Pioneer History by Richard C. Schmal

DID YOU KNOW THAT:

There is a covered bridge in Lake County? It was moved from southern Indiana to the Lake County Fairgrounds.

Soybeans were not introduced into this area until 1915?

The small extension of sidewalk in front of the 1900 bank building (now a restaurant) at 313 E. Commercial Ave. was the site of an ornamental cast iron horse trough in the shape of a huge sea shell?

For many decades, a drinking fountain stood on the V formed by Washington St. and Commercial Ave. at Railroad Park? The sulphur water was quite a disappointment to thirsty travelers, however.

The area now called "Senior Citizens Park" was donated to the town by Pioneer Jabez Clark in 1856? At that time he designated it as the "Town Square" (called "Olde Town Square" in 2002).

The Labor Day Homecoming was held for decades at Oakland Park on Oakley Ave.? There was the big parade downtown, followed by ball games, boxing, picnics, carnival shows, parachute jumps, and exhibitions by planes of World War I vintage.

That Oakland Park was also the site of baseball games played by the "Lowell Stars," a semi-pro team that played against the Chicago Red Sox and the bearded 'House of David" teams? It was also the site of Lowell High School football games, when All-American fullback Corby Davis played on Lowell's championship team. The land once belonged to the Lowell Gun Club.

In Lowell's early years, family doctors drove their buggies or road their horses many miles, night or day, to make house calls in town or in the country?

As late as the 1920's, some schoolchildren in the farming community rode a horse-drawn school bus? Sometimes the bus did not actually stop while the older boys helped the younger boys and girls up the steps on the rear of the vehicle.

The first grain elevator at North Hayden was erected in about 1905? That was about the same time that the New York Central Railroad came through town.

There was a regular passenger train service for many years at North Hayden? Horsedrawn buses, and later taxis, met all trains there.

Many can remember several tall water slides at Cedar Lake Resorts? Wooden sleds on rollers would speed down steep incline to skip along on the water below. Some of the slides were at Victor's Beach, Surprise Park, Happy Hollow and Lassen's.

A pioneer cemetery stands on a tall mound in Meyer Manor Subdivision at Cedar Lake? It is now surrounded by private homes.

In the 1909 Directory of Lake County, not one restaurant was listed in the Town of Lowell? But some of the hotels advertised three meals daily, and the taverns featured lunch at the bar.

During the last weeks of February and the first part of March each year, streets in town and the country roads were busy with wagons pulled by horses or tractors, farm machinery, and the early trucks filled with furniture and implements? It was the traditional and practical time of the year for moving from one farm to another.

Residents along the street stopped and doffed their hats as the ornate, horse-drawn hearse in a funeral procession passed solemnly by, followed by mourners in buggies or on foot? Usually a team of black horses, adorned with decorative harness, were hitched to the fancy hearse, which was driven by the director in a tall black hat.

Several business buildings in downtown Lowell were built with elevators? Many of the man-powered lifts are still in existence. One was large enough to carry horses and carriages from one level to another.

For many decades, Lowell was host to a Fourth of July Celebration? Picnics were also held in "Hayden's Grove" at West Creek Twp.

The school building on Main Street in Lowell, built in 1896, was both a grade school and high school until 1915? There was an earlier school on the same site, built in the 1860's.

There was a large wooden trestle over the railroad in the north part of Lowell? It was built so farmers could move stock and machinery over the tracks. It was a Favorite place for small boys to stand as the old steam engines labored up the steep grade on the way to Cedar Lake.

In 1911 the Town of Lowell reported that total money on hand was $5,456.41? The price of movies was 15 cents for adults. In 1902 a buggy (horsedrawn) could be purchased for less than $40.

In 1898, October was warm at first, followed by icy, wet days, with temperatures in the upper 20's?

Indians and pioneers drank from a cool spring along what is now Lincoln Avenue? For many years it was a place to get fresh, sparkling water.

That Evergreen Park was once a tree nursery? That's the reason for the rows of pine trees there. Another tree nursery was located along Hilltop Drive, and some of its evergreen trees are still growing on the south side of the drive.

DID YOU KNOW THAT?