The following article by Mike McCormick contains many dates and places of events of the
early days of Terre Haute and Vigo County IN that can be incorporated into the timelines
of Vigo County IN ancestor's lives.
Source information:
Author Michael McCormick, Vigo County Historian; published in the Terre Haute Tribune
Star, Terre Haute, Vigo, IN, Section D, Page D5, on Sunday 23 Nov 2008.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: The early growth of the city of non-growth (Part II)
By Mike McCormick
Special to the Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — Those returning to Terre Haute after the Civil War were anxious to utilize
the area’s multiple natural resources to transform the city into an industrial giant.
Coal, iron and railroads became the foci of those efforts.
A new fairgrounds at Brown and Wabash avenues — with a half-mile harness racing track —
hosted the Indiana State Fair in October 1867. The old fairgrounds had been converted into
Camp Vigo, a military camp, during the war. A mule-driven street railway provided access
to it.
Engineer William I. Ball — transferred to Terre Haute to work for the Wabash & Erie
Canal — designed the first stable bridge over the Wabash River. Bridge builder Joseph I.
Daniels constructed it for the Terre Haute Draw Bridge Co. It was a toll bridge until
acquired by the Vigo County commissioners in 1874.
Under the guidance of William Riley McKean, the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad
was extended from Terre Haute to the new St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute Railroad
with its eastern terminus at the Illinois-Indiana state line.
Leasing the connecting line from the Pennsylvania Railroad Co., McKeen’s Terre Haute &
Indianapolis Railroad controlled rail traffic west of Indianapolis to St. Louis. Railroads
subsequently acquired by McKean were part of “The Vandalia System.”
The Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad, which built track between Terre Haute and
Indianapolis through the Vigo-Clay coal belt, began service to Terre Haute on July 4,
1870. The railroad entered Terre Haute a few blocks north of the National Road paralleling
the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad.
Josephus Collett’s Evansville, Terre Haute & Chicago Railroad delivered passengers
from Terre Haute to Danville, Ill. and return, commencing Oct. 26, 1871. Service was
available to Chicago in 1872. Seven railroads were serving the city, most built by local
businessmen using local capital.
Terre Haute’s iron and steel era began Feb. 12, 1868, when Turner, Glover & Co., of
Youngstown Ohio, opened the Terre Haute Iron & Nail Works on S. Thirteenth St. to take
advantage of ore deposits uncovered in Clay County.
The Alexander Crawford family came to Terre Haute from Newcastle, Pa., the next year to
build the Vigo Iron Co., a blast furnace at 15th and Washington streets. In 1872, Crawford
opened the Wabash rolling mill at Second and Tippecanoe streets.
Vigo County ranked third among Indiana counties in coal production in 1872 and several
adjoining counties were among the top producers.
The community flaunted more than 200 manufacturers in 1870. By 1876, Theodore Hudnut’s
Hominy Co., Alexander McGregor’s Distillery, Anton Mayer’s Brewery, Horatio Keyes’ “Hub
and Spoke” Factory and Willard Kidder’s Wabash Flour Mill were important local employers
but “The Vandalia Shops” at Tenth and Chestnut, operated by the Terre Haute &
Indianapolis Railroad, was the city’s largest employer.
By 1880, Terre Haute was the nation’s fifth largest producer of distilled spirits and
gristmill products. According to the census, the city’s population to 26,042 while the
county had 45,658 residents.
Local business leaders were not content to leave the city’s future growth to chance.
Pamphlets were published and distributed boasting the community’s economic advantages. The
Terre Haute Association for the Promotion of Manufactures was founded in 1873 and was
succeeded by the Terre Haute Board of Trade in 1884. Those groups promoted the community’s
“mineral wealth” and also functioned as social clubs.
The Terre Haute Businessmen’s Association, a similar group, was founded in 1889.
Most businesses established during the booster club era were created by existing
residents, such as Terre Haute Car & Manufacturing Co., founded by James Seath and
expanded by Robert S. Cox and his family.
Other industries flourished. Hulman & Co., Bement, Rea & Co. and Bauermeister
& Busch were major wholesale grocers. Like Herman Hulman, wholesale grocer Joseph
Strong manufactured coffee and spices. Charles Zimmerman, Charles Stahl, Samuel Frank and
Charles Ehrmann were pioneer Vigo County garment makers.
The Oil Craze of 1889 brought national attention to the city but probably did not have
much impact on the population, which modestly increased. The 1890 census counted 50,195
Vigo County residents and 30,217 in the city.
Easily accessible by rail and wagon, the community captured a share of the tourist market.
The magnificent Terre Haute Opera House — later known as the Naylor Opera House — featured
top theatrical attractions almost daily nine months a year.
The unusual mile-long Four-Cornered Track, built in 1887 at the fairgrounds, became the
site of many world harness racing records. And Andrew Conant’s Magnetic Artesian Bath
House offered indoor swimming and curative sulphur water baths..
Higher education also earned a niche in the community fabric. Terre Haute Commercial
College opened in 1862 and the rebirth of State Normal School after the devastating April
1888 fire was significant. The city proudly responded to its needs.
The Terre Haute School of Industrial Science at the northwest corner of Thirteenth and
Locusts streets — renamed Rose Polytechnic Institute of Technology when it was dedicated
on Sept. 11, 1875 — began accepting students on March 7, 1883.
Coates College for Women on Strawberry Hill opened Oct. 6, 1885.
Russell B. Harrison, son of President Benjamin Harrison, was named president of the
motorized Terre Haute Electric Railway in 1892. Upon locating here, Harrison founded
Harrison Park Casino, an entertainment venue north of Collett Park.
At the turn of the century, commercial prospects were never brighter. Terre Haute’s
population was 36,673 and Vigo County claimed 62,035 residents. The economy was diverse
and smokestacks, the proud symbols of prosperity, dotted the urban landscape..
Eight railroads were serving Terre Haute on Jan. 1, 1900 and the ninth — John R. Walsh’s
Southern Indiana Railroad — was expected to arrive later in the year.
Continued to next week
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Submitted by:
David L. Bonnett
Indiana County Genealogist for Vigo County