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Canal House

by Tom Castaldi

In 1852, John Brown, a stonemason, built this rare remaining vestige of an early era in Fort Wayne.  Brown, a native of Glascow, Scotland, came to Allen County by canal in 1847 with his wife Mary.  He and his Scottish business partner, James Humphrey, were contractors for such area projects as canal locks, the county jail and the Barr Street Market.

You can see this structure at 114 East Superior Street

Fort Wayne was called the “Summit City” in those days because it marked the highest elevation on the Wabash & Erie Canal, and was a major town that attracted many immigrants. In 1862, Brown sold the “Canal House” to Heinrich Drover, a German immigrant and canal boat captain who in later years served on the Fort Wayne City Council.  Drover used the facility to warehouse spokes he manufactured.  As the canal’s operations came to a close, the upstairs of the building was used as an apartment.

It became the home of Minnie Homeyer whose father William Homeyer worked on the canal boat captained by his Uncle Fred Brase.  Minnie Homeyer married and became Minnie Stemmler. Relating her experiences while riding the boat with her father between Fort Wayne and Huntington, Homeyer said that mules walked along the towpath beside the canal pulling the boat and that an extra mule was always carried aboard the boat in case one got tired.  Her father, who served as town marshal, had a famous friend and she remembered clearly the evening Wild Bill Hickock visited their home on Superior Street.

During the 1870s, in the last years of the canal, the Canal House was home to several successive German families, all of whom also worked on the canal. Later, the Nickel Plate Railroad used the house for storage.

As a project of the national Bicentennial of 1976, this interesting nineteenth century limestone building at114 East Superior Street most recently served as the central offices of Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne.

This article originally appeared in

Fort Wayne Magazine “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – Dec 2007 No. 38

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.

Swinney Home

by Tom Castaldi

Swinney Homestead is a Fort Wayne landmark that dominates the landscape of Swinney Park where West Jefferson Boulevard and Washington Street meet at the west edge of West Central Neighborhood. 

Swinney Homestead on West Jefferson.

 

Thomas Swinney came to Fort Wayne shortly before 1824.  Born in Piketon, Ohio in 1803, Swinney was a land speculator who developed a large part of west end Fort Wayne. Soon after his arrival in the pioneer town he married Lucy Taber, daughter of Paul Taber, also a land speculator.  Taber’s principal holdings in Fort Wayne were on the east end of the town. The west end lands that Thomas Swinney held, including the present –day West Swinney Park, were often the center of large community gatherings.

Here at the Swinney property on July 4, 1843, hundreds of people of Fort Wayne and the surrounding region gathered to celebrate the grand opening of the Wabash and Erie Canal, the longest canal ever built in North America.  Its ground-breaking had been held here in 1832, and in this presidential election year of 1843, candidate Lewis Cass appeared in town to make laudatory speeches along with other state and local notables.

Peter Kaiser, one of Fort Wayne’s earliest German settlers, and a butcher by trade, was in charge of the free barbecue of four fat oxen he acquired in the Wea prairie west of Lafayette, Indiana.  These beasts wisely had refused to board a canal boat for their last journey.  As it turned out, Kaiser had to drive them on foot over 110 miles back to Swinney’s, a trip that took 11 days. It’s said that he seemed to take an unusual delight when it came time to butcher these stubborn animals for the feast.

 

Back of the Swinney House

Original construction of the house was begun in 1844 with a second story, wing, and rear portion added in 1885.  Thomas Swinney gave to the city of Fort Wayne the eastern portions of his property.  In 1847, the Allen County Fair was established on these grounds, with a half-mile racetrack as well as the usual display pens and corrals.  The annual September Fair was held here for many years afterward.  More than a decade later, in 1889, the first local Labor Day celebration was held on the Swinney grounds, and labor leaders long viewed the area as special for laboring people.

 

Log cabin on the grounds of the Swinney House

By the terms of Thomas Swinney’s will, the remainder of his great pioneer estate was bequeathed to the city of Fort Wayne upon the death of the last of his daughters, Caroline and Frances.  In 1924, the home was occupied by the Allen County - Fort Wayne Historical Society which remained there until the Society opened to the public in October 1980 in the Old City Hall History Center. 

Other portions of the western lands were acquired earlier by the city in 1918 for park development, and a public swimming pool was constructed.  Some of these acres were leased to George Trier, an entertainment entrepreneur, who developed what came to be renowned in the middle of the twentieth century as “Trier’s Park.”  It was a place that is still remembered by many with fondness including a roller coaster, bumper cars, dance halls and other amusements until a great fire swept the place in 1953.  As a park, the area was famous for its Japanese Gardens, picnic grounds and country settings.  Its name, however, was changed to the Jaenicke Gardens soon after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Originally published in Fort Wayne Magazine “Along the Heritage Trail with Tom Castaldi” – April 2008 No. 42

 

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.