Chapter VI: Platting of Fort Wayne and the First Local Government

While the traders, large and small alike, were thus successfully evading any effective control over their operations, Fort Wayne was developing from a frontier army post and portage center into a very prosperous community. Its strategic location, the opening of a land office in 1822 and its selection as the county seat of Allen county brought many new settlers to the area.

The land office was established at Fort Wayne by an act of Congress on May 8, 1822.[1] The coming of Joseph Holman of Wayne county, appointed by President Monroe to serve as the first register of the land office, and Captain Samuel C. Vance of Dearborn county, as the receiver of the public moneys, was the signal for great activity in securing the choicest sites when the sale should open in the fall of 1823.

Register Holman and Captain Vance established their office in the old fort where much of the clerical work of the business came under the direct supervision of a young man who accompanied Captain Vance as his assistant, Allen Hamilton. Hamilton later became one of the most foremost merchants in the Fort Wayne area. He was born in Tyrone county, Ireland in 1798 and came to America in 1817 to retrieve the family wealth which had been lost by his father. In this he was quite successful after arriving at Fort Wayne. As a trader, he became a good friend of the Miamis, and in particular Chief Richardville. In this manner he was generally able to obtain choice land sites from the Indians in exchange for payment of their debts. He and Tipton later became partners in buying and improving Indian lands for speculation. In political affairs he was not so successful, later incurring the powerful opposition of the Ewings by reason of his friendship with the American Fur Company.

The act that set up the land office at Fort Wayne provided that all public lands for which the Indian title had been extinguished and which had not been granted to or secured for the use of any individual or individuals or appropriated and reserved for any other purpose were to be opened for sale. It was necessary to make some decision about the fort and public buildings which had been used by the Indian agency since the withdrawal of the garrison in 1819. Upon the recommendation of Lewis Cass, the site of the fort and thirty acres additional were withheld from the sale in order that the Indians assembling for councils or annuity payments might have a place for encampment. The land speculators were bitterly disappointed and made periodic efforts to secure part of the valuable reserve. Tipton was one of the principal opponents of its sale as long as the agency remained at Fort Wayne.[2]

On October 22, 1823—the thirty-third anniversary of Harmar’s defeat on this same spot, and the twenty-ninth anniversary of the dedication of the original fort—the government land sale was opened in the fort. John T. Barr, a merchant of Baltimore, Maryland, and John McCorkle, an active citizen of Piqua, Ohio, combined their resources and purchased the tract which is known as the Original Plat.

Neither of these original proprietors of Fort Wayne chose to make his home here. Nothing is known of the activities of John T. Barr in Baltimore, beyond the showing of the Baltimore city directories of his period, which refer to him as a merchant. More is known, however, of the activities of John McCorkle. He was born at Piqua in 1791. As the owner of a carding mill, gristmill and oil mill, he laid the foundation for a prosperous future and became Piqua’s most enterprising citizen. In 1819, together with John Hedges, he furnished supplies of beef and bread to the Indians at Fort Wayne while they were awaiting their annuity payments. Two years later he founded St. Mary’s, Ohio. He was actively engaged in state and national politics in 1829, when he died at the age of thirty-eight.

Barr and McCorkle came to the Fort Wayne land sale together, in a bateau, which they propelled down the St. Mary’s river. For the original tract, they paid twenty-six dollars per acre, in that year an extravagant price for western land.[3] They took immediate steps to plat the property and to offer it for sale in the form of business and residence lots. A surveyor was employed to lay out the property which today would include that part of Downtown Fort Wayne bounded on the north by the Nickel Plate Railroad, on the east by Barr Street, on the south by Washington Boulevard, and on the west by the alley between Calhoun and Harrison streets. The plat consisted originally of 110 lots. There were four north-and-south streets and five east-and-west streets.

Alexander Ewing secured eighty acres of ground immediately west of the Barr and McCorkle tract. This later became known as “Ewing’s addition”. The tract known as “Wells pre-emption”, lying between the forks of the St. Mary’s and St. Joseph rivers, having been set aside by Congress for Captain Wells as early as 1808, was purchased by his heirs at the minimum price of $1.25 an acre.

The land offices were continued at Fort Wayne during the period of twenty-one years. The positions connected with it were considered excellent rewards for political service. Thus, with the inauguration of Jackson in 1829 Holman and Vance were removed. Later appointees were also appointed or removed according to the political fortune of their parties.

While the proprietors of their newly purchased land were busy preparing for the sale of lots, the state legislature on December 11, 1823, passed an act creating the county of Allen, with jurisdiction over what is now Wells, Adams, DeKalb, and Steuben counties and portions of Noble, LaGrange, Huntington, and Whitley counties.[4] This area included practically all of northwestern Indiana. The name of Allen county was suggested by John Tipton, who was an ardent admirer of Colonel John Allen, the gallant Kentuckian who, after aiding in the relief of Fort Wayne in 1812, lost his life at the battle of the River Raisin in Michigan.

Barr and McCorkle awaited the organization of the county government, after which they proceeded with the work of securing returns on their investments. At this time there were no streets beyond beaten paths and driveways which had, by chance, come into accepted use whenever one man chose to walk or drive over a route taken by another before him. However, with the laying out of the streets for the future town, the site assumed an air of order and enterprises. There was work for all.

The legislative act creating Allen county took effect April 1, 1824. Six days previous to this date, four state commissioners arrived to select the seat of government for the new county. Throughout the West the various town promoters frequently fought vigorously to have _their_ community selected as county seat. This usually led to fierce rivalries between neighboring towns. However in the case of Allen county, Fort Wayne faced no competition due to its dominant position in location and population, it being the only village of any size in northeastern Indiana. These commissioners, in accordance with instructions from the state legislature, held their session at the tavern of Alexander Ewing, known as Washington Hall, and soon completed the formalities of their mission.

The first election of county officers occurred on May 22. Previous to this, Governor William Hendricks had named Allen Hamilton to serve as sheriff of Allen county. The election of county officers was held in accordance with the sheriff’s proclamation. Although partisan politics did not enter into it, the race was a heated one, as indicated by the attempt of the defeated candidates to contest the election.

The voters selected Samuel Hanna and Benjamin Cushman for associate circuit court judges; Anthony Davis for clerk and recorder; and William Rockhill, James Wyman, and Francis Comparet for county commissioners. Alexander Ewing, a rival of Samuel Hanna, and Marshall K. Taylor, who ran against Comparet, contested the election, claiming that there was an unfair count of the ballots. However, they failed to prove their charges.

At the first meeting of the commissioners, John Tipton was appointed to the important post of county agent. The commissioners also fixed the following figures to regulate the rates to be charged by tavernkeepers, who were required to pay an annual license fee of $12.50 to conduct their business: Dinner, breakfast, and supper 25 cents; keeping horse, night and day, 50 cents; lodging per night 12½ cents; whiskey, per half pint 12½ cents; brandy, per half pint, 50 cents; gin per half pint, 37½ cents; cider, per quart, 18 cents.

The board also decided upon the following rates for assessment on personal property for the year of 1824: Male person, over the age of 21 years, 50 cents; horse or mule, 37½ cents; work oxen, 19 cents; gold watch, $1; silver watch, 25 cents; pinchbeck watch, 25 cents; pleasure carriage, four wheels, $1.50; pleasure carriage, two wheels, $1.00.[5]

Treasurer Holman reported that in 1824 the county was entitled to $111.62 from taxes. The state at that time, and for a long period to follow, paid a bounty on all wolf scalps taken; the certificates thus issued were receivable for tax payments. For the first years, nearly all the taxes of Allen county were paid off in these certificates, a clear indication of the wild nature of the Fort Wayne area.

The first session of the Allen County circuit court was held beginning August 9, 1824, at Ewing’s tavern, with Judges Cushman and Hanna presiding. The records of the opening years of the county’s judicial history reveal the fact that very few of the leading citizens escaped indictment on charges of selling liquor illegally, larceny, assault and battery, gambling, defamation of character, or trespassing, while the civil and chancery cases were numerous from the beginning.[6]

The report of the first grand jury, which was received no doubt with complacency by the community, would if duplicated at the present time precipitate official investigations and loss of positions. But it reflects the spirit of the time in early Fort Wayne. Both of the associate judges were indicted for minor offenses. Of the nine defendants charged with illegal sale of liquors, the large part were men whose names are synonymous with the builders of early Fort Wayne. Six of those accused of the illegal sale of liquor paid fines of three dollars, while the remaining three drew fines of four dollars each. Apparently it was well worth such small fines to be able to trade with the Indians, and the practice continued.

The most important matter to come before the county commissioners in 1824 was the proposition of John T. Barr and John McCorkle in regard to the town plat which they had laid out in August. The offer included a grant to the county treasury of $500 cash and the donation to the county of one square for the use of public buildings (the present Court House square), one lot for a school building, and one lot for a church of no particular denomination, but free to all. In addition to this, Barr and McCorkle offered various other lots located throughout the plat to be disposed of by the county.

The commissioners lost little time in accepting this offer, and the town of Fort Wayne consisting of about sixteen square blocks came into existence. The deed was made out to John Tipton, the county agent. The first lots were sold September 18, 1824, under the direction of Tipton. The buyers were Francis Comparet, William Barbee, William Suttenfield, Edward Mitchel, Thomas Rue, Charles W. Ewing, Rees Goodwin, John J. Griggs, Benjamin Kercheval, Christopher Vallequitte, Jean B. Richardville, Alexander Ewing, William Murphy, Benjamin Archer, Moses Scott, James Scott, William N. Hood, Jacob Everly, Walker and Davis, Samuel Hanna, and Benjamin and Jacob Glossbruner.[7]

Some of these lots, in the heart of the present city, sold for $10.25; the highest brought only $25. The entire thirty-six lots comprising this original sale netted only $690.50, an average of less than $20. per lot. Most of the purchasers made a down payment of half the purchase price. After the sale of some of the remaining lots, Tipton resigned as county agent on September 5, 1825, and Charles W. Ewing was appointed to fill the vacancy.

With the selection of Fort Wayne as the county seat and the improvement and sale of the public lands, new settlers began to arrive in 1824. One of these was Hugh Hanna, the brother of Samuel Hanna, who established the first cabinet and carpenter shop. The villagers were becoming prosperous enough to build more permanent homes and furnish them with better furniture. Chief Richardville and Samuel Hanna, following the best tradition in the East, imported most of their household furnishings from France.

Another indication that Fort Wayne was becoming a village for the more permanent type of settler was the establishment of a small brick factory north of the town by Benjamin Archer who also arrived in 1824. From the products of his yards the first brick building at Fort Wayne was constructed near the end of that year.

Other settlers of 1824 were Mrs. Peter Edsall and her nine children. At Fort Wayne the family purchased a farm. Later her sons—Samuel, John Simon, and William—became identified in the developments of the town, establishing saw mills, laying plank roads, and finally contracting for the construction of the first railroad to reach Fort Wayne. William Stewart, Smalwood Noel, John Bruno, Charles and Francis Minie, Richard Chobert, and Joseph Barron also came to the village in 1824. Most of these people came from Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia by way of the Ohio and St. Mary’s rivers. A few of them came from the Detroit region or from New York state by way of Lake Erie and the Maumee river.

[1]_U. S. Statutes at Large_, 3: 701-2; 6:448.

[2]At a later date part of the reserve was taken over by the state in
connection with the opening of the Wabash-Erie canal; the remaining
twenty acres were purchased by Cyrus Taber and opened for sale in
1835. It appears from John Tipton’s correspondence at the time that
he and Allen Hamilton also had an interest in Taber’s purchase.

[3]_John Tipton Papers_, II, _IHC_, XXV, p. 18.

[4]_Revised Laws of Indiana, 1823-24_, p. 109. This legislative act took
effect April 1, 1824.

[5]Treasurer’s Report for Allen County, 1824, Allen County Historical
Society Archives.

[6]Judge Allen Zollars, “Bench and Bar of Allen County” quoted in
Charles Slocum, _Valley of the Upper Maumee River_, II, p. 439.

[7]_Tipton Papers_, I, _IHC_, XXIV, p. 405.