Pioneer History by Richard C. Schmal
Strange, Unusual, and Interesting Historical Facts No. 16
(from the October 25, 2005, Lowell Tribune, page 5) |
Did you know that this sturdy business building is still standing on Commercial Avenue? Do you know where the remodeled building is? |
Did you know that --
-- some of the early homesteaders paid the United States Government the sum of $1.25 per acre for their land? Men's work shirts were sold for 25 cents..
-- a Town of Lowell Ordinance of July 5, 1871, ruled that it was unlawful to ride or drive on any streets or alleys over 6 miles per hour?
-- only one person graduated from the Lowell High School in 1897? That was the year the school was changed from three years to four years. At that time the old 1896 building, still standing on Lowell's Main Street, served as both elementary and high school.
-- the cost of a leather-topped buggy from the 1902 Sears and Roebuck catalog was $35? Farm wagons were about the same price.
-- when renting a rig from a Lowell livery stable, some of the young men requested a "horse that could find its way home "?
-- oil was found in the Kankakee Valley near Shelby in 1902?
-- there once was a horse race track near the west borders of the Town of Lowell?
-- electric lights were first turned on in Lowell in 1897? The electric power came from a steam generator on Liberty Street, north of the present post office.
-- lots for homes on the east side of the railroad tracks at the village of Belshaw were sold when the buyers picked a number from a hat?
-- there was once a large sign at the outskirts of Lowell which read: "Drink Nature's Tonic, Lowell's Sulphur Water"? Many of the Old Timer's generation remember laughing at the thirsty tourists as they drank Lowell's water from a fountain and then complained about that "awful taste."
-- in 1900 it was the duty of the Town Marshall to blow the steam whistle at the electric plant to announce the 8:30 p.m. curfew for the children?
-- in the year 1929 George Kimmet, Lowell businessman, worked out on paper an invention very much like the helicopter? Manufacturers at the time told him that the "whole thing" was impractical.
-- a large steam-powered grist mill, built in 1881, stood across the tracks from the present Lowell Depot? It was demolished in 1927.
-- Indians and pioneers both drank fresh, sparkling water from a cool spring along what is now Lincoln Avenue in Lowell?
-- Commercial Avenue through the Town of Lowell was lined with large oak trees in a parkway in many places? This changed when the road was widened in 1928.
-- the Veterans of Foreign Wars' complex on Morse Street was once the site of the 9-hole Castlebrook Golf Course?
-- State Road 2, until 1928, drove over the railroad at North Hayden instead of under?
-- mysterious Beaver Lake, once a hideout for horse thieves and counterfeiters, was the largest lake in the State of Indiana until it was drained in 1873? . More about the famous lake that was near Lake Village Ind. can be found in the May 2005 "Pioneer History" story at the Lowell Public Library web site.
-- in the February 2005 "Pioneer" column about living in a log cabin, the Old Timer mentioned that it would be difficult for a young lady in a hoop skirt to climb up the ladder to the loft?
-- a reader politely reminded him that very few, if any, pioneer girls wore hoop skirts during those rugged, early homesteading years.
-- several 'Old Timers' reported that they had good grades on the local "History Test" in the July 2005 "Pioneer History" column in the Lowell Tribune. The test is now available at the Lowell Library web site.
-- youngsters are surprised to hear that more horses than autos could be seen in downtown Lowell during the early 1920's? Farmers brought their grain to the elevators in bobsleds during snowy periods.
-- a large sailboat, 100 feet long, once sailed the waters of Cedar Lake? It proved unsafe a few months after its launching and was beached near Cedar Point.
-- Cedar Valley butter was made in the building that is now the west section of the American Legion clubrooms in Lowell?
-- a pioneer Cedar Lake family wrote to their relatives in the East asking them to send seeds "from those pretty yellow flowers in the yard"? Their family in the East promptly sent dandelion seeds!
-- the pioneers used more oxen than horses to pull their covered wagons and to pull their plows?
-- several buildings in the Lowell Downtown Historical District were built with elevators? A livery stable had a large elevator capable of moving horses and rigs from one level to another.
-- that many of these articles came from the 2002 Lowell Sesquicentennial History Book? The well-written book told about Lowell's proud past and bright future..
-- the pioneer West Point Cemetery was on the east side of Cedar Lake, north of Cedar Point near the intersection known for many decades as "Coleman's Corner"? The proposed Town of West Point was platted in the 1830's by Benjamin McCarty who wanted it to become the county seat. Pioneer Solon Robinson and other leaders proved that Crown Point was more centrally located.
The old graves were moved to a site south of the McArthur School.
-- about fifty hotels were recorded in the history of Cedar Lake?
-- there was a three-story building at the corner of Commercial Avenue and Clark Street in downtown Lowell? The big frame building was destroyed by the big fire of 1898 in downtown Lowell.
-- in the early 1900's two trappers from the Shelby area claimed that they caught 40,000 muskrats during one season?
-- Eighty miles of curves were taken out of the Kankakee River in Lake and Porter Counties when it was dredged in the early years of the 1900's? An area 90 feet wide and 10 feet deep was dug with the huge steam-powered dredges, as a crew of woodsmen cut a 200 feet wide swath ahead .
-- one of the six banks in Lake County in 1896 was in the Town of Lowell? Now there are six banks in Lowell! Four buildings in downtown Lowell are former bank sites.
-- 8000 eligible voters were listed in Lake County in 1895?
-- the building in the photo at the beginning of this article still stands at 140 West Commercial Avenue?
Did you know that?
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