Shelby County, Indiana - Corxtv Goverxmex, 1909

County Surveyors

The following ha\e scn'ed various terms as sur\eyors in Shelby county: William li. Miller, Jeremiah Dugan, Charles F. ^^'ebster, George F. Murphy,

County Commis.Sioxer.S.

While the people of this countv have been law-abiding in their crcneral tendencies, yet here has Ix^en found sin and crime whicli have had ^o be met and punished according to the laws of the commonwealth. In the- just execution oi law, and for the protection of the just, the pure and the good, it became necessary to provide a county jail. It was in Xovember. 1822. a few months alter the organization of the countv. that bids were advertised f-.r the plans and erection of a suitable jail. The Countv Commissioners met at the house 01 H:ram Allredge and provided for these contracts, .taiin- the date w-ien bids would T^ received. James Gregon- was appointed the "architect, anci Aatnan Johnson was finally awarded the contract fr,r the erecti.,n of the first jail l.uilcling- of Shclliy cnunty. The specifications called for a hewed log stnictiirc. sixteen feet square and two stories high.. The first, or ground, lloor was to contain the 5)rison room or dungeon, in which the most vicious class of law-violators were to he -kept, while the second story was to he used for lesser criminals, hence less securely built, and set apart as a "debtor's room." It should here be stated that imder the Indiana laws, at that date, any person who failed to pav his just debts, either from inability or otherwise, might at the will of the creditor, be thrown into pri^^^,n. This was really a sentiment that had been handed down from the old Puritan fathers, who lande<l at Plymouth Rock in 1620, "on that stern and rock-tound coast." who had been used to such proceedings in the mother country, and who believed it to be a proper thing, but, thanks to a more advanced Christian civilizati._.n. such things have long years since passed from our statute books.

"The locationof this jail was on the northeast corner of the puljlic square, and cost about S600. It stood a few years and was abandoned for a new and better type of jail, which was erected on the corner of Harrison and Broadway streets! This building was also built of logs, but more substantially constructed than was the original jail. Its cost was but little in excess of the former building.

The contract for the county's third jail was awarded to John Craig, ^Michael \\'est and Jacob Parris, at the ^larch term of the County Court, 1843. This stood near the site of the present jail, and was built of stone. A jailor s house was attached thereto, the dimensions of which were twenty by twentyfour feet, and two stories high. This jail was in use a third of a century, was built well and held many of the worst characters found in the entire history of the state, safe and secure until the day of their trial or execution.

In the autumn of 1872, by order of the Board. D. A. Bohln prepared and submitted plans for a new jail and Sheriff's residence. In accordance^ with a notice given out, the following bids were received and recorded: Xorns Sz Hinklev, S^-,.S24; Travis Carter & Comi.any. 870,500: Wingate & Hester, S55.998;'TraVi5 L. Farmer. S55.500; \"ictor .\: Springer. $54,000. The contract was awarded to \'ictor & Springer and the work went forward to ccmipletion. This is the present jail and is a two-story brick structure, fifty by ninetv-five feet in size. The prison, proper, contains eighteen cells and two hospital rooms, while the residence portion for the SherilT's use, contains nine rooms.

Court House History

Among the first things to be looked after in the organization of a new state or countv, is the providing of a proper building in which to transact the business of such a capital. Originally, the business connected to Shelby coiint\- gcnerr.iiK'iit \vas traiisacteil at the village ui Marion, which jjlacc desired ihe seat of justice, lull in whicli desire they were ^q-reatl}' (Hsapiidinted. Courts were held at the liouse of David I'islier. hut it is related uimn good authority that when the weather i^ermitted. the jutlge and jm-y would adjourn lo a nearby barn, or at other times to the top (^f a very large oak tree which had fallen - the branches answering for both bench and jurydiox. After the matter of county seat had been settled and lixed at Shelliyx'iUe. the courts held their se.-sions at the house of Benjamin Williams, also the lnjuse of Hiram Alldredge was used for a court meeting place.

January i, 1S23. the first action was taken lowaixl providing a court house. The Board authorized the county agent to procure through contracts. the erection oi a temporary building, built from wood in form of a frame s.tructure. The same was to be twenty b}- thirty feet and two stories high. This order, however, was rescinderl at the Board's meeting. July 3d. of the same year and the agent was directed to give notice that a sulistantial brick building be erected instead of the proposed frame structure, March, 1SJ4. the Board had misgivings and doubts as to the business prudence of expending so large a sum for a court-house and the matter was postponed. A year later. March, 1825, hu\Vever. a contract was let for the building oi a two-stor}- brick building, to he fift\- feet wide and sixty feet long. Tlie cr.ntract was awarded to William Bushfield and Arthur 3.1ajor. at Sj.240. Architect John E. Baker prepared plans for the building. The first story was set apart for a court room, and although the furniture and appointments were not of the exceedingly- costly kind, they served well the puri>:)se for which they were designed. The second stiiry was di\'ided into four apartments, in which the coimty offices w-ere held. This building was located in the center of the public square, which had just been cleared from a heavy growtli of timber and under-brush. This court house was not completed for occupancy until 1S30. It served in an acceptable manner as a county building until 1S52-53, wlien the present building was erected (original section) at a cost of S27.000, by Edwin May. contractor. The superstructure is of brick and stone, is tw(j stories liigh and seventy-five by one hundred feet in dimensions. In 1S78 this building was remodeled by architect's plans, drawn by R. P. Daggett. The contract for remodeling was awarded to Osborne. Carlisle & Jones, for the sum of S3 1. 000. To cover this expense the county issued l.'onds lii the amount of S30.CXJO, in denominations of S500 each, jiayable in one, two and three years, with interest at the rate of eight per cent, per annum.

With the passing of more than thirty years, this court house is lx?ginning to show the marks of time and encroaching elements. The business of the county has increased wonderfully of recent years: the many recorddiooks, necessary in carrying on the business of such a county, arc fast accumulatuig and before m;uiy years a new structure will become a necessity in .Shelby countv.

Couxtv Poor Farm

One of the chief characteristics that marks tlie line l)et\vecn the savage triljes of earth and tlie civilized and Christian nations is the care and attention gi\-en to the weak and unfortunate poor of communities. Xo country outranks America in the matter of providing for her unfortunate sulijects. This is readil}' pr(i\-en hy contrasting oin- great system of institutes and hospitals, both public and private, with tho.'^e of other countries, where, generally speaking, the ride the "sur\i\al of the fittest" is allowed to be literally carried out. untcmpered by kind and noble charities.

Caring for the \'<">r of an\- gi\en cmiuunit)- is indeed a ]ierplexing problem, for it is ever abused by those who might possibly aid themselves more than they do, were such humane dealings not the order and policy of our form of government. There are always worthy poor people and also the unworthy jjoiir - the shiftless and indolent.

In Shelby county, the first provision made for its unf(_irtunate ones, was in Alay, 1822. soon after the county was organized, when the following overseers in each civil township were appointed to provide for the poor within such sub-di\ision of the county : Noble tovrnship, William Shaw and Josiah \\'illiams; Hendricks. Plenry Logan and George Adams: Marion, Benjamin and Abel Summers; Uiiion, Jonathan Hill and Josua Wilson,

The general provisions governing the duties of such overseers of the poor were as follows: 'Tt shall be the duty of the overseer, e\ery year, to cause all tlie poor persons who have, or shall become a public charge, to be farmed out on contract to be made the first Alonday in r\Li}-, annually, in such, manner as said overseers of the poor sh.all deem best calculated to prouiote the public good. Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prohibit any overseer from receiving and accepting propositions at any time for the keeping- of the poor and others who may at any time hereafter become a county charge.'" It was further provided that a record should be kept by such overseers, giving names and details concerning the cases within his township. Also another wise provision was that relating to [ilacing boy and girls witlmut parents out as apprentices to learn some useful trade or occu.pation, the term to continue until the boy had reached twcnt_\--one years and the girl eighteen years of age.

For thirt}' years and more no radical change was inaile regarding the care of the county's poor, an.d tlie plan first ad'^pted \vas used, with but few slight changes. The plan of farming out this class of population soon became impracticable and expensive to the tax-payers and altogether unsatisfactory. Hence, in common with other counties within Indiana, in 1847, the Commissioners purchased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land, and on the same erected a suitable building, where the poor of the county were l)etter cared for. Here tlic persons ablt- to lal.^r uc-re made to perfwrni a rea^-malMe ainuinu o! work, the object being- twotold, first t<j reduce the expcn<e of keeping, and, secondly, to give them tlie [Hoper exercise. This "Count v Farm" was bouglu of John Lemaster, July 3. 1S47. was hve miles south, o'f SheJbyville, in Shelby township. It cost the county S1.800: The brick building added to the same, cost $550, and was twenty bv fortv feet. With the increase of general population, the poor class also'coi'respondingly increased, so that in 1S61 the old buildings were not sufhcienl : in ^[av of'^tliat year the" County Gimmissioners contracted for another brick building with ' greater capacity, together with improved appliances connected therewith, hi this way the annual expense of caring for the unfortunate poor was much reducetl. The records show that the average annual expense from i8j8 to 18-/). inclusive, was .'?i40, or a total for that long period of $1,260. CompaVeil to the amount expended during the next twenty years it will be observed that the poorer element greatly increased with the devel.:.pment of the countiy. The amounts are significant and will be given by \-ears:

The county records show that during the last five vears, (1904 to 190S inclusive) that above the revenue raised by operating th'e countv as\ lum and poor fann the cost of carmg for the poor of the county has been : ' '

The departing Indian tribes left but faint trails over Shclbv countv. bv which the pioneer settler might make his way from one point to another in safe!}'. Tho red man IkuI c;* ne fc:)rever. ami the \vlii;e man hail ciueved this fair domain tn ever remain as a developer and ei\ihzer. His tlrst nccupa- Uon was that of tiller .'f the snil, which the Indian had used as hnntiiif: grounds. Nature had executed her ])art well, and the har\ests were rich and golden, but th.e hushap.dman had many trials in realizing much from his crops, on account of there licing no suitable wa.gon roads to take liis produce to niarkets. The Delawares had n<:> need of wagon roads, but the wliite men did and soon set about providing them.

However, these priiuiti\-e highways were but poor excuses ffir a nad - a simple pathway "blazed out," by which travelers might go here and there and not get lost from all settlements, and possibl}" perish by the wayside. iMany of these early roads passed over low. marshy land and in order to be made at all passalile. they had t" be C(.ivered crosswise by logs aiid brush, called "corduroy." But as soon as the country had settled sut'ticiently to create a demand for some better system of road making, the work was c<.)mmenced. The iirst attempt to improve main th.oroughfares was the construction of the nuinerous state roads, the first of which class was laid out in 1S21. It extended from Indianapolis to Lawrenceburg, passing through Shelliy count}-, from north- ^vest to southeast. This aftMrded those living along its line an outlet to the Ohio ri\-er. and thus they were brought in direct touch with the outer world.

The Michigan road was in many ways the most important of these state roads. This was coiistructed froin the proceeds of lan.ds relinquished by the Indians - the great Pottawattamie tribe - by th.e treaty of 1S26. Tlie northern terminus of this mad was }vlichigan City, Indiana, and for several years only went as far as Indianap'.lis. but late in the thirties was extended on to }^Iadison. by the way of Shelbyville.

The dirt roads were the only mode of highways employed up to 1850, v,-hen, by legislative enactmer.ts. some of which had been passed in 1849. incorporated stock companies were authorized for the construction of plank roads. These roads obtained in almost, if not every county within the state of Indiana, but after a few }ears trial were found expensi\-e luxuries and always getting out of repair, hence were soon abandonerl.

Since i860 there have been constructed out of Shell )yville. as well as in other sections of the county, excellent gravel roads. The author is in possession of a list of such roads, in use as late as 1886 - the same here follows:

Shelbyville and .Morristown. ten miles : Edinburg. Flat Rock and Xorristown. eleven miles and a half: Mi.iunt Auburn and Lewis Creek, nine and a half miles: Jackson Grand, pi.adi. three miles: Shelbyville. Flat Rock and Norristown. twelve miles: Ibipu and Xorristowii. one and a half miles: Flat Rock and Waldron. five and a h.alf miles : County Line and Chapel, hve miles;

Slielliy and Chapel, 5e\"cn miles. Count}- Line and Cliai)cl fue miles. W'akliHn and Middletown. one mile: Shelbyville and Columbus, tour and a halt miles; Shelbyville and Rushville. tour miles: Shelbyville and Manilla, ten miles; Lewis Creek ami Shelliyville. th.ree miles: Shelbyville, Smithland and Marietta, seven and a half miles; Michigan road, six miles: Shelbyville and P.randvwine, two and a half niilc^: Erandywine. Eogg-town and Sugar Creek, four miles: Fairland Company, fnur and a half miles: Shelbyville and Lidiauapolis, four miles: Fairland and Shelb}-ville. two miles :'Xorthern C<iunty. one mile; Erandywine Junction, one mile: ^forristown and Hano\er, five and three (luarters miles: Elite River ami Chapel, four miles: ^Marion Township. fi\-e and a half miles: ]\Iorri;on Turnpike ComjKuiy, fvar and a half miles.

This made a total of gravel roads within the county, in i8S6, of one hundred and fifty-three miles, and had been operated by thirty different corporations. Aljout 18S3-S4 a radical change was brought about in Shelbv county b}- changing the old toll road system to a free public highway. Prior to that date the users of this road were compelled to pay a regular toll f<_)r passing" o\er it, but by a vote of the people about the date jvist mentioned, the property of all these various graded roads, surfaced with excellent gravel, held by pri\-ate corporations, was purchased b}- the county and throv,-n open to the public. Tliis was a great step in way of modern-day advancement an.d has proven a wise plan upon the part of the citizens of the county.

The matter of bridging the vari r.is large and small streams within Shelby county has ever been a great expense to the tax payers, Init nc't gruilgingl}' expended was this money, for generall}- speaking the walue of the sum thus appropriated was wisely expended, with possibly here and there an exception. The early day bridge structures were necessarily of wood material, and of course did not last as long as modern bridges, of the stone and steel type. It was about 1S70 that the County Commissioners commenced a practical system of bridge building over tlie principal streams. Ey 1S76 ten substantial and elegant bridges, with stone butments and piers spanned tlie rivers and from that date on bridges of a better type were added annually until all streams were well provided with safe and easy crossings. At this time nothing but good bridges are contracted for, and when erected will stand, aside from any unforscen accident, for a generation or more, v.ith but the slight expense of supplying the drive ways with new planking.

Some of the old style covered bridges with a wooden arched truss as a support may be seen in the county yet. One of this type is suspended across the Blue river in Shelbyville. the same having been built in 1S92.

Fix.Kxcks Of The Couxty

While the financial history of Slielln- county, during its first ten-year period, seems a little obscured by lack of proper records, yet there is a sufficient set of records to inform the present day citizen of the general financial condition for the first decade, which is generally the hardest to establish, as well as the most trying years in wliich a county has to contend financially. It should here be stated that the first few years the only source of revenue to Shelbv county was from the sale of town lots in the newly platted seat of justice, Shelby ville. These lots had been donated to the county by citizens who desired the commissioners to locate the county seat at this point, instead of at another point - ^^larion village being among the lively rivals. Tha first sale of lots occurred September 23. 1S22. Fifteen dollars and seventyfive cents were the total receipts for the first lot sale, in cash, the balance being in notes and accounts. Xo one will ever know the amount, but it is believed that the approximate sum received from al! sales was about three thousand dollars. Hut unfortunately, the county agent became involved and was a defaulter.

The first tax was levied in 1822. the rates being as follows: Each liorse or mule, more than three years old, thirty-seven and a half cents; two-wheeled pleasure carriage, one dollar each; four wheeled pleasure carriages, one dollar and a half; three-year-old yoke of oxen, eighteen and a half cents: brass clock, one dollar-, pinchback, or silver watches, twenty-five cents; gold watches, one dollar. The first collection of taxes was in 1823, when there were taxes collecied aninumiiig- to tliree luiiulred frniilecn dollars ami .scvciUviivc cents: nK-rchants' licenses, seven dollars and fifty ceiu>: iMtel license-, twenty dollars. The dislnirsenienls for that year were foity-lhree dollars and eighty-seven cents in exce>s oi this anK.vnU. or three hundred ei.L;hly-six dollars and twelve ceiUs, showing the balance must have been "cash on hand" at the end of the first financial year in the county's history.

It may not be withuut interest to the present generation to know of the countv's expenditures tor the first ten vears of its historv, up m the beginning of 1S33.

Great is the contrast with that of 190S, the last year's statement rendered by the Commissioners of the county, wliich gi\-cs a tr.tal expenditure of $957,170 (almost a million dollars) with a balance on hand December 31. 1 908, of 825,469. The County Commissiop.ers that year were George W. Gray. S. V. [Montgomery and George W. Snep]), with George B. Huntington as the efficier.t Auditor.

Indiana was organized as a territory, July 4, 1800, and admitted as a state in December. 1816. The United States census gixe- the population of Shelbv countv lor the last eight decades, as follows:

The 1900 census gave the total numlter of foreign born population as five hundred seventy-eight, di\ided among ditterent countries, as follows: Fc^rtysi.\- from England, eleven fn.m I'rance, three hundred sixty-three from Germany, fi\e from bb>lland. eightx'-three from Ireland, two from Italy, one from Poland, thirteen froiii Russia, ten from Scotland, two from Svveden, sixteen from Sv/itzerland, six from Wales, and two who were born at sea.

Of the ciiies. town and villages within the county in igco it may be stated that their poiiulaticm at that date was: Cynthiana. 202: Waldron, 500; Morristown, 565: ^It. Auburn. 163; Shelliyville 7,169. The citv last named, according t(.i the cit_\- director}-, in 1907, had increased to 12,474. Fairland has 407 pcipulation.

The following is a list of the various men who have represented Shelby -cou!it}- in national, state and count}- affairs fron-i 1822 to 1909:

Chadwicks History Of Shf.Lbv Co., I.Xd

Since about 1S90 Shelby county has had joint relations with otlier counties, hence the State Senator is not named in this connection. The county elected Will .\. Yarliilg to this office in 190S.