney 1; physicians, 4; cigar factory, I ; churches, 3.
The flouring mill at this place does a large custom work and sends off quite an amount of flour. It has two runs of stone, and grinds in the spring time some 275 bushels of feed per day, and in a good season, 150 bush- els of wheat on a single run of stone. Lepin and West- erman are the enterprising proprietors. A large factory building has been erected at this place at a cost of $8000. It is three stories high, 80 feet by 50, of brick, and is the largest building in the county.
The school house at Lowell is also of brick, a large two-story building, the largest and best furnished school house in the county. Cost of house and furniture $8,000. Both of these buildings were erected under the superin- tendence of M. A. Halsted. All of the churches in this town are of brick. Whole number of brick buildings eight. A printing office has been established here this year, which publishes the Lowell Star, edited by E. R. Beebe.
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LAKE COUNTY.
ASSOCIATIONS.
Colfax Lodge-Masonic ; number 378; members, 60. Value of property, $1600.
Lowell Lodge I. O. O. F .; number 245 ; members, 60.
Temperance Lodge No. 22, Independent Order Good Templars. Members 160, and increasing quite rapidly.
Lowell Grange of Patrons of Husbandry, No. 6. Mem- bers 80.
The first store, and first tavern in the place were opened by J. Thorn, about 1852. It has now a growth of about twenty years. Its water power is good, supplied by three different ponds, Cedar Lake also being used as a water reservoir. It lacks an element which has so largely stimulated the growth of Hobart and Crown Point, rail- road communication with the world. Distance from Crown Point, eleven miles. It is located in the heart of the best farming region of Lake. Population of Lowell 550. J. W. Viant and W. Sigler, have sold at this place large quantities of goods.
CROWN POINT-1840.
The early history of this town has been already given, and the growth to which it had attained in 1847, has been mentioned. Its growth, until the railroad came; was slow. M. M. Mills built what is now called the Rockwell House, in 1842. Joseph Jackson removed from West Creek to Crown Point, in October, 1846, renting that house for five years. In 1847, he was elected Auditor, and his son-in-law, Z. P. Farley, came up to town and went into the hotel. In 1848, Wm. Alton built the brick store-house now occupied by Meyers & Bier- lin ; and, in 1849, Z. P. Farley and Clinton Jackson built
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TOWNS AND VILLAGES.
the bakery, also of brick, in the upper room of which was the first office of the REGISTER. These were the first business buildings built of brick.
In 1851, Z. P. Farley built the Hack House, and this hotel was kept by J. Jackson and Z. P. Farley, for the next five years.
The present Court House bears the date of 1849; George Earle, architect; Jeremy Hixon, builder.
In 1858, the following brick buildings were erected : The dwelling houses of Z. P. Farley, J. G. Hoffman, and J. Wheeler, and the three story building containing the REGISTER office and Masonic Hall. The county offices were built the following year. The brick school house also bears the date of 1859.
After the completion of the railroad, in 1865, good buildings went up quite rapidly. Dr. A. J. Pratt's resi- dence, erected in 1868, covers an area of two thousand, three hundred and twenty-eight feet, and cost nearly $5,000. This, and the Nicholson mansion, built in 1869, are the two most costly dwelling houses as yet erected. The neat residences of J. H. Prier and W. Nicholson, the latter costing $4,000, were built in 1870. Among the more elegant dwellings erected in 1871, may be named the residences of F. S. Bedell, covering an area of two thousand and forty feet, costing about $4,000, and of Z. F. Summers, Judge Turner, and T. J. Wood, each cost- ing some $3,000. The new dwellings of Hon. Martin Wood and Major E. Griffin, the latter not yet finished, belong to the year 1872.
In the spring of 1868 the town was duly incorporated, divided into three wards, and trustees and a marshal
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LAKE COUNTY.
were elected by the citizens. Three School Trustees have the charge of the public schools. They employ four teachers at the " Brick," and two at the "Institute."
Number of families in Crown Point, 293 ; total popu- lation, 1300. Industrial and professional pursuits are represented thus :
Lumber yards, 2; brick yard, I; broom factory, I ; brewery, I ; agricultural stores, 4; dry goods stores, 2 ; grocery stores, 3 ; general dealers, 3 ; merchant tailors, 2 ; confection shops, 2 ; clothing store, I ; hardware stores, 2 ; drug stores, 2 ; milliner shops, 3 ; ladies' furnishing, I; harness shops, 2; bakeries, 2; furniture stores, 2 ; shoe store, I; shoe shops, 4 ; wagon shops, 3; tannery, I ; blacksmiths' shops, 5; railroad repair shop, I; door, sash, and blind factory, I ; planing mill, 1; grain houses, 2 ; hotels, 3 ; eating house, 1 ; jewelers and watchmakers, 2 ; egg and poultry dealer, I ; carpenters, 14 ; plasterers, 6; painters, 6; paint and oil store, I ; saloons, 8; photo- graph gallery, 1 ; meat markets, 2 ; hay barns and presses, 2 ; cooper shop, 1; coal yard, I ; gunsmith, I ; tin shops, 2 ; school buildings, 3; church buildings, 6; county offi- cers residing in town, 6; clergymen in town, 6; newspa- pers published, 2 ; dentists, 2; practicing physicians, 4; lawyers, 13.
ORGANIZATIONS.
Lake Lodge, No. 157, F. & A. M .; organized 1853; value of property, $2500 ; number of members, 88.
Lincoln Chapter, No. 53, R. A. M .; date, 1865 ; num- ber of members, 34; value of property, $1000.
Crown Point Lodge, No. 195, I. O. O. F .; value of property, $750; number of members, 50.
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TOWNS AND VILLAGES.
Grove City Encampment, No. 116, I. O. O. F .; num- ber of members, 22; organized March 13, 1872.
Crown Point Sing Verein ; organized in August, 1868 : number of members, 32 ; value of property, $1000.
Crown Point Fire Company ; organized January I, 1872 ; engine and hose owned by the town ; value, $2000 ; number of members, 40.
Band Company ; number of members, II.
SUMMARY.
Number of towns and villages, 25. Number of fami- lies residing in towns, 860. Number of town inhabit- ants, about 4400.
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LAKE COUNTY.
CHAPTER IX.
FACTS AND FIGURES.
In this chapter, and under this heading, will be found arranged, for preservation and reference, facts concern- ing our various social, literary, and religious organiza- tions, and figures showing our past and present condition in material interests, all of which ought to be of general interest to the citizens. And if this chapter should not be considered at present as readable as some others, I apprehend that in future years many will refer to it with interest.
LAKE COUNTY TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.
In June, 1841, by the efforts of three individuals,- Solon Robinson, Norman Warriner, and Hervey Ball, a temperance society, bearing the above name, was organ- ized at Crown Point. Its meetings were held in the log court house, and were very interesting and well attended. It accomplished, in its day, much good ; and, about 1849 or 1850, it was discontinued, the ground being then occu- pied by a division of the Sons of Temperance.
SONS OF TEMPERANCE.
About 1848, a division of this order was organized in Crown Point, which accomplished good in its day, accu- mulated some funds, completed its work and disbanded,
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FACTS AND FIGURES.
leaving, on a memorial stone in the brick school house, the following as its last record :
"In memory of Crown Point Division No. 133, Sons of Temperance, who donated $1000 to the erection of this building, 1859."
GOOD TEMPLARS.
In December, 1855, the first lodge of Good Templars in the county was organized at Crown Point. This flourished for some time, but at length went down. Other lodges of the same order succeeded it in Crown Point, and in Hobart, Centreville, Tinkerville, and Lowell, none of which are now in existance, except Tem- perance Lodge, at Lowell.
THE ALLIANCE.
In 1871, the last temperance organization at Crown Point was formed, known as the Lake County Temper- ance Alliance.
"LAKE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The first meeting to organize an Agricultural Society in Lake County was held at the Court House in Crown Point, August 27th, 1851. William Clark was President of the meeting, and Harvey Pettibone, Secretary. The meeting appointed a committee, consisting of Hervey Ball, John Church, and David Turner, to draft a Consti- tution and By-Laws for the government of the society. The meeting then adjourned to the 30th of the same month, when the committee reported a constitution, which was adopted. The meeting then adjourned until the next Thursday, when an election was held, and the following officers duly elected :
President-HERVEY BALL, Vice-President-WILLIAM CLARK.
Treasurer-J. W. DINWIDDIE. Secretary-JOSEPH P. SMITH.
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Also the following Directors :
Center Township-HENRY WELLS. West Creek-A. D. FOSTER. Eagle Creek-MICHAEL PIERCE. St. Johns-H. KEILMAN. Winfield-AUGUSTINE HUMPHREY. Ross-WILLIAM N. SYKES.
At a subsequent meeting it was agreed to hold the first Fair on Thursday, October 28th, 1852, and the sum of one hundred dollars was appropriated for premiums ; but when the list was made out, it only amounted to $93.
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