History Center Notes & Queries

Monday, June 16, 2014

Talking Sidewalks


"The only real failure is not grasping that opportunity" Dr. Nancy Snyderman

by Nancy McCammon-Hansen

Have you ever gotten out of your car and walked along Barr Street to see the Talking Sidewalks? This is a great activity to get your kids involved with this summer because the “sidewalks” can lead to further study about Fort Wayne.

In 2008, the City of Fort Wayne developed Barr Street from Wayne to Main, adding quotes carved into new brick along the sidewalks and a Ribbon of Community alongside the east wall what would become Citizen’s Square, formerly Wolf and Dessauer. A Reflection Totem was installed at the corner of Main and Berry where the building which would become the Auer Center, home to Arts United, is located.

According to information on the City’s website:

“The pedestrian-friendly project began this spring (2008) with the replacement of sidewalks and curbs as well as historically streetlamp-styled streetlights and 15 new flowering shade trees plus additional on-street parking. It was funded through a 2004 Indiana Department of Transportation Enhancement grant for $496,000 designated for pedestrian-oriented projects and local matching funds from economic development (CEDIT) funds budgeted in 2004.”

On Saturdays, when the YLNI Barr Street Market is open, you can see the Talking Sidewalks, shop the market and tour the History Center with free admission from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Then go on over to the Allen County Public Library and get some more information on these Fort Wayne notables and their place in our city’s history:

Talking Sidewalks Quotations -- a few that we photographed

“..we're not going to watch it (television) in this household, and I don't want it in your intellectual diet”
Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor

“If it weren't for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we'd still be eating frozen radio dinners”
Johnny Carson, comedian

“Am I urging the study of the Greeks and Romans for the Atomic Age? Yes--we have a great civilization to save-or to lose.”
Edith Hamilton, scholar

“It's a shame we have to go to Miami'. We should just go to Fort Wayne and play this (Superbowl XLI) off.
Tony Dungy, Indianapolis Colts coach

“Change happens when you make the invisible, visible.”
Patty Crisp, Charis House director

“Fort Wayne, there is a vast amount of good to be done.”
Saint Theodore Guerin

“Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back”
Babe Ruth, athlete

“My people are leaving me for Detroit. Nobody wants to stay here and have his throat cut.”
Captain De Raimond

Major Frank Burns: “I wish I was home.”
B. J. Hunnicut: “I wish you was home too, Frank.”

Thursday, June 12, 2014

The Old Council House

by Tom Castaldi

Near the location of the present-day Museum of Art, the troops of the United States garrison of Fort Wayne built in 1804 a large two-story log building that came to be known as “The Council House.” Miami Indians of the area, under the leadership of Chief Little Turtle and the Indian Agent William Wells, requested that the Council House be built “for hosting the Native leaders.” A two-story log storehouse also was built nearby, however, both structures were destroyed by Indians besieging Fort Wayne in 1812.

In 1817, the commandant for Fort Wayne, Major Josiah N. Vose, ordered a new Council House to be built. This structure served as a school established through the efforts of the Reverend and Mrs. Isaac McCoy, the first Protestant missionaries to the Indians. Originating in the Terre Haute area, the McCoy party was attacked by Indians on the way to Fort Wayne. Rescued by James Godfrey, the travelers were safely escorted to the Three Rivers region by Chief Richardville. Missionary McCoy wrote in his History of Baptist Indian Missions, “The nearest settlements of white people were in the state of Ohio, and nearly one hundred miles distant. On the 29th of May (1820) our school was opened; I was teacher myself. We commenced with ten English scholars, six French, eight Indians and one Negro."

Discipline was tough, intended to crush overly spirited students, including the embarrassment of sitting on a high stool in front of the class wearing a dunce cap. Mrs. Lucien P. Ferry remembered one particular room as having cupboards full of tobacco into which unruly boys would be shut inside, “until they were almost suffocated.” Although he grew enrollment to over 40 pupils, McCoy discontinued the school when he was offered a mission school position in Michigan.

Louis T. Bourie, Fort Wayne’s first fire chief, was born in this building in 1828, which was then owned by Captain John B. Bourie, the son of Miami Chief LeGros. Later, “Squire” John B. DuBois, well known and for many years active in community affairs serving as justice of the peace for Wayne Township, once lived in the historic building. Having served its purpose for nearly forty years, the old Council House was torn down in 1856.

Allen County Historian Tom Castaldi is author of the Wabash & Erie Canal Notebook series; hosts “On the Heritage Trail,” which is broadcast at 6:35 a.m., 8:35 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Mondays on WBOI, 89.1 FM; and “Historia Nostra” heard on WLYV-1450 AM and WRRO 89.9 FM. Enjoy his previously published columns on the History Center’s blog, “Our Stories,” at history centerfw.blogspot.com.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Along the Heritage Trail--Links for more study

by Nancy McCammon-Hansen

If you’re looking for something to do with the kids this summer, why not take a walk on the Heritage Trail?

The Heritage Trail is a collection of four walking tours that were developed during Fort Wayne’s Bicentennial in 1994. You can pick up a map here at the History Center or from ARCH or Visit Fort Wayne. This is a great opportunity to learn more about central Fort Wayne and our city’s early history. Plus…if you take along a camera, you can develop a photo essay of some wonderful architectural elements for your Facebook page.

Tom Castaldi, Allen County historian and History Center board member, helped to develop the Heritage Trail Map when he was employed by the Essex Corporation, which underwrote the cost of the maps and the accompanying guidebook in cooperation with ARCH. Tom’s work is chronicled by “Fort Wayne Monthly” in his column “Along the Heritage Trail” and we are fortunate to have permission from the magazine to republish his articles.

As a guide to help you get a little more out of your walks, we’re providing here a list of blog posts from “History Center Notes and Queries” to accompany the map. Enjoy reading about Fort Wayne History as you Walk the Heritage Trail.

Central Downtown Trail begins at Freimann Square, corner of Berry and Clinton

1. Anthony Wayne Statue--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-anthony-wayne-statue.html

2.      Journal Gazette Building--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-journal-gazette-building.html

3.      Transfer Corner--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-transfer-corner.html

4.      Allen County Courthouse--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2014/02/world-class-county-courthouse.html

5.      Lincoln Tower--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-lincoln-tower.html

6.      Elektron Building--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-elektron-building.html

7.      The City Building aka The History Center--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2012/05/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html
(if you come on Saturday mornings during the Barr Street Market, admission is FREE from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.)

8.      “Mother” George--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2010/05/eliza-george-fort-waynes-civil-war.html

9.      First Church Building/McCulloch-Weatherhogg House—we do not have a blog post on this structure, but here’s a link to ARCH’s information: http://www.archfw.org/McCulloch-WeatherhoggHouseFirstPresbyterianChurch.htm

10.   Anthony Wayne’s Fort--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html
11.   Last Two American Forts

12.   Pirogue Landing--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

13.   Headwaters Park

14.   The Lincoln Highway--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2013/06/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html

15.   The Landing--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2013/04/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html

16.   Canal House--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2014/04/canal-house.html

17.   Wabash & Erie Canal--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-master-engineer-of-wabash-and-erie.htmlAND http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-master-engineer-of-wabash-and-erie.html

18.   Nickel Plate Railroad--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2014/01/earliest-rails-in-fort-wayne.html

19.   The Beginnings of Allen County

West Central Trail (begins at the Allen County Public Library—which has the second largest genealogy library in the nation)

20.   Allen County Public Library—get a “real life” view of the Anthony Wayne plaques on the second floor. These plaques are pictured in http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-anthony-wayne-statue.html

21.   First Presbyterian Church—another resource for history lovers is Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana. Here’s a post about First Presbyterian: http://www.acgsi.org/genweb/churches/waynech.asp#presbyterian

22.   Trinity English Lutheran Church—see the above link

23.   Robert C. Bell and Ninde Homes--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2013/09/joel-ninde-and-wildwood-company.html

24.   Colonel Sion Bass House
25.   Trinity Episcopal Church--http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2013/06/liturgical-fashion.html