USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Logan's History of Indianapolis from 1818. Giving a carefully compiled record of events of the city from the organization of the state government > Part 11
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J. Squier and W. A. Bell. The present salary is $1,600.
From 1847 to January, 1853, the schools The stock in the building was long since were conducted independently in the seven! purchased by the Grand Lodge, and it is
exist as to above items for the years 1553-8.
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HISTORY OF
now proposed to change and improve the a flat bar track till 1850-2, when it was taken up and T rail substituted.
building.
A meeting was held in May to make ar- rangements for a formal welcome to the
The Madison road had been begun in 1838 by the State, the cost being estimated First Indiana Regiment of Volunteers ex-lat 82,240,000, of which sum the inclined peetel soon to return from Mexico. Theplane was to cost S272,000. Twenty-eight welcome proved a failure, as the volunteers miles were finished in 1841 at a cost of $1,- returned in small squads in wagons and 500,000. Branham & Co. leased the road stage; at different periods, and it was impos- in April, 1839, for sixty per cent. of the re- sible to divide the "enthusiasm" accord- ceints, the State keeping up repairs and ingly.
supplying motive power. The work was
The first instalment of female teachers surrendered to a company in 1842, and sent by Governor Slade from New England|completed October 1st, 1847. N. B. Palm- arrived here in June and were sent to vari-fer, S. Merrill, John Brough, E. W. H. El- ous parts of the country. They were soon lis, F. O. J. Smith and others were presi- married, and others were afterward sent in dents till the line was sold. In January, their stead. In July, the remains of Cap- 1854, it was consolidated with and operated tain T. B. Kinder, brought from Buen: together with the Peru road, but the ar- Vista by his company, were buried with ringement was severed after a few months. military honors in the old cemetery.
It was sold by the United States Marshal
The near completion of the Madison rail- March 27th, 1862, for $325,000, and a new road awakened the interest of the comn. un- company organized, and was bought a year ity in such enterprises, and frequent mee - or two afterward by the Jeffersonville Com-
ings were held during the summer and fal
pany, and has since been operated by that to advocate roads to different points and organization. For some time after its com- organize companies. A new impetus wa. pletion this road paid better than any other given to business, street improvements were in the country. In 1852 its stock sold at begun, new buildings and workshops erect. $1.60, and in January, 1856, had fallen to ed, and new residents were met daily of two and one-half cents on the dollar. The the streets.
Stite held stock in the road valued at SI,-
Arrangements were made September 25tl 1200,000, but was ultimately cheated out of at a citizens' meeting to celebrate the com- it, receiving scareely anything for it.
pletion of the railroad on the 1st of October. The last rail was laid at about nine o'clock
The isolation of the town ended with the completion of this road. An outlet for trav- that morning, just as two crowded excursion el and surplus produets at last existed, and trains arrived from below, greeted by a'the town became a centre of traffic for a great crowd of rejoicing natives, many of considerable region around it. Wheat, whom then first saw a locomotive and train. which had been selling at forty cents per and who joyously filled an excursion trair bushel, rose in a few weeks to ninety cents. to Franklin and back. The great even O her farm products advanced in propor- was celebrated by the firing of cannon, and tion, and goods and groceries declined. by a procession which included Spalding' Trade improved, building increased, work- entire circus outfit, Ned Kendall's band and -hops were started, property advanced in a country cavalry company. An address price, and city airs were timidly assumed. was also delivered by Governor Whitcomb The Madison road exaeted such high from the top of a car at the depot, and on ates for fares and freights, and for sev- illumination and fireworks exhibition elosed ral years made such heavy profits that the festivities at night. The excursionists; opposition was aroused; other routes were were hauled across the low and muddy val-| lemanded, and roads to Bellefontaine, ley of Pogue's run in carriages and wood| ferre Haute. Peru, Lafayete, Lawrence- wagons, and the few hotels were crowded; burg and Jeffersonville, were advocated. The old companies were resuscitated. or lew charters obtained; the projects were energetically pushed in 1848-9, meetings were held, stock subscribed, surveys made ind contraets let. In 1849-50 a railroad ever prevailed in the community, and did with hungry guests. The depot had been. located on the high ground south of the' creek, a quarter of a mile from the towr. during the preceding summer, its location there being opposed by many persons who urged that it should front on Maryland street, which was then the southern settled rot sutside until eight lines were com- limit. A cluster of warehouses was built p'eted, and the city became widely known around it, and for several years it formed a a . the " railroad city" of the west. From separate settlement until the expansion of under estimates as to cost and over esti- the city included it in the body of the place. mat's as lo immediate business, the lines The depot was built in 1846-7, the engine failed to realize the hopes of stockholders, house and shops in 1850, and the road had, but while not at onee remunerative to them,
--
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INDIANAPOLIS FROM 1818.
the gain to the State and city was very
but the frame depot is still used for way great. The construction, in a few years, freights. The first depot and shops. with of many depots. shops and warehouses. dis- 1,100 feet of track and five acres of ground were sold in July, 1853. for $17,500 to Mr. Farnsworth, and were used by Farnsworth bursed much money, attracted many work- men, and stimulated manufacturing enter- prises. The population of 4.000 in 1847, & Barnard as a car factory from November increased to 8,100 in 1859. 10,800 in 1852, 15,000, in 1857, and 18,000 in 1860.
1853 till 1859. It then remained vacant till after the war began and was occupied as a Government stable from 1962 ro 1865, when it was burned down. The Bellefon- taine rond was consolidated in 1855 with : the connecting Ohio line to Galion. The stock was "watered" and the name changed to the Indianapolis, Pittsburg & Cleveland Railroad. In the spring of 1868 a further consolidation was effected with the Cleveland. Columbus & Cincinnati road, and the new road is known as the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & In- dianapolis Railroad. O. H. Smith, Alfred Harrison, Calvin Fletcher, John Brough. S. Witt, and others, have been Presidents of this corporation since its charter. It has been one of the best freight and passenger roads leading to this point.
For sometime each roid used its own de- pot; passengers aud freights being trans- ferred from one to the other by hacks and drays, but a connection by rail was soon proposed, and an agreement having been made in August, 1819, between the compa- nies, and the right of way having been granted December 20, 1813 by the council, the Union Railroad Co., was organized, the Union track located and laid in 1850, (re- laid in 1853,) the ground bought and a Union passenger depot, 120 by 420 feet, built in 1852-3, on Meridian. Illinois and Louisiana streets. It was opened Septem- ber 28, 1853, William N. Jackson being appointed general ticket agent, & post ever since held by him. It has since been used by eight separate lines, and was en- The Lawrenceburg and upper Mississip- larged, improved and an eating house l pi road was originally begun in sections, added in 1866. In December, 1507, the or several short roads, in 1850, a through Junction Railroad Co., and the Crawfords- ville and Vincennes lines unsuccessfully applied for admission to the depot, and it is possible that a Union passenger station
road being bitterly and successfully op- posed by the Madison Co., but was finally chartered in 1851 and finished to Law- rencebury, 90 miles, in October 1853, un- will yet be erected in the western part of | der Geo. H. Dunn, the first president. The the city. Such a depot will ultimately be erected, for the present one can not accom- modate all the business of the future. name was changed December 1853 to the Indianapolis and Cincinnati road. The Ohio and Mississippi road having been fin- ished from Cincinnati to Lawrenceburg in
A brief statement of the history of the several roads projected and built since the | April 1854, a third rail was laid and the Madison road, may be given here. Promi- cars run to that city, 110 miles, under a nent among these was the Bellefontaine | lease. In 1854-5 the old White- water ca- road to Union City on the State line, which ; nal was bought, and a separate track laid was energetically pushed by the first Pres- in its bed, and a fine passenger and freight ident, Oliver H. Smith, its construction being largely due to his efforts. It was chartered in 1848, meetings held, stock sub- scribed and right-of-way secured in 1848- 9; contracts were let in the fall of 1849, track-laying began April, 1850, cars ran to Pendleton, twenty-eight miles, December. 1850, and the road was finished, eighty- four miles, to the State line, December
1852, at a cost of $21,550 per mile. The i via Crawfordsville to Lafayette, a consoli- brick depot and shops were built in 1851, in the north-east part of the city and used till the Union depot and track were finished, when a frame freight depot and brick engine house and shops were built in November, 1853, at the corner of Virginia
depot built. The shops of the com- piny were built south-east of the city in 1853, but were burned in 1855, and soon af- terward rebuilt. They were removed to Cincinnati in 1865 and are now located there. The brick freight depot was built on Louisiana and Delaware streets in 1853, and is now used by the consolidated roads. In 1866, after an effort to build a rival line dation was effected with the Lafayette road and the name adopted for the united corpo- ration is Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Lo- fayette road. Branch roads have been built up the Whitewater valley on the ca- nal bank, and from Fairland to Martins. was effected with the Vincennes road .- Much opposition was aroused by this last movement, but Mr. Lord, in a speech to our business men, in April 1868, greatly al-
avenue and Pogue's run. These were used : ville, and in March 1868 a consolidation till 1864 when the large frame freight de- pot and brick shops and engine house were completed and occupied in the eastern part of the city. The engine house and shops . on Virginia avenue were then torn away, layed the feeling, and promised that his
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HISTORY OF
policy should not prove detrimental to the interests of this city. Geo. II. Dunn, Thos. A. Morris and llenry C. Lord have been presidents of this corporation.
The Jeffersonville road was begun in 1848 and finished to Edinburgh. 78 miles, in 1852, at a cost of $1,185,000. It had been designed to extend to this point, but in August 1853 a lease was obtained from the Madison road, by which the use of that road with its shops, depots and houses was perpetually secured, and in 1803 the Jef- ferson ville company bought the entire road and equipment and now operate both lines. A branch road was built in 1852 from Ed- inburgh to Shelbyville and Rushville, 26 miles,. at a cost of $525.000, but was after. ward abandoned. The war traffic and travel was immense over the Jeffersonville road. it being the only direct southern line leading to the seat of war. John Zulauf, Dillard Ricketts and others, have been its presidents.
The Terre Haute and Richmond road was projected in 1846, surveyed December 1817, contracts let in 1848-9, commenced in 1850, and finished to Terre Haute, 73 miles, in May 1852, at a cost of $1,415,000, under Chauncy Rose, its first president. The eastern section was abandoned and its con- struction undertaken by the Indiana Cen- tral Railway Co. in 1851. The brick freight depot (remodeled in 1857,) was built on Louisiana and Tennessee streets in 1850-1. Its roof was partly blown off in 1865 by the explosion of the pony engine of the Cen- tral company, inside the building. The engine house and the frame bridge over | ject, and obtained a perpetual lease of the White river were built in 1851-2, and the bridge was replaced by a handsome iron structure in 1866, without interrupting traffic on the line. The road has been prosperous, well managed, has met with few accidents, and is the main line for western trade and travel. It is also the only coal road yet built. The company have no shops here, the repairs being made at Terre Haute. Chauncy Rose, S. Craw- ford, E. J. Peek and others, have been its Presidents.
The Peru and Indianapolis road was chartered at the session of 1815-6, the com- pany organized July 1847, road surveyed October 1847, located July 1843, com- meneed 1849, cars were run to Noblesville, 21 miles, March 1851, and the road con- pleted to Peru, 73 miles, April 3, 1854, at a cost of about $760,000. It was con- solidated June 1, 1854, with, and operated for several months by the Madison road. The road traversed a new country, encoun- tered many obstacles, and has not been as successful as other lines. It has been the main source of supply for lumber and tim-
ber, and since its northern connections were finished has had a fair share of the north-western trade and travel. It passed into a receiver's hands in 1857, and has since been operated for the bondholders .- Its shops are at Peru, and its buildings here have never been of much value. It was originally laid with flat bar, taken up from the Madison road, but Trail was sub- stituted in 1855-6. The first frame depot was commenced in August, 1856, on New Jersey street and Pogue's run, but was blown down during a storm, September 17, burying about a dozen men in the ruins, and badly injuring several of them. An- other was built in November following .- W. J. Holman, Jno. Burk, E. W. H. Ellis, J. D. Defrees and David Maey, have been presidents.
The Lafayette and Indianapolis road was begun in 1849 and finished to Lafayette, 65 miles, in December 1852, at a cost of about $1,000,000, under Albert S. White, the first president. The stock subscription was small, the road being mostly built by loans which were subsequently paid off from the earnings of the road, making its stock very valuable. Until the completion of the northern connections of the Peru road it was the main route to the north- west, and did a very lucrative business du- ring the war. In 1866 Henry C. Lord having failed to buy the road or effeet a consolidation with it, began the construe- tion of a rival route to Danville and the north-west via Crawfordsville, and after doing considerable work achieved his ob- line. and it is now controlled and operated by the Cincinnati company. The Lafay- ette freight depot was built in 1852-3, on North street and the canal, but was burned in 1864, and rebuilt in 1865. Since the consolidation it has been but little used, the business of both roads being done at the Delaware street depot. The company never had any shops at this point, the con- struction and repairs being done at Lafay- ette. A. S. White and Wmn. F. Reynolds, were the presidents of the company.
The Indiana Central Railway Company was organized in the spring, surveys made in the summer, and contracts let in the fall of 1851. Track-laying begau No- vember, 1852, and the road. was completed to the State line, seventy-two miles, De- eember 8, 1853, at a cost of $1,223,000, under John S. Newman, the first President. It divides eastern trade and travel with the Bellefontaine road, and was consoli- dated with the Ohio connecting road in 1863, and afterwards known as the Indi- anapolis & Columbus road. A further consolidation was effected in 1867, with.
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INDIANAPOLIS FROM 1818.
the Chicago and Great Eastern roal, and the offices and shops are to be removed elsewhere. The brick freight depot was built on Delaware street and Pogue's run in 1852, and its shops just east of the city, in the same year.
At and since the date of completion of the foregoing roads, several others were projected, or in course of construction ; among ibem was the Junction road, ninety- | eight miles loug, from Hamilton, Ohio, via Rushville and Connersville, to this city. It was begun in separate seetions, in 1850, by the Ohio and Indianapolis, and the Junction Companies, which were consol- idated. April, 1853, with $1,800,000 stock subscriptions. Several hundred thousand dollars were expended on the line, the depot grounds here were purchased, and the road half finished, when the hard times of 1855-6 caused its suspension and the sale of its lands at a nominal price. The company was re-organized in 1866, work was resumed, a subsidy of $15,000 voted to it by our city, depot grounds bought, and the road finished to this point in May, 1868. The freight depot will be built on Virginia avenue, south of Pogue's run, and the shops and offices are to be located here by contract with the city. Caleb B. Smith, Jno. Ridenour and others have been Presidents of the Company.
The Vincennes road was first projected in 1851, and a company organized in 1853, with John H. Bradley, President; but only a preliminary survey was made, and the enterprise was abandoned during the subsequent monetary revulsion. A new company was organized under General Burnside, in 1865, the contracts let, and a subsidy of $60.000 granted by the city in 1866, and right of way secured; work is now being rapidly prosecuted along the line, and the road will be finished from Gosport to this city during the present year. The shops and offices, by agree- ment with the city, are to be located here. The road traverses the best iron, coal, stone, timber and grain region of the State, and will be second to none in im- portance, and it is all important that its management should not be adverse to our interests. On the 3d1 of April, 1868, it was consolidated with the Cincinnati road.
A direct road to Evansville, one hundred and fifty miles long. had been projected in 1843, but nothing was done till April. 1853, when Oliver H. Smith and Willard Car- penter organized a company under the general law, and held meetings, subscribed stock, surveyed the line, let contracts, and pushed the work rapidly forward till 1856, when the monetary pressure stopped the enterprise, and caused the loss of nearly
everything invested in it. It is still dor- mant, but its importance, and the rich ag. ricultural and mineral region it traversed, the amount expended on it, and the heavy south-western trade, certainly demind a renewal of the enterprise, and its favora- ble consideration by our people, especially sinee the management of the Vincennes road will probably be adverse to our in- terests.
The Cincinnati & Indianapolis Short- line Railroad Company, from this point via Rushville, Laurel and Brookville to Cincinnati, was organized in January, 1853 ; subscriptions were obtained, sur- veys made, contracts let, and other steps taken, but the enterprise was suspended by hard times in 1854-5, before any tan- gible results were obtained, and has not since been revived.
The Toledo & Indianapolis Railroad Compiny. vix Muncie to Toledo, one hun- dred and eighty- five miles, was organized February, 1854, under the general law. Seventy five miles of road, only, were to be built to make connections with existing roads, and secure a short and direct route for grain to the lake. Surveys were made, and efforts to obtain subscriptions, but the financial pressure of 1855 put an end temporarily to the scheme.
The Indiana & Illinois Central Railroad, one hundred and sixty miles long on an air line, to Decatur, Illinois, was proposed in December, 1852, and organized Febru- ary 15, 1853. Surveys were made, sub- scriptions obtained, and contracts let in July, 1853, for the whole line, at $22,000 per mile, to be done in 1855, and $500,000 of work was done. The hard times in- tervened, the work stopped, and the com- pany lands were sold to pay the contrac- tors. The line is almost straight, trav- erses a beautiful and rich conutry, opens up eoal and iron regions, and gives a di- rect western line to the Pacific road Its importance merits renewed effort, and the company-which was re-organized in 1866-should attempt its construction.
In 1966, before the Cincinnati rond had succeeded in foreing the sale of the La- fayette line, H. C. Lord, as the final effort, determined to build a rival line via Craw- fordsville. The city voted a subsidy of $45,000, right of way was secured, sur- veys made, contracts let, and considerable work done at this end of the line, when the Lafayette rond consented to seil, and the new line was at once abandoned. This summary disposal of the matter displeased the residents along the line ; the company was soon re-organized, contracts relet, and the work is now in progress. It is to be hoped that a new outlet to the north-
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HISTORY OF
west will be speedily found through the rich region traversed by this line.
In 1867 an effort was made by the east- ern ronds to force a sale or consolidation of the Terre Haute road, which having failed, it was announced that a straight- line road to St. Louis would be built from this point. Surveys were made, right of way secured, subscriptions voted, and the contracts, it is said, will be let this year. The road should be built, as it will give an additional and competing route to the coal and iron beds of the western part of the State, and the city can well afford to aid the enterprise, first providing that no consolidation shall be made with compet- ing roads. The Terre Haute company is also engaged in building a straight line from that city to St. Louis, as a continua. tion of their own route.
It will be seen from the foregoing brief statement of facts connected with the sev- eral roads, that only one of the completed lines, (the Bellefontaine,) ever located its principal shops at this point, and even that road, since its consolidation, has its main shops in Ohio. The excuse advanced for this general action has been that work could be done cheaper elsewhere; but this, even if true in one or two cases, can scarcely be true of every little town in this or other States, and the solution of the problem is to be found partly in the jeal- ousy of other cities toward this, and mostly in the want of enterprise on the part of our own people. They have not deemed it necessary, either for their own interests or those of the city, to hold a controlling interest in the highways leading here, and the consequence has been that as little as possible has been done by the railways to- ward building up our manufacturing inter- ests. In many respects this city is better situated for manufacturing than any other in this or the adjoining States, and its advantages increase with the opening of every additional line; and, if it fails to achieve a high rank in this respect, the fault will lie solely with our own capital- ists, and the blame should lie where it be- longs. It has been too much the fashion here to wait for others to increase the value of property which is held by the ! ber, 1859; Off & Wishmire's, Railroad few, and the money on hand, instead of creating wealth by producing manufac- tured articles from comparatively valnless raw material, is doled out sparingly at one and two per cent. per month, taxing the life out of those who do attempt to create such articles. It seems singular that, while the railway companies combined and successfully operated a union track and depot, that they never entered into a union company for the manufacture of
locomotives, cars, and all other articles needed in the equipment of their roads. One great establishment, under competent management, could combine the iron and brass foundries, rolling mills, machine shops, saw and planing mills, forges, up- holstery, paint and other shops, needed in the fabrication of every item used by them. Such au establishment, with the capital it could employ, the thorough subdivision and supervision of labor, the extent and variety of articles manufactured, the steady de- mand therefor by the stockholding roads and outside lines, located here where the influx and efflux of materials and articles would be so ready and certain, and skilled laborers, so readily brought, could defy private competition, furnish all articles to its stockholders at cost, and pay all expen- ses and a profit from outside work.
But few mills or manufactories existed here till after the completion of the Madi- son road, for the local demand was very limited, and shipments to other points almost impossible. Underhill's foundry, on Pennsylvania street, started by Grover in 1836, was the only one here. The grist mills of West and of Carlisle, West's cot- ton and woolen mill, Hannaman's woolen and oil mill, and Sheet's paper mill, were on the canal, and had been built since 1838. Patterson's grist mill was on Fall creek, and the old steam (grist, woolen and saw) mills, on the river, had been re- paired by GeisendortTs in 1847, and used as a woolen mill till 1852, when they built a mill (subsequently enlarged, ) on the west branch of the canal. Of mills and manu- factories, built since 1847, the more prom- inent may be briefly mentioned here The principal grist mills were Carlisle's, (his old mill was burut January 18, '56,) now Sohl & Gibson, on the canal, built 1863; Underhill's, south of the city, 1851 ; Skil- len's, 1863; Capital mills, 1856; Morris' mills, south Pennsylvania street, 1848, burnt 1851; Bates' mills, Pogue's run, 1859. Of saw mills, Kortpeter's, south Pennsylvania street, 1849; Fletcher & Wells, Massachusetts avenue, 1857; Gay & Stevens, Madison depot, 1857; Hill's, East street, 1858, burned and rebuilt Octo- street, 1858; Helwig & Blake's, canal, 1858; Marsee's, New Jersey street, 1850 ; McKernan & Pierce. Kentucky avenue, 1565. Of planing mills, Shellaberger's, east Market, 1852; Blake & Gentle's, (the first one here.) Vermont street, 1849; Kreglo & Blake, canal, 1855, burned and rebuilt in Aug., 1850; Byrket's, Tennessee street, 1857; McCord & Wheatley's, Alabama street, 1865; Tate's, New Jersey street, 1864; Hill & Wingate's, East street, 1858,
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