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A twentieth century history of Delaware County, Indiana
VOLUME I
The time seems opportune for a now History of Delaware County. It is twenty-six years (1881); since the "History of Delaware County" was issued by Kingman Brothers, of Chicago. In 1894, "A Portrait and Biographical Record of Delaware County, Indiana," was issued by A. W. Bowen & Co., of Chicago. The published did not claim it was a history. In 1898, Mr. John S. Ellis published a work of 194 pages, entitled, "Our County, its History and Early Settlement by Townships." This work, while valuable, was not comprehensive as to historical matter.
In the present work the chapter on Military History of Delaware County is contributed by Hon. Asbury L. Kerwood, himself a veteran who entered the service during the Civil war from this county. The article is historical, exhaustive, and intensely interesting. Mr. Kerwood is to be complimented for the pains he has bestowed upon his work.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I.
Delaware County a Part of the French Empire 1
CHAPTER II.
Indian Inhabitants — American Conquest 5
CHAPTER III.
Advance of Civilization — Delaware County Opened to Settlement 10
CHAPTER IV.
Public Survey of Delaware County — First Occupants of Land 15
CHAPTER V.
The Record of the Original Possessors of Delaware County's Soil 21
CHAPTER VI.
A Study of Origins and Sources — Prominent Pioneer Types 44
CHAPTER VII.
The County as a Civil Organization 57
CHAPTER VIII.
The Courts — Bench and Bar 64
CHAPTER IX.
Early Transportation and Communication 77
CHAPTER X.
Turnpikes and Railroads 84
CHAPTER XI.
Beginning of Centers of Population 95
CHAPTER XII.
Muncie 103
CHAPTER XIII.
The Putnam Diary 116
CHAPTER XXV.
Muncie and Vicinity at the Beginning of the Last Quarter Century 126
CHAPTER XV.
Natural Gas 138
CHAPTER XVI.
Natural Gas Makes a City of Muncie 143
CHAPTER XVTI.
Progress and Change in the Smaller Centers 161
CHAPTER XVIII.
Chronology of the Last Quarter Century 167
CHAPTER XIX.
City and Country in the Twentieth Century — The Results of Three-quarters of a Century of Progress 207
CHAPTER XX.
Education in Delaware, County 237
CHAPTER XXI.
Tho Delaware County Press 278
CHAPTER XXII.
Medical History of Delaware County 288
CHAPTER XXIII.
Banking and Finance 302
CHAPTER XXIV.
Military History of Delaware County 307
CHAPTER XXV.
Church Organizations of Delaware County 426
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Spread of Culture Through Organization 481
CHAPTER XXVII.
Fraternal and Social Organizations 501
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Politics and Civil Records of County, Township and Town 527
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VOLUME II
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Though Indiana was organized as a territory in 1800 and admitted to statehood in 1816, the region that we now know as Delaware county did not receive a permanent settler until about 1820. Old Vincenncs had been a name in history and a center of stirring events for nearly a century. The first legislature of the new state had assembled at Corydon, near the southern end of the state, while Indians were the only inhabitants of the wilderness which is now the rich and prosperous agricultural county of Delaware. Not alone in the southern end of the state were there numerous villages and organized counties, but before the first permanent settlement had been made in Delaware county many people had homes to the north along the Wabash, and there was a well defined settlement and trading post at Fort Wayne, a site that had been designated on the maps through the greater part of the previous century.
On a map showing Indiana in 1907, the most conspicuous feature is the network of railroads that run in all directions over the state, and make practically every county and large town accessible by that means of communication. Radiating from Muncie alone are more than a dozen steam and electric lines leading toward all sections of Indiana and insuring uninterrupted communication with all the states and large cities of the Union. If, supposing these means of communication to remain, the lands of In- diana were uninhabited and once more thrown open to settlement, it is probable that the entire state could be occupied in a single day and Delaware county and its neighbors would be taken up as quickly as any of the counties in southern or northern Indiana.
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