The following also has reference to the community of Fountain (Portland).
This was taken from the Fountain County Centennial book printed by the
Richard Henry Lee Chapter of the DAR in 1926. There are no page numbers.
History of Shawnee Township
By Mrs. A. T. Claypool
Shawnee township is located in the northwestern part of the county. Its
northwestern border is washed by the Wabash river and through it flows
Shawnee creek, Coal creek, and Bear creek, which all eventually find the
waters of the Wabash river.
Of its natural beauty it may be said that it is varient (sic) and
beautiful, especially when clothed in midsummer and autumn time with its
living green and amber foliage and its enchanting rural scenes. The arched
rock known as "Portland Arch" near Bear creek is a wonderful natural
curiosity and frequented by the true lover of nature. The hills along the
Shawnee from Rob Roy to the river are very picturesque.
The geological formation in this township, named for the tribe of North
American Indians with such a wonderful history, is rich in its variety of
alluvial soil. Here one sees the rich dark deposit, the lighter clay subsoil
so productive of annual crops. In the west the woodlands abound in more sand
and real clay soils, making an excellent wheat section.
This township dates its first settlement from 1822. In the autumn of
that year, John Lopp entered the east half of section 2 where Benjamin Brown
later resided. George Johnson also claimed a pat of section twelve. The
following year came Abel Claypool, Daniel Peck, George Stewart, and John
Galloway. In 1823 John Miller entered a part of section four and he with
five brothers, were founders of a settlement on Coal creek known as the
"Miller Settlement."
The towns and village within this township are Rob Roy and Portland--now
known as Fountain. Rob Roy was platted in 1826 and was laid off in
forty-eight town lots. John Foster, a lover of literature, and especially
fond of Scott's novels, named the town in honor of the Scotch "Rob Roy". An
addition was platted in 1829 by Hiram Jones. In 1836 it had five dry goods
stores and four groceries, a hotel, three physicians, and was the center of a
very active settlement. At present it consists of one grocery store and only
a few houses. When the Chicago and Black Coal Railway crossed the township
it made it a station point.
Portland--now Fountain, has a history dating back to April 1828, when
Major Whitlock, William Miller, and Bernard Preble platted the town. It is
situated on the Wabash river and was described by Sanford C. Cox in his early
history writings as one of the list of towns on the river that were ambitious
to become the great emporiums of trade on the upper Wabash. Keep's store was
one of the two business places, that furnished most of the goods used by the
people for a hundred miles up and down the river. Power, lead, salt, iron,
whiskey, and leather were the staples changed for the productions of the
country such as beeswax, tallow, feathers, ginseng, furs, deer skins, wild
hops, etc.
In the flight of time, Portland has had eleven stores, a hotel, six
physicians, craftsmen of various kinds and a considerable population. It was
a post office town from its beginning. With the passing of years and changes
of business in the country, Portland was left in the cold, and today has but
a small collection of houses and not more than fifty population recorded by
the last census.
About as soon as the first crops had been gathered, there arose a demand
for mills by which meal and flour could be produced for the pioneers. The
fist of these mills were of the corn-cracker type and small affairs, but
answered the purpose. Thomas Cox built one of these mills at the falls of
the little Shawnee river in 1824. One owned by Elisha Range was near Rob Roy
bridge, one where the Rob Roy road crosses the Shawnee. Settlers came in for
many miles around and greatly appreciated these corn-crackers. William
Graham erected a fulling mill and carding machine at the Rob Roy bridge in
1826 and soon after Daniel Myers, a saw mill seventy rods down the stream.
Other saw mills were built as they were needed. The mill at Rob Roy was
built by William Bookwalter and A. I. Claypool in 1870. With the march of
years and the revolution in the manner of grinding grain into flour, these
mills have entirely been wiped from the face of the country.
The first school house was built in 1824 near Coal creek on land that
George Stewart entered; another was built at Rob Roy in 1828 and later one on
the north side of the Big Shawnee on the Attica and Newtown road. These were
all built of logs in the pioneer way. Among the early teachers were John
Bodly, David Brier, Rufus Lockwood, William Miller, Mrs. Mary C. Hovey.
The Coal Creek Presbyterian Church was organized in 1827 and its first
pastor was the Rev. James Thomas. The first Methodist church was organized
in 1828 with John J. Foster as first pastor. The first U. B. church was
organized in 1828 by a Rev. McMahon.