Clark County, Indiana - Chapter 9: Sixth Decade - 1s51-1860, 1909

Chapter 9: Sixth Decade - 1s51-1860

This pericd in Clark county was marked by no events of importance to history. The quiet pursuits of peace gave employn;ent to the minds and energies of the people, and the pohtical tension which was beginning to be drawn everj^where throughout the country gave a prominence to national affairs which dwarfed local issues.

Townships, towns and villages were laid oft, a fact which testifies to the progress of the county which otherwise would not be evident. Broom Hill in Carr township was begun in 185 1 by Thomas Littell, who lived in this immediate neighborhood. Here he began the making of brooms, and from this circumstance the village derived its name. But Littell was not the first settler in this locality by any means, though he built the first house in the village and opened the first store. Littell's house stood on the north side of the railroad. Previous to Littell, about the year 1809, one Michael Bums, of Connecticut, settled here and built a cabin on the site of Broom Hill, on the south side of the railroad. Austin Rowe was a storekeeper after Littel.

Broom Hill has had many small manufactories. William Leighton. in the former part of its history, put up a shingle macl.ine. He also erected a grist-mill and afterwards attached to it a stave factory. At one time a thriving portable saw-mill was run by the Bussey brothers. It lasted for a few years only. After the Bussey brothers, W^illiam McKinley and ]\Iichael Bums erected a saw-mill. The business done at this mill was considerable.

Blacksmith shops, shoemaker shops, and the various trades have been carried on in the village, though never on a very extended scale. Broom Hill is noted as once being the seat of extensive railroad supplies. During the first few years of the railroad the village furnished more wood than any other station on the road.

Bridgeport, much like Broom Hill, came into existence about the time the railroad was built. The section hands created a demand for many of the coarser wares, and hence, as a result, Samuel Pkimmer, of this section, began to sell various things, such as shovels, picks, spades, drills and crowbars, to the men employed by the railroad. Mr. Plummer died before the road was completed, and the store fell into the hands of his brother, Charles. Soon after it was finished James Warman erected a warehouse on the north side of the track. Here were stored various grains, the house serving as a kind of

Baird S History Of Clark Co., Ind. Io5

The village of Henry\-ille is situated in the center of Alonroe township. Many yeai-s before the place was laid out there was an old Indian trail running through the village, much as the Pennsyh-ania railroad now runs. It is located on Wolf run and Miller's fork of Silver creek, the former a tributary stream of Silver creek, which derived its name from the great rendezvous it furnished wolves forty years before Henryville was platted. The village lies in a beautiful valley, with hills on the east side, and in sight of the famous mounds. A little further east, on a high hill, is where the red man of forest manufactured his darts, implements of war, and himting utensils. Formerly the village was known by the name of Morristown, which name it retained for three yems. It was laid out in 1850, and in 1853 was- named Henryville, in honor of Col. Henry Ferguson. The Pennsvlvania Railrfiad passes through the village, going almost due north, and leaves the place in a very irregular shape.

Joseph Biggs was the first storekeeper in Henry\'ille. He kept his stock in a little frame house on the west side of the railroad. A Mr. Overman came ne.xt, but stayed only for a short time. He kept in a little frame house on the east side of the railroad. Henry Bussey and David Fish followed.

The post-ofiice was established immediately after the railroad was built. The first postmaster was Mr. Overman, second, Harvey Bussey: third, Mr. Lewis; fourth, John Bolan, who acted in this capacity two years.

Memphis is the only village regularly laid rmt in Union township. It was platted by Thompson McDeitz in 1852. The lots are at right angles with Main street. There ha\'e been several additions made, the most important of which is J. F. Willey's. of very awkward shape, made so because of the location of the land. Generally the town is shaped ungainly. The railroad passes through the principal street, while the business houses are on either side. Memphis is wholly in tract number two hundred and three, of the Illinois grant. Neither of the founders of the village ever lived here permanently. McDeitz was a resident of Blue Lick, and Colonel Willey of L-tica township. Tract numbei^ two hundred and three was originally owned by heirs in Virginia.

Previous to 1852 the citizens of what is now Oregon were included in the township of Charlestown. People residing in the northeastern part of the latter township found it inconvenient to attend elections at the county seat, or even nearer home. The old, original place of voting was constant!}' losing much of its regular business, and other towns and villages were gaining what she lost. So the residents naturally desired to be struck off from the old township, and to have a separate organization of their own. These and many more influential people finally induced a petition to be circulated for signers, and to be presented to the honorable board of County Commissioners, praying for a new township organization. The petition was written by Dr. John Covert, a chstinguished resident of Xew Market, and mainly through his efforts the plan succeeded. \Mthin the same year. 1852. the County Commissioners granted the request, and hence the present township of Oregon. It was struck oft" the northeastern side of Charlestown, and is four tracts wide from northeast to southwest and ten from northwest to southeast, making in all forty five-hundred-acre tracts, if the}' were wholly in Clark county. But the county line between Scott and Clark counties cuts off the northeastern corner of the township, and throws three or four tracts into the county of Scott. From this fact the tract which would naturally belong to Oregon extending further in a northeasterly direction than any of those in other townships, the name was derived. The Territory of Oregon was then the most distant body of land lying in the northwest which belonged to the United States : since there seemed to be a striking coincidence between the two sections, it was mutually agreed that the new township should be named after the new territory. ,

The site of Otisco was formerly owned by Thomas Cowling : but after his death his son, Samuel, inherited the property. They were of English extraction, and came here about 1830, when the upper part of the township was a dense forest. Immediately after the railroad was built, which was in 1854, the village w-as laid out.

Carr township lies in the western half of the county. It was organized in 1854. being struck off' almost entirely from the eastern side of W'ood. It has an area of nearly twenty-seven scjuare miles, or over seventeen thousa^nd acres, one third of Avhich is knobs. It is bounded on the north by ^^^ood, Monroe, and Union townships ; on the east by Union and Silver Creek townships: on the south by Floyd county: and cm the west by W'ood townshii). The boundaries are very irregular on tlie north and east sides. They are set forth in language something like the following :

Beginning on the line which divides Clark from Floyd county, and on the line which divides sections nineteen and twenty, and from thence running north until it strikes the southwest corner of section thirty-two : thence east and thence north to where tracts numbers two hundred and fifty, two hundred and thirty-four, and two hundred and thirtv-five corner: thence south, with variations, until it strikes the Muddy fork of Silver creek ; thence witli that stream, with its meanderings. to the south side of tract number one hundred and sixty-six ; thence west, with variations, to the county line of Floyd, near St. Joseph's Hill, and thence with the dividing line between Clark and Floyd counties to the place of beginning.

This township is composed mostly of sections, though there are four or five of the Grant tracts lying along the eastern side of the township.

Petersburg, one of the little villages of Silver Creek township, was laid out about the year 1854, by Lewis Bottorff. The survey was made by Danie! H. McDaniels. Owing to some irregularity in the Recorder's office the plat was never recorded. There were eighteen lots fifty by two hundred feet, and the village was named in honor of Peter McKossky, a Russian who lived near by on the Muddy fork.

Union township, covering an area of nearly thirteen thousand acres, occupies the central portion of the county, and according to the census of 1900 has a population of nine hundred and sixteen. It was organized in September, 1858. mainly through the efforts of Col. John Carr. It is the newest of all the townships of the county, and takes its name from the fact that it was made up from a union of parts of other townships. Monroe bounds it on the north, except a narrow strip on the east side, where the township of Charlestown forms also the eastern boundary ; the townships of Carr and Charlestown bound it on the south ; Monroe and Carr form the western boundaiy. The township as it now is was erected out of Monroe. Charlestown and Carr townships. The extreme northern end of Silver Creek township and the extreme southern corner of Union unite in the middle of Silver creek, near the southwest corner of tract number one hundred and sixty-six ; also the extreme portions of Carr and Charlestown townships - the only instance of the kind in the county.

In the late forties the town of Jeft'ersonville became interested in the construction of a rairoad. The Jefferson ville Railroad Company was incorporated by an act approved January 20. 1846. which empowered the company to build a road from Jeft'ersonville to Columbus, and also to use the tracks of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad. The company organized under the name of the Ohio & Indiana Railroad Company, on the 17th of March, 1848, with James Keigwin. Samuel Merriwether, William G. Armstrong, A. Walker, Woods Maybury, Benjamin Irwin, J. B. Abbott. J. D. Shryer, \\'. A. Richardson. W. D. Beech, and Samuel McCampbell as directors, and William G. Armstrong, president : Samuel McCampbell, secretaiy, and J. G. Read, treasurer, as its officers. Th^ name of the corporation was changed to the Jeffersonville Railroad Company in 1849. and in the fall of 1852 the road was completed.

The two roads were consolidated subsequent to 1862 as the Jeft'ersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad Company. This consolidation was a practical absorption of the older by the younger road, as the officers and directors of the Jeffersonville Railroad Company were retained in office. This railroad now exists under the name of the Pennsylvania, having been absorbed by that company in 1873.

In September. 1853. the Fort Wayne & Southern Railroad was first discussed in the Jeff'ersonville council. This discussion finally culminated in

April. 1855, in the purchase of two hundred thousand dollars" worth of stockin the company. The route of this road after it entered the county about where the Pennsylvania now crosses Silver creek was up Front street in Clarksville and Jefifersonville to the foot of Pearl street, where the terminal was to be located. The efforts of such men as A\'illiam G. Armstrong. James Keigwin, Samuel Merriwether, J. D. Shryer, Woods Maybury and James G. Read did much to advance the interests of Jeffersonville, although the heritage of the Fort Wayne & Southern investment is nothing to create much pleasure in the breasts of the present tax-payers of the city.

The peritxlical recurrence of the scheme to get steamboats over the Falls appeared again in 1852. The movement began with the organization of a companv which intended to take steamboats out of the water at Jeffersonville and transport them by rail around the Falls, depositing them again upon the bosom of the stream below the Falls. This company was chartered May 11, 1852, and was called the "Ohio Falls Marine Railroad Company." The seal of the company depicts the ease with which this feat was to be performed. The boat resting gracefully upon the cars "en train" is shown with smoke pouring out of her chimneys, and from the steam issuing from her escape pipes her engines are evidently still at work. Among the citizens of Jeffersonville who subscribed money for the scheme were Sidney S. Lyon, L. D. Clemmons, John P. Cox. B. F. Marsh. Joseph Lank, ^^'arren How, George L. Swartz and David H. Lane. They each subscribed for forty shares. This ship railroad was to be "wholly in Clark county," and was "to begin at a place in the town of Jeft'ersonville a short distance from the Jeffersonville ferry landing, as at present established, and to terminate at a place called Whirlpool, as estimated to be one and three-fourths miles below the Jeft'ersonville landing, the length of said road being as near as m?y be, a mile and threefourths." Although sun-eys were made and plans drawn the road was ne\er built and the project still hangs unplucked by the promoter.

The conditions of the transportation facilities on our railroads and ferries, as w^ell as the attractions of Jeffersonville, are told by a traveler who arrived in 1858. His account ends as follows:

"After no less than four accidents to our train on the Ohio & Mississippi Railway, happily involving no other evil consecpiences than the smashing of the company's engine and two or three cars, the sacrifice of many valuable hours, and the loss of an amount of patience difficult to estimate, though once possessed by all the passengers, myself included, we arrived at the miserable village, though called a city, of Jeft'ersonville. in Indiana, nearly opposite to Louisville, in Kentucky, on the River Ohio. The train was due at an early hour in the afternoon, but did not reach Jeffersonville until half past nine in the evening, long before which time the steam ferry-boat had ceased to ply, and the captain of which refused to re-light the fires of his engines to carr>- the passengers across. We saw the lights of the large city gleaming temptingly across the stream, but. there being no means of conveyance, we were all reluctantly compelled to betake ourselves to the best inn at Jeffersonville - and bad, very bad, was the best. We had had nothing to eat or to drink all day, in consequence of the accident to uur train having befallen us in an outof-the-way place and in the very heart of the wilderness; and such of us as were not teetotalers looked forward to a comfortable supper and glass of wine or toddy, after our fatigue and disappointments. But, on asking for supper and wine at the hotel, we were told by mine host that we were in a temperance state, and that nothing in the way of drink would be served except milk, tea. coffee and lemonade. A thoughtful friend at Cincinnati had given us on starting a bottle of Bourbon whiskey twenty years old ; and we told mine host that if he would provide us with glasses, hot water, sugar and a corkscrew, we should enjoy his meat, find our owri drink, and set Fate at defiance."

Happily, we of later years are not compelled to be victims of such conditions, and the fact that the traveler was tired, hungry and disappointed upon his arrival, and possibly recovering from his above mentioned drink when he drote this description, may account for the beautiful tribute which he has paid Jeffersonville. The city, however, seemed to be considered important enough to notice even earlier than this. In 1852 General Scott visited Jeltersonville to deliver a speech against Franklin Pierce. Pierce had served under Scott in the Mexican war and had risen to the rank of brigadier-general. The presence of Mexican war veterans in Clark county prompted the visit of the old general but it availed him nothing, and Pierce was elected to the Presidency.

In 1852 the public school system was inaugurated in Jeffersonville. The new constitution made education compulsory and free in the state. Two new school-houses were built at this time, both of which have disappeared. The first was on Mulberr\- street about opposite the end of Chestnut street, and was called the Alulberrj^ street school. The other stood on the northwest corner of Maple and ^^'att streets and was called the "Blue" school-house. They were two-stor\' brick structures and served admirably for the purposes for which they were constructed, yet they stand in great contrast to the newest addition to the schools of the city of Jeffersonville. The first school trustee of Jeffersonville was Jonas G. Howard, still an active factor in the politics and business life of the county. The establishment of the public school system in Indiana provided good schools, but there still seemed to be an opening for private institutions. In 1852 the Methodist church purchased the Springs property, where formerly the beauty and society of the South were wont to disport itself, and where gambling and conviviality were the pastimes of gentlemen. The "Palaces of Sin" were torn down or conno BAIRD S HISTORY OF CLARK CO., IND.

verted into school buildings, and quite a number of young ladies were enrolled as students in the new "Seminary." It prospered but a short while. Soon after the lapse of gaity at "The Springs," the hotel which stood at the foot of Broadway, burned (1857).

The establishment of a branch of the Bank of the State of Indiana in Jef¥ersonville in 1855 inaugurated the banking system in Clark county. It remains today, under the name of the Citizens National Bank, the oldest bank in the county.

In 1855 the question of lighting the city of Jeffersonville with gas was discussed in the Council, and in 1859 a company was chartered for that purpose. Mains were laid and within a year the streets were lighted and the residences were piped for the safer and more desirable illuinination.

In Sellersburg the first post-office was established in 1852. In 1856. the Clark County Fair which had been held regularly in the vicinity of Charlestown, was held at Jefifersonville, but remained here but a few A'ears, when it was taken back to Charlestown.

In the year 1853 the proceedings of the Common Council of the city of Jeffersonville show that the town of Port Fulton was annexed to Jeffersonville, but the action was premature as the annexation was never consuinmated. The solons of Jeffersonville were e\'identh- wide awake at this period, for in January, 1855, the Council took up the question of the removal of the county seat from Charlestown. In February of this year Judge Read reported to the Council that he had been to Indianapolis to push the matter, and in January. 1856, a committee of three was appointed to advance the idea - four hundred dollars being appropriated for their expenses. As the countv seat remained at Charlestown for twenty years after this attempt, it is evident that the project was salted away for future use.

In 1854 Clark county was visited by a great drouth, lasting from July to October. The crops were ruined, springs went dry, and the river reached an unprecedented low stage. The temperature during this period hovered about one hundred degrees for one hundred days. The following year the river reached an exceedingh' low stage, and as there was no dam on the Falls the upper harbor extending past Madison suffered greatly. There was an earlv winter that year and during the latter part of November the river froze over, and on account of the shallow places froze to the bottom, .\bout December 20th there was a period of mild weather and the owners of steamboats, supposing that navigation could be resumed, started out with their crafts. There was a sudden cold snap and between Fourteen Mile creek and

The only new industry started in tlie city of Jeffersonville during this decade was a woolen mill. This mill was a large two-story brick building near the river bank just below Mechanic street. It was built by Samuel H. Patterson. This mill he placed in the hands of J. ^^ . L. Mattock, who had formerly managed a mill of like kind in Danville. Indiana. In 1863 the mill was sold to Moses G. Anderson, who ran it some two years. In 1865 it was bought by J. L. Bradley, Dillard Ricketts and S. H. Patterson, who conducted it under the firm name of Bradley & Company. During the following j-ear and a half the firm lost considerable money, and closed up the mill, selling the machinery to various persons. This building stood vacant for many years and was torn down in the eighties.

In i860 occurred the trouble between the citizens of Jefifersonville and the convicts of the Prison South. The warden of the prison had contracted to furnish brick for the Louisville water works, then building, and the convicts were marched through the city streets to the brick works above the city. The fact that these men were taken through the streets chained together, and that they competed with free labor aroused the people to the injustice of the practice and a mob was formed to compel its discontinuance. The convicts were driven back to the prison, and since that time have never performed any labor outside the walls.

Politically the people of Clark county were comparatively quiet during the early fifties, but the election of 1854 stirred up feeling which engendered much bitterness. The \A'higs and the Democrats had fought their political battles before this, and had then forgotten their dififerences, but this campaign produced a new feeling. ^Members of both the Whig- and Democratic parties formed the People's party and in their meeting at Charlestown they promulgated their beliefs, among which was "temperance." Within this part}- was organized a secret organization, which went by the name of "Know Nothing." It was created for the purposes of waging a political war against the Roman Catholics and foreigners. At the time of the election riots occurred in the city of Jeffersonville when these citizens were assaulted to prevent their voting. No serious injuries resulted and the feeling in Clark countv subsided. However, the movement which wr^s nation-wide, appeared in Louisville the next year, 1855, and the memorable "Bloodv Monday" resulted

While the political atmosphere of the county became agitated in '54- and during the last year or two of the decade, the social and commercial conditions presented a calm and unruffled surface. The people both in the country and in towns were a quiet, contented and industrious class. In the rural districts the fanners were far more contented and possibly had more reason to be so than at later periods. Previous to 1850, tlie county was covered with a tiiick forest, and tlie land was owned by settlers who. besides farming- a small part of their forty or fifty acre tract, made considerable profit out of the manufacture of staves, hoops and barrels. There were few, if any, large farms at this time, and the division of the land into small parcels, each with its cabin or more ostentatious residence upon it, made a neighborhood of eveiy farm, and no one was isolated or without near neighbors. The cooperage plants and the shipping of the output as well as the hoop-poles gave occupation to a very large population outside of the cities and towns. It is a matter of fact as well as astonishment to know that the rural population of Clark county at that time was greater than at the present day. The timber disappearing, the population followed, either moving to the city of Jefifersonville or the various towns situated northwardly. The small farms became a part of larger ones, and where twenty or thirty families had lived and flourished, the present day presents extensive tracts of pasture, or cultivated fields of an extent unknown in those cla3^s.

The larger rural population made the country far more attractive than it is in some localities at present, and the simpler habits and customs of the people made for contentment, and the desire for wealth which has spoiled the simple happiness of many of the present day farmers had not become as marked then as later on.

The farmers raised their crops and marketed them : were independent and happy. The spring, summer and fall gave occupation to all and the winter evenings wei^e more given to reading and study than at the present day. As a rule they were a religious. God-fearing people. The farmer who did not attend church was the exception. Political, religious and general information was the rule, and although papers and magazines were far less plentiful than at present, these mediums were perused with interest and the topics of the day were studied and understood. The Christian Advocate, The Louisville Journal, edited by George D. Prentice, and the Louisville Democrat, edited by Harney, together with the Cincinnati Enquirer, were the journals subscribed for. The country churches were the centers of neighborhood activities, and the visit of a preacher always resulted in an all-day gathering. It has been said that almost every neighborhood had men so familiar with the Bible that if the bonk had been destroyed they might have reproduced it from memor}-. A social and friendly spirit seemed to per\-ade each countryside, and the simple religion of the pioneers remained to brighten and lighten the lives of those who chose to live in the free air and cheerful light of heaven. Xearly every family had prayers in the evening and a chapter read from a well-thumbed Bible became a part of the devotions. The Bible was the one book which was familiar to almost every country man. To this familiarity with the Book may be attributed the high tone which marked the character of the men of the day.

Previous to 1850 it was impossible to procure and keep harvest hands unless whiskey was sen-ed in the field, but this habit disappeared and with it the incident features which had helped to lower the standard of morality. Industry, prosperity and success marked the lives of the men who tilled the soil. The religious phase of their lives had none of the deadening influences which marked Puritan England in the sixteenth century, nor did as violent a reaction follow. The countrj- dances and social gatherings were not affected by Puritanical views of such things. The intercourse between the people of Jeffersonville and Charlestown was most cordial. The road leading to Jefifersonville from the county seat was a ven,- busy highway, and although there was neither railroad, electric line, or telephone, the incidents and events in one locality were subjects of interest elsewhere almost as c|uickly as at present. A 'bus running between Charlestown and Jeffersonville over the old Charlestown road brought the city and town in close touch.

The exciting questions which arose during the last year of the decade concerned the issues in national affairs, and but few months of the new decade had passed until the storm of war broke upon the nation, and Clark county, like the remainder of the loyal state of Indiana, entered with heart and soul in the duty of upholding the government founded by their forefathers in 1776. In the year i860 the population of Clark county was twenty thousand five hundred and two.