Pioneer History by Richard C. Schmal
Strange, Unusual, and Interesting Facts No. 5
(from the June 30, 1998, Lowell Tribune, page 10)DID YOU KNOW THAT:
Herman Beckman was the first storekeeper in the pioneer village of Brunswick? His old general store building is still standing on what is now Calumet Ave.
In 1816 the village of Corydon became the first capitol of Indiana? It was the site of the only Civil War battle in our state.
In 1845 the first U.S. postage stamp was issued with a face value of five cents (an hour's pay for some people)? The post office in our area at the time was at the present site of the Lowell High School, where the Sanger home and general store once stood. The post office was called "The Outlet" because Cedar Creek was the outlet from Cedar Lake.
The Old Timer constantly reminds everyone that the Town of Lowell will celebrate 150 years in 2002?
The Town of Lowell was experiencing annexation problems way back in the year 1887? The once thriving village of Klaasville is now marked only by a sign on the grounds of the pioneer cemetery of St. Anthony? The site is south of Brunswick.
On Aug. 22, 1925, about 400 townspeople assembled to watch the dedication of two memorial markers on a stone at the corner of Main St. and Union St. in Lowell? The two bronze markers were placed there by the Lake County Historical Association to honor Melvin Halsted and Jabez Clark. Sadly, the two markers have since disappeared, but plans for their replacement have been discussed. [Note from year 2002: The two markers will be replaced this August.]
An old story tells about a giant buckskinner named Rol Gordon, who was said to have roamed the Kankakee Valley for years, telling tall tales about man-eating turtles and fish bigger than him. Some say that if you are in the valley and listen quietly in the wind, you might hear old Rol still telling his tall tales!
In the 1920's and 1930's a professional drama group came to Lowell many summers? The "Gordon Players" set up a huge tent, where they acted in stage shows.
Early in the 1900's Merritt W. Kelsey was the owner of the livery stable built over Cedar Creek on the south edge of the Commercial Avenue bridge? Erected on tall, wood pilings, with the stream flowing by below, the door opened directly onto the wooden bridge. Customers could rent a horse and buggy, and sometimes the horse would find its way back to the stable on its own.
Adelbert Palmer, Civil War veteran, owned the general store at the pioneer Village of Tinkerville? It was on what is now Morse St. to the east of the Village of Creston. His store burned down in 1875, and later he went into business in Creston.
The Dinwiddie Homestead, once near the present site of I-65 and State Road #2, at the Village of Dinwiddie, still exists? It stands just to the west of the pioneer cemetery of Plum Grove.
That the "weasel" in the old song "Pop Goes the Weasel" was a signal on top of the winder used with the old spinning wheel? It popped when a certain length of thread was wound.
The present Lowell brick depot building replaced the original frame building (circa 1881) which was destroyed by a train wreck in May 1952, Lowell's Centennial year.
That Belshaw Road from U.S. 41 east past Buckley Homestead was once a State Road?
The 100 block addresses which now start at the railroad once began at Clark Street?
The old school building still standing on Main St. near our present Town Hall was a grade school, but was also the second high school in town? The first combination building, circa the 1860's, was on the same site and torn down when the 1896 building was erected.
There is a great doubt that anyone now remembers seeing a wagon shop over Cedar Creek near the present site of the Side Track Saloon? It was owned by Charles Bisig, whose grandson, Roger Bisig, recently rode in the Civil War event at Buckley Homestead County Park as a member of the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry, Confederate States of America.
That Main Street in Lowell was planned by founder Melvin Halsted to be the prominent business street? When the county built what is now S.R. #2, or Commercial Ave., most of the business places on Main St. moved away from the original "mill district."
That the State of Indiana's flower is the peony?
That in 1929 George Kimmet, an early Lowell businessman, worked out on paper an invention very much like the helicopter? -- Manufacturers at the time told him that "the whole thing is impractical."
That the "Farmer's Home-Tavern" once stood in the parking lot just to the west of the Pilcher Publishing Co. office on Clark Street?
That in 1898 the number of families in the Town of Lowell was 300? Rev. T.H. Ball, pioneer historian, wrote that he actually rode into town and counted the houses.
That the cabin of the pioneer Nichols brothers was at the present site of the Lowell Post Office?
That Evergreen Park once was an evergreen nursery? (Hence the name.) It also had its start as part of the pioneer Driscoll farm.
That there are thirteen towns or cities in the United States with the name of Lowell?
That the large stone monument in the Creston Cemetery, which bears the name of early Lake County historian Rev. Timothy Ball, is but a memorial stone, for he is buried in Alabama?
That the area at Cedar Lake formerly called "Coleman's Corner" was planned to be the town of West Point? Very early in our county's history the town was platted, but not started.
DID YOU KNOW THAT?
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