USA > Indiana > Wayne County > Richmond > Memoirs of Wayne County and the city of Richmond, Indiana; from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Wayne County, Volume I Pt. 1 > Part 10
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posite opinion from the presiding judge in this matter. Their de- cision was, "that the seat of justice was permanently established at Salisbury, that the Act of Dec. 21, 1816, not having a sufficient repealing clause, has not removed it, but that the Act of Jan. 28, 1818, authorized the court to hold their pro tempore sessions in the town of Centerville, until the legislature should otherwise direct." As the legislature has never otherwise directed the legal county seat, according to the decision of these judges, must still be at Salisbury. The court was held "temporarily" at Centerville ever afterwards, although as late as 1820 we find that the question came before the county commissioners.
On Aug. 14, 1820, the question was finally settled by the Board, consisting of Isaac Julian and Benjamin Harris, accepting the deed to the public square at Centerville.
Centerville rapidly forged to the front. She was settled by a class of citizens, progressive and intelligent, who soon won fame . for her wherever they went. It at once became a thriving busi- ness place. The United States Government paved the main street with flag stones.
The people of Centerville strongly urged the commissioners to build a place of security for prisoners, but this was construed to mean, and was so worked out, that a jail and palatial residence for a jailer was built costing about $80,000. Then followed the ยท erection of the iron fence enclosing the court yard, at a cost of about $10,000. Evidently the people intended to get so much of the public money there that the county seat could never be removed. The citizens thought their town was destined to become the lead- ing business center of Eastern Indiana. Their dreams for its fu- ture far surpassed those of the most enthusiastic promoter of the . gas booms of to-day. The metropolis-to-be was laid out on a mag- nificent scale. The streets were 100 feet wide, and sites were pro- vided for a city hall and market place, besides those already laid out for a court house and jail. Judging that the real estate would soon become scarce, these streets were subsequently narrowed to sixty feet and some of them to forty feet. The new town pros- pered ; lots sold rapidly, and prices were high.
The prevailing mania to have brass knockers on the front street door raged then to as great an extent as it does now, and along the principal streets the residences were built flush to the line of the sidewalk, and many of them had no lawns either at the side or at the front. The demand for front space was so great that the alleys were arched over to make more front room. Sev-
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eral of these old-fashioned arches are still standing ; all except two of them are attached to residences.
The framers of the Constitution of ISTO made it the duty of the general assembly, "as soon as circumstances will permit, to provide by law for a general system of education, ascending in a regular gradation from township schools to a State university and for the promotion of such, the money which shall be prepaid as an equivalent by persons exempt from military duty, except in times of war, shall be exclusively, and in equal proportions, applied to the support of 'County Seminaries"" In 1831 a general law pro- viding for the establishment of a Seminary in each county was passed. The Seminary of Wayne County was established by an act passed Jan. 26, 1827. The bill was introduced by James Rari- dan, the senator from Wayne. The bill made it the duty of the Circuit Court of Wayne county to appoint three persons to con- stitute a Board of Seminary Trustees.
Centerville, alive to her interests, had her representatives ready to confer with the trustees as soon as they were appointed. Lot Bloomfield, Daniel Jenkins, and Robert Hill were appointed, and this board received by donation two lots in the town of Centerville which they accepted and reported as suitable for the Wayne Coun- ty Seminary. In 1828 the west wing was erected. Nathan Smith taught the first school. Rev. Samuel K. Hoshour taught from 1836 until 1839 and later became State Superintendent of Public Instruction and president of Butler University. Rawson Vaile had charge six years at one time. The east wing was built in 1840, and in 1847 the main building was commenced. Some time in 1850 the building was purchased by the Methodist church and was con- verted into a boarding school, known as White Water College.
In 1852 the legislature ordered the sale of all county semi- naries, with all their property, real and personal, and provided that the net proceeds should be added to the permanent school fund. The one at Centerville subsequently passed into private hands. In 1856. Edwards, A. C. Shortridge, and Roberts, leased the build- ing for five years. The school then taught was not denomina- tional. In 1861 the building was sold to W. 11. Barnes, who con- ducted a boarding school until 1865, when he sold the building to J. M Corner, who in turn sold it to S. S. Potter in 1867. In 1870 it was sold to the town for public school purposes, at about twice its actual value, the trustees issuing long-time bonds bearing ten per cent. interest. It continued to be used for school purposes un- til 1801. when the old building was destroyed by fire after having stood for fifty years.
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White Water College numbers among its pupils many eminent men. Here it was that Indiana's distinguished war governor, Ilon. Oliver P. Morton, first went to school. Among other pupils were Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside. the famous commander of the Army of the Potomac: Hon. George W. Julian, a leading anti-salvery agitator, who was long prominent in national affairs; Gen. Lew Wallace, the soldier. diplomat and anthor, whose literary work has done so much to make the name "Hoosier" respected the world over ; Ilon. Henry U. Johnson, one of Wayne's most brilliant rep- resentatives in Congress: Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of the Century Magazine; and Henry Mosler. the famous American artist. Many other men not so widely known received their edu- cation here, and there is probably not another school of its class, at that date. in the United States that has exerted so wide an in- fluence. Judging from the above. Centerville had more promi- nent men than any town in the country. George Julian, Neel Mc- Cullough, and others, about 1842, orgamzed a debating club, which became famous in after history, called the Dark Lyceum. Its ses- sions were generally held in the second story of the Seminary build- ing and. as the name indicates, in the dark. Its purpose was to improve the members in extemporaneous debate. and under cover of darkness it was thought that they could speak and gesticulate with greater freedom. The meetings were presided over by a "premier" and every member in turn introduced some proposition and opened the debate.
But "the paths of glory lead but to the grave." Fortune had decreed that Centerville as the seat of justice of Wayne county, should be short lived, comparatively speaking. \ chain of causes and events now began which led to the removal of the court house and belongings from that place to Richmond.
In the early settlement of the county it was desirable that the county seat should be as nearly as possible the geographical cen- ter of the county. No section of the county then had a preponder- ence of population or business, hence this accommodated a major- ity of the people of the county. But all this had changed with the course of events. The day of building court houses in geographical centers has long since passed by. Our commerce, transportation, and social interchanges are now nearly all conducted through the facilities furnished by railroads, and in this respect one must admit that Richmond was more accessible and convenient to fully three-fourths of the population of this county, to say nothing of the advantages Richmond offered to the farmers, mechanics, and
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traders, in her mercantile, mechanical and manufacturing interests. We find Wayne township with a population nearly equal to the balance of the county, paying a large proportion of the taxes, and furnishing a large amount of the business of the courts. But this was not all-Richmond had greater advantages than Centerville. Turnpike roads penetrated all parts of the county, rendering access to Richmond comfortable and speedy. In the way of railroads a glance at the county map will convince any one of the greater ad- vantages which Richmond possessed in this line, so far as the speed and comfort of persons from the remote parts of the county reaching the city was concerned. In a word, there was a network of turnpikes and railroads spread over the county that made Rich- mond the center of travel. The legal voters of Wayne county began to realize how advantageous it would be to have the court house at Richmond. Richmond being the great center of manu- factures and commerce of the county, all its citizens came there frequently on business, thus affording them an opportunity of attending to matters in court or the offices at one time, whereas, then only a few went to the county seat, except on special busi- ness, at a loss of time and money.
The question then was, where shall the new court house be built? That one would be built was a determined fact. Applica- tion had been made to the court, by persons intending its perma- nent location at Centerville, to compel such action on the part of the county commissioners, and a majority of the voters saw in it a repetition of the proceedings by which the $80,000 jail was built, so much to the surprise of the people. For this had been the past history of events: Commencing with an order for making the old jail safe, it resulted in an unnecessary expense of about $80,000 of the people's money, and wound up with a $10,000 fence around the square. With this showing in small matters, a half million, it was judged, would scarcely satisfy them for a court house. How- ever, they filed their petition with the commissioners, asking the erection of fireproof vaults and offices, stating these should cost at least $75,000, intending by this piece-meal expenditure to get so much of the people's money invested there that the county seat could never be moved; and because the commissioners took the matter under advisement for a short time the petitioners were not satisfied, but rushed into court, asking a mandamus to compel the commissioners to act at once in the matter.
It had become evident that whenever any more money had to be expended for public buildings the majority of the people of
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the county desired it spent at Richmond, and not at Centerville, and the friends of Centerville, by their acts, forced them to meet their desires at this time and ask a re-location of the county seat.
The Act of March 2, 1855, as amended in its second section, Dec. 18, 1865, and in its first and third sections. Feb. 24, 1860, was the law which governed the re-location of county seats, under cir- cumstances similar to the present case. Section 1: "That when- ever fifty-five per cent. of the legal voters in any county in this State shall, by petition, request the Board of Commissioners of their county to re-locate the county seat of said county, designating in such petition the site where such re-location is desired, and shall procure the conveyance to such Board, by deed conveying good title of two lots of ground, one containing not less than two acres as a site for the court house, and the other containing not less than one-fourth of an acre as a site for the county jail, to be held by such Board for that purpose, and shall deposit with such Board the sum of Sioo to pay an architect, and $150 to pay commissioners to assess damages, then such Board shall proceed to have new county buildings erected thereon, and the county seat removed thereto, in the manner and upon the conditions set forth in the following section ; provided, that no such re-location of a county seat shall be made unless it shall be removed at least three miles."
The first thing to be done was to obtain fifty-five per cent. of the voters in favor of the re-location. If, after that, and within three months, anyone, or a dozen, more or less, of the petitioners would pay or secure the value of county buildings, the re-location would proceed ; if they did not, it would fail.
The citizens of Richmond started a petition. They had two requirements to meet : that of the law and the combined efforts of the people of Centerville. The people of Centerville tried, per- sonally and by circulars, to show how great a loss the removal would be to them; how insignificant the appraisement of county buildings would be toward the amount needed to erect new build- ings ; the general convenience and central location of Centerville ; how property owners would suffer, and numerous other such ob- jections, which in all fairness were partially true. But the argu- ment that the whole county must pay tribute to them, and at a daily and hourly expenditure of time and money run to their place, simply to keep up fictitious values of the real estate of their little town, was rather too thin to outweigh the advantages in favor of Richmond. The petition, however, was passed around to obtain the fifty-five per cent. The people of Centerville at the same time
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had a remonstrance circulated to counteract the petition, but the voters, in general, were convinced that the removal was to their own interest. In the meanwhile, a part of the committee looked after the grounds requisite for locating the court house and jail, and gave their report as follows, which is taken from one of the lead- ing papers of Richmond at that time:
"Richmond, Ind., April 26, 1872. "To the Voters of Wayne County, Ind .:-
"In presenting to your attention the question of removal of the County Seat from Centerville to Richmond, we say that we have procured the necessary ground (two acres and a half) in the business center of the city, at a cost of $42,000, and have paid for it by private subscription. We assure you if such change is made that the appraised value of all the county buildings and real estate at Centerville will be promptly paid by Richmond, and no call or tax will be made on any of the county at large for that purpose. We assure you no person signing the petition will incur any lia- bility therein, as the law simply makes this the way of testing the public wish, instead of by vote. You will simply pay the tax that you will pay if built at Centerville, except we think by building here we can save you a large amount of tax, by reason of our facili- ties for building. These facts we state to our people, and they can be relied on as true." Signed by G. W. Barnes, S. R. Wiggins, J. J. Jordan, D. B. Crawford, J. L. Meek, J. W. Yeo, J. C. Whitridge, Iladley & Bro., Oran Perry, C. C. Binkley, Irvin Reed, T. W. Rob- erts, A. A. Curme, C. T. Price, E. G. Vanghan, James M. Starr, Joshua W. Starr, W. H. Swayne, A. Earnist, J. M. Paxson, Fred Rosa, W. I. Dulin, C. Fetta, Thomas Nestor, and W. Thistlewaite.
The voters, encouraged by this report, readily signed their names to the petition, until quite a majority was obtained. The petition and the report, naming the site chosen for the erection of a new court house, were given to the Board of Commissioners, who at their adjourned session, in June, 1872, decreed substantially as follows :
Ist. That 4.937 of the legal voters of Wayne county had peti- tioned the Board, in due form of law, for re-location of the county seat on the premises described in the city of Richmond.
2d. That 6,220 votes were polled at the last Congressional election in Wayne county, held in October, 1870, and that 3,764 votes were fifty-five per cent. of said vote, thus showing a large majority over the requisite number.
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3d That the petitioners had paid into court $100 with which to pay an architect, and $150, to pay commissioners to be ap- pointed for the assessment of the value of property at the county seat.
4th. That the petitioners had secured two acres of ground on which to erect a court house, and one-fourth of an acre on which to erect a jail, as set forth in their petition.
5th. That the petitioners had tendered to the county board a deed purporting to convey a good title to said property. And, it was therefore ordered and adjudged by the board that they would take time for the examination of said title, and if said title should be found good, that then the board would proceed to order the notice to be given to the Governor, the architect to be employed, and if the petitioners, or some of them, should thereafter pay or secure to be paid the value of said buildings at the present county seat, then the Board would at once proceed to let out the contract for said public buildings at Richmond; and re-locate the county seat thereat. And the court adjourned said cause until the Sep- tember term, to examine said title.
The record shows that at the September session of the Board, 1872, a deed for said ground was presented by the petitioners and accepted and approved by said Board. The order granted, things began to assume a lively appearance. Legal proceedings to pre- vent the removal began, with William A. Peele vs. The Board of Commissioners of Wayne County, et al., in the Wayne Circuit Court, February term, 1873.
The argument was long and spirited. It was argued before Judge Haynes. The remonstrators, having the burden of proof upon them, procured the services of Jonathan W. Gordon, of Indi- anapolis, a famous lawyer of his day, who argued nobly for them, while William A. Bickle was the leading lawyer for the petitioners and produced his argument in a very clear and concise way. On March S, at the close of this term, after having the case under advisement two weeks, Judge Haynes delivered his decision in writing, sustaining the Board of Commissioners.
It is recorded in George P. Emswiler's private diary :
"Last Saturday, March 8, 1873. the Court House was declared as finally fixed and located in Richmond, and on Monday follow- ing work was commenced to clear away the ruins of the old Thomas Mason corner, preparatory to its erection here."
An injunction suit was next brought. and Judge George John- son decided favorably for the petitioners, and the books and court
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belongings were ordered removed in compliance with Section 6 of the Statutes of 1869, previously referred to, and which provided as follows :
"So soon as such buildings are completed, at the end of one year named in section 4 of this Act, the county commissioners shall cause all books, papers and furniture of the several county officers and of the several courts of the county and of the county prison and the occupants of said prison, to be removed to such new buildings, and from time of such removal such new site shall be- come and be held and treated as the seat of justice of such county."
In the meantime the court house had been erected in the north- east corner of the present lot occupied by the court house. One should observe that the petition was signed by 4,937 voters on June 3. 1872; the question was definitely decided March 8. 1873. and on Aug. 14. 1873, the records were removed to the new building in Richmond.
This removal was not to be peaceably accomplished. A great deal of bitterness and strife ensued, but the books were removed without injury to any.
"Thursday, Aug. 14, 1873 .- This day the records of the county were removed from Centerville to this City, after having reposed there (a part of them at least) since the year 1822. So says Norris Jones, who, when a boy, assisted in their removal from Salisbury, and to-day, at the age of sixty-two, brought over the first load to Richmond. Henceforth this city will be the 'County Seat,' if not the Seat of Justice. The loss to Centerville is a serious one ; to us, a material gain. Here may it rest in peace."
The removal of the jail and iron fence was not to be accom- plished so easily. Violence was threatened and affairs assumed warlike appearances. The National Guard was called to Center- ville and patrolled the court house square for several days before the removal was successfully accomplished.
"Nov. 14, 1873 .- Within the past two weeks the material com- posing the new jail at Centerville and the iron fence surrounding the county buildings have been removed to this City, to be used in the construction of a similar building here. The fence will be placed around the grounds in this city. The removal was not effected without considerable opposition by the people of Center- ville, who, on several occasions, threatened and did use violence in order to stay the removal, firing a 'six-pounder' cannon and other small fire arms at the workmen employed in taking down the building."
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At last the removal was accomplished and Richmond became the county seat of Wayne county. This ended a strife which will not be forgotten by the participants or their descendants for many years to come ; a strife very natural on the part of the Centerville people and at one time so sharp as to cause apprehensions of serious trouble. In 1890 the old court house was replaced by an elegant, new, and commodious structure, to which every citizen can point with pride.
RESUME.
Salisbury is no more. After the removal of the county seat, the village was rapidly deserted. The few frame and brick build- ings were taken down and some of them moved to Richmond. There remains nothing on the site indicating that a town was ever there, except a single house. This is a large frame structure, two stories high, that is now used as a barn. It stands a few rods south- west of the site of the old court house. This unpretentious build- ing is the birthplace of Hon. Oliver P. Morton, one of Centerville's famous sons. Here he spent his boyhood days. The ground on which Salisbury stood is now used for farming purposes.
Centerville now lives only in the past, but it is readily seen that it is rich in the treasures of memory. It was once a thriving busi- ness point and its society was second to that of no town in the State. About its narrow, well shaded streets and moss covered, decaying buildings, cling many associations that have more than local historic interest. The attorneys and many of the wealthiest citizens followed the court house to Richmond, by which Center- ville lost a great part of its best society. The old court house which served as a seat of justice for so many years is still standing, though it has been altered a great deal in the last few years. The building is now used for residence and business purposes. The town now contains less than 1,000 people and is so completely overshadowed by its larger neighbor, Richmond, that it will never regain its old-time prosperity, but will probably in a few years become a residence suburb of the latter city.
Richmond was platted in 1816. For nearly ten years maize and small grain had waved over the fields patented to John Smith and Jeremiah Cox. It was thought their grounds would furnish a good foundation for a town. The suggestion was made by the former to the latter, but Jeremiah was not at that time prepared to engage in the scheme. "I would rather see a buck's tail" said he. "than a tavern sign." He had no relish for towns. although he
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afterwards became part proprietor of one. Notwithstanding this unwillingness to co-operate on the part of one of the landowners, David Hoover proceeded to lay out the land of John Smith along Front and Pearl streets, now South Fourth and Fifth, and lots were "five poles wide and eight poles back." An acre, called the public square, was reserved by Smith for such public uses as he should think proper. This was the extent of the town plat at that time, 1816. Two years afterward, 1818, Jeremiah Cox made his addition on the north side of Main street.
Some one might ask why North Front street, now Fort Wayne avenue, was run along the brow of the hill, at an acute angle of forty-seven degrees with Main street. At that time there ran along the edge of the hill a country road, the first perhaps laid out in Wayne county. As no splendid anticipations of future greatness were entertained for the new town by its proprietors, no provisions were made for coming necessities, but the conveniences of the present were the ruling principle. To continue South Front street, now Fourth, directly north would run it into wet grounds, unsuitable for a street and for building lots; besides the street would ultimately run into the river. On the hill was a road al- ready established, no ground would again have to be relinquished for a street, and the width of the road was sufficient for the wants of the town. Lots were accordingly laid out along this road, and the corners of Main and Front streets became important points. These are the oldest streets and for a long while were the only ones in Richmond.
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