VANDERBURGH  COUNTY   
EVANSVILLE

    An historical and descriptive sketch of Vanderburgh can be but little else than of Evansville. The county has but few attractions outside of that city. In 1812, Col.. Hugh McGary, of Kentucky, settled on the site of Evansville, erecting a log house  the first white man's dwelling in that section. At the time of this settlement there was an Indian village, of the Shawanoe tribe, near Pigeon creek. " In 1813," says Mr. Robert, "Warrick county was formed out of that portion of Knox county lying south of ' Rector's Ease Line,' and extending from the boundary of Harrison county to the "Wabash river, and Col. McGary, who owned the lower part of the present site of Evansville, laid out a number of lots, and donated some land to Warrick county, provided they would fix on this place as the permanent seat of justice. In 1814, the territorial legislature of Indiana divided Warrick county, creating Posey county on the west and Perry county on the east, which left the site of Evansville near the southwest corner of the then existing county of Warrick; for which reason the legislature ordered 'that the seat of justice be removed from Evansville to a certain tract of land owned by Nathaniel Ewing, which was afterwards called ' Darlington.' This removal came near nipping the existence of the embryo city in the bud, and from this period until 1817, Evansville made very little progress, hardly having an existence as a village." However, it was not destined to remain long in obscurity. In 1816 and 1817, Gen. Robert M. Evans and James W. Jones, united with Col. McGary, and established the town on an enlarged plan.    They purchased additional land, and made some general preparations for improvements. It is said that Col. McGary entered the land soon after his arrival, and endeavored to make a survey; but, when Gen. Evans arrived, he made another survey, and had the whole tract platted.
    This town, in its unsettled state, was called Evansville, in honor of one of its founders General Evans. Gen. Evans was a Virginian, having been born in that State in 1783. He settled in or near Princeton, Gibson county, in 1805, and removed to Evansville to reside permanently, in 1824.
    So soon as the town had been remodeled on its enlarged scale, a number of lots were sold and attention was attracted to the place as a convenient landing point for Vincennes (the Old French Fort), and other interior towns in the Wabash valley, which then gave promise of far outstripping Evansville. In 1818, Vanderburgh county was formed from the western portion of Warrick, and named in honor of Judge Henry Vanderburgh, one of the territorial judges and early settlers of Indiana. In the same year commissioners were appointed to fix the seat of justice of the new county, who reported to the county commissioners that, in consideration of the local advantages of Evansville, and of a liberal donation by the proprietors, of one hundred lots and five hundred dollars in cash, or such materials as will suit in the erection of the public buildings, they have established and fixed the permanent seat of justice of Vanderburgh county at Evansville. The town for a while made considerable progress. The first election was held in August, 1818, when twenty five votes were polled. In one year from its establishment as a county seat, it became an incorporated town, by the election of Hugh McGary, Isaac Fairchild, Everton Kinnerly, Alfred O. Warner, and Francis J. Bentley, trustees. Hugh McGary was chosen president; Elisha Harrison, secretary, and lister of taxable property; John Conner, treasurer; and Alpheus Fairchild, collector and marshal. The first tax levy was twenty cents on the one hundred dollars of real property, and a specific tax on several kinds of personal property. The value of taxable property is not given in the records, but the total of tax duplicate for that year amounted to $191.28..    On the twentieth of March, 1819, the first meeting of the board of town trustees was held.
    In 1819, Evansville had a population of one hundred souls. A hotel, kept by Mr. Ansel Wood, was situated on the State road, now Main street, and stood in rear of the present site of Armstrong's furniture ware rooms. In the same year, a Frenchman opened a store near the river bank. Other stores followed. " Their stocks were scant, but amply sufficient for the pioneers, with whom hard cash was a great rarity, indeed. Coon skins, and barter of that character, formed the medium of exchange, not only with themselves, but with the outside world." In this year, Amos Clark was made prosecuting attorney of the county; and Daniel Warner, postmaster of the new town. In 1820, John M. Durham, David F. Goldsmith, Priestly Pritchett, William Mills, Jr., and John A. Chandler, were elected trustees; and James A. Boiss was appointed secretary; and Alanson Warner, treasurer. These early officers were, for many years, distinguished citizens of Evansville. They have all passed on to another stage of action. The first church in Evansville was built in 1821, under the auspices of Rev. D. C. Banks, of Ohio, a zealous Presbyterian clergyman.
    We quote from Mr. Robert's somewhat remarkable pamphlet this authentic information concerning the early schools of Evansville: "The first school house was erected in 1824. It was a small brick building, and stood at the corner of Third and Main streets. Mr. Chute, an elderly gentleman, was appointed and empowered to 'teach the young idea how to shoot? As early as 1818, he had occasionally received pupils at his cabin; but now, for the first time, a school was instituted to which all could send children hitherto unproved and unafforded regular educational privileges. The school house was also regularly used for religious purposes. Rev. Mr. Wood, a Presbyterian minister, often preached there, as well as clergymen of other denominations. From 1825 to 1830, Evansville was under a deep shadow of commercial depression; but, in the latter year, new hope and spirit seem to have possessed the people, and, as a consequence, improvement and development were visible. Produce began to find its way to southern markets in flat boats, on the Wabash and White rivers, and the convenient proximity of Evansville to these water-courses, made it a favorite landing place. During the spring and summer months trade was quite lively, and hundreds of boatmen returning from the Lower Mississippi made Evansville their point of debarkation, and it thus became known and appreciated as the ' Landing for the Wabash." Some lively ' scenes' and gay fandangos characterized those times, but it grew to be a point of supply for much of the interior region of country watered by the Wabash and White rivers, and in this way laid the foundation for its present mercantile prosperity and importance.
    "In 1834, on the establishment of the first State bank, Evansville was designated as one of the points for the organization of its branches. This greatly enlarged its financial facilities, and gave additional and timely impetus to all departments of business. In 1835-6, the State legislature having passed the Internal Improvement Bill, Evansville was made the southern terminus of the Central and Wabash and Erie canals. The Wabash and Erie canal, commencing at Toledo, Ohio, was to strike the head waters of the Wabash river, and follow the rich and prolific valleys of that and White river, terminating on the Ohio at Evansville. The Central canal was intended to pass from Muncietown, through Indianapolis, to Point Commerce, on White river, where it would be united  with the Wabash and Erie canal. Thus Evansville, by a grand scheme of hydrographical inosculation, was to be placed in control of these stupendous works, commanding the outlet of two of the richest and most productive valleys on the globe. No wonder there was liberal impart ment of new energy, new vigor and high hopes of the future. In June, 1836, the awarding of the contracts for the construction of the canal commenced, and a large immigration at once began to pour in; real estate advanced to high and fancy speculative rates, and the town appeared to have again taken a hold on prosperity, and determined to prove Phoenix like. But here another drawback occurred, and energy was hampered and enterprise fettered. A great financial revulsion occurred in 1837-8, which caused a suspension of specie payment by our banks, and a very considerable depreciation in the value of real estate. The crisis was general, and was severely felt all over the country in its sweeping damage, thus, for a time, blighting the fair prospects of Evansville. The work of internal improvement was abandoned, general stagnation in trade was prevalent, and the town not only ceased to prosper, but actually decreased in population. Much of the property of Evansville passed into the hands of Eastern creditors, in payment of the indebtedness of merchants and speculators, and for several years possessed very little market value. In 1840, the number of inhabitants had increased to 2,121, which shows quite a substantial gain for the time.
    " Some time about the year 1845-6, Evansville began to recover from the prostration occasioned by the failure of the internal improvement system and the commercial crisis of the country, and business generally began to revive. The natural advantages of location which it possessed, attracted to it the trade of the surrounding country, and its mercantile interests re-began to advance and thrive. From that period the growth of Evansville has been steady and substantial; for many years, it is true, laggard and hardly perceptible, but never stationary or receding. Her course and career has been nothing less than a succession of progress and pause, but the latter seemed to have given strength rather than detriment; and if the ability of our people to recover after such damaging and discouraging impediments were repeatedly thrown in their way be any criteria, certainly such trials are brightly prognostic of an attainable power and excellence commensurate with what we today proudly claim for her. During the legislative session of 1856-7, a grant of land was obtained to extend the Wabash and Erie canal to Terre Haute, and subsequently another grant was obtained to aid in the construction of this work to the Ohio river at Evansville. This concession was made the basis of an arrangement by the State with her bondholders for the sale of the Wabash and Erie canal, and a resumption of payment of State interest. The completion of the canal became a fixed fact, and the anticipation of the benefits to be derived from its successful workings did much to strengthen confidence in our future." *
    In 1847, Evansville was incorporated as a city. This was another stroke in favor of her progress. Wharf improvements were made, and in 1850 the Crawfordsville and Evansville railroad was commenced. In 1857 the limits of Evansville were extended by the annexation of Lamasco, then an adjoining town. The city public schools of Evansville were established  in 1853. Thus, it will be seen that during these years the city was growing rapidly, and also preparing for continual advancement. Nor was her interests, commercially, injured in 1861. The civil war proved a perfect God-send to her trade. Standing as she did upon the verge and dividing line of the consumptive region and productive sections, her position was one of advantage, and, consequently, the growth during this period was decidedly great.
    Today, Evansville has a population of over 30,000, and is the second city in Indiana, in wealth and importance. Her public schools are fully up to an advanced metropolitan grade, and her religious and literary institutions do credit to the State. Evansville is believed by many to be the handsomest city in the State. It is certainly a very beautiful city, and the streets always present a scene of wholesome activity.
    "We will close our historical and descriptive sketch of Evansville with a brief notice of her public schools, for which we are in a great measure indebted to Mr. Charles E. Robert, of that city: Evansville has fostered her educational interests with peculiar care, and has sought by a liberal and judicious expenditure of money, and by the employment of first class educators to manage her institutes, to place her schools among the very first in the country. So well has she succeeded in attaining this desired object that the splendid facilities here offered for the free education of the young, more than any other cause has induced immigration to that point, from a large section of the surrounding country. This is a potent argument with those citizens from other states and countries who are invited to settle there. Many of them have families of growing children —all of them, it is hoped, education and tastes, or natural instincts that would make them prefer the elevated to the degraded, the moral to the immoral, in the intellectual atmosphere of a new home. All that has been said in behalf of Evansville as a commercial centre, as an inviting field for new enterprises, for the investment of capital, and for the transfer of manufacturing or mechanical skill from the old to this new home of labor, would be unavailing with many, if something more could not be presented than mere appeals to selfish moneyed interests. Those whom Evansville most desires as citizens, hesitate to remove from Eastern cities to identify their interests with Western communities, no matter what the inducements for the employment of their capital, business experience or skill, to new fields, because they fear it will be at the sacrifice of educational advantages, moral influences, a thousand individual comforts, the loss or practical deprivation of which might not be compensated for by the pecuniary advantages to be gained.
    But the social and practical characteristics of the citizens of Evansville are in nothing more clearly and favorable manifested, than in their zealous support of their scholastic interests. The city abounds in public, semi-public and private schools and colleges. Yet the quantity of the instruction given is, perhaps, less noteworthy than its quality. Public teachers compete with private teachers, and vice versa; and the result is, a lively spirit of emulation has ensued and been productive of some very beneficial results. The central location, the fertility and beauty of the surrounding country and the salubrity and healthfulness of its climate, have doubtless been among the causes which have led to the concentration there of those intellectual elements which have given tone and tenor to the society. And in addition to all this we may state that Indiana has the largest school fund of any State in the Union, and Evansville has taken full sharp, of this great advantage, thus securing permanent and satisfactory basis for her scholastic structure.
    From the report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction made in September, 1874, we glean the following valuable facts:
Estimated value of school property including grounds, seats, etc    $10,015,344.48
Estimated value of school apparatus    „                                                     358,298.10
Total                                                                                                         $10,373,042.58
No. of pupils in attendance                                                                                 489,044
No. of teachers                                                                                                          12,655
No. of volumes in township libraries                                                                      265,029
Amount of revenue on hand September 1,1874    ..                              $1,704,413.81
Amount special "    "     "    "        "   "                                                              498,396.96
    This admirable system of free public schools was established in 1853. They were organized under the assiduous efforts of H. Q. Wheeler, Esq., who having been made the first Superintendent, to his credit very much of their after success is to be set down. Each year, however, has witnessed additional growth and improvement, until at present the public school property will amount to $460,000, including fifteen superb and costly buildings, erected in the most modern and excellent manner, finely ventilated and so located as to afford convenient school privileges to children in all quarters of the city.
    The schools are under the supervision of a Board of Trustees, three in number, elected by the Common Council, and at present is as follows: Luke "Wood, president; Dr. H. W. Cloud, treasurer; J. H. Polsdorfer, secretary. The direct management is under Prof. Alexander M. Grow, as Superintendent, with the following excellently appointed staff: Prof. Phil. Baker, first supernumerary teacher; Prof. M. Z. Tinker, teacher of music; Prof. A. Bourgeois, teacher of writing; Prof. F. W. E. Peschau, teacher of German, and Simon Hecht and Miss Huldah Eahm, assistant teachers of German; assisted by a corps of one hundred and seven teachers, many of them ladies and gentlemen of superior talents and accomplishments for their work, and all laboring faithfully to build up this most important and fundamental interest of the city.    The total number of pupils enrolled December first, 1874, was 4,316; which was increased to 4,600 February first, 1875, when three new school buildings were completed. We can but congratulate Evansville on the rare fortune which has placed her educational interests in the hands of so able, experienced and successful an educator as Prof. Grow. Under the wise discipline of mind and conduct which he, during the past four years, has inaugurated, the schools are becoming nurseries of right and honorable principle, and diffusers of an invigorating atmosphere of thoughtful study. Any community that builds up such a system of schools as, from personal knowledge, we know those of Evansville to be, is deserving of the credit of being known as a national benefactor for it is to that extent helping to meet the greatest demand of the nation, the demand for men of brains and honesty.

Source: Google Books online,
An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana By De Witt C. Goodrich, Charles Richard Tuttle



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