tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43743978839735908472024-03-12T22:59:55.315-04:00History Center Notes & Queries"Our Stories" from Fort Wayne & Allen County, IndianaMarketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.comBlogger376125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-46095196690438036932016-12-20T15:00:00.000-05:002016-12-20T15:00:12.608-05:00General John Tipton’s Fort Wayne Connection<div class="MsoTitle" style="text-align: center;">
(<st1:city style="font-size: 10pt;" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><i>Fort Wayne</i></st1:place></st1:city><i style="font-size: 10pt;"> Monthly</i><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – Oct 2016 No
141)</span></div>
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<b><i>2016 <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> Bicentennial Commission Legacy Endorsed
Project<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">General
John Tipton’s Fort Wayne Connection<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Jonathan Jennings the
first elected Governor of Indiana was responsible for naming commissioners to
resolve the demands of government. The man who would eventually come to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Allen</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">County</st1:placename></st1:place>
as Indian Agent, John Tipton, was a popular choice for several such
assignments. Just four years after
statehood was achieved in January 1820, Tipton was named to a ten member commission
to select and locate a site for a state capital. Ultimately the Commission chose <st1:city w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:city> over Strawtown. <o:p></o:p></div>
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On <st1:date day="3" month="4" w:st="on" year="1821">April 3, 1821</st1:date>, <st1:city w:st="on">Jennings</st1:city> again tapped John
Tipton for commission duty. Now it was
to locate the boundary line between <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>
and the new state of <st1:state w:st="on">Illinois</st1:state>
which was established in 1818. Surveying
meant plodding through unbroken country in the days before satellite technology
offered its challenges. M.W. Pershing,
author of <i>Life of General John Tipton</i> published an interesting supposition:
“But for an error made by the surveyor, who failed to establish a true
meridian, the great city of <st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city>
would today be in the State of <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>,
instead of in the State of <st1:state w:st="on">Illinois</st1:state>.” Had the surveyor not made an error, would <st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city> today be placed
within <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>
as a city? Pershing concluded that the surveyor’s
notes held a stronger influence over Tipton’s insistence and <st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city> stayed with <st1:state w:st="on">Illinois</st1:state>. <span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The notion that <st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city> might be included
within <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>
may have another interpretation. Historian
Will Ball’s account, taken from <i>The</i> <i>Tipton Papers,</i> delineates the
field notes made during the boundary surveys. In 1834, Micajah T. Williams
resurveyed the 1821 completed boundary line project and found no changes
necessary. In a moment of conjecture,
Ball wrote that some years later when a member of the U.S. Senate, Tipton agitated
for a harbor at the mouth of Trail Creek and not at the mouth of the <st1:place w:st="on">Chicago River</st1:place>, both empting into <st1:place w:st="on">Lake
Michigan</st1:place>. Historian Will Ball contends, “If (Tipton’s) proposal
had carried, <st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city>
today would be in <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>
where <st1:city w:st="on">Michigan City</st1:city>
now stands.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Well documented is another explanation to be
considered and can be found in the pages of <i>Indiana Boundaries</i> edited by
Dorothy Riker. Illinois upon receiving
the survey objected to the report since it did not fix any starting point at the
site of Vincennes. Stating that he was
aware of their concern, Tipton confirmed that he had given <st1:state w:st="on">Illinois</st1:state> an advantage since he was, “fearful
he might injure his political standing by stating the fact in the Report and
the Field Book, refused to make any other return.” On <st1:date day="17" month="2" w:st="on" year="1823">February 17, 1823</st1:date>, confirmation of both
the <st1:state w:st="on">Illinois</st1:state>
and Indiana Assemblies approved the line. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In 1823, John
Tipton by appointment of President Monroe, was made Indian Agent and assigned
to <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city>.
General Tipton has even been credited with suggesting the name for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Allen</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">County</st1:placename></st1:place>
to honor Colonel John Allen of the Kentucky Militia who lost his life at the
Battle of River Raisin in <st1:state w:st="on">Michigan</st1:state>.
Indian Agent Tipton was then assigned
another important task. At the 1826 Treaty of Paradise Springs, now present-day
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Wabash</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state></st1:place>,
the President appointed Tipton, Lewis Cass and Governor John B. Ray to
negotiate with the <st1:city w:st="on">Miami</st1:city>
and Potawatomi. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In 1828, Tipton
relocated the agency moving it to <st1:city w:st="on">Logansport</st1:city>
where Indian tribes received annuity payments resulting from treaties. He
argued that the tribes would be better served if the agency moved away from the
white traders.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After the Indian
Removal Act of 1830 was passed, and the day came in 1838 for the Potawatomi to
relocate to the lands set aside west of the Mississippi, tribe members resented
having to make the move. It became such a serious resistance that Governor
Wallace sent in soldiers to persuade the Indians to begin their move west. The
Governor called on General Tipton to carry out the unfortunate mission and the
oppressed, dejected, and humiliated Indians were forced to leave their beloved
home land. <o:p></o:p></div>
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John Tipton was a
man of many experiences packed into a relatively few years. He died in 1839 at
the age of fifty-three and is buried in <st1:city w:st="on">Logansport</st1:city>’s
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Mount</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Hope</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Cemetery</st1:placename></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage
Trail,” which is broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra”
heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM. Enjoy
his previously published columns on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s
blog, “Our Stories,” at history centerfw.blogspot.com and “Blogging Hoosier
History” at <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>
Historical Bureau’s blog.history.in.gov.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-50916309325434525292016-12-13T15:00:00.000-05:002016-12-13T15:00:13.244-05:00Locating a Capitol City for Indiana<div class="MsoTitle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">(<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><i>Fort Wayne</i></st1:place></st1:city><i> Monthly</i> “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – Sept. 2016
No 140)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i>2016 <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> Bicentennial Commission Legacy Endorsed
Project<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Locating
a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Capitol</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place> for <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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In 1816, when <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state> entered the <st1:place w:st="on">Union</st1:place>, Corydon was designated as the first state
capital. In those early Territory days,
pioneer settlers had clustered together on the lands in proximity with the <st1:place w:st="on">Ohio River</st1:place>. An Indiana Assembly had petitioned Congress
for statehood in 1811, but its appeal was not approved. The want-to-be state of
<st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>
registered a meager 24,520 population in the 1810 census. <st1:place w:st="on">Northwest
Territory</st1:place> guidelines required a population of 60,000 before a
territory qualified for adopting a constitution and joining the <st1:place w:st="on">Union</st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jonathan Jennings, the territorial delegate
was a central political figure of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Indiana</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Territory</st1:placetype></st1:place>
since 1809 and a significant player in the movement for statehood. He was from <st1:city w:st="on">Charleston</st1:city> near <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">New Albany</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state></st1:place>. <st1:city w:st="on">Jennings</st1:city>
was the successor of William Henry Harrison, across the state to the west who
had set <st1:city w:st="on">Vincennes</st1:city>
as the seat of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Indiana</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Territory</st1:placetype></st1:place>. Corydon had a geographical advantage being situated
at the near center to the south at the bottom of the Territorial border. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A second request
for statehood was made in 1815 as <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>’s
population had increased to 63,897 moving Congress to pass an enabling act in
April 1816 and called for a constitutional convention. The convention took place the following June
at Corydon conveniently located for those who travelled to the event. <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state> was well on its
way to join <st1:state w:st="on">Vermont</st1:state>,
<st1:state w:st="on">Kentucky</st1:state>, <st1:state w:st="on">Tennessee</st1:state>, <st1:state w:st="on">Ohio</st1:state> and <st1:state w:st="on">Louisiana</st1:state> following the
original thirteen <st1:country-region w:st="on">United
States</st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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After <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state> was admitted,
the governor appointed a ten-member Commission to select and locate a site for
a new state capitol. Among the Commissioners
named was John Tipton who later served as the Indian Agent at <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city>.
Several towns petitioned for the honor and each location was visited by
the Commissioners. Some of the sites
included <st1:city w:st="on">Vincennes</st1:city>,
Corydon, <st1:city w:st="on">Madison</st1:city>,
<st1:city w:st="on">Terre Haute</st1:city>, Strawtown
and <st1:city w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:city>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Locations were
narrowed down to the wooded area near the junction of Fall Creek and the <st1:place w:st="on">White River</st1:place>. The
other finalist according to M.W. Pershing’s biography of John Tipton was
Strawtown. The influential William Conner strongly supported Strawtown,
however, Tipton was favorable to <st1:city w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:city>,
“and to head off further discussion and delay, he made a motion that <st1:city w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:city> be made the
site of the new capital.” When the vote was cast and counted, <st1:city w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:city> positioned at the center of the
state was selected.<o:p></o:p></div>
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History writer
Alan McPherson reminds us that the name <st1:city w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:city>
is derived from “Indian” attached to “polis” the Greek word for city. The name <st1:city w:st="on">Marion</st1:city> was chosen for the
county to celebrate Brigadier General Francis Marion known as the “Swamp Fox”
and hero of the Revolutionary War. By
1824 the legislature authorized building a temporary structure to serve as a
courthouse enabling State Treasurer Samuel Morrill to move the records from
Corydon to the new location. In January
1821, the legislators first met there and by 1835 a new capital building was
erected. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Having lived in
northern <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>
as a lifelong Hoosier, it is not uncommon to have heard the lamenting that our state
capital is at such a distance to travel.
In 1998 while serving on the project team charged with planning a new <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Indiana</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">State</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Museum</st1:placetype></st1:place>
building the question of where it should be located was laid on the table for a
vote. Where else should it go? North central at <st1:city w:st="on">Logansport</st1:city> or <st1:country-region w:st="on">Peru</st1:country-region> is too far north for the
people to travel living in <st1:city w:st="on">Evansville</st1:city>,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Tell</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place> or <st1:city w:st="on">Madison</st1:city>.
Place it in <st1:city w:st="on">Bloomington</st1:city>
or <st1:city w:st="on">Columbus</st1:city> and
it’s too distant from <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city>,
<st1:city w:st="on">South Bend</st1:city> or <st1:city w:st="on">Gary</st1:city>. Back in 1821, the
Commission, charged with locating the seat of government found <st1:city w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:city> geographically offers a greater,
if not more equitable, access to most Hoosiers. When <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state> gained statehood, her population was
concentrated across southern reaches of the state. As a capital, centrally placed <st1:city w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:city> is as
practical for today’s Hoosiers as was the southern community of Corydon back in
1816.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage
Trail,” which is broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra”
heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history
centerfw.blogspot.com. and “Blogging Hoosier History” at <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> Historical Bureau’s blog.history.in.gov.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-50808726987146958632016-12-06T15:08:00.000-05:002016-12-06T15:08:01.037-05:00Indian Agents a Factor in Early Fort Wayne<div class="MsoTitle">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">(<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><i>Fort Wayne</i></st1:place></st1:city><i> Monthly</i> “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – Aug 2016 No
139)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i>2016 <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> Bicentennial Commission Legacy Endorsed
Project<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Indian
Agents a Factor in Early <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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In the years
leading up to the time <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>
advanced to statehood, the U.S. Government was represented by Indian Agents and
Factors. The Factor or Factory was the government representative for financial
and commercial matters leaving the political affairs to the Indian Agent. However, the functions oftentimes overlapped,
and the titles used indiscriminately.
Eventually, the terms “Factory” and “Factor” were nearly replaced with
“Agency” and “Agent” and intended to be helpful to the Indian people by
providing an appointed representative for the native population living on the
Wabash-Maumee frontier. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Who were these
first players who took on this responsibility? A list of those who served in
that capacity in <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city>
from 1798 through 1828 can be found in <i>The Tipton Papers.</i> Here is a short description of some of the
agents.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
William Wells
(serving 1798 to 1809) as a boy, was captured along the <st1:place w:st="on">Ohio
River</st1:place> by the <st1:city w:st="on">Miami</st1:city>
who adopted and assimilated him into their tribe. Married to Little Turtle’s
daughter, Wells became a confidant of the great War Chief. He died at the relief
of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Fort</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Dearborn</st1:placename></st1:place> in 1812. To honor his
remarkable service to his country, congress gave him the right to pre-emption
of lands that today comprise <st1:city w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:city>’s Bloomingdale and Spy Run neighborhoods known
as “Wells Pre-emption.” <span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
John Johnston
(1802-1811) had been appointed Indian Factor or Factory in 1802 as the
government representative for financial and commercial matters, leaving the
political affairs to the Indian Agent. He did, however, succeed Wells as Agent. Today, the Johnston Farm at Pique, <st1:state w:st="on">Ohio</st1:state>, is celebrated as a
tourist attraction and recalls the life of <st1:city w:st="on">Johnston</st1:city>.
It was Col. Johnston’s place which provided a safe haven for the women
and children who had escaped the dangers surrounding the siege of <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city>.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
Benjamin F.
Stickney (1811-1819) the grand nephew of Ben Franklin took charge as both
Factor and Agent in 1811 and was at <st1:city w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:city> when <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>
became a state in 1816. In 1820,
Stickney was reassigned to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Toledo</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">Ohio</st1:state></st1:place> and became involved in the
Ohio-Michigan border dispute. It was a time when both the state of <st1:state w:st="on">Ohio</st1:state> and the-then <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Michigan</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Territory</st1:placetype></st1:place> fought over a ten-mile strip
of land. Each hoped for control over the Wabash & Erie Canal’s connection
with <st1:place w:st="on">Lake Erie</st1:place> before <st1:state w:st="on">Ohio</st1:state> finally won the argument.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
Dr. William Turner
(1819–1820) arrived from <st1:state w:st="on">Maryland</st1:state>
and was first stationed at <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city>
as the garrison surgeon’s mate from 1810 to 1812. He became surgeon of the
Seventeenth Infantry in 1813. He
resigned from the army in 1815 and married Anne Wells the daughter of William
Wells. In 1819, he became Indian Agent
but as historian Griswold noted that due to failing health, Dr. Turner was
relieved of his duties and his office turned over to John Hays. Turner died in <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city> in 1821.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
John Hay
(1820–1831) born in New York City in 1770 gained experience as a trading house
clerk dealing with the Indians in Canada.
He moved to <st1:place w:st="on">Cahokia</st1:place> and was sheriff of
St. Clair County and postmaster during the years 1798 to 1818. At <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city> he took over
for Dr. Turner at a salary of $1,200 per year. After his service at <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city> he became
Receiver of Public Moneys in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Jackson</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">Missouri</st1:state></st1:place>. His last days were said
to have been spent in <st1:place w:st="on">Cahokia</st1:place>.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
John Tipton (1823-
1831) was born in <st1:state w:st="on">Tennessee</st1:state>,
in 1756 and moved to <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>
with his widowed mother. As an adult he served at the Battle of Tippecanoe
eventually rising to the rank of Brigadier General. He served as a U.S. Senator
but while in the <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state>
legislature was a member of the commission that selected the first state
capital at Corydon. Acting to separate the Indians receiving government
annuities from the traders, Tipton moved the agency to <st1:city w:st="on">Logansport</st1:city> in 1828.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 9.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
For thirty years <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city> was the center
of the Indian Agent / Factor. Some were better known to history than others,
however, they were on the ground to handle the furs brought in by the
Indian people as well as for shipments to the East, dispensing annuity payments
paid to the Indians, and financed land purchases. Later
perhaps in other places, others were on hand following Federal government
orders and participated in the unfortunate removal of these same Indian charges
forcibly removed from their traditional homeland to reservations in the West. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 9.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 9.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage
Trail,” which is broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra”
heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history
centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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###<o:p></o:p></div>
Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-86831192683312175862016-11-29T15:04:00.000-05:002016-11-29T15:04:01.713-05:00War of 1812 Cannon<div class="MsoTitle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">(<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><i>Fort Wayne</i></st1:place></st1:city><i> Monthly</i> “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – July 2016
No 138)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>2016 <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> Bicentennial Commission Legacy Endorsed
Project<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 9.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">War
of 1812 Cannon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 9.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
The War of 1812 was touched off over two-hundred
years ago and raged on until it ended in 1814 when the American militia, “took
a little trip down the Mississip.” Students learn that although the Treaty of
Ghent was signed on <st1:date day="24" month="12" w:st="on" year="1814">December
24, 1814</st1:date>, the news had not reached General Andrew Jackson nor had his
British adversary General Pakenham both of whom were still at it in <st1:city w:st="on">New Orleans</st1:city> until <st1:date day="8" month="1" w:st="on" year="1815">January 8, 1815</st1:date>. Much
happened in the war which finally forced <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region> to recognize the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region>
as a sovereign nation. Students also learn if they dig deeply they find the
garrison at <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city>
was part of the great saga. William
Henry Harrison’s army put a halt to the siege of the fort during October 1812. When the war was over and a treaty agreement
signed, hope for peace reigned once again. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
Among the fallout of the great events in
history come stories and myths. One of the spoils of that war was a cannon taken
by U. S. Commodore Perry’s men as a prize. It is presumed so from reading
through the stories related by twentieth-century history writers. According to the
<i>Fort</i> <i>Wayne Daily News</i> of <st1:date day="22" month="2" w:st="on" year="1913">February 22, 1913</st1:date>, “The cannon is a relic of the war of
1812, and was captured by Commodore Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie. It was taken to <st1:city w:st="on">Detroit</st1:city> with a great many other pieces of
stolen arms, and for years was stored away, untouched and forgotten. When the
late Hon. Franklin P. Randall was mayor of <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city>, he heard of the cannon, and sent
for one of them.” It is important to
note that Randall was elected Mayor in 1859 then reelected in the elections
held in 1861, 1863, 1869 and 1871. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
In their 1914 <i>Guide to Fort Wayne,</i> B.J.
Griswold and C.A. Phelps made the claim that the cannon was captured from the
British before taken to <st1:city w:st="on">Detroit</st1:city>. Mayor Randall secured the artifact and had it
placed on the Court House lawn. Other claims say that for a time the old cannon
was used for firing salutes on July Fourth celebrations. It is alleged, that on
one such occasion, after firing the cannon a man was accidentally killed and
another injured. The gun was “spiked” and removed to the mayor’s house on <st1:street w:st="on">Berry Street</st1:street> to be
used as an ornamental hitching post. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
In 1916 the big gun was dedicated as “<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Commodore</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Perry</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Monument</st1:placename></st1:place>.” By 1952 it was mounted in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Hayden</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>
and in 1960 was placed with the Historical Society when that organization’s
museum was located in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Swinney</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> on <st1:street w:st="on">West Jefferson Street</st1:street>;
and later removed the old piece to the entrance of the Historic Fort Wayne’s
ticketing and gift shop. It is now on
display in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Museum</st1:placetype></st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
It 1960 it was described as the, “Six
pounder naval gun, relic of Battle of Lake Erie 1813, used in dedication of
Wabash and Eire Canal July 4, 1843. Gun carriage authentic replica made from
old canal timbers 1960.” A “Six pounder”
meant that the ball it fired weighed six pounds. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
Cannon firings were reported to have been a
part of both July Fourth and canal opening celebration days. Typical stories passed along say a cannon was
on the first Wabash & Erie Canal boat that traveled from <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city> to <st1:city w:st="on">Huntington</st1:city>, on July 4th and 5th 1835. One traveler, Dr. George Fate, carried one with
him firing it from time to time. Such an incident in 1835 is too early for this
to be the 1812 Perry Cannon. That big
gun it did not make an appearance in <st1:city w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:city> until Mayor Randall is said to have acquired it
during the 1860s. For the same reason,
it is doubtful that the claim that “a cannon – a souvenir from one of the
British vessels captured in Perry’s victory in 1813 – boomed a noisy greeting”
when the Great Canal Celebration took place in <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city> on <st1:date day="4" month="7" w:st="on" year="1843">July 4, 1843</st1:date>.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span>Nonetheless, the Commodore
Perry cannon remains in <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city>
and can be seen resting peacefully on display in the atrium of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 9.0pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 9.0pt; text-indent: -9.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage
Trail,” which is broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra”
heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history
centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i>###<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-69456406365109315522016-11-24T15:00:00.000-05:002016-11-24T15:00:16.585-05:00The Boss Roaster <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -9.0pt; text-align: center;">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -9pt;">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> (Fort Wayne Monthly</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” - Nov
2013 No. 107)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">The Boss Roaster <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Each
year as Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration plans begin to emerge, images of
families gathering around a table come to mind as each awaits the bird roasting
in the oven to be set before them. So
much for the shades of long ago memories, so how did the images that were a
reality for our grand and great grand parents materialize? Early on, they may not have had the precision
control we enjoy today with a gas-fired or an electric oven because they had to
deal with a traditional wood-fired stove. Be that as it may, the kitchen of the late
1800s and early 1900s did have access to some of the latest cooking technology available
from Fort Wayne.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">A book at the Allen County Fort Wayne History Center titled,
<i>The</i> <i>Industrial Advantages of Fort Wayne, Ind.,</i> features material
development and progress back in the days of 1895 when it was published. How many of us remember or even knew about
the Boss Roaster Manufacturing Co., headquartered at 372 South Calhoun Street? Proprietors
Daniel Klotz and Gottlieb Haller who produced the product started the company
in March 1891.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Among the descriptive sketches of the company one declared,
“The most important improvement ever introduced in culinary apparatus is the
“Boss Roaster.” So what was the “Boss Roaster”? It was made in several sizes of
strong and durable sheet metal as well as adaptable and easy to understand its
use in all types of ovens. An oblong pan,
with what was claimed to have an airtight cover, prevented steam from escaping
thus preserving all the “juices and nutrition qualities of the meats and other
articles of food being cooked.” It was designed for the cook to be able to
check the contents of the roaster by simply pulling out the sliding lid. Meat could be browned to a desired color
controlled by removing its ventilator at the top shortly before serving time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Other than roasting meats, the Boss was said to be
equally useful for baking bread, biscuits, pies, cakes or for roasting apples, potatoes
and vegetables, and for steaming fruits. Some ten thousand roasters had been
sold in Fort Wayne alone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Because it was promoted as “the simplest, the best and
the cheapest utensil of the kind on the market… thousands of them are in use
for general cooking purposes and giving the utmost satisfaction in all
cases.” Best of all “they sell on
sight”, and the company was seeking to have “agents in every town and city in
the United States.” Opportunities for an exclusive right of territory with the
assurances that, “protection against other agents guaranteed.” In 1895, the offer was made that, “Any
industrious man or woman can secure a profitable income by requesting this
company in any part of the union.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">If
the household cook had to deal with the inefficiencies of those early
wood-fired cooking stoves, it is gratifying to know that the latest in accouterments
of culinary was available to ease the burden. Whose to say how many kitchens had the Boss
Roaster from Fort Wayne tucked away in its cupboard and responsible for so many
memorable meals? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage
Trail,” which is broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra”
heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM. Enjoy
his previously published columns on the History Center’s blog, “Our Stories,”
at history centerfw.blogspot.com and “Blogging Hoosier History” at Indiana
Historical Bureau’s blog.history.in.gov.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">###<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</div>
Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-75348583242443039042016-11-22T15:00:00.000-05:002016-11-22T15:00:14.146-05:00Laying out the Town after Statehood in 1816<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">(Fort Wayne Monthly</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – Jun
2016 No 137)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>2016 <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> Bicentennial Commission Legacy Endorsed
Project<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Laying out the Town after Statehood in 1816<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">You can say that <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> is here because of its rivers. The <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Miami</st1:place></st1:city>
War Chief Little Turtle recalled that it was from here the words of their
fathers went forth in all the directions.
Anthony Wayne placing his fortress near water was a strategic
decision. Positioned to protect and
defend three rivers was perhaps of primary importance. Just as vital was another popular waterway
of sorts that connected <st1:place w:st="on">Lake Erie</st1:place>, between the
<st1:place w:st="on">Maumee River</st1:place> and across the “natural” track or
“<st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Carrying Place</st1:address></st1:street>”
with the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Wabash</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">River</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Valley</st1:placetype></st1:place>
to the west and the <st1:place w:st="on">Mississippi River</st1:place> system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">John Barr and John McCorkle, combined their resources in
1823 to buy the original tract of one hundred and ten acres. Barr was a land
speculator from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Baltimore</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Maryland</st1:state></st1:place>, who was heavily involved in
supplying trade goods to the <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:state>
and <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pennsylvania</st1:place></st1:state>
frontier. McCorkle was a Westerner
interested in the business of the Indian trade. Once the land was purchased,
the two partners had their new property surveyed and laid out to begin offering
lots for sale to the public.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Originally, the partners paid twenty-six dollars an
acre which was a very high price for the time. Most frontier lands were sold
for the minimum of a dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. As always it had to
do with location, location, location. Much had to do with the presence of
Indians, the Indian Agency, and the very lucrative fur trade. In those years,
the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>
fur trade was greater than the combined trade of both <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Detroit</st1:place></st1:city> and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:city> and the Indian Agency made annual
payments of tens of thousands of dollars to over three thousand tribe members
who held the lands of northern <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The original layout of the town of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> was based on the “natural” track
of the first street, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Columbia</st1:place></st1:city>,
which was along a line that ran toward the west from the old fort but not along
a true east-west line. When they first
laid out their streets they were based on the off-center line of the original
Columbia Street which, not long after became known as the “Landing.” Along here
is where scores of warehouses, boat docks, turnaround basins, custom houses,
inns and taverns clustered to serve Wabash Erie Canal travelers and freight
which created unprecedented economic development. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The area that is now in the heart of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>’s downtown was bounded on the
north by <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Superior Street</st1:address></st1:street>,
on the east by <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Barr Street</st1:address></st1:street>,
on the south by <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Washington
Boulevard</st1:address></st1:street>, and on the west by the alley between
Harrison and Calhoun streets. Extending to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> on the South it is bisected by <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:city> crossed by <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Wayne</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Berry</st1:state></st1:place>,
<st1:place w:st="on">Main</st1:place> and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Columbia</st1:place></st1:city>.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">A map of the early <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> plat in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s
collection contains interesting information. First among the map’s “Notes” which
correspond to a block on the map bound by Main, Clinton, Berry and Calhoun
streets is designated, “Public Ground for County Purposes.” It had been donated
by McCorkle and Barr and subsequently became the site of each of four county
court houses. The partners donated
several additional lots to the, “<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">Allen</st1:placename></st1:place>.” Separately, a
lot was set aside designated as “Burial Grounds” in the northwest corner of the
plat and immediately to the east still another marked “School lot.”</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">South of town, Samuel Lewis became the first settler
to lay out his addition according to the actual points of the compass. In the process he gave his name to the true
east-<st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">west street</st1:address></st1:street>
which sets it all straight. Lewis was a
relative of Meriwether Lewis, of “Lewis and Clark” fame; and his wife,
Katherine Wallace was the aunt of the author of the novel <i>Ben</i> <i>Hur</i>,
General Lew Wallace who stayed at the couple’s rose-covered log home on several
occasions. Samuel Lewis came to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> in 1827 as the
appointee of President John Quincy Adams to be the sub-agent for Indian affairs
in the district. Lewis stayed in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> the remainder
of his life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">When those first developers laid out the streets of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>, based on the
off-center line of the original <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Columbia
Street</st1:address></st1:street> it made sense that it ran west from the old
fort. Today, main thoroughfares move
traffic in all directions echoing the observations made in 1795 by the Miami
War Chief Little Turtle when he said this place was, “that glorious
gate…through which all the good words of our chiefs had to pass from north to
south and from east to west.”</span><span style="background: yellow; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-highlight: yellow;"> </span> <span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage
Trail,” which is broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra”
heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history
centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">###<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-24052515024377199102016-11-15T15:00:00.000-05:002016-11-15T15:00:02.873-05:00Allen County in 1816?<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">(Fort Wayne Monthly</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – May
2016 No. 136)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>2016 <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> Bicentennial Commission Legacy Endorsed
Project<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Allen</span></st1:placename><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> <st1:placename w:st="on">County</st1:placename></span></st1:place><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> in 1816?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>
first was admitted to the <st1:place w:st="on">Union</st1:place>, legislators
convened an assembly in the first state capital located at Corydon. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Allen</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">County</st1:placename></st1:place> was created seven
years after <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>
statehood. The Indiana General assembly made
it official by passing an enabling act on <st1:date day="17" month="12" w:st="on" year="1823">December 17, 1823</st1:date>. It chose to honor the name of Colonel John
Allen of the <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kentucky</st1:place></st1:state>
militia who was on hand to defend <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> while the garrison was under siege by the
Indians in 1812. Allen died near
present-day <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Monroe</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Michigan</st1:state></st1:place> at the River Raisin massacre in
1813, made historically significant among other events having taken the life of
the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Shawnee</st1:place></st1:city> brave
Tecumseh. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Another recognized name that has come down through
history emanates from Alexander Ewing. He was an Irish immigrant who came to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Detroit</st1:place></st1:city> in 1822 and
erected a tavern known as Washington House. It stood at the corner of present-day
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>’s Barr
and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Columbia</st1:place></st1:city>
streets, now marked in <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Freimann
Square west</st1:address></st1:street> of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Arts</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">United</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>. Here is where <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Allen</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">County</st1:placename></st1:place>
was officially organized and the first acts of the newly elected county
commissioners were carried out. It was here too that <st1:place w:st="on">Ewing</st1:place>
was elected to the Board of Justices of the Peace and was appointed to serve on
the first grand jury. </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Fort Wayne</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> was not always the seat of county justice in the
strict sense. George Pence and Nellie
Armstrong point out in <i>Indiana Boundaries</i>
it is because the first counties established in the <st1:place w:st="on">Northwest
Territory</st1:place> that became <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>
were formed by the decree of governors of the Northwest and <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> territories, however by 1805 the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Indiana</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Territory</st1:placetype></st1:place> had advanced to a level that
empowered the creating of counties to the legislature.</span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> Before establishing a county three concerns
faced the decision makers: providing adequate local jurisdiction in large
counties where the citizens were separated by great distances and geographical terrain;
the spread of population after the native tribes ceded the lands after the 1812
War; and finally with the emergence of towns, competition sprang up for the
prestige and economic advantages which came with being named a county seat. </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 135.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>
was first accepted into the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United
States of America</st1:place></st1:country-region> in 1816 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Allen</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">County</st1:placename></st1:place>
had not been established. The territorial legislature already had created <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Knox</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place>
with its seat of government in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vincennes</st1:place></st1:city>.
A series of events that led to an <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Allen</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">County</st1:placename></st1:place> appears in <i>Historical Atlas and Chronology of County
Boundaries</i> (1984) edited by John H. Long.
On <st1:date day="20" month="6" w:st="on" year="1790">June 20, 1790</st1:date>,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Knox</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> encompassed all of the area of today’s
<st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> plus
portions of modern <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Illinois</st1:place></st1:state>,
<st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Michigan</st1:place></st1:state>, <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:state> and <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wisconsin</st1:place></st1:state>. By 1795 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Randolph</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place> was organized as part of the <st1:place w:st="on">Northwest Territory</st1:place> with its seat at Kaskaskia largely
because it was formed from St. Clair County which covered the area of modern <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Illinois</st1:place></st1:state>. When <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Indiana</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Territory</st1:placetype></st1:place> was authorized in 1800, covering
<st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Illinois</st1:place></st1:state>, <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>, <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wisconsin</st1:place></st1:state> and parts of <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Michigan</st1:place></st1:state> and <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Minnesota</st1:place></st1:state>, the new
Territory consisted of Knox, Randolph and St. Clair counties. </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 135.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As time passed the boundaries of the counties changed
and new counties established. In 1818 the U.S Government obtained a treaty with
several tribes known to the history of the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle West</st1:place>
as the “Delaware New Purchase.” An 1816 edition of <i>The New Purchase, </i>Robert Carlton described it as “…nearly all the
land east and south of the <st1:place w:st="on">Wabash</st1:place> not
previously relinquished by the Indians.” Out of this land thirty-seven new
counties were made one of which was dubbed <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Randolph</st1:place></st1:city>. It was from this “Delaware New Purchase” that <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Allen</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">County</st1:placename></st1:place>
was created on <st1:date day="1" month="4" w:st="on" year="1824">April 1, 1824</st1:date>,
with the county seat at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> If anyone asked the name of this Fort
Wayne-based county, you could say once we were in Knox and then it was changed
to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Randolph</st1:place></st1:city>. Now
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> serves
as the seat of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Allen</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">County</st1:placename></st1:place> named for the
Colonel from <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kentucky</st1:place></st1:state>
the courageous soldier John Allen who lost his life at the Battle of River
Raisin. </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage
Trail,” which is broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra”
heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history
centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">###<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-31655413809613489302016-11-08T15:00:00.000-05:002016-11-08T15:00:27.063-05:00Internal Improvements Come to Fort Wayne - 1816<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">(Fort Wayne Monthly</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – April
2016 No 135)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>2016 <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> Bicentennial Commission Legacy Endorsed
Project<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Internal Improvements Come to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> - 1816<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>
was admitted to the <st1:place w:st="on">Union</st1:place>, legislators convened
an assembly in the first state capital located in Corydon. Among the earliest issues to be taken up was
a plan of internal improvements for <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>.
As early as in his 1817 message to the Indiana General Assembly, new Governor
Jonathan Jennings pressed for prompt attention to be given a canal to connect
the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Maumee</st1:place></st1:city> and <st1:place w:st="on">Wabash</st1:place> rivers separated by the old portage. It soon brought a focus to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> which was to become the seat of
the <st1:place w:st="on">Wabash</st1:place> and <st1:place w:st="on">Erie Canal</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">During 1816, Robert McKfee wrote about the time he witnessed
the events of the War of 1812 in <i>The
History of the</i> <i>Late War in the
Western Country</i> wrote, “The Miami (Maumee River) is navigable for boats
from this place to the Lake (i.e…Lake Erie), and the portage to the nearest
navigable branch of the Wabash, is but seven or eight miles, through a level
marshy prairie, for which the water runs both to the Wabash and St. Mary’s. A canal at some future day will unite these
rivers, and thus render the town at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>, as formerly, the most considerable place in all
that country.” </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Later in his congratulatory letter of June 17, 1843
when the grand opening of the Canal between Toledo on Lake Erie and Lafayette
on the Wabash was to take place the following July 4th wrote, “I now find that
prediction realized in a much shorter time than was expected. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> must, of necessity, increase in its population
and prosperity; and, in a few years, it must take rank among the proudest of
our inland cities.” </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">People in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> were excited about the prospect that the new
State’s status would soon rise to a new level of importance. Further, citizens
found the idea of a canal crossing a land barrier to connect the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Maumee</st1:place></st1:city> and <st1:place w:st="on">Wabash</st1:place> rivers would at long last replace the ancient
portage. In his message to the Indiana
Legislature Governor Jonathan Jennings pushed for the proposal of joining the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Maumee</st1:place></st1:city> and <st1:place w:st="on">Wabash</st1:place> with a waterway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Benjamin F. Stickney the <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> agent stationed at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> sent off a letter to Governor DeWitt
Clinton whose support for <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>’s
canal became known as the “Father” of the <st1:place w:st="on">Erie Canal</st1:place>. In the letter Stickney described the proposed
canal coming to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>.
The governor, who had directed the completion of the <st1:place w:st="on">Erie
Canal</st1:place> between <st1:place w:st="on">Lake Erie</st1:place> with the <st1:place w:st="on">Hudson River</st1:place> replied, “I have found a way to get into <st1:place w:st="on">Lake Erie</st1:place>, and you have shown me how to get out of
it. You have extended my project six
hundred miles.” </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> Although
excitement ran high for canals, such projects were not without the risk of
failure. As early as 1805, the Territorial legislature chartered the Indiana
Canal Company. Its purpose was to dig a passage around the Falls of the <st1:place w:st="on">Ohio River</st1:place> at present-day <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Jeffersonville</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state></st1:place>. Hoverer, the project was delayed and revived
in 1817 and again in 1820 but it came to naught. <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kentucky</st1:place></st1:state>
took up the cause and successfully constructed the short bypass around the
falls on the south bank of the <st1:place w:st="on">Ohio River</st1:place>. By
1829, the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Louisville</st1:place></st1:city>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Portland</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Canal</st1:placetype></st1:place> was completed. </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In 1832, ground was broken for the Wabash Erie Canal
in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>,
opened in 1835 to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Huntington</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state></st1:place> and by 1843 it was
operational between <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Lafayette</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state></st1:place> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Toledo</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Ohio</st1:state></st1:place>
with <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>
resting on the highest elevation between the two. Eventually, it earned <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> the name of
The Summit City. That future day noted
by McKee in 1816 came to pass in 1853 when the <st1:place w:st="on">Wabash</st1:place>
and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Erie</st1:place></st1:city>
reached <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Evansville</st1:place></st1:city>. Not only was the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Maumee</st1:place></st1:city> and <st1:place w:st="on">Wabash</st1:place>
rivers connected, but <st1:place w:st="on">Lake Erie</st1:place> was finally
connected with the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Oho</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">River</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage
Trail,” which is broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra”
heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history
centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i>###<o:p></o:p></i></div>
Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-59180696463768135922016-11-01T15:00:00.000-04:002016-11-01T15:00:00.816-04:00Fort Wayne Allen Co in 1816<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">(Fort Wayne Monthly</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – Mar
2016 No 134)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>2016 <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> Bicentennial Commission Legacy Endorsed
Project<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Fort Wayne Allen Co in 1816<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">By an Act of Congress on <st1:date day="7" month="5" w:st="on" year="1800">May 7, 1800</st1:date> the American region north and west of
the <st1:place w:st="on">Ohio River</st1:place> was established as the <st1:place w:st="on">Northwest Territory</st1:place>. All land west of a north south line extending
from the mouth of the <st1:place w:st="on">Kentucky River</st1:place> through <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Fort</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Recovery</st1:placename></st1:place>
(<st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:state>) and on
up into <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region>
was dubbed the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Indiana</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Territory</st1:placetype></st1:place>. After <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:state>
was admitted as a State in 1802, the line of what set its northern boundary was
directly east from the southern point of Lake Michigan and was added to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Indiana</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Territory</st1:placetype></st1:place>. Later in 1805, most of what
we know as the State of <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Michigan</st1:place></st1:state>
was given the name <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Michigan</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Territory</st1:placetype></st1:place>. The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Illinois</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Territory</st1:placetype></st1:place> was established in 1809. <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> entered the <st1:place w:st="on">Union</st1:place> as a State on <st1:date day="11" month="12" w:st="on" year="1816">December 11, 1816</st1:date>, when the town at the
stronghold of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>
was celebrating its twenty-second birthday. </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In a letter dated June 17, 1843, recalling his
witnessing of the 1812 Siege of Fort Wayne, Captain McAfee described the
community when he stated, “My recollection of the condition in which we found
that place in September, 1812, when General Harrison’s army relieved it from
the attacks of the Indians who had burnt and plundered every house outside of
the fort, are yet fresh in my mind.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Fort Wayne</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">’s Commandant Major Whistler was transferred to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Saint Louis</st1:place></st1:city> in 1816 and replaced
by Major Josiah N. Vose of the Fifth U.S. infantry. Major Vose command consisted of a garrison of
some fifty-six men. Among his first efforts was replacing the council house
which had been burned during the Siege of 1812 when William Henry Harrison’s
Army came to the rescue of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>. A two-story log structure, the council house stood
on present-day <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">East Main Street</st1:address></st1:street>
near the fire station and served the community.
For some time, the structure was used for a school and later repurposed
as a residence for the noted pioneers Michael Hedekin and Louis T. Bourie </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Josiah Vose had been commissioned a captain in the
Twenty-first infantry in time for the War of 1812. During that conflict he was
promoted to Major, the rank he enjoyed when assigned to the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> post. Later in 1842 he earned the
level of Colonel while commanding troops during the Second Seminole War. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Historian Bert Griswold recorded a description of Vose
quoting from a letter written in 1859 by Colonel John Johnston who had once
served as Indian Agent at the Three Rivers:
“Major Vose was the only commandant of the fort who publicly professed
Christianity. It was his constant practice ‘to assemble his men on the Sabbath
day and read the Scriptures to them and talk with them in a conversational way
about religion. The conduct of such a man can only be appreciated by persons
familiar with the allurements and temptations of military life.’” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Change came to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> in the year 1819 with the departure of the
troops and the abandonment of the fort as a military stronghold. It was on
April 19, that Vose and his men climbed into dugout pirogues on the <st1:place w:st="on">Maumee River</st1:place> heading to a new assignment in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Detroit</st1:place></st1:city> with the heavy
armament in tow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> Left behind in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> were four
vacated buildings which were taken over by civil authorities represented by
Indian Agent Major Stickney. Griswold
wrote: Even at this period, the shelter of the stockade brought a feeling of
security, and the fort was not without its convenient firearms and supply of
ammunition. The provision of these comfortable living quarters served also to
attract many travelers, some of whom remained to stamp their names and
characters upon the history of the village and the town.” <span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage
Trail,” which is broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra”
heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history
centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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###<o:p></o:p></div>
Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0Fort Wayne, IN 46802, USA41.0644747 -85.17385760000001941.0165872 -85.254538600000018 41.1123622 -85.093176600000021tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-11015913485220933922016-10-25T15:00:00.000-04:002016-10-25T15:00:00.165-04:00Who’s a Hoosier?<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(“Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi”
– February 2016, No. 133)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Who’s a Hoosier?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">How many times has some one from Indiana been asked, what
is a Hoosier? Not the nickname for a
state university, but that seemingly indefinable term Indianans have been
branded. One survey seeking the solution produced a list of thirty-eight
possible explanations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">A 1995, <i>Indiana
Magazine of History</i> published by Fisk University History Professor William
D. Pierson’s gave his take on the issue.
In 1848, John Bartlett suggested in the <i>Dictionary of Americanisms</i> that “Hoosier” was a term that started
way down in New Orleans coming from a word spelled “Husher” a rough and tumble
sort not to be crossed. Since there was
no evidence for “Husher” it had been dismissed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Bartlett presents the notion that maybe it was “who’s
yere” the reply a stranger heard after a knock on the door of remote settler’s
cabin. Although popular as a definition
it did not line up with how some one would approach their arrival of the
day. Then came the suggestion of
“hussar” since some thought it a corruption of a European term to honor the
fighting spirit of river boatmen. Or, perhaps it came about because the boatmen
who enjoyed leaping into the air and bellowing “huzza,” Both have not been
taken too seriously by historians as the source of the term.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Historian Jacob Piatt Dunn noted a similar word, “hoozeer”
for “anything unusually large,” believed that the expression “Hoosier” could be
explained standing a test of three common attributes. It must apply to a rough class of people. It
came from the South. It was created to designate Indiana people. Dunn’s third test had to be eliminated since
the word existed before it was used in reference to one from Indiana, however,
it was intended to denigrate as well having come up from the South. As early as 1833 the Indianapolis <i>Journal</i> published John Finley’s poem
titled, “The Hoosier’s Nest.” Dunn was
even able to trace the word from southern Virginia and the Carolinas then west
to Tennessee as derogatory before moving north to Indiana. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Dunn also tracked down a rumor that a contractor for
the Louisville & Portland Canal on the Ohio River named Hoosier was hiring
men from Indiana who became “Hoosier Men”. However, no such contractor was found so that
idea was dropped.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">A term from the 1899 edition of William Dickinson’s <i>Dialect of Cumberland</i> suggested a
similar word “hoozer.” From the Anglo Saxton it came through Cumberland and as
mentioned above meant something or somebody unusually large. However, “hoozer”
was considered different from “hoosier” pronounced “hoo-zher.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">During the years “Hoosier” was finding its way on the
then-frontier, there emerged a likely source. Among the Methodist preachers was the African-American
evangelist Harry Hoosier. Born about
1750, he had gained his freedom and became a popular circuit rider among other
white ministers. Hoosier was a gifted speaker and Benjamin Rush said that even
though he was illiterate, “he was the greatest orator in America.” As such, the
preacher said he knew only the sound of his name not the spelling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">History Professor Pierson wrote that some scholarly
historians believe the term “Hoosier” was a reference to back country primitive
followers of Harry Hoosier who fought for the anti-slavery position. Of all the
speculation, Dunn’s suggestion of the “hoozeer” and the Harry Hoosier best
qualify for the terms movement from the Appalachian frontier. Other theories
depend on origins that cannot show the place and ways the word was used. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">A condescending and disparaging word ‘Cracker”
directed toward poor white folks in the South was displaced by “Hoosiers” in
the upper regions of the South. Even the
rubes of North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky may have been embraced as
Hoosiers, but the geographical dividing line between “Hoosier” and “Cracker”
marks the southern limit of Harry Hoosier’s circuit tours. So it remains, <i>whose-sure</i> with any certainty where the moniker came from is yet to
be determined.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">###<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Wabash
& Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is
broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer
Radio. Ft. Wayne 106.3 FM and South Bend 95.7 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the
History Center’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify;">
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Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-4022697016588313572016-10-18T10:31:00.000-04:002016-10-18T11:27:23.235-04:00John Kinzie<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(“Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi”
– December 2015, No. 131)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">John Kinzie<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Anyone traveling in and about Chicago is likely to encounter
Kinzie Street. John Kinzie is reputed to
be the “father” of the City of Chicago having earned the title as one of its early
settlers. John Kinzie once lived in Miamitown, the site of present-day Fort
Wayne and at the request of Father Louis Payet stepped in to play his violin for
the small Catholic community gathered in December 1789 for the Christmas Eve
midnight Mass. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It was during the early 1790s a few years before the
U.S. fortress was dedicated as Fort Wayne. In the journal of Henry Hay, a
visitor to Miamitown from Detroit, who on February 17, 1790, wrote that the
frozen rivers created ice jams which, in turn, caused the water to rise
partially flooding Miamitown. To get around, folks used canoes and pirogues and
by February 24th the water had surrounded John Kinzie’s house forcing him to
move out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Eight months earlier when Harmer’s army came up from Fort
Washington – now the Cincinnati area – suffering a defeat at the hands of the
Miami Confederation, John Kinzie was in Miamitown along with George Sharp and
Antoine Lasselle. Sharp wrote to Col. Alexander McKee from Defiance on October
17, 1790, before he heard of Harmer’s loss.
“I left the Miamies the 15<sup>th</sup>. The people in general had then
saved a considerable part of their property but the village was burned to ashes
by the Indians, lest it offer shelter to their enemies. Messrs. Kinzie and Lacelle (sic) were to
remain in the environs of the Miamis four days at last after my departure and
promised to send me every intelligence of consequence to this place.” </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;">(<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In 1792 Kinzie was
described as “a Scot, who, in addition to merchandizing, followed the occupation
of a silversmith, exchanging with the Indian his brooches, ear-drops, and other
silver ornaments, at an enormous profit, for skins and furs.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In 1804, Kinzie moved to
Chicago, where Fort Dearborn had been constructed during the summer of 1803 making
his home</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> opposite the fort on the north
bank of the Chicago River. He was in his
new town when General William Hull, governor of Michigan and commandant of the
American force at Detroit, ordered Captain Nathan Heald at Fort Dearborn to
abandon his command and take refuge back at Fort Wayne. John</span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> Kinzie also was
there when William Wells and his band of Miami warriors arrived in 1812 to
escort the occupants out of Fort Dearborn and return the garrison to the safety
of Fort Wayne. Among the caravan travelers
were Well’s niece, Mrs. Rebekah Heald and Mrs. Margaret Helm the wife of Lt.
Linai T. Helm. Mrs. Heald witnessed her uncle William Wells cut down by the mostly
Potawatomi attackers as he attempted to escort some ninety-six officers,
enlisted militia as well as women and children, many in covered wagons exiting
the fort. American losses counted fifty-three dead along with many wounded, and
about fifteen warriors were lost. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">During the attack, Chief Black Partridge rescued
Margaret Helm. After the conflict the
Potawatomi Black Partridge along with Waubansee, protected Mrs. Helm as well as
John Kinzie’s family. Mrs. Heald, Mrs.
Helm and Sergeant Griffith, brother of Mrs. Alexander Ewing of Fort Wayne were
saved through the good offices of Black Partridge, Sau-gan-ash and Topenebe.</span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">These were days of great importance. John Kinzie was
one of the colorful characters who witnessed the struggles of the wilderness at
places which grew to become the city of Fort Wayne and the mega city of
Chicago. Raids on Maimitown and the War
of 1812 at Fort Dearborn – America’s second war of Independence from Great Brittan
control – found John Kinzie as an eyewitness. He was at his home when he died
in 1828 and is buried in Chicago,</span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">where he brought a piece of Hoosier with him to found the city of
Chicago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">###<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Wabash
& Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is
broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer
Radio. Ft. Wayne 106.3 FM and South Bend 95.7 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the
History Center’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-68579054617909024252016-10-11T15:00:00.000-04:002016-10-11T15:38:26.379-04:00Lambdin P. Milligan<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(“Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi”
– November 2015, No. 130)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -9.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Lambdin P. Milligan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -9.0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">During the American Civil War, southern sympathizers
known as Copperheads, (meaning snakes) living in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state> had joined states including <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:state>, <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Illinois</st1:place></st1:state> and <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kentucky</st1:place></st1:state> in what became known as the
Northwest Conspiracy. The most serious of their followers formed the
Knights of the <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Golden Circle</st1:address></st1:street>
in 1854, which was the catalyst for the Sons of Liberty. Among this group’s
leaders was Lambdin P. Milligan of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Huntington</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place>. Born in 1812, he
had grown to a commanding height of six-feet four inches during which time he
also developed a love for reading. He became
a lawyer and at the time of the Civil War believed it was a <st1:place w:st="on">New
England</st1:place> concern motivated by New England Yankees worried about
making money. He openly advocated for the doctrine of a states’ rights to
separate from the <st1:place w:st="on">Union</st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Archivist Stephen E. Towne writing for <i>Indiana Magazine of History</i> stated that shortly
after Milligan had been rejected for a gubernatorial nomination by <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>’s Democrat
Convention delegates, he was in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> on <st1:date day="13" month="8" w:st="on" year="1864">August 13, 1864</st1:date>, speaking to, “a sizable minority of the
party who clamored for an immediate end to the war against the Confederate states.”
That fall Milligan was part of a group who planned sabotage, releasing and
arming Confederate prisoners in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:place></st1:city>
and overthrowing state governments. The group was uncovered, arrested and tried
for treason.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">About the time the South was ready to quit
the Rebellion, it was reinvigorated when learning the Sons of Liberty were
planning to liberate some 40,000 Confederate prisoners of war held at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Camp</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Douglas</st1:placename></st1:place>
at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:city> and
other northern locations including <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Camp</st1:placetype>
<st1:placename w:st="on">Morton</st1:placename></st1:place> at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:place></st1:city>. With the
releasing of prisoners and seizing the arsenals at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Camp</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Douglas</st1:placename></st1:place>
and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rock Island</st1:place></st1:city>,
they planned to march the prisoners south to join up with rebel armies.
Historians mention that Confederate General John Hunt Morgan’s daring raid into
southern <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>
to pillage her counties was perhaps a part of the scheme intended to signal a start
of the Sons of Liberty’s action. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">If
their plot had succeeded, the Sons of Liberty believed that they could control
of the supply lines to the South thus weakening the <st1:place w:st="on">Union</st1:place>'s
cause. Although the plan was set to take place, a spy had revealed their
strategy to <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>'s
Governor Oliver P. Morton. Milligan, along with of other Sons of Liberty
members were arrested and thousands of arms were seized. Milligan, Dr.
William A. Bowles of French Lick, <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ind.</st1:place></st1:state>,
and Stephen Horsey of Shoals, <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ind.</st1:place></st1:state>,
were tried by a military commission found guilty of all charges brought against
them and sentenced to hang. After <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lincoln</st1:place></st1:city>'s
assassination, Andrew Johnson ordered the executions to take place, but <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indiana</st1:place></st1:state>’s Governor
Morton stepped in to plead for the lives of the condemned prisoners. When
the request was turned down by President Johnson, Morton appealed to the
federal district court in Indianapolis and the case was sent up to the Supreme
Court. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In 1866, a verdict was rendered by the High Court, known
as <i>ex parte</i> <i>Milligan,</i> that the military trial of a civilian in a place where
the civil courts remained open was unconstitutional. The Court’s decision is one which protects
civilians from being tried in military courts, even in time of war, if the
civil courts are open and functioning. In a separate <i>Indiana Magazine of History</i> analysis by Peter J. Barry, Justice David Davis is
quoted as saying: “When peace prevails, and the authority of the government is
undisputed, there is no difficulty of preserving the safeguards of liberty…but
if society is disturbed by civil commotion – if the passions of men are aroused
and the restraints of law weakened, if not disregarded – these safeguards need,
and should receive, the watchful care of those entrusted with the guardianship
of the Constitution and laws.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , "serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "garamond" , "serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">An
Indiana Historical Bureau marker stands on the west lawn of the courthouse in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Huntington</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state></st1:place>,
which honors the decision stating in part, “In a landmark decision on <st1:date day="3" month="4" w:st="on" year="1866">April 3, 1866</st1:date>, the United States Supreme Court overturned
the conspiracy against the national government conviction of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Huntington</st1:place></st1:city> attorney Lambdin P. Milligan
(1812-1899).” This High Court decision
guaranteed by right of the Constitution meant Milligan was able to return to continue
practicing law. He died on <st1:date day="21" month="12" w:st="on" year="1899">December
21, 1899</st1:date>, at age eighty seven and is buried in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Huntington</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state></st1:place>’s
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Mount</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Hope</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Cemetery</st1:placename></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">###<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,”
which is broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on
Redeemer Radio106.3 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history
centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-37576266384070423742016-10-04T15:00:00.000-04:002016-10-10T15:34:44.447-04:00Judge William Polke<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(“Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi”
– September 2015, No. 128)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Judge William Polke<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">History has recorded that William Polke was born on
September 19, 1775, in Brooke County, Virginia.
As a boy in 1782, he with his mother and three sisters were captured by
raiding Indians. Handed over to the British at Detroit, the family was held as
prisoners for a year before being released in 1783 at the end of the American
Revolutionary War.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Later the Polke family moved to Knox County, Indiana,
and as an adult, William established a career in public service. He was with Anthony Wayne at the Battle of
Fallen Timbers, helped build the original stronghold at Fort Wayne, and was
wounded during the Battle of Tippecanoe. In 1814 he served as a Knox County
associate circuit court judge as well as won election to the Territorial
Legislature. Polke became one of the
forty-three delegates to the Constitutional Convention responsible for writing
Indiana’s first state constitution in 1816. He served two terms as the state
senator of Knox County, but he lost his bid for Lieutenant-Governor in 1822
which apparently ended his quest for elective office. </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Polke was appointed in 1830 by an act of the Indiana
General Assembly one of the three commissioners for the construction of the
Michigan Road. Historians have recorded
that Polke served a critical role in the success of that project, which
established a road extending from the Ohio River to Lake Michigan. </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">During 1838 Superintendent, Emigration of Indians,
Able C. Pepper assigned Polke as a conductor of the Potawatomi peoples’ removal
from their northern Indiana homeland on their grueling march to Kansas. Cecil
K. Byrd, professor, Lilly Library, at Indiana University in 1979 wrote in, “The
Papers of William Polke, 1775-1843” found on-line at scholarworks.iu.edu that,
“Polke was genuinely concerned with the welfare of the Indians and, disclaimers
to the contrary, personally did everything he could to supply food, clothing
and render medical assistance in the exercise of his official duties.”</span><span style="background: yellow; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-highlight: yellow;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> It was a forced
march of over eight hundred Potawatomi known to history as “The Trail of
Death.” </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When reaching Danville, Illinois, the tribe was handed over to William
Polke. Paul Wallace Gates noted in <i>The
John Tipton Papers</i> that Polke, “was convinced that his prompt action had
prevented bloodshed between the two races. That he regretted the haste, the
lack of preparation, and the suffering is equally clear. And once they reached
Kansas he was certain the tribe would be protected…</span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">from the
encroaching aggression.” In 1841 President William Henry Harrison in
recognition of patriotic services appointed Polke to serve at Fort Wayne as
register of the land office. </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">When </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Polke died,
his April 29, 1843 Fort Wayne <i>Sentinel</i> obituary ends with these lines:
“He was buried with military honors; and a large concourse of citizens followed
his remains to their last camping ground.” However, the cemetery name is not
mentioned. In the year 1860, the
interred in the McCulloch Cemetery along Broadway − present-day McCulloch Park
− were to be removed and re-interred in present-day Lindenwood Cemetery. </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">All but one grave is marked and that is Indiana’s
seventh Governor Samuel Bigger’s remains in present-day McCulloch Park. For years, questions persisted as to whether
or not all the burials were found, and surviving family members located for
approval to conduct the graves’ removal. Since there is no record of Polke
having been removed to Lindenwood, perhaps he continues to be interred in
McCulloch Park. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> During a
research project conducted to identify the burial site of each of the
Constitutional Convention delegates, Indiana State Archivist, Jim Corridan led
an effort and identified Polke’s long forgotten grave located, “in an early
Fort Wayne cemetery.” Through a diligent
search of records in Polke’s estate filed at the County Clerk’s office by
SuzAnn Runge, Jim Corridan was able to confirm that William Polke, in fact, was
buried in the Old Broadway Cemetery and is interred there today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Wabash
& Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is
broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer
Radio. Ft. Wayne 106.3 FM and South Bend 95.7 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the
History Center’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">###<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-34458488232994302632016-09-27T15:00:00.000-04:002016-09-27T15:00:15.920-04:00Babe Ruth<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(“Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi”
– August 2015, No. 127)<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoSubtitle">
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<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Babe Ruth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
Among the highlights of the 1927 baseball
season in <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city>
was an exhibition game played at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">League</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> by the New York
Yankees against the Lincoln Lifers. Blake Sebring in his <i>Fort Wayne Sports History</i> wrote that the Yankees who were in first
place had stopped off in <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city>
on their way to take on <st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city>.
<span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> </span>Now at what is <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Headwaters</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>
between Calhoun and Clinton streets, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">League</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> had erected a wooden
structure in 1883. Rebuilt several
times, the place received a major overhaul in 1908 with new grandstands and a grass
infield. After the damage caused by the great
flood of 1913, additional restoration was required. It was readied as a host
park for semi-pro Central League teams including the Lifers when they moved up
to a minor league status. Bob Parker writing in, <i>Batter Up: Fort Wayne’s Baseball History,</i> mentions the “Chiefs” as another
local team that went up to become a St. Louis Cardinal farm team. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">League</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Park</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s grandstand was filled with more than three
thousand fans, as was all the available standing room, that 1927 exhibition
season. Enthusiastic <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city>
fans came streaming in, eager to see high drama from George “Babe” Ruth, Lou
Gehrig and the other Yankee legends. The fans were not disappointed. All in the
stands were sensing the Babe’s charge into the annals of American history. During
the regular 1919 season, playing for the Boston Red Sox, Ruth established what
was dubbed an, “unreachable mark” of twenty-nine home runs. However, the very next year, the “Bambino” as
his fans nicknamed him, crushed his record by knocking out fifty-four
homers. A year later, in 1921, he hit
fifty nine.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
On <st1:date day="26" month="10" w:st="on" year="1926">October 26, 1926</st1:date>, Babe Ruth had come to town on a personal
visit. After putting on a show during
batting practice, he joined the Lincoln Lifers’ squad in a game against a very
good Kips team. Ruth proceeded to put on
a demonstration by playing every position except catcher. He topped the game off by hitting two balls
out of the park.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"> </span>The
Lifers won 11 to 1.<span style="background: yellow; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-highlight: yellow;"> </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
Returning to the Lifers-Yankee exhibition
game of <st1:date day="6" month="5" w:st="on" year="1927">May 6, 1927</st1:date>
the regulation nine innings was played.
The Lifers held the Yankees to a 3 – 3 tie in the tenth, with two out
and a runner on first when “The Sultan of Swat,” another of Ruth’s appellations
came to the plate. He took two strikes
and then in classic style belted the next pitch over the center field wall landing
on the roof of one of the city utility barns across <st1:street w:st="on">Clinton Street</st1:street>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
The
stands emptied as The Babe was mobbed by adoring fans. A newspaper illustration
appeared of Ruth blasting a mighty tenth inning home run enabling the New York
Yankees to defeat the Lincoln Life team 5 to 3. It has been said that the Babe
often referred to that blow as possibly the hardest hit ball of his career.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Later that year on <st1:date day="30" month="9" w:st="on" year="1927">September 30, 1927</st1:date>, facing St. Louis Browns’
pitcher Zack Walton, Babe stood waiting in the batter’s box on a ball he
liked. When it came, it was in the
eighth inning and a two-run, game-winning, record-setting homer which marked
Ruth’s 60<sup>th</sup> of the season. It was a record that stood for thirty-four
years from 1927 to 1961. Baseball historian Don Graham, however, has made the
observation that in 1961 “Ruth hit his 60 home runs in a 154 game regular
season schedule. Roger Maris hit his 61 in a 162 regular season schedule. It
took every one of those 162 games to hit both number 60 and 61. Maris ‘set’ a record,
but did not ‘break’ a record.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
John Ankenbruck wrote that after citing the
official long hits by Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and others, one sportswriter declared
that, Ruth hit a longer one in <st1:city w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:city>, according to the Bambino’s version. He was on a barn storming tour after the 1927
season and played a game at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">League</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> on <st1:street w:st="on">North Clinton Street</st1:street>.
Ruth belted a ball over the left-centerfield fence and claimed that the ball
landed in a freight car which was passing the park at the time. Local baseball historians are quick to note
that if true the ball would have had to clear the fence then make a right
angle, travel another six hundred feet to land on the railroad tracks.<s><o:p></o:p></s></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
Even so, 1927 was a memorial year for
baseball and stamped with the name of George Herman Ruth, the “Babe,” the
“Bambino,” “the Sultan of Swat.” It was a year to remember baseball in <st1:city w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:city> and Babe Ruth
was on hand to help to make it more than just a big hit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoSubtitle">
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Wabash
& Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is
broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer
Radio. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Ft.</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Wayne</st1:placename></st1:place> 106.3 FM and South Bend 95.7
FM. Enjoy his previously published
columns on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s blog, “Our
Stories,” at history centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-63945075986505173172016-09-20T15:00:00.000-04:002016-09-20T15:00:26.876-04:00News Sentinel Building<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(“Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi”
– July 2015, No. 126)<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">News</span></st1:placename><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> <st1:placename w:st="on">Sentinel</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Building</st1:placetype></span></st1:place><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">News-Sentinel</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Building</st1:placetype></st1:place>
was constructed in 1925 by Oscar Foellinger, publisher of the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> <i>News-Sentinel</i>. Tracing its
history to the first newspaper in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>, <i>The Sentinel</i>, which began publication as
a weekly on <st1:date day="6" month="7" w:st="on" year="1833">July 6, 1833</st1:date>,
its first editor of this Democrat newspaper was Thomas Tigar. Living in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:place></st1:city> at the time, Tigar was a native
of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beverly</st1:place></st1:city>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Yorkshire</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region></st1:place>
born there in 1807. He came to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>
in 1826 as an experienced printer and landed in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Ashtabula</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Ohio</st1:state></st1:place>.
He met his partner S.V.B Noel in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:place></st1:city>
and the two came to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>
to establish the original press for the paper on <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">West Columbia Street</st1:address></st1:street>. Tigar continued
with the paper until 1865. He died in 1875 and is buried in Lindenwood
cemetery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> Bert Griswold relates the story of how the
paper acquired its first press. A used
hand-press for the printing of the <i>Indiana State Journal</i> at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:place></st1:city> was
purchased and delivered to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>.
The way was difficult taking six days to transport the load over muddy roads
and across swollen streams on rafts. Type was set and in its July 6th first edition
appeared the Declaration of Independence. Its first editorial recapped an oration
given on the Fourth of July celebration of 1833 by Hugh McCulloch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Sentinel</span></i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> became a daily newspaper, while still publishing a
weekly edition, and later merged with the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Dawson</st1:place></st1:city>
<i>Times</i> to become the <i>Times and Sentinel</i>. Under new ownership in 1866, the newspaper
was known as <i>The</i> <i>Democrat</i> until 1873 when the name was changed
back to <i>The Sentinel</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">By 1874, another paper
began publication under the name <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> <i>Daily News. </i> It was first published as a Republican
newspaper which emphasized local news.
Known as “The people’s paper,” the <i>Daily News</i> was a financial
success at the turn of the last century and in 1917 purchased <i>The Sentinel</i>. The new company issued the first edition of
the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> <i>News-Sentinel
</i>on <st1:date day="1" month="1" w:st="on" year="1918">January 1, 1918</st1:date>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">According to author Jim
Sack’s chapter in <i>The History of Fort Wayne and Allen County </i>Oscar
Foellinger<i> </i>began his newspaper career as a junior accountant at the News
Publishing Company during the mid 1890s. In about a decade, Foellinger advanced
to the position of business manager. <i> </i>In
1920, Oscar Foellinger assumed control of <i>The News-Sentinel</i>, which
became a leading voice for Republican politics in the region and a strong
advocate for civic improvement. Journalist
and historian Scott Bushnell noted in, <i>Hard News and Heartfelt Opinion</i>s
about the history of the <i>Journal Gazette</i> that Foellinger became
president and general manager of the <i>News and Sentinel</i> taking it to
prominent heights. On an autumn hunting trip to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region> in 1936, Oscar died unexpectedly. Upon his death his daughter, Helene
Foellinger, became publisher and remained active until her death in 1987.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Author Sack noted that
Helene Foellinger and her mother Esther established the Foellinger Foundation
in the aftermath of the loss of father and husband. Financing directed to
community projects such as Foellinger Outdoor Theater, Foellinger-Freimann
botanical Conservatory were among the substantial contributions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Since 1958, the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">News-Sentinel</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Building</st1:placetype></st1:place> has been known as the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Foellinger</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place> and later served as the headquarters
of the <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">United Way</st1:address></st1:street>
of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>
as well as other not-for-profit organizations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In 1950, <i>The
News-Sentinel</i> entered into a joint operating agreement with the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> <i>Journal Gazette</i>
to share common printing and other business activities. Fort Wayne Newspapers broke ground in 1956
and both papers began publishing from a new facility at <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">600 West Main Street</st1:address></st1:street> in 1958. A new
pressroom and paper storage facility was completed during 2007.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">###</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Wabash &
Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is
broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer
Radio. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Ft.</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Wayne</st1:placename></st1:place> 106.3 FM and South Bend 95.7
FM. Enjoy his previously published
columns on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s blog, “Our
Stories,” at history centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-37993796411868444892016-09-13T15:00:00.000-04:002016-09-26T09:55:39.716-04:00An Old Apple Tree of Fort Wayne Lore<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> (“Along the
Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – June 2015, No. 125)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoBodyTextIndent2" style="margin-right: 9.0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">An Old Apple Tree of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> Lore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Miami</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> “Chiefess” Tacumwah gave birth to Pechewa or
Richardville in 1761 near an old apple tree somewhere west of the <st1:place w:st="on">Saint Joseph River</st1:place>, in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">village</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Kekionga</st1:placename></st1:place>. This fruit-bearing tree, with its trunk
alleged to have measured twelve feet in circumference, became a part of local
tradition. It was an early example of a
European tree foreign to <st1:place w:st="on">North America</st1:place> and
played an interesting role during the siege of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> in 1812. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The tree is suspected to have sprouted from an apple
seed accidentally dropped or deliberately planted by an early French trader or priest
visiting the Three Rivers region. It was destroyed during a heavy spring storm
in 1866, however, its main trunk was left behind for some time. It produced fruit said to be small and
usually ripened in October. Jesse Lynch
Williams, of Indiana Internal Improvements renown, was quoted as saying, “We
need not question its identity. There are specimens of the hardier varieties in
this country now bearing fruit at the age of 150 to 200 years.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> According to a
story recounted from the Siege of 1812 an Indian warrior climbed the ancient
apple tree every day for several days to harass the soldiers in the fort. From
high in the tree he would throw his arms about like a fowl flapping his wings,
and would crow out like a rooster. Finally,
a marksman in the garrison knocked the taunting brave out of the tree with an
amazingly well aimed shot which may have been three hundred fifty yards away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> So popular were
the local legends about the tree that George Winter, an important itinerant
painter of the 1830s and 1840s, was enticed to include a sketch of the tree in
his collection. Author and historian
Wallace Brice saw fit to include a drawing of an old apple tree as one of a
very few illustrations in his 1868 <i>History
of Fort Wayne </i>book. A reproduction
of Winter’s drawing is found in the exhaustive work titled, <i>Indians and a</i> <i>Changing Frontier The Art of George Winter</i> with a caption reading,
“Sketch of the Apple Tree noted for being over 100 years old and the reputed
birth place of chief Richardville. <st1:place w:st="on">St. Joseph River</st1:place>,
<st1:date day="19" month="6" w:st="on" year="1848">June 19<sup>th</sup> 1848</st1:date>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In 1962, the Dow Jones & Company’s <i>National Observer</i> published a column
about the old tree. The <i>Observer</i> reported, “The item cited the ‘famous
apple tree’ of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>,
about which ‘Little Turtle, Indian leader, and his followers had their
dwellings clustered’ in the late 1700s.” It continued noting that the tree was,
“more than three feet in diameter at the time the print was made and was said
to have been bearing fruit for more than a hundred years.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> Wesley Bashore
writing for the <i>Journal Gazette</i>
mentioned the <i>National Observer’s</i> reference
and attempted to locate the site of the legendary tree. At that time he
consulted with a number of local historians who suggested, “a spot about four
houses down from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Columbia</st1:place></st1:city>
on Edgewater.” Bashore was not satisfied and ended his story by saying that
there simply was not enough evidence to locate precisely the positioning of the
tree and that he, “was more than willing to hand this flaming torch over to
others hands.” One day reliable evidence
may surface. Meanwhile, an approximate
location of the “Old Apple Tree” has been remembered along the 1994 Fort Wayne
Bicentennial’s Heritage Trail at a marker found on <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Edgewater Avenue</st1:address></st1:street>’s park strip. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">During
the years before Richardville died in 1841 he often pointed out the old apple
tree to settlers. He recalled that it was there when he was a boy and that it
was then a “bearing tree” and that the “hut” in which he was born stood very
near.</span><span lang="FR" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Allen County Historian Tom Castaldi is author of the </i>Wabash
& Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is
broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer
Radio. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Ft.</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Wayne</st1:placename></st1:place> 106.3 FM and South Bend 95.7
FM. Enjoy his previously published
columns on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s blog, “Our
Stories,” at history centerfw.blogspot.com.</i></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span lang="FR" style="font-size: 14pt;">###<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-47204340265267235642016-09-06T15:00:00.000-04:002016-09-06T15:00:12.321-04:00Kaboo the African Missionary<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> (“Along the
Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – May 2015, No. 124)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Kaboo the African
Missionary <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">One of the most remarkable
persons to grace the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city>
region was an African male student born in 1873 who took the name Samuel Morris
when he came to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region> in 1892. Here he entered the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Methodist</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">College</st1:placetype></st1:place> to study to
become a missionary. Born in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Liberia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, he was
known as Prince Kaboo from the tribe of Kru and had become a Methodist convert.
He was known to have a charming personality and a zealous religious vocation
that endeared him to his classmates quickly making him one of the best-liked
students at the college. However, Samuel
Morris became ill in 1893 and died. Prince Kaboo was so loved and respected
that his touching story of conversion, his enthusiasm for education and his
untimely death was widely told and attracted many new students who enrolled in
the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Methodist</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">College</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">His life’s journey was a
difficult one as well as one filled with discovery, great faith and charity. As the son of the tribal chief, Kaboo’s father
had lost a battle with an opposing village. Following some ancient custom, the
victorious chief demanded the defeated chief’s son to hold as a hostage until
certain tributes were paid. The demands were unreasonable and virtually
impossible to pay. Kaboo remained a
prisoner and suffered difficult torturers including beatings with poisonous
vines. He nearly lost his life even refusing to lessen his plight when the
cruel master offered to exchange him for his sister. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">One night after being
severely beaten and passed out, he awoke to a bright light and heard a voice
say, “rise and flee.” Confused and
probably in pain and dazed, he ran off into the jungle. For days he moved through a vast and
dangerous country, with no conception of where he might be but guided by a
light. Lindley Baldwin writing Morris’ biography wrote, “Whether it was an
external light or mental illumination that guided Kaboo, his pathway was made
clear.” After experiencing one hazard after another, he stumbled onto a
missionary camp the only important stronghold of civilized law. </span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Here he found refuge. Also,
he was taught the English language and gradually learned he wanted to become a
missionary. Subsequently, Kaboo’s name
was changed when he was baptized as “Samuel Morris” a name chosen for him
honoring a benefactor banker from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Fort
Wayne</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state></st1:place>. Sammy was told he must go to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> to
receive an education and was told to seek out Rev. Stephen Merritt in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .25in; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Without funds Sammy somehow managed
to reach the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. After an arduous ocean crossing, he found
Merritt, a wealthy soul, who took Sammy in, fed him and clothed him. Sammy
repaid Merritt by surprising him with his convictions and according to author
Baldwin, Sammy’s ability to communicate in a matter of fact tone never using
“oratorical tricks of professional revivalist.”
Shortly thereafter, Sammy was sent by train to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:place></st1:city> to enroll at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Methodist</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">College</st1:placetype></st1:place>. President Thaddeus C. Reade was hesitant to
accept this poor, black boy, whose academic training had been sadly
neglected. The school was in severe
financial trouble facing closure, yet Dr. Reade enrolled Sammy. On the
following Sunday he told about Sammy who had arrived with no money and how he
had accepted him on faith. Although only a little was first collected it
spawned the idea of creating a “Samuel Morris Faith Fund” that continued to
grow. It is that fund with the infectious faith of Samuel Morris that made it
possible to move the school to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Upland</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">Indiana</st1:state></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Although Sammy dreamed of
returning to his homeland as a missionary, in January 1893, he caught a severe
cold and later developed symptoms that could not be overcome. He told his
friends “I am so happy. I have seen the angels. They are coming for me soon.”
Admitted to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">St. Joseph</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Hospital</st1:placetype></st1:place>, On <st1:date day="12" month="5" w:st="on" year="1893">May 12, 1893</st1:date>, a nun of the Poor
Handmaid of Jesus Christ, Sister Helen summoned Dr. Stemen who found Sammy had
died in his chair.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">When Fort Wayne Methodist College closed in 1894 and
moved to Upland to begin a new life as Taylor University, one of its first two
buildings was named Samuel Morris Hall and nearby a reflecting pool with
lifelike statues all </span><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">commemorate</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> the spirit of Prince Kaboo. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Allen County Historian Tom Castaldi is author of the </i>Wabash
& Erie Canal Notebook<i> series; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is
broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer
Radio. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Ft.</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Wayne</st1:placename></st1:place> 106.3 FM and South Bend 95.7
FM. Enjoy his previously published
columns on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">History</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s blog, “Our
Stories,” at history centerfw.blogspot.com.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> ###<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Marketinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00854701159544441934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-88357633540852576862016-08-30T14:34:00.000-04:002016-08-30T14:34:00.997-04:00Legend of the Water Panther <div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (“Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – Mar 2015, No. 123)</span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-1a858a5b-75bb-7507-ace1-170cddfec75f" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Legend of the Water Panther </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For several years, residents in rural Allen County have heard rumors of a big cat roaming the countryside. In fact, a News Sentinel article featured a front page story accompanied by a photograph. Even so, those who have encountered the big animal do not need convincing while others remain skeptical. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">News Channel 15 was once presented with a video of what appeared to be a mysterious big cat in nearby Adams County. When the somewhat shaky video was shown to animal experts it was agreed that the image was that of a big cat and could be a cougar or a leopard. Wabash County Chronicle (2010) authors Ron Woodward and Gladys Harvey wrote, “People near Hanging Rock, up and down the (Wabash) river, claim to either hear or see a large cat. Others claim that their dogs act strangely at times as if intimidated by something.” </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> If such an animal came up missing from a zoo or a licensed dealer, the law requires that the registered animal must be reported. The question remains whether or not all private owners’ always report their missing pets. Real or perceived, what are the odds the big beast was some other breed and one that once prowled the Midwest countryside?</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An Associated Press story in June 2012 recounted that cougars were spreading across the Midwest one hundred years after they had been reduced to near extinction. Experts interviewed say critters such as cougars are known to be secretive and mostly keep to riverbanks and wooded areas, usually avoiding humans while feeding on deer, turkeys and raccoons. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With these sightings it brings to mind myths held by the Miami people who populated the Three Rivers woodlands in centuries past. References to big cats extend back to the early inhabitants of the region such as Civil Chief Richardville’s Miami name pinsiwa translates “wild cat.” According to Mike Floyd author of l’Anguille Snakes in the Grass, Tecumseh was named for “Panther Passing By.” He speculated that Tecumseh’s name is derived from lore of the large wild cat known as Shipeshi “the sacred water panther. Or, historian Jacob Dunn wrote that the name Tecumseh belonged to the Spirit Panther totem which stood for a meteor or comet. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Miami descendant and Whitley County Historical Museum Director Dani Tippmann said, “There definitely were panthers around here.” The Miami tell of the “Water Panther” that lived near rivers and lakes. Children were warned not to get close to the water for fear the panther would drag them into the depths. The age-old question arises whether or not there is a kernel of truth in most myths. It is known that there are some large cats that prefer water and its surroundings.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Details of the monster Water Panther vary from community to community. Could those big cat accounts in the news possibly be a Jaguarundi? A picture of one appears in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 film Marnie. Known to roam present-day American Southwest, this big panther is a good swimmer and prefers dense cover with some open areas. If cougars or leopards are being reported, why isn’t it possible that variations of the species are being noticed? With its cat-like body about the size of a Labrador retriever, the Jaguarundi has a long tail, short legs and some say has an otter-like or cat-like head. A female can deliver her young in several shades of color including black, tan, gray or chestnut. A Jaguarundi is considered a solitary animal that feeds on birds, rabbits and small rodents.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> As we look for how such creatures could be spotted in our neighborhoods, shouldn’t the Miami tale of “water” or “spirit panther” be looked at more carefully? Could it be we might take a lesson from the lore of the Miami that it is this mysterious big cat which is returning to the Great Lakes country? We’ll have to wait until we catch one on video tape with a sharper focus. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">###</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allen County Historian Tom Castaldi is author of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer Radio. Ft. Wayne 106.3 FM and South Bend 95.7 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the History Center’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history centerfw.blogspot.com.</span></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-24281205514145492682016-08-23T14:23:00.000-04:002016-08-23T14:23:00.211-04:00Central Catholic National Catholic Basketball Champs<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (“Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi”
– Feb 2015, No. 122)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoSubtitle">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Central Catholic National Catholic Basketball Champs</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basketball season in <st1:placetype w:st="on">Indiana</st1:placetype>
is a special time and its tradition-storied history is filled with tales retold
and others that have faded with time.
According to <i>Play On Celebrating 100 Years of High School Sports in
Indiana</i>, the book’s dust cover notes state, “<st1:placetype w:st="on">Indiana</st1:placetype>
without high school sports would be an unthinkable place.” Some would say more
so before Class Basketball became the rule, however, looking back there were
other issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Somewhat
forgotten as memories fade with time is the debilitating influence of the Ku
Klux Klan. The Indiana Klan had come
into prominence in the 1920s. As such it had been successful in targeting,
“Roman Catholics, followed by Jews, foreign-born immigrants and
African-Americans” and succeeded in eliminating these groups from the Indiana
High School Athletic Association (IHSAA). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Play On</i> goes
on, “Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the Association barred Catholic, private
and segregated African-American schools from participating in IHSAA tournaments. (However the) schools were under no probation
against playing IHSAA schools during the regular season.” That meant not
playing in the celebrated annual state basketball tournament. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, Catholic schools organized and participated
in their own National Catholic Basketball league and held their own state
tournament. Bob Heiny was a student at <st1:placetype w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:placetype>’s
<st1:placetype w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Central</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Catholic</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype w:st="on">High School</st1:placetype></st1:placetype>
and explained that his school joined that league, which presented its own
playoff at the state level as well as a national tournament. The schools that
turned in a winning season or won their state competition were invited to play
for the National Catholic Basketball Championship title. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the end of the 1939 regular season, the Central
Catholic (CC) basketball team finished its schedule losing only four of their
twenty-one games. CC’s 1939 <i>Echo</i> yearbook reported the season’s results
and how Coach John Levicki led his squad during the regular season competing
against IHSAA and private schools alike. Among their seventeen wins were teams
such as <st1:placetype w:st="on">Elmhurst</st1:placetype>, <st1:placetype w:st="on">Anderson</st1:placetype>, North Side and Concordia. The CC winning record
qualified the team to compete in the State Catholic Tournament which they won
beating Catholic schools from <st1:placetype w:st="on">Anderson</st1:placetype>,
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Decatur</st1:placetype> and <st1:placetype w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:placetype>. It earned them the right to compete in the
Nationals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1939, the CC’s hardwood squad included Jim
Boedeker, George Bitler, Gene Maxwell, Ed Gorman, Bob Heiny, Ed Stanczak, Ed
Dehner, Ed Klotz, John Falvy and Nick Leto.
The CC Irish swept Central Catholic of Wheeling, W.Va. 41-24, and Southeast
Catholic of Philadelphia, Penna. 46-37. Moving on to the quarter finals they
beat St. Basil’s of <st1:placetype w:st="on">Pittsburg</st1:placetype>, Penna.
45-26. Now playing in <st1:placetype w:st="on">Chicago</st1:placetype> they
rolled over St. George of <st1:placetype w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Evanston</st1:placetype>,
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Ill.</st1:placetype></st1:placetype> 47-31. Hundreds
of <st1:placetype w:st="on">Fort Wayne</st1:placetype> fans traveled to the <st1:placetype w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Loyola</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:placetype>
gym and witnessed the final game which came down to the wire with Fort Wayne
Central Catholic overcoming <st1:placetype w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Chicago</st1:placetype>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Leo</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Catholic</st1:placetype>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">High School</st1:placetype></st1:placetype> with a
final score of 44-37.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">World War II brought change to the American
culture. Perhaps the changes had
something to do with the IHSAA Athletic Council’s decision to no longer
discriminate against any group from playing in its tournament. The exclusion
rule that kept targeted groups which were perceived as a threat to the KKK was
overturned on <st1:placetype w:st="on">December 20, 1941</st1:placetype>, when
the Council voted to end twenty years of discrimination. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One other event took place before the ban was lifted
that was ruled to become effective at the beginning of the 1942-1943 season. The 1939 CC squad lost at least five of its
players who were replaced in the 1940 season with the roster that included Ed
Stancazk, Ed Klotz, Ed Dehner, Bob Heiny, Nick Leto, Harold Morthorst, John
Kartholl, Dick Krouse, Bob Walker and Bert Keenen. After Fort Wayne CC took both the 1939 State
and National Tournament titles…they did it again in 1940.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">###<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Allen County Historian Tom
Castaldi is author of the </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wabash
& Erie Canal Notebook</span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> series; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is
broadcast. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer
Radio. <st1:placetype w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Ft.</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Wayne</st1:placetype></st1:placetype> 106.3 FM and South Bend 95.7
FM. Enjoy his previously published
columns on the <st1:placetype w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">History</st1:placetype>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:placetype>’s blog, “Our
Stories,” at history centerfw.blogspot.com.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-62804787257309446542016-08-16T14:14:00.000-04:002016-08-16T14:14:03.185-04:00The Lincoln Highway <div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -9pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(“Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” - Nov 2014, No. 119)</span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-9871bca2-759e-196f-798f-664229654a8d" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Lincoln Highway </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tom Castaldi</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the south approach of the Fort Wayne’s Harrison Street Bridge is an embedded plaque with these words, “Lincoln Highway Bridge New York 724 Miles - San Francisco 2,660 miles.” Directly across Harrison Street, on the north end another panel gives the names of the Indiana Allen County Commissioners and the date which reads, “1915”.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyIkIN4z_G5RC6kKiyXvknklNVOFFS-JPWnPUEQjCXVQ36rLe3QdCZUEYVe_8meKsHkDQU-ytb1TSr1hGx72e4G1ysPcgXcnjt5kVfSHw65Ve5rHgl-fHJSM7r_1ohyphenhyphenn7qr99kBIhoNoI/s1600/LH+BridgePrint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyIkIN4z_G5RC6kKiyXvknklNVOFFS-JPWnPUEQjCXVQ36rLe3QdCZUEYVe_8meKsHkDQU-ytb1TSr1hGx72e4G1ysPcgXcnjt5kVfSHw65Ve5rHgl-fHJSM7r_1ohyphenhyphenn7qr99kBIhoNoI/s320/LH+BridgePrint.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lincoln Highway bridge</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jan Shupert-Arick in her book </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Lincoln Highway Across Indiana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has over 180 illustrations and features the Harrison Street Bridge. It is described as a concrete structure built at a cost of $200,000 before it opened in 1916. Jan noted that, “A photograph of the bridge was printed in the Lincoln Highway guide as an example of how bridges could be designed to beautify communities and enhance the travelers’ experience.” </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From north of the city traveling south on Harrison Street the Lincoln Highway traveler crossed the Saint Mary’s River. Continuing toward downtown, and now a portion of the Heritage Trail, it is still possible to experience revisiting one of America’s grand transportation achievements. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fort Wayne has had a long and rich heritage when it comes to providing paths for the movement of people. Because of a Continental uplift known as the Saint Lawrence Divide, and ancient glacier action, river ways flow in all four directions of the compass. The Miami people understood the significance and Chief Little Turtle described the place in 1795 as, “That glorious gate through which all the good words of our chiefs had to pass from the north to the south and from the east to the west.”</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">George Washington saw the advantages of cutting a canal across that glorious gate known as the Maumee-Wabash Portage. It was the only land barrier interrupting an all-water way connection between Lake Erie with the Wabash-Ohio-Mississippi valley system. Fort Wayne the highest point along the line was dubbed the “Summit” for the construction of the longest canal in the western hemisphere. Later, as railroads mimicked the canal route and it seems fitting that the first cross continental highway would find its way through Allen County. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was Indiana businessman Carl Fisher who envisioned America’s first coast-to-coast motor highway in 1913. Fisher of Indianapolis working with his friend James Allison, together caught the attention of the auto makers to help finance a passable coast-to-coast roadway. As Shupert-Arick points out, Allison held the business skills while Fisher provided the vision and, “the auto industry the beneficiary.” In September 1914, they announced the creation of the Lincoln Highway with a route winding from Times Square to San Francisco. Fort Wayne was a point along the way and the Harrison Street, Lincoln Highway Bridge was constructed to accommodate the new automobile route. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjFdnNsqjdj8uQKWoUbTqzJ8O1E21EycJ5qxTFxV0jJ6C_XZOarlEqdQ-0U0nbSGv5RUPfOwiR-8RJQXNPO1rgmDWdz8BdKHv-YWmUzuh3jEDIcf67OlskMj8GxufNOhuc3sfqhQjnN8Q/s1600/Lincoln+HW+Construction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjFdnNsqjdj8uQKWoUbTqzJ8O1E21EycJ5qxTFxV0jJ6C_XZOarlEqdQ-0U0nbSGv5RUPfOwiR-8RJQXNPO1rgmDWdz8BdKHv-YWmUzuh3jEDIcf67OlskMj8GxufNOhuc3sfqhQjnN8Q/s320/Lincoln+HW+Construction.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Construction of the Lincoln Highway</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The original 1915 Lincoln Highway entered Indiana from Ohio at Allen County. It passed through the communities of Zulu, Townley, Besancon, New Haven and Fort Wayne. From Fort Wayne the Lincoln Highway headed toward Goshen, which later in 1926 became U.S. 33. Known as the “1915 Route,” it passed through Churubusco through South Bend and on to Valparaiso. In 1926, in an effort to shorten the distance, a new course was laid out passing through Columbia City, Warsaw, Bourbon, Plymouth and reconnecting the older route at Valparaiso. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the 1915 opening, the U.S. Army conducted a 3,239 mile transcontinental convoy over the Lincoln Highway in 1919 from Washington DC to San Francisco. The story has been told of 28 year old Lt. Colonel who experienced the excursion, understood its military importance, its economic value and became the impetus for the Interstate system that he, Dwight D. Eisenhower later inaugurated when becoming President of the United States. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allen County Historian Tom Castaldi and retired Essex Vice President, is author of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series; a contributing writer for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fort Wayne Monthly</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> magazine; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is broadcast Mondays on Northeast Indiana Public Radio WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM Fort Wayne and 95.7FM South Bend.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">###</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-45645582215183370552016-08-02T13:34:00.000-04:002016-08-02T13:34:40.564-04:00Forming Fort Wayne<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -9pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (“Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” - Oct 2014, No. 118)</span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-45e5a62d-4bc0-1619-cc24-7a4499c47fda" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Forming Fort Wayne</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tom Castaldi</span></span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because of the Maumee-Wabash portage was the most direct link between New France in the upper Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, the Three Rivers region was especially important. The most significant geographical feature in the region is the confluence of the Saint Mary’s River and the Saint Joseph River which form the Maumee River. The short distance overland between them, which eventually flows to the Atlantic, and the Wabash system to the west, which in turn flows into the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, came to be the “portage” of choice. A carrying place, it was a strip of land usually described as</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">nine miles in length</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">where travelers could transport their cargoes from one water system to the next. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwRpB6Nx6xl75r2BHdxBAp_IRMSKQZzweQARyC3ztIgwbKsbl6EPegssnHWAkGfLHJOVGD2H0IlVjnlACLywM-tvqZAa2_f402zFAzZyZ3wDhCkFIazxawrebuKiyWU7vN3Ru_7IX8vBw/s1600/portage.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwRpB6Nx6xl75r2BHdxBAp_IRMSKQZzweQARyC3ztIgwbKsbl6EPegssnHWAkGfLHJOVGD2H0IlVjnlACLywM-tvqZAa2_f402zFAzZyZ3wDhCkFIazxawrebuKiyWU7vN3Ru_7IX8vBw/s320/portage.tif" width="292" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was a natural crossroads at the continental divide that first attracted the indigenous people over the course of thousands of years. It later caught the attention of the European explorers and traders and the American pioneer settlers who continued to develop the area as a transportation and communications center. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Miami Chief Little Turtle expressed its importance eloquently at the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 when he called it “that glorious gate…through which all the words of our chiefs had to pass from north to south and from east to west.” At the treaty William Henry Harrison insisted that it remain open for all. Arguably, it’s one of the main reasons the Three Rivers’ villages of Kekionga, Fort Wayne and surrounding communities are located here at all. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Retired Allen County Soil Conservation Officer Dan McCain noted part of the portage story pertains to the glacial times. The subtle differences relate to the fact that the Wabash has been a river much longer than the Maumee even though the St. Joseph and St. Mary’s are essentially the same age as the upper Wabash. An enormous volume of water passed over the continental divide at Fort Wayne when the glacial ice blocked the outlet to the north east and to the Atlantic. It was that flooding action that formed the huge valley that the Little Wabash River and Wabash now occupy. It caused this place to become the preferred portage since it was so well supported by the great valley.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The unique feature of a continental divide brought the rivers together formed at the end of the last Ice Age 12,000 years ago. When the retreating glacier of the Wisconsin Lobe left massive end moraines, or ridges, they deflected the courses of the St. Joseph and the St. Mary's rivers to the west. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The slackwater glacial “Lake Maumee,” which had filled to the brim and overtopped what we know today as the Saint Lawrence Continental Divide, broke thorough a long, low portion of the Fort Wayne Moraine. It sent a vast volume of water flowing into the Little Wabash River, which leads to the Wabash then into the Ohio and finally the Mississippi River. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end of the Ice Age Lake Maumee began to recede and halted its flow into the Wabash. Due to silt accumulations and a massive log jam it recaptured the St. Joseph and St. Mary’s rivers into the Maumee system by diverting them to the east. “Lake Maumee” appeared in six distinct lower levels to finally become what we know today as Lake Erie. In the vast flat footprint of Lake Maumee came the two-million acre Great Black Swamp extending in a wedge shape from east of Fort Wayne to the Michigan line and to Toledo thus taking in most of northwestern Ohio. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the glacial lake gradually receded, the Maumee River formed as a young river and became the principal drainage for the region. For centuries it was the only way through the otherwise impenetrable Great Black Swamp. Completing the Wabash & Erie Canal in Ohio opened the area for transportation and put Indiana in commercial reach of the East Coast.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the coming of the Canal, the importance of the portage declined in the 1830s and by the time of the Civil War it was little more than a trail through the western marshes of the country. With the great drainage projects of the 1890s, it virtually disappeared leaving behind the community we call Fort Wayne. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allen County Historian Tom Castaldi and retired Essex Vice President, is author of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series; a contributing writer for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fort Wayne Monthly</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> magazine; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is broadcast Mondays on Northeast Indiana Public Radio WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM Fort Wayne and 95.7FM South Bend.</span></span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-85989852279030450742016-07-31T11:43:00.000-04:002016-07-31T11:43:00.161-04:00Fort Wayne’s First Sister City<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fort Wayne’s First
Sister City</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>by Michael Rice, </i>200@200<i> Intern</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When most people in Fort Wayne hear
about “Takaoka,” they say “Yeah, Hall’s Restaurant!” The name comes from our
sister city in Japan. We started our relationship with Takaoka through Sister
Cities International in 1976 for America’s Bicentennial. It was interesting for me to find out Fort
Wayne also has three other sister cities: Plock, Poland; Gera, Germany; and Taizhou,
China. Takaoka, however, was our first foreign friendship and shared cultural
interest. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju_G8iDzzj1A2w6Wc2fdhaPNqgoM2JQUZm3GkM96R3Ur9-MUC1Rskezpp-zjSt5v9t91hlUyIq7w9ZQogxb-c35esu3M-azZLfO-AEusQfstgHGFFOTBB2_26oFkIDJGfyqdeleM2SSbI/s1600/DSC_0029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju_G8iDzzj1A2w6Wc2fdhaPNqgoM2JQUZm3GkM96R3Ur9-MUC1Rskezpp-zjSt5v9t91hlUyIq7w9ZQogxb-c35esu3M-azZLfO-AEusQfstgHGFFOTBB2_26oFkIDJGfyqdeleM2SSbI/s320/DSC_0029.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crews hang objects for the Sister Cities exhibit at the Fort Wayne Botanical Gardens</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Sister
Cities International was created by President Eisenhower to help foster bonds
between people all across the world. This organization has over 2300 partnerships
in 150 countries on six continents. The partnerships have allowed many
communities to create strong bonds and overall make the world even smaller. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiloHHnwkdy0CLw61cOAdcBzVWh5iocgjxbwksGoNVDRauGXX7taMayBz4YwpCgFu9ju_o0l2937aTL5ZxsM6FA-uOrTQZ8RCBaAEXVsdmHC9X0uNYl-aZMffaMQn1Nrmocf05fQ-IDE4o/s1600/DSC_0011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiloHHnwkdy0CLw61cOAdcBzVWh5iocgjxbwksGoNVDRauGXX7taMayBz4YwpCgFu9ju_o0l2937aTL5ZxsM6FA-uOrTQZ8RCBaAEXVsdmHC9X0uNYl-aZMffaMQn1Nrmocf05fQ-IDE4o/s320/DSC_0011.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Exhibits Coordinator, Jessie Cortesi handles an artifact for the exhibit</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Takaoka
is located in the northwestern part of Toyamo, which is centrally located in
Japan, located on the coast of the Sea of Japan. Like Fort Wayne, the majority
of the city is comprised of residential housing, office buildings, commercial
facilities, agriculture, and public property. Takaoka in addition has large
forests and some mountains.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Takaoka and Fort Wayne first met
they exchanged gifts. We received beautiful kimonos, plates with inlay,
traditional masks and many other items. Even the hand made boxes in which the
items were shipped, could be considered artifacts themselves with the intricate
joinery, fine wood, and fine finishes with hand written Japanese language
characters. We use quality boxes as well here at the History Center, but those
are winning with style. I love woodworking so I was just as intrigued with the
containers as I was with the contents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The 40<sup>th</sup>
year anniversary is upon us this year and the Fort Wayne Botanical Gardens will
be using some of the Fort Wayne History Center objects that came from Takaoka
for an exhibit. Our bond with Takaoka is
special and hopefully the cultural exchange will encourage our cities to
understand each other a little better and foster the strong friendship for many
years to come. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-15175294715391137862016-07-26T14:33:00.000-04:002016-07-26T14:33:00.177-04:00Indiana Historian Ross Lockridge and Son<b id="docs-internal-guid-17e0d36f-bc55-ea6d-a114-8d7b08c196d2" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(“Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – September 2014, No. 117)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Indiana Historian Ross Lockridge and Son</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tom Castaldi</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the renowned fictional accounts of Indiana made famous both in book and on film has roots here in our Three Rivers country. A look at the author and the storyline reveal an Allen County influence. The book made it into the top 10 national best seller list of 1948 and later produced as a film by MGM with the enchanting title </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Raintree County</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It was a popular movie that starred Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Cleft, Eva Marie Saint and Lee Marvin. Ross Lockridge, Jr., wrote the story of nineteenth century Midwest history, folklore and landscape that took place somewhere in a fictional Indiana county of the 1840s.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lockwood, Jr., of course suggests there was a senior. The senior, his father, was born in Miami County, Indiana in 1877 and went on to graduate from Indiana University in 1900. Ross Lockridge, Sr., married and returned to his north central Hoosier home. He became the principal of Peru High School, and later earned a law degree from IU in 1907. Not long after, he moved to Fort Wayne and went to work for Wayne Knitting Mills. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While in Fort Wayne, Lockridge Sr., helped to organize the Allen County Fort Wayne Historical Society. During this time his reputation grew as a history writer of pioneer Indiana. Between the years 1937 to 1950, Lockridge served as a director of Indiana University Foundation’s Hoosier Historic Memorial Activities Agency. Some of his works listed by Indiana Historical Society include: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">George Rogers Clark</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1927), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A. Lincoln</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1930), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LaSalle</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1931), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Old Fauntleroy Home</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1939), and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Labyrinth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1941), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Theodore F. Thieme</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1942). His </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Story of Indiana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1951) was primarily used as a text in Indiana at the junior high school level. Other writings from this historian tell about Johnny Appleseed, the Underground Railroad, as well as Indiana’s trails, rivers and canals. Still another extended work which continues to aid transportation history researchers is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Historic Hoosier Roadside Sites</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, commissioned in 1938 by the Indiana State Highway Association. His clear and concise writing style has added to our knowledge of our past.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ross Jr. was born in Bloomington, Indiana, and after arriving in Fort Wayne assisted his father with historical projects. Sadly, here too in Fort Wayne, another son Bruce drowned at the age of five. When son Ross was nine years old the family moved back to Bloomington. The senior Lockridge certainly must have shared many stories of Indiana and her rich history with his son. Could it be that while yet in Allen County the younger Lockridge first envisioned the notion of a mythical tree that grew in Raintree County?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the book, Johnny his main character had returned from the Civil War and a school principal who failed to finish his epic poem about the beginnings of America. Although Johnny had his successes, the character is witnessed as he flashes back in memory wondering about the country’s future. The tree Lockridge sought to feature in his tome is based on a real Golden Rain Tree which blooms in late June and July with subtle yellow flowers that drop like a raining of yellow pollen dust and flower pedals. In the book, Johnny is influenced by several cultural concepts one of which is to find the legendary Rain Tree supposedly planted somewhere in the Raintree County by the celebrated Johnny Appleseed who is buried in Allen County.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Author Don Blair gave a four season description in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Story of New Harmony </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">writing that this tree puts on a show of beauty throughout the year. He says that it begins even in the dormant stage with its bare limbs which is followed by a leafing-out of a showing of its leaves. Next comes the golden blooms when dropped creates a golden shower and followed by lime-sized, variegated pods which appear as Japanese lanterns. Once the pods have shed at summer’s end, the tree blends into the forest with its autumn colors. Before returning to dormancy at the end of its cycle it has the appearance of a dead tree. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1948, shortly after his only book was published, Ross Lockridge, Jr., at age 34 took his own life in Bloomington, Indiana. Ross Lockridge, Sr., died in 1952. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allen County Historian Tom Castaldi and retired Essex Vice President, is author of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series; a contributing writer for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fort Wayne Monthly</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> magazine; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is broadcast Mondays on Northeast Indiana Public Radio WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM Fort Wayne and 95.7FM South Bend.</span></span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-9816026056380661792016-07-19T17:30:00.000-04:002016-07-19T17:30:12.789-04:00Valerius Armitage Canal Contractor<b id="docs-internal-guid-4985f919-bc48-afc9-9c61-ef05d15c5bd8" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">( “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” - August 2014, No. 116)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Valerius Armitage Canal Contractor</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tom Castaldi</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOypZkjke8WzkCJq8t3diLU5O_5DsvkzMJdTRQY9SkBBh2pny-HcLe7OTjOn_WBinC-mNbMyPd4biOwDUreagE-t15NJC1ga7bIVuO02HwrEKnamrbCb_d-edPeQDMxf03dnxDGStkr7w/s1600/Canal+Scene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOypZkjke8WzkCJq8t3diLU5O_5DsvkzMJdTRQY9SkBBh2pny-HcLe7OTjOn_WBinC-mNbMyPd4biOwDUreagE-t15NJC1ga7bIVuO02HwrEKnamrbCb_d-edPeQDMxf03dnxDGStkr7w/s320/Canal+Scene.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Valerius Armitage first arrived in Indiana in 1830 to work on the Wabash & Erie Canal. In 1836 he was joined by his wife Mary Hewitt Armitage and their five children. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An 1899 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Carroll County Citizen</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> article states that Armitage first came to Allen County, Indiana, to build the canal’s feeder dam at Fort Wayne in 1832. This was no ordinary dam. Canal planners determined that the dam must be at a high point near the proposed water route to effectively “feed” the project. The site selected was on the Saint Joseph River where impounded water could be directed through a channel six miles long running south to the main line at Fort Wayne. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To build the dam, trees were felled and brush collected to form a foundation on which wood “log cabin” style cribs were fashioned and filled with stone. The trees were laid lengthwise with their tops facing the flow of water in the riverbed to trap sand and sediment. As the branches fill in, the dam formed and the river water held back. When completed the 230 feet long structure spanned the St. Joseph River and stood one and one half stories high. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once the feeder channel was ready for use, the reservoir formed by the dam supplied water into the main line with great capacity. It could deliver water about thirty-three miles to the east at the Six Mile Reservoir in Paulding County, Ohio, and to the west as far the Forks of the Wabash. As a matter of interest, the St. Joseph Feeder could send its waters into Wabash County a distance of approximately fifty-four miles. Beyond that point, other dams were necessary and were built along the canal line as needed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Securing the business of building locks seems to have been an interest of Armitage. The locks were design that raised or lowered canal boats nine feet. It is what made movement possible overcoming the up or down changes in the land’s elevation. Without a lifting lock canals would only function on stretches of level terrain.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After completing the St. Joseph River Dam, Armitage’s other canal contracts in Indiana were at Huntington, Wabash and in 1835 he took a contract to build the locks at the Fitch farm west of Logansport. Interestingly enough, the locks at Fitch Farm were identified as numbers 25 and 26 among the numerical sequence that began with number 1 near the Indiana-Ohio line east of Fort Wayne. Both were formed by constructing them with cut stone from an adjacent quarry. The only lock in City of Wabash was also a cut stone; however, six locks in and around the town of Huntington were constructed of wood, one being a combination of both wood and stone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems that Mr. Armitage was pretty good working with the various materials available at the time. By 1853 the canal had reached Evansville on the Ohio River, all made possible because of the St. Joseph River Dam. Much of the credit was due to Valerius Armitage who died in 1838 at the age of only forty six.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allen County Historian Tom Castaldi and retired Essex Vice President, is author of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series; a contributing writer for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fort Wayne Monthly</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> magazine; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is broadcast Mondays on Northeast Indiana Public Radio WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM Fort Wayne and 95.7FM South Bend.</span></span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374397883973590847.post-278022025402161892016-07-12T18:30:00.000-04:002016-07-12T18:30:00.133-04:00Thomas Edison in Fort Wayne<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(“Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – Jul 2014, No. 115)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thomas Edison in Fort Wayne</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tom Castaldi</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Downtown Fort Wayne offers surprising history. The Landing on the western end of Columbia Street holds a cluster of structures from the nineteenth and early twentieth-centuries which were once at the center of Fort Wayne. It was designated an historic district in 1965 and saved from the general dismantling of the rest of Columbia Street. In 1994, the Landing was recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The old street began as an unplanned trace that led westward from the U. S. fort at the confluence of the Saint Joseph and Saint Mary’s rivers and eventually led travelers to the beginnings of the portage to the Wabash River. When the Wabash Erie Canal came along, it became the landing place or depot for disembarking and loading of both passengers and cargo which encouraged economic development in the region. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Columbia Street at the age of seventeen, Thomas Edison is said to have arrived in the summer of 1864 to work as a telegraph operator. A demand for these facilitators of nineteenth century communications increased during the Civil War years. It was here that Edison found a position in Fort Wayne as an itinerate telegrapher working for the Wabash Railroad Company. Unfortunately the building in which he worked was raised in 1980.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Historian John Ankenbruck noted that Thomas Alva Edison came to Fort Wayne from Port Huron, Michigan and took a room in a three-story brick building at the northwest corner of Columbia and Calhoun Streets. He is also believed to have lived at rooms a block east at Clinton and Columbia. It should be noted that others question if anyone knows for sure where Edison worked and lived while in Fort Wayne since his employer was the Wabash Railroad Company. If so a workplace near Baker Street may be more to the nature of the efficiency of a genius’ thinking. Edison wasn’t in town too long and in less than a year moved to Indianapolis with Western Union Telegraph Company and still later to Louisville, Kentucky.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thomas was born on February 11, 1847, about a three hour drive east of Fort Wayne in Milan, Ohio. Robert D. Parker writing for a July 1978 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fort Wayne</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> publication noted that Edison’s formal schooling lasted a mere three months. However, he had the advantage of being home schooled by his school teacher mother who was convinced Tom deserved better than the school’s rating that had him placed at the bottom of his class. During his younger years, Tom bought a small printing press and working with the telegraphers used it to publish </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Weekly Herald</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to cover events in the towns on the Grand Trunk Railroad line between Detroit and Port Huron. At age twelve, riding the rails selling Detroit newspapers, he also printed and distributed news for the small communities not covered by the big city publishers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Edison became interested in electricity while spending time in and out of telegraph offices. With a neighbor friend, he stretched a wire between their houses. Using crude homemade keys, along with the purchase of batteries for powering their devices, the two became proficient with messaging to one another. Meanwhile, in gratitude for having rescued a boy from a certain rail fatality, the saved lad’s station agent father, offered to teach Tom railroad telegraphy. At age fifteen Tom already knew Morse Code and soon landed a job as the telegrapher in the Port Huron office. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thomas Edison is the holder of 1,093 patents many of which have made their way into our everyday expectations. The more recognizable developments are those that emerged from the incandescent light bulb, phonograph cylinder, carbon microphone, movie camera, electric power distribution to mention a few. Thomas Alva Edison passed away on October 31, 1931, was buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Orange, New Jersey. However, in 1963 his remains were reburied in the Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, New Jersey.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allen County Historian Tom Castaldi and retired Essex Vice President, is author of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series; a contributing writer for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fort Wayne Monthly</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> magazine; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is broadcast Mondays on Northeast Indiana Public Radio WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on Redeemer Radio 106.3 FM Fort Wayne and 95.7FM South Bend.</span></span></div>
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