Pioneer History by Richard C. Schmal
Strange, Unusual, and Interesting Historical Facts
(from the Oct. 29, 1996, Lowell Tribune, page 10)DID YOU KNOW THAT --
The pioneer community of "Pleasant Grove" is now a part of the east side of Lowell?
The first grist mill in Lowell was on Mill Street at Jefferson Street, almost a block from the dam on Main Street which supplied the water power?
Steam-powered boats sailed on both the Kankakee River and Cedar Lake, and a sailboat 100 feet long once sailed on the lake?
When the Kankakee River was dredged in the early part of this century, about eighty miles of curves were taken out in Lake and Porter Counties?
The ghost town of Conrad was just to the south of Lake Village?
In 1898, 300 families lived in the Town of Lowell?
Cedar Creek, through Lowell, once ran easterly (south of town), and the stream through our town is really the "Lowell Ditch"?
The Gifford Railway once crossed SR 2 at Dinwiddie, at the intersection of ST 2 and I65?
State Rd. 2, until 1928, drove over the railroad at North Hayden, instead of under?
The "Lowell Truck" was made here?
The pioneers used more oxen than horses to pull their wagons?
One of the buildings destroyed by fire on the north side of Commercial Avenue in 1898 was three stories high?
The village of Tinkerville once stood on Morse Street, just to the east of Creston?
The pioneer Nichols log house was at the site of the present post office in Lowell?
They drilled for oil in the Shelby area in 1902?
In October 1896 a large part of the Kankakee Marsh burned, and an earthquake was felt at Crown Point?
The rim of the Round Flower Garden at Senior Citizens Park in Lowell (the old town square) was once the foundation for the 100-foot-tall tower holding Lowell's first water supply?
The forerunner of the Indy 500 Race went through Lowell, Crown Point and Cedar Lake in 1909? It was the "Cobe" race, won by Louis Chevrolet of France, who drove a Buick.
The west part of the American Legion Post 101 building was once a creamery called "Cedar Valley Creamery"?
The old scout hut still standing behind the Legion building was once an early business building in downtown Lowell, at the northwest corner of Mill Street and Commercial Avenue?
The first courthouse in Crown Point was made of logs?
The pioneer area called "West Point" on the east side of Cedar Lake near the old "Coleman's Corner" was once promoted as the county seat of Lake County?
The old school house still standing on Main Street, built in 1896, replaced a brick school erected in the 1860's?
In pioneer times the Kankakee swamp was 10 miles wide in some places, and Belshaw Rd. was the last trail near the water?
A large steam-powered grist mill, built in 1881 (and demolished in 1927), stood across the tracks from the present Lowell Depot?
Commercial Avenue through the Town of Lowell was lined with large oak trees in the parkway in many places? (This changed when the road was widened in 1928.)
The furniture store building just west of Mill Street on Commercial Avenue was built at the turn of the century as a livery stable and implement shop?
The Town of Lowell once had its own steam-powered electric system, which was sold to the Crown Point Electric Co. and became a part of NIPSCO?
A Lowell Telephone Co. existed?
The Lowell Tribune has been printing since 1885?
Commercial Avenue, SR 2, once was a county road?
Belshaw Rd., south of Lowell, was once a State Rd.?
The Lowell High School basketball team would dress in the old high school (now Middle School) on Oakley Avenue, and run downtown to practice in the old Opera House building at the corner of Mill and Commercial, burned in 1976?
Several stores in the Town of Lowell were equipped with elevators?
205th Avenue in West Creek was once known jokingly as "Tattle Street"?
The Town of Lowell was first called "The Outlet" because Cedar Creek is the outlet of Cedar Lake?
In the 1920's there were as many as six grocery stores in the downtown area at the same time?
There once was a horse tank in front of the building at Wall Street and Commercial and a drinking fountain near the railroad park?
The main road through the Town of Lowell went behind the stores near the Lowell Cemetery, and that there once was an early, church-style mausoleum at the burial grounds?
The restored Rexall Drug sign on the building at Clark Street and Commercial Avenue in Lowell was originally painted in the early 1920's?
There was once a large billboard at the outskirts of Lowell which read: "Drink 'Nature's Tonic' -- Lowell's Sulfur Water"?
A Civil War nurse, Abbie Cutler of Creston, is the only woman whose name is engraved on the Veterans' Monument at Senior Citizens Park?
Near the bridge over Cedar Creek on Main Street in Lowell can still be seen a wide place in the stream, the site of the ole swimming hole, where a few male residents can still remember swimming sans suits?
In 1928 Lake Dalecarlia was slowly filling with water after the new dam was built?
A site in the northwest area of Cedar Lake is still a very large Indian Mound, capped by a cemetery?
Persons of the age of the Old Timer remember the west border of Lowell to be Nichols Street, and the east line to be the Cemetery?
Clark Street was the old way to Cedar Lake, as there was no bridge on Mill Street until 1928?
The Lowell VFW complex on Morse Street north of Lowell was once the site of Castlebrook Golf Course?
The horses that pulled the old fire wagon in Lowell were owned by a man who ran an express business and responded to the fire bell?
The entire police force in the old Town of Lowell was a marshal and one night watchman?
The original frame depot was demolished by the big train wreck in 1952, Lowell's centennial year?
A part of Liberty Park replaced the old town dump?
The Lake Prairie area in West Creek was often called the "Yankee Settlement" in the old history books?
Lowell residents once boasted of a fine old theatre (The Grand), a large building with box seats and a large balcony, featuring operettas, plays and silent movies? (It was torn down in 1936.)
Ornamental metal street lights once graced the downtown area of Lowell?
South Lake County was shown on a map in 1836 as a part of Newton County? Northern Lake County was shown as part of Porter County? (Lake County became a county officially in 1837, due to legislation during the 1835- 1836 session of the Indiana Legislature.)
DID YOU KNOW THAT?
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