TIPPECANOE county contains within its
limits one of the oldest historical landmarks in Indiana, Ountanon.
This was the French name given to the military post which was
established on the Wea prairie, near the Wabash, about the same time
that Fort Miami, at the head of the Maumee, was erected, probably in
1705. At Ountanon,
(unlike other pioneer French outposts in Indiana,) but few French
settled, except the transient trader, who was coming and going with the
demands of his vocation, and the military occupation of the place was
not permanent. There were long intervals when no garrison was
maintained to restrain the savages, which may be given as a reason for
the tardiness of the place as a general French settlement. However, in
1759-60, when all the French forts in the northwest fell into the hands
of the British, Ountanon was enjoying the benefits of a garrison, and
was surrounded by a small number of rude French dwellings. The. post,
with all others in the vicinity, passed into the hands of the English,
and was garrisoned by the latter in 1760. At this time most of the
French inhabitants removed to Vincennes, a few families only remaining. The "Wea Indian
village surrounding the fort, was one of the most important Indian
settlements in the Miami confederacy, and remained such until its
destruction under the military administration of General George Rogers
Clark, in 1788-9. In 1763, during
the memorable Pontiac war, Fort Ountanon fell among the "fated nine," a
victim to Indian stratagems. At that time the little fort was
commanded by Edward Jenkins, who, in a letter to Major Gladwyn, of
Detroit, dated June first, 1763, gives us an account of the reduction
of the fort in the following language:
Sir I have heard of your situation, which gives me great pain;
indeed, we are not in much better; for this morning the Indians sent
for me to 'speak to me, and immediately bound me. When I got to their
cabin I found some of my soldiers in the same condition. They told me
Detroit, Miami, and all those posts were cut off, and that it was a
folly to make any resistance. They therefore desired me to make the few
soldiery in the fort surrender, otherwise they would put us all to
death in case one man was killed. They were to have fell on us
and killed us all last night, but Mr. Maisongville and Lorain gave them
wampum not to kill us, and when they told the interpreter that we were
all to be killed, and he, knowing the condition of the fort, begged of
them to make us prisoners. They have put us into French houses, and
both Indians and French use us very well. All these nations say they
are very sorry, but that they "were obliged to do it by the other
nations. The belt did not arrive here till last night about eight
o'clock. Mr. Lorain can inform you of all. I have just received the
news of St. Josephs' being taken. Eleven men were killed, and three
taken prisoners with the officers. I have nothing more to say, but that
I sincerely wish you a speedy succor, and that we may be able to
revenge ourselves on those that deserve it.
This letter
was written by Mr. Jenkins while a prisoner of the Indians before his
departure from Wea to Illinois, whence he was taken by his captors. These incidents were enacted on the
soil of Tippecanoe county, in 1763, long before it was settled by
Americans. The fort had been erected probably in 1705, and was
garrisoned, at intervals, by the French until 1760, when it was
occupied by the English, who maintained a garrison at the post until
its destruction by the Indians in 1763, which terminated its existence.
It was never rebuilt, and today not a vestige of it remains to mark the
place where it stood. The soil has been cultivated, and most of the old
rusty swords, tomahawks, etc., have been uncovered and carried away by
the surrounding settlers. When the fort was
reduced, in 1763, the few remaining French settlers removed to
Vincennes, leaving their rude dwellings, as well as the old fort to the
Wea Indians, who demolished them. The first American settlers who came
to Tippecanoe county, settled in 1823, seven years after the date of
the organization of the State, and at an era in its history when
immigration was flowing in from the east in a steady volume. From 1763
to the date of the. settlement of the county, there is but little of
importance to record. In 1808, the " Prophet's Town," which has become
famous in history, was established. It was located near the junction of
the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers, about one mile from the spot where
the celebrated "Battle of Tippecanoe" was afterwards fought, and about
seven miles from the present city of La Fayette. When General
Harrison invaded this town, on the seventh of November,
1811, it contained about two thousand inhabitants, men, women and
children, and was the largest Indian settlement in the State; but, with
the Prophet's defeat, and the return of his brother, Tecumseh, in the
following spring, it was broken up, and the remaining followers of the
brave Shawanoe went with him to Canada, where they established
themselves near Maiden. In 1823, when the
first settlers came to the county, Crawfordsville was the center of
civilization in the Wabash. valley for several miles in both
directions. It was at this place that the first land office was opened,
and where the first settlers of Tippecanoe county entered their lands.
For three years after the settlement of Tippecanoe county, or until
1826, when the county was organized, the settlers were obliged to go to
Crawfordsville for all judicial purposes, as well as for supplies. As
we have said, the county was organized in 1826. " In due time
commissioners were appointed to survey and lay out the new county
according to law, and to locate the county seat. The natural beauty and
eligibility of the site now occupied by La Fayette, together with its
surroundings, immediately determined the said commissioners to award to
this locality the county honors. At the time there were rival towns,
but that rivalry soon ceased to be, as La Fayette soon outstripped them
in the race of progress, some of which joined with her and added to her
population, being satisfied that La Fayette was soon to be the 6 pride
of the valley,' her location being at the head of navigation, bounded
by the beautiful wooded hills, beyond which lies the different
prairies, teeming with fertility, the abundance of whose harvests have
more than made real the hopes of the most hopeful, gladdening the
hearts of the industrious farmer, filling his home with the necessities
of life, giving him a liberal purse, a liberal mind, and manly
qualities." In 1825, or about
one year previous to the creation of Tippecanoe county, one William
Digby was induced by a few enterprising gentlemen from Crawfordsville,
to lay out the first plat of the town of La Fayette, on his little
tract of land on the east bank of the river Wabash, near the center of
what would be a reasonable sized county, with the view that ultimately
it might become the county seat of the then projected county. Digby was
not a man of enterprise or forethought, and consequently sold his
entire town plat of the city on the same day it was laid out, to Samuel
Sargent, for two hundred and forty dollars, reserving for himself only
one fractional lot, and twenty acres adjoining the town. The original
plat was soon divided between Isaac 0. Ellston, John "Wilson, and
Jonathan Powers, all of the same town of Crawfordsville. As yet it was
a mere city on paper, located in a dense forest, with rivals both above
and below, whose claims were not to be ignored. Cincinnatus, two miles
below, on the west bank of the river, and Americus, above, on the east
bank, had each claims that were thought by the parties interested,
sufficient to induce the proper authorities to locate the county seat
at either place. But the joint proprietors of the new city in the woods
were liberal as well as enterprising, and offered to the new county
authorities half of their town plat for the location; besides, Sargent,
Kesey, and Alexander, each donated ten acres adjoining the plat, as a
further inducement to the authorities, which liberal donation was
accepted, and the location of the county seat made the same year the
county merged into existence. The choice was a wise one, that has given
entire satisfaction to the inhabitants ever since, because of its
central and healthy location. With the
completion of the old Wabash and Erie Canal to La Fayette, that place
began to improve and increase in population, and although for several
years it had many rivals in the "Wabash valley, it has outgrown them
all, and is now one of the leading cities in the State in point of
population, wealth and influence. La Fayette is beautifully situated,
and is one of the handsomest places in the State. Its educational
advantages are second to no city in Indiana; its commerce is very good,
and in manufactures it is considerably behind, but there are ample
facilities for this branch of industry in La Fayette, and many bright
prospects of their being improved at an early day. The city has now a
population of about twenty thousand, and is growing rapidly. The history of the
public schools of La Fayette is full of interest and instruction. It
has been very pleasantly written by Mr. Sanford 0. Cox, an affable old
gentleman of La Fayette, who himself has spent many valuable years as a
teacher of pioneer schools, and who has kindly permitted the use of the
pioneer schools, and who has kindly permitted the use of the following
in this volume:
In the fall and winter of 1827-28, Joseph Tatman, Esq., taught school
in La Fayette, in a log cabin that stood near where Breckenridge &
Jenkins' mill now stands. Like all other cabins of those days, the
floor was laid with puncheons, the door made of shaved clapboards, hung
on wooden hinges, the chimney built of cat-an-clay, with back wall and
jambs. The seats and writing-tables were also made of puncheons, and
the windows were covered with greased paper instead of glass. The
furniture consisted of a splint bottom chair for the teacher, a water
bucket, gourd, and some pegs in the wall on which to hang hats, cloaks
and dinner baskets. He taught two or three terms in this cabin. He also
taught vocal music, and played well on the flute. The next school was
taught by John D. Farmer in the same cabin, who afterwards removed his
school "to the old court-house, that stood near the ferry landing at
the foot of Main street, which was afterwards occupied as a residence
by Moses Michaels, the ferryman, and the widow Riley, who baked and
sold the first ginger cakes baked in La Fayette. How many terms Mr.
Farmer taught is not remembered
Hugh M. King, in the year 1829, taught school in a one story frame that
stood on the lot now occupied by Handley's block, on the east side of
Fourth street, between Columbia and South streets. These were sub.
scription schools — the employers paying according to the number of
pupils subscribed, at the rate stipulated in the articles, which was
generally from one dollar and fifty cents to two dollars per scholar
per quarter. The branches taught were spelling, reading, writing,
arithmetic, English grammar and geography. In but few instances was the
teacher called upon to instruct his pupils in more than the four first
named branches. The athletic sports of the boys, at the noon play-time,
consisted in playing corner ball (bull-pen), cat, town ball, and a game
called shinny. Baseball, now so popular among grown-up
boys, who go from city to city to play with other hopeful "nines "
whose ages range from eighteen to forty five, is a perversion of town
ball. It is a rough and dangerous game. The girls amused themselves
jumping the rope, gathering flowers, swinging, and other healthful
amusements. There were then no male and female Dolly Varden Croquet
Clubs, playing out-door billiards on the green, with painted mallets
and balls, large shoe buckles, and a stock of affectation to match.
The next on the list of teachers was Ezekiel Timmons, who taught in a
small frame house which stood on the northeast corner of the lot
occupied by the Milwaukee block. He taught several terms. He also
taught singing schools in the village, and in several neighborhoods in
the country, and served as surveyor of Tippecanoe county for many
years. He wrote excellent poetry. Rufus Webb followed Mr. Timmons in
teaching the young idea how to shoot. He taught in a one story frame on
the " Miller property," east of Henry Taylor's residence, near the
corner of Third and Alabama streets. He taught two or three terms. Miss
Abigail Huff, in the summer of 18E3, taught school in a one story frame
that stood on Main street, north of the public square, between the
First National Bank and Wilson & Hanna's bank. Colonel Henry Oilar,
a few years later, taught three terms in the Jennings' brick, which
stood where the Lahr House now stands. He was also county
surveyor for several years.
In 1833, the Presbyterians built their brick church, on the corner of
Fourth and South streets, and had, by an agreement with those who
contributed funds for its erection, a room struck off at the west end
for a school-house. Rev. Joseph G. Wilson and his wife, and Rufus A.
Lock-wood, Esq., were among the first who taught in this house. Hon.
David Turpie, Hon. Joseph E. McDonald, and other distinguished
personages, can look back to this little house where they received
their first academic honors- In a few years, the congregation being
straitened for room, the partition was taken out, and the whole
building was used as a church, literary hall, and public lecture room,
where many distinguished strangers entertained the literati of the
village. The first County Lyceum (inaugurated by Mr. Town, the
grammarian,) was held in this house. Some of the most pleasant
recollections of by-gone years of many of our older citizens, date back
to the literary meetings held in this house.
The first regular school-house built in the town, was a one story
frame, which stood north of Main street, near where the German Catholic
Church now stands. In this house John E. Heald, Frederick Stone and
Jacob G. Wallace successively swayed the birch; also, a gentleman, and
scholar, whose name is fortunately forgotten, generally known as the
"Educator." The way he obtained that soubriquet was as follows: Having
a high opinion of himself, and his qualifications as a teacher, he
imprudently (perhaps playfully) told some of his chums that he was no
common pedagogue, but an educator. His remark was regarded as rather
pedantic for a new country, and was the occasion of a severe pun, One
afternoon, on returning to school from his boarding-house, he espied
the word "Educator," carved in large Roman letters on a plank of the
weather boarding of the house facing Main street. IP could be seen and
read plainly from the middle of the street. His wrath was kindled, and
he declared that he would punish any one who had the audacity to
engrave that word on the wall, to insult him. On an investigation of
the case, he found it had been carved by a blue eyed, golden haired
miss of some twelve summers, a member of one of the most wealthy and
influential families in the town. He changed his mind in regard to
inflicting corporeal punishment. The mischievous urchins, in going to
and returning from school, would often stop and spell aloud the
hand-writing on the wall, in the hearing of the teacher, which so
worried him that in a short time he left the town in his gust but
the word " Educator " was for many years seen standing out in bold
relief, as the only monument of the departed school-master.
The white school-house that stood on the corner of Fourth and Alabama
streets, east of the new jail, was the next school-house erected in the
town. It became the principal seat of learning for the youth of La
Fayette, as well as a hall of the Moot Legislature that met there for
several winters; the County Lyceum, and other interesting literary,
religious and political meetings. The interesting discussions in the
Moot Legislature, which numbered some hundred members, were
participated in by many who afterwards became distinguished as jurists,
legislators, scholars and business men. It was in this house Miss Sarah
Webb, Rev. P. R. Yannatta, James B. Heatley and several others taught
prior to the erection of the county seminary. Reuben Robinson taught
one or two terms in the old frame Methodist Church, on the lot occupied
by the late Fifth Street Church now used as a town hall. Solomon
Hathaway taught two or three terms in the basement of the Baptist
Church, on Sixth street, between Main and Ferry. Mrs.
McCune taught in the southern part of the city, near the old Junction
House, and afterwards on Fifth street, about one square south of the
New Albany Railroad depot. Mrs. Goodwin's high school was taught on the
Oakland Hill, near the Oakland House. Among the first teachers in the
graded schools, under our common school system, were Laura Maynard,
Ellen Merrill, Mary E. Smith, Nancy J. Skinner, Margaret E. Hoes, Sarah
C. Comstock, Elmira Meeker, Mary G. Oline and Orphie Hathaway. C. M.
Bishop taught a grammar school. In 186&-63, Professor Rouse had a
Classical Academy in the old State Bank, corner of Main and Sixth
streets. Professor Kennedy conducted a commercial college in Taylor's
block, west side of the public square. There was also a commercial
college and writing school taught by a Mr. Hollingsworth in the Barbee
block, opposite the Lahr House, about the years 1862 and 1863.
P. B. Began taught in the school-house at the St. Mary's (Catholic)
Church, on Fifth street. Father M. J. Clark, pastor. At St. Mary's
Church and Seminary, on Columbia street, Rev. Father Hamilton and
Hallinan, pastors; Christian Brothers' School, Superior Brother Bernard
and five brother assistants; Sisters' School of the Order of Sisters of
Providence; Superior, Sister Mary John, and eight sister assistants. At
St. Boniface, (German Catholic Church and Schools) pastor, Rev. Biene;
assistant, Rev. Gregory; Franciscan, (German School), taught by three
Ursuline Sisters; and at St. Ann's (Catholic) Church and School, on
Wabash avenue, three primary schools for children under eight
years of age under charge of the Brothers of the Holy Cross. There were
several select schools kept in different portions of the town by the
Misses Boyer, Garland, Campbell, Stiles, Carpenters, Shaw, Jason, Dame,
Mrs. Underwood, Rev. Mr. Barton, Rev. Mr. Leveredge, Naylor and wife,
Rev. Mr. Tenbrook and others, whose names and places of teaching are
not remembered with sufficient definiteness to be described by the
writer, nor by those with whom he has conferred on the subject, whose
assistance has greatly aided him in the preparation of this paper,
which, although correct in the main, he can not hope will be entirely
free from inaccuracies.
The success in after years of a majority of these Lang Syne teachers is
well known to our citizens. The most of them have passed to the Spirit
land , while a few remain to witness the good results of their labors
of "long time ago." May their hearts never grow old. The erection of
the County Seminary in 1841-42, by R. S. Ford, Joseph S. Hanna and
Jacob Benedict, Trustees of the Seminary funds of Tippe-canoe county,
formed a new epoch in the literary advantages of our county. It was
built on the side of the hill in the eastern portion of La Fayette, on
the site now occupied by the Catholic Church and Seminary. It was
opened under favorable auspices under the charge of Rev. Joseph G.
Wilson and his wife, as principals, aided by other competent teachers
in the primary and higher grades of the Academy. Public exhibitions
were given at the close of each session, giving satisfaction to the
parents and guardians of the pupils attending the school.
But county seminaries did not supply the wants of the people of the
different counties in the State. Few were able to pay the expenses of
boarding and tuition of their children; besides they were deprived of
the society of their sons and daughters, who were removed from the
social endearments and wholesome restraints of home, where their
welfare could be looked after by those who loved them best. The system
became unpopular, and the law was repealed by the new Constitution of
the State which took effect November first, 1851, and the county
seminary and land on which it was erected reverted to L. B. Stockton,
Esq., who had conveyed it to the board of seminary trustees on the
condition that it was forever to be used for school purposes and as a
public hall for the town and for no other purpose whatever. Resort was
then had to the old system of select and high schools. A high school
was erected on the corner of South and Seventh streets, under the
auspices of Messrs. M. L. Pierce, R. H. Eldridge, William P. Heath, R.
Brackenridge and others. It was conducted successfully for several
years, by Rev. Mr. Stone Allen and Prof. Winters and his wife. But, at length,
the present excellent common school system came to the relief of those
who wished to educate their children, and three large school-houses,
the Central, Southern and Eastern, were erected in localities to
suit the convenience of the residents. But educational enterprise,
under the new system, did not stop here. The Ford school building was
soon after erected, which is one of the finest public school to time been erected, until La Fayette
has to-day very complete and most admirable school facilities. The
present year required the labor of thirty seven teachers, and there was
an average attendance of two thousand pupils. The school property of
the city proper is valued at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Aside from the
public schools, the Purdue University, or Indiana State Agricultural
College, is also a pride and boast of the citizens of La Fayette. There
is sufficient reason to hope that, at no distant day, the Purdue
University will be one of the most popular institutions of learning in
the West. Its founder, whose name it bears, together with the trustees,
have thus far spared nothing which might add to its advantages. Its endowments are large enough to
bring it up to a high standard, and, with proper management, it will
surely become a lasting blessing to the State and a solid honor to its
venerable founder. The funds available at present are as follows:
Educational fund converted into government bonds, $300,000; county
funds, $50,000; donation by Hon. John Purdue, $150,000. There are now
one hundred and eighty four acres of land connected with this college,
with a prospect of increasing the same to three hundred. Hon. John Purdue, of La Fayette, has
the honor, not only of founding this college, but of securing its
location at La Fayette. He has already donated two hundred thousand
dollars to it, in the way of money and land, and there is a probability
that he will increase this amount before his death to five hundred
thousand dollars. The writer, when in Tippeca-noe county, called on Mr.
Purdue, at his private rooms in the Lahr House, and was handsomely
entertained. Mr. Purdue is a genial, kind-hearted old bachelor, having
never married, He is ripe in years, sound in intellect, fully
conversant with the affairs of the world, and very pleasant in
conversation. The St. Mary's
Academy is another of the valuable educational advantages of La
Fayette, as is also the Sisters' School. The buildings and grounds of
these institutions are valued at one hundred thousand dollars. Tippecanoe county
is one of the best agricultural counties in the State. Throughout the
county the farmers are nearly all wealthy, the schools are in good
condition, and general
prosperity is noticeable to the observing
traveler on every hand.
