Delaware County, Indiana - Chapter 17: Progress and Change in the Smaller Centers, 1908

Chapter 17: Progress and Change in the Smaller Centers

It is doubtful if a single adult resident of Delaware county during the years following the discovery of pas was unaffected by the spirit of development and the new energy that seemed to actuate all things. The county was very rapidly changed from an agricultural basis to an industrial - the greater wealth no longer came from the soil but from beneath it. Every landowner hoped for a share of the new wealth. Promoters were busy in every locality, organizing the citizens into associations for the development of pas wells, or the laying out of town sites, or erection of manufacturing plants. It would be impossible to say how much money was gathered in by promoters and speculators who had no further interest in the welfare of the county than to control a promising enterprise long enough to reap a golden harvest, then leaving the investors a bag to hold. One of the conspicuous characters of this sort produced during the boom was one Col. John II. Grover. who, during his popularity, was called the greatest land organizer and village promoter in the country. In two or three years, after having made the circuit of the county, he departed without having accomplished anything to cause his name to be permanently identified with the county except as a promoter of enterprises that ceased to exist as soon as he withdrew his enthusiasm and persuasive influence. As an example of his work in the county, in February, 1S93, he got together the farmers and villagers about Roycrton, and organized the North Muncie Land Co., with half a dozen well known citizens of that vicinity as officers or directors. The plans were to build a city and manufacturing center, which would be an adjunct and worthy rival of the city of Muncie.

At Eaton, where gas was first discovered, it was early planned to promote the industrial and commercial growth of the town, with natural gas as a basis. The beginning of this era was regarded with pleasure by several men who had known the place as an unnamed locality in the wilderness. David Brandt, who died a few years ago, had been the proprietor of the store at "Hen-peck" in the forties and later had transferred his enterprise to the site of Eaton, and another resident at this period and one who took an active part in the development of industrial Eaton, was John \V. Long.

who had been born on land that later became platted for the Eaton townsite and when a young man had carried the chain in laying out the village. In 1891 Eaton secured its glass works. In August, 1892, the Eaton Land and Improvement Co. was organized, and at once proceeded to acquire the Loii"- farm cast of town, containing the limestone quarries. The Paragon Paper Co. was also organized in 1892, with Herman Bcrgoff president, and the building of the paper plant began in the fall. The Old Fort Manufacturing Co. was another concern secured by the enterprising citizens about that time. The Eaton Bank Co. was promoted in 1S93 mainly by Fort Wayne people, and the bank building was completed during the summer of 1S93. In December, 1894, the Farmers State Bank began business, and about a year later the Bank of Eaton was organized. In 1893 Emil Baur came to Eaton and took charge of the Eaton Window Glass Co. He has since been an energetic factor in maintaining Eaton's industrial interests, and is the leading manufacturer of the town. He and Joel Hamilton organized the Eaton Manufacturing Co., which absorbed the Old Fort Manufacturing Co. Mr. Baur is now president or proprietor of the Baur Window Glass Co., the Baur Gas Co. and the Eaton Manufacturing Co. Besides these, the largest industries of Eaton at the present time arc the Western Flint Glass Co., of which John Foorman is president; the Carter Brothers, manufacturers and grain dealers, who represent the oldest established business connection in the town, the Carters having been engaged in milling here for more than forty years and also connected with the Brandts in mercantile affairs. The paper mill which has been idle since it was sold to the box board trust, has recently been reconstructed by A. B. Trentman and S. B. Fleming, preparatory to resumption of operations in the fall of 1907.

The town of Albany probably benefited more from the gas discovery than any other town in the county outside of Muncie. As elsewhere stated, Albany had very little to distinguish it during the early eighties, and yet it was one of the oldest villages in the county. Fifty years ago, according to an old gazetteer. B. F. Cary was postmaster, L. Blake was the miller, Cary and Wingate, Allegre and Manning, and Ezra Maynard were proprietors of the general stores, and there were three doctors, one of whom also signed himself as a lawyer and justice of the peace.

But during the early nineties Albany began to grow apace. In June, 1S93, the editor of the Muncie News speaks of the rapid increase of the town in population and wealth. He observes improvements in every direction, "150 dwellings in process of construction." In October, 1892, the Albany Land Co. was organized by citizens and farmers, with capital stock of $250,000; D. J. Manor, president; Robert Maxwell, vice president; L.

R. St. John, treasurer; Col. J. H. Grover, secretary.; J. R. Stafford, Joseph LcFavour, Ed Hannan, Willis Richey, David Black, directors. The growth of the town was anticipated by the platting of a large area east of the railroad, whereas the old village all lay west of the tracks.

One of the earliest manufactories was the Albany Paper Co., which began making strawboard in February, 1893. About the same time the foundations were being laid or other preparations made for the establishment of the Buckeye Window Glass Co., the Adams and Bccknell furniture factory, the Industrial China Co., the Indiana Lounge Co., the Model Flint Glass Co., etc. In consequence of this industrial boom and the activity of the Improvement Company in the booming of the site east of the original town, the Lake Erie and Western, in 1894, moved its depot, freight office and telegraph office to the new suburb half a mile east of town. The townspeople protested vehemently against this and used every means in their avail to persuade the railroad people of their mistaken policy. They even tried a boycott against the railroad by hauling their goods overland from Muncic and also tried to get a new railroad line. However, it was not until 1903 that the station was returned to its old location within the town.

Up to nearly the close of the century Albany showed a steady increase in property valuation, but during the past six or seven years has gone back, according to the records of the assessors. In 1896 the total valuation, in round numbers, was $360,000. By the following year it had risen to $511,- 000, and in 1899 was about $550,000. In 1906 the figures for total taxablcs arc given as about $422,000, and in 1907 there was a decline to a little less than $400,000.

Albany has many civic improvements that have graduallv been added during the past fifteen years. The Albany Water and Light Co. furnishes electric lighting and water. About ten years ago fire destroyed the Speicher block and threatened the entire business section. There was no fire protection, and the loss was nearly fifty thousand dollars. Since that time fire apparatus has been procured and an efficient organization perfected to protect the town from fire. Among the principal business enterprises at the present time may be mentioned the Albany Paper Co., the Albany State Bank, of which Isaiah Dudleston is president, the Delaware Mills, the Albany Automobile Co., the Stoncr Cement Post works, etc.

West 1Iuxcie

Of all the enterprises produced during the early nineties by enthusiastic promoters, whose designs seemed to embrace the entire county, which they would cover with populous cities and immense industries, West Muncie was started with the brightest promises and had perhaps the briefest career of substantial distinction. Probably not more than half the citizens have any remembrance of West Muncie, and what little remains of that interesting town is now considered part of Yorktmvn rather than of Muncie. In iSoj, however, the Western Improvement Co. kept West Mnneie constantly before the public, and hardly for a day did there fail some notice of that booming city. The Xovclly and Brass works were located there, Hour mill an,] many factories were to he built, New York avenue was to he graded, a lake was to he made by damming Buck creek, and twenty-five acres converted into a beautiful resort and park. A postofhec was established there in February, 1893, with Charles Perry as postmaster, and when the Yorktown depot was burned in the winter of 1S92-93 it was decided to locate the newone on the east side of the river in West Muncie. In February, 1893, the West Muncie Strawboard Co. was incorporated, and this company established the only permanent industry in the town.

Without tracing the detailed progress and decline of this town further, the "fate of West Muncie," which was "designed as a rival of the city of Muncie," may be told by a writer for the Morning Xews, March 24, 1898, who told the story in this way:

West Muncie, which is on the Big Four railway, five miles west of the city of Muncie, started several years ago as a rival of this city, is now a sad monument of a boom town, with empty houses crumbling into ruins. Officials of the Big Four railway were the chief promoters, assisted by Muncie capitalists. In addition to being designed as a manufacturing center, West Muncie was also intended for a summer report. A dam was constructed and quite a lake was formed in the stream known as Buck creek. A steam launch was purchased as a pleasure craft, with a number of smaller ljoats and canoes. This body of water was picturesque, and a grove nearby was invitino-. A fine hotel, modern in every respect, containing seventy rooms, was built near the edge of the beautiful grove and the railway company expended $3,000 in a depot. This depot is standing idle, never having been used for the purposes contemplated. The hotel also stands as a monument of a boom which "died a-bornin'." A family resides therein, and it is also used for postofhee purposes, although very few letters or papers come that way. A lar«-e two-story brick block with plate glass windows has stood empty all these years. Other business houses are ragged and tottering, with broken doors and shattered window panes. A few of the dwellings are occupied, but others arc falling into decay. The large dam has broken awaj. and 'the lake has long since disappeared. The big dancing pavilion and boat houses are almost ready to fall down. The town once had a newspaper, but it long since passed to the newspaper cemetery, while its editor and publisher is now in a printing office at Peru.

In December, 1892, DeSoto entered the circle of booming towns. A land companv was organized, controlling four thousand acres in that vicinity, and it was intended here, as in other places, to locate some big manufac- turinrr plants. The title of the promoting company was the East Muncic [.and Co., and in January, 1893, it claimed to have secured a paper box fac- (,-,ry and to have several other plants in prospect. Of course a gas well was -uiik to provide fuel for manufacturing'. The company within a year or so p.isscd into the hands of a receiver, and in the spring of 1806 the property vvaS sold to Adam Madill for $1,350, ahout the amount expended in sinking ;!;e gas well. Several Delaware county citizens lost money that they had invested in the enterprise. At the present time a large part of the active citizens of DeSoto arc employed in the Kitselman wire works in East Muncie, and the substantial town interests are hardly more than they were in March, 1883, when it was reported that the village had three stores, depot, warehouse, a blacksmith shop, shoe shop, two sawmills, two carpenters, a doctor, the population consisting of thirteen families.

The thriving village of Gaston, known in earlier history as New Corner, was a country village, remote from railroad connections, until a few vcars ago. As a trading center for a very rich agricultural district, and under the leadership of some very enterprising men, it has, nevertheless, been a center of importance for many years. Its early history has been given elsewhere. Fifty years ago, according to an old director}', its population was 35. One physician, one sawmill, two churches, one school, one store (Jesse Micrs, proprietor), several mechanics, comprised the leading interests. David L. Jones was owner of the sawmill and W. F. Mclnturf was postmaster. In 1885 New Corner was still a trading center, with the principal activities in the hands of the following: \V. R. Bryan and Frank Woodring, general stores; Frank Miller & Co., store; D. E. Boulette, shoe store; J. W. Ilammen, postmaster; Reason and Knight, drugs; Case & Co., tile factory; Drs. Clemens and Munsey, physicians. By this time the manufacturing had increased to two sawmills and a gristmill.

In the chronological records found elsewhere in this work will be found notices of several interesting events that have occurred in Gaston during the last ten or fifteen years. The citizens have long agitated the railroad question, and Washington township was usually found ready to vote subsidies lor the companies that proposed building. As long ago as 1892 it was deemed almost a certainty that a division of the Panhandle would be built through this vicinity, and in the fall of that year the citizens of "The metropolis of Washington township," as it was called, forwarded a petition to Washington asking that the name of their town and postoffice be changed to "Gas Center." The change was not made for some time, however, when the name Gaston was selected. In the summer of 1901 the Cincinnati, Richmond and Muncie (now the C, C. & L. R. R.) was completed through the conntv. and Gaston was finally given railroad connection. However, the C, I. & E. R. R. was the first to put a regular train schedule into effect, and for a time the station at Stockport, two miles east of Gaston, received much of the traffic that later returned to Gaston. With the establishment of railroad connection, new life was given the town. In May, 1902, the Gaston Banking Co. was organized, with Mark Powers as president. Mr. Powers is also president of the Gaston Canning Co., which is one of the most valuable manufacturing concerns in northwest Delaware county, especially to the fruit and truck interests of that rich agricultural region. Several of the business concerns of Gaston have had a continuous existence for many years. The Huber Bros, flour and sawmill was established about thirty years ago, and W. R. Bryan & Bro.'s general store dates to 1883. The Gaston Tile factory is another important industry.

Selma was also affected by the gas boom. Here the Selma Citizens' Co. organized in the spring of 1892 to further the interests of the town. This company was probably similar in aims and methods to the Enterprise Company of Muncie. But in June, 1893, the Eureka Land Co. was organized, controlling a thousand acres around the town, its intentions being mainly to boom the town for speculative purposes. For the past twenty years Selma has been one of the centers of the gas and oil industries. Some of the leading events of its recent history have been described in the record by years on ether pages. The town is still the principal oil town of the county, and a large part of the inhabitants are connected in some capacity with the production of oil either independently or as employes of the Indiana Pipe Line.

Within the present year Selma has obtained town incorporation. May 21, 1907, by a vote of 75 to 10, the inhabitants voted in favor of incorporation. The commissioners considered the report of the election on May 25, and an election of village officers was ordered for June 8. The first set of officiaU chosen at that time to direct the affairs of the corporation were: L. S. Clark, clerk; Eldon Caunaday, treasurer; Dr. Charles Jump, trustee of first district; A. J. Bailey, trustee of second district; Allen Howell, trustee of third district; George Ross, trustee of fourth district; and James Greenewait, trustee of fifth district.

Oilman

The maps of Delaware county show a platted district on the west lintof the county, under the name of Gilman. So much of this town as lies in Delaware county is purely a product of the boom during the nineties, and aside from the platting of the land nothing was done to making a town on this side of the county line. The Gas Center Land Co., a corporation in Marion county, laid this plat of 1,129 lots in June, 1893.