Locke, Indiana

And now, having noticed almost everything in connection with the township except its towns and business interests, we will proceed to devote a few pages in that direction. The town of Locke was laid out in 1867 by George W. Eby, M. II. Morlan and L. B. Winder. It is situated on section 21 of Locke township, two and one-half miles northwest of Nappanee. The first house built in the town was erected on the half-section line, in the center of what is now Main street. The first store in the town was opened by John "Wolfe in 1867; the first saw-mill was built in 1865. The first mail was carried to the town of Locke by Mr. L. B. Winder on April 1, 1869; the first postmaster was J. D. Lake, he having succeeded Solomon Berlin, who was formerl}' postmaster, the postoffice then being located on section 13. Mr. Lake was succeeded by Jacob Heraminger; the next postmaster was Jesse Truex; and after him came S. Lightner,

Passage source: History of Elkhart County, Indiana : Together with Sketches of Its Cities ... and Biographies of Representative Citizens : History of Indiana, Embracing Accounts of the Pre-historic Races .., published 1881.

At one time the village of Locke, although a rural town, seemed destined to become quite a business point; and so it was. Once in its history its business interests were substantially as follows: Three dry-goods stores, one drugstore, one grocery store, one hardware store, one tin shop, one furniture store, two boot and shoe shops, two saw-mills, one shingle-mill, one wagon shop, one steam grist and flouring mill, three blacksmith shops, about forty dwellings, one hotel, one public school-house, one church and three physicians.

Passage source: History of Elkhart County, Indiana : Together with Sketches of Its Cities ... and Biographies of Representative Citizens : History of Indiana, Embracing Accounts of the Pre-historic Races .., published 1881.

But in lSTo-'6, after the town of jSTappanee was laid out, the eyes of a great many of the citizens of Locke were turned toward this new town to watch its probable growth. The town of Nappanee soon began to increase in population and business, and it being a railroad town, seemed likely to become a better business point than Locke; accordingly a great many of the citizens of Locke moved to Nappanee, some of them, indeed, moving their old houses with them. To-day, however, there is considerable business done in Locke, since it is surrounded on all sides by an excellent tract of country) peopled by an industrious class of citizens.

Passage source: History of Elkhart County, Indiana : Together with Sketches of Its Cities ... and Biographies of Representative Citizens : History of Indiana, Embracing Accounts of the Pre-historic Races .., published 1881.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Locke Township - it names this place 33 more 33 times.