Now Available Historic Howe
The Philomaths of Howe have been working hard to compile a new book, Historic Howe, which was introduced during the 2014 Indian Summer Days. This book, containing 276 pages, is a collection of written and oral history, handed down through several generations of Howe residents and contains 180 pictures. Historic Howe is available for $15.00 at Farmers State Bank in Howe, or by calling Karen Yoder at 260-562-3527. Checks should be made payable to: The Philomaths. If you are out of town and wanting a copy mailed to you please contact Karen Yoder.
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Early History of Howe
From: A History of Lima Township, LaGrange County, Indiana
As a project for the 1976 Bicentennial Anniversary, the Howe, Indiana, Lions Club decided to gather some historical information about Lima township. This is excerpt from their finished project.
Early History of Howe by Marguerite E. Smith
When the first white settlers came to the present site of Howe in 1828, they found what had been a well-populated and widely known Indian village, called Mongoquinong or Big Squaw Village, the home of part of the Pottawatomie Indian tribe.
The first permanent white settlement in LaGrange County was made one-half mile west of Howe, then called Mongoquinong, and later Lima. Here Benjamin Blair erected a small log cabin late in 1828. The land called Mongoquinong Prairie by the Indians was rich and fertile and had a number of beautiful lakes.
Earlier the same year, Nathan Folwer, said to be a soldier of the Revolution, built a small log cabin on the north side of Fawn River, near the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge north of Howe. Soon the family of Jason Thurston was also occupying the one room log cabin along with the Folwer family.
In 1829 Moses and Ica Rice settled near Mongoquinong. The latter opened a trading post for barter with the Indians. And the former built the first log cabin in the southern part of what is now Howe.
As the settlers began to appear, the Indians began to scatter and retire, until, in 1828, perhaps no more than thirty wigwams were standing at Mongoquinong. And those were scattered for some distance along Pigeon River. And finally the Indians disappeared altogether, being removed by the government in 1839.
In 1834 the village of Mongoquinong, where the county seat was established, was laid out by John Kromer, surveyor of land owned by Moses and Ica Rice. In order that the county seat might be located in Mongoquinong, 84 of the 286 lots were given to the county, also a public square was donated and two acres of land for a cemetery, which is now known as the Riverside Cemetery. The court house was a frame structure. It was built on the public square. And a frame jail was located on the south-west corner of the square. Eventually it was moved to the south-west corner of the block just south of the square. Where in later years it was used as a house, then a barn, until in more recent years it was wrecked to make way for a modern garage.
The name Mongoquinong was changed to Lima by a special act of the State Legislature in 1833 or 1834. The Williams addition to the village was laid out in 1836, north of the original plat. The county seat was moved from Lima to Lagrange in 1844. The court house was used for a school, a hotel, and a doctor’s office. It finally was destroyed by fire.
The growth of Lima between 1832 and 1838 was very rapid, and it continued to grow and thrive until the county seat was removed to Lagrange. As soon as the county seat was established at Lima, lawyers, constables, and judges began to appear. John B. Howe, one of the clearest and profound thinkers ever to appear in Northern Indiana, appeared in 1833 and began to practice law.
John B. Howe was born in Boston in 1813. His father, Rev. James B. Howe, was a Harvard graduate and an Episcopalian preacher. At 19, after graduating from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., he was eager to step into the challenging untouched parts of America to the west. He set forth for Detroit in the autumn of 1832. Later he went to Marshall, Mich. After spending a year studying in Michigan law offices, he picked Howe, then Lima, because it was located between the two rivers: Pigeon River and Fawn River. At that time all civilization had to be on waterways.
In 1834, when Mr. Howe was 21 he became the first lawyer to be admitted to the Lagrange County Bar. In 1840, he represented Steuben, Noble, Dekalb, and Lagrange County in the State Legislature, and in 1850 was a member of the Indiana State Constitutional Convention
Before the railroads there were wagon roads. First there were Indian trails, allowing travel in single file by man or horse; then came the wagon road, the state lines, the plank road, and finally the railroad. The principle Indian trails run from Mongoquinong Prairie to White Pigeon, Michigan and on to Fort Wayne, and along those trails the first wagon roads were opened by the hardy pioneers. The Fort Wayne road was the great highway for a number of years. At Fort Wayne was purchased most of the merchandise used by the early settlers and to that city went the grain and other farm produce. In 1836, a stage line was put on from Lima to Constantine, Mich., to which point boats then plied on the St. Joseph River.
In 1835, a road was established known as the Vistula (Detroit) road, which ran east and west through Lima and on toward Detroit. This became a much used highway. Sate Road 120 through Howe, known historically as “The Vistula Road,” is the oldest path of travel in the Central West, being used beyond the span of recorded history as a main Indian trail, then by the French traders and missionaries, later clamed as a possession of Spaniards, and then used by the English and American colonial soldiers.
The road has been under the flags of three nations, and was opened while France claimed and had possession of the land along the old trail.
The road or trail was originally an Indian trail, leading from the south shore of Lake Michigan, now Chicago, to what is now Toledo, thence along the south shore of Lake Erie to Sandusky settlement and to old Fort Duquesue, a French possession, now the city of Pittsburgh.
The road is well over 200 years old, out-dating the United States republic by perhaps 75 years. It was used to forward French provincial troops to French settlements or posts in Wisconsin. It was first traveled by the French Jesuits and explorers.
It was called the “Territorial Road” because it led to the territories of Indiana and Michigan, the name “Territorial” being applied to it after the British evacuated the territory, which was about 1816, after the War of 1812-1815 between the States and Great Britain.
The road was known as the Vistula road when it was under the French flag. Then after the French and Indian Wars, when the country fell under the rule of Great Britain, English troops marched over the road to Fort Dearborn (Chicago) and beyond.
One of the best stores ever in Lima was kept by Gale and Williams, and afterwards by Samuel P. Williams, who did business on a gigantic scale until 1853. The goods were purchased in New York, shipped by Erie Canal to Buffalo, transported by vessel to Michigan City and then hauled in wagons to Lima. The freight bill amounted to $3,000 on a stock valued at $20,000. Owing to the scarcity of money in early years, sales were usually a sort of barter. Mr. Williams took large quantities of pork, wheat, butter, eggs, etc., shipping the same by wagon to Eastern markets.
In 1854, Samuel P. Williams and John B. Howe found the LaGrange Bank of Lima, receiving a charter under the free banking law of the State and having a circulation of $70,000. A good banking business was done until 1857, when the bank became a branch of the State Bank of Indiana, with a capital stock of $150,000, this was owned by 12 men, among whom were John B. Howe, Samuel P. Williams, Samuel Burnell, James B. Howe, Thomas J. Spaulding, A. Halsey and Philo Nichols. In 1862 in accordance with an act of Congress the institution became a National Bank, with about the same stockholders, with a capital stock of $100,000. It continued thus until 1880, when a private banking business was begun. The same stockholders soon founded the National Bank of Sturgis, owning a controlling interest in the stock, and bought largely of the stock of the National Bank of Coldwater.
In 1833, a small log school house was built about a quarter of a mile southeast of Mongoquinong. Here it was a rude affair with three or four small windows, a huge fireplace, and a few rough desks and benches. John B. Howe taught the first school in Lagrange County. Some 18 or 20 scholars were in attendance, and the teacher was paid some $10 or $12 per month for his services. It was not a subscription school but the funs to pay him were either raised by ordinary taxation or from the sale of Section 16. After 1835, the school was held in vacant houses, the Presbyterian Church, and the court house, until a frame school was erected where the depot used to stand north of the Lima Elevator, at a cost of $500. This was used until the beginning of the Civil War.
In 1855, Samuel P. Williams, along with other citizens, erected a frame building, at a cost of $2,500, on the lot just west of the “Old Home” and where the Slater home now stands, for a young ladies’ seminary. A graduate of Mount Holyoke was employed at a salary of $300 a year to take charge. From 25 to 60 young ladies were in attendance but the school was barely self-supporting. In 1862, the seminary was sold to the village, and used as a public school until the original part of the present school was built in 1874-1875 at a cost of over $20,000. The Lima Township Consolidated High School was the first in the state to be commissioned, which was in the year 1887.
The earliest attempt at building a railroad of local interest to Lima was the projected Buffalo and Mississippi Railroad for which a charter was given by the Legislature in 1836-37. Most of the pioneers agreed to mortgage their farms in order to buy stock because they realized what a benefit it would be to their economy. But it was soon known as a defunct enterprise. For more than 20 more years their products were taken to market by teams and the necessary commodities then brought back by team at great expense.
The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, first agitated in 1855, was not completed until 1870. The first locomotive reached the village of Lima from Sturgis on April 11, 1870, and was welcomed by the roar of cannon and band music. Flags were flying to the breezes and old men and youth shook hands as never before. The next year the road was constructed from Sturgis to Grand Rapids.
Rev. Leonard B. Gurley organized the Methodist Church at Lima in the home of Robert Hamilton in 1831 – the first religious society organized in the county.
In July 1832, Rev. Christopher Cory preached in Lima, in the open air, having a stump for a pulpit. From this time onward he continued his labors, preaching in private homes, the school house and elsewhere, until November 1833 when he organized the Presbyterian Church of Lima.
Bishop Philander Chase was the first minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church who preached in Lima. He was the first Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio. He preached at Lima as early as 1834, but resided in Michigan. I 1836-37, Mr. Whitesides preached every alternate Sunday at Lima. The Church was established at Lima in 1851, and the church building was erected in 1852.
In his later years, John B. Howe devoted his time to a study of financial problems, publishing four books, and to making speeches in all sections of the state. Upon his death in 1883, his estate left $10,000 and his residence, which had been constructed in 1875 at a cost of $22,000, to the Diocese of Indiana.
In 1884, Bishop Knickerbocker, Mrs. John B. Howe, and the Rev. Dr. Charles Spaulding, after a careful study established the Howe Grammar School with Dr. Spaulding as Rector. In 1895, Dr. Spaulding resigned and the trustees leased the school to the Rev. John Heyward McKenzie. Under his administration the school grew and was established upon a modified military basis. In 1920 upon the death of Dr. McKenzie the trustee took over the unexpired lease and determined to carry on the school themselves in trust for the Episcopal Church.
The name of Lima was changed to Howe in 1909 honoring John B. Howe, the first lawyer, the first teacher, the first banker and the founder of Howe School.
As a project for the 1976 Bicentennial Anniversary, the Howe, Indiana, Lions Club decided to gather some historical information about Lima township. This is excerpt from their finished project.
Early History of Howe by Marguerite E. Smith
When the first white settlers came to the present site of Howe in 1828, they found what had been a well-populated and widely known Indian village, called Mongoquinong or Big Squaw Village, the home of part of the Pottawatomie Indian tribe.
The first permanent white settlement in LaGrange County was made one-half mile west of Howe, then called Mongoquinong, and later Lima. Here Benjamin Blair erected a small log cabin late in 1828. The land called Mongoquinong Prairie by the Indians was rich and fertile and had a number of beautiful lakes.
Earlier the same year, Nathan Folwer, said to be a soldier of the Revolution, built a small log cabin on the north side of Fawn River, near the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge north of Howe. Soon the family of Jason Thurston was also occupying the one room log cabin along with the Folwer family.
In 1829 Moses and Ica Rice settled near Mongoquinong. The latter opened a trading post for barter with the Indians. And the former built the first log cabin in the southern part of what is now Howe.
As the settlers began to appear, the Indians began to scatter and retire, until, in 1828, perhaps no more than thirty wigwams were standing at Mongoquinong. And those were scattered for some distance along Pigeon River. And finally the Indians disappeared altogether, being removed by the government in 1839.
In 1834 the village of Mongoquinong, where the county seat was established, was laid out by John Kromer, surveyor of land owned by Moses and Ica Rice. In order that the county seat might be located in Mongoquinong, 84 of the 286 lots were given to the county, also a public square was donated and two acres of land for a cemetery, which is now known as the Riverside Cemetery. The court house was a frame structure. It was built on the public square. And a frame jail was located on the south-west corner of the square. Eventually it was moved to the south-west corner of the block just south of the square. Where in later years it was used as a house, then a barn, until in more recent years it was wrecked to make way for a modern garage.
The name Mongoquinong was changed to Lima by a special act of the State Legislature in 1833 or 1834. The Williams addition to the village was laid out in 1836, north of the original plat. The county seat was moved from Lima to Lagrange in 1844. The court house was used for a school, a hotel, and a doctor’s office. It finally was destroyed by fire.
The growth of Lima between 1832 and 1838 was very rapid, and it continued to grow and thrive until the county seat was removed to Lagrange. As soon as the county seat was established at Lima, lawyers, constables, and judges began to appear. John B. Howe, one of the clearest and profound thinkers ever to appear in Northern Indiana, appeared in 1833 and began to practice law.
John B. Howe was born in Boston in 1813. His father, Rev. James B. Howe, was a Harvard graduate and an Episcopalian preacher. At 19, after graduating from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., he was eager to step into the challenging untouched parts of America to the west. He set forth for Detroit in the autumn of 1832. Later he went to Marshall, Mich. After spending a year studying in Michigan law offices, he picked Howe, then Lima, because it was located between the two rivers: Pigeon River and Fawn River. At that time all civilization had to be on waterways.
In 1834, when Mr. Howe was 21 he became the first lawyer to be admitted to the Lagrange County Bar. In 1840, he represented Steuben, Noble, Dekalb, and Lagrange County in the State Legislature, and in 1850 was a member of the Indiana State Constitutional Convention
Before the railroads there were wagon roads. First there were Indian trails, allowing travel in single file by man or horse; then came the wagon road, the state lines, the plank road, and finally the railroad. The principle Indian trails run from Mongoquinong Prairie to White Pigeon, Michigan and on to Fort Wayne, and along those trails the first wagon roads were opened by the hardy pioneers. The Fort Wayne road was the great highway for a number of years. At Fort Wayne was purchased most of the merchandise used by the early settlers and to that city went the grain and other farm produce. In 1836, a stage line was put on from Lima to Constantine, Mich., to which point boats then plied on the St. Joseph River.
In 1835, a road was established known as the Vistula (Detroit) road, which ran east and west through Lima and on toward Detroit. This became a much used highway. Sate Road 120 through Howe, known historically as “The Vistula Road,” is the oldest path of travel in the Central West, being used beyond the span of recorded history as a main Indian trail, then by the French traders and missionaries, later clamed as a possession of Spaniards, and then used by the English and American colonial soldiers.
The road has been under the flags of three nations, and was opened while France claimed and had possession of the land along the old trail.
The road or trail was originally an Indian trail, leading from the south shore of Lake Michigan, now Chicago, to what is now Toledo, thence along the south shore of Lake Erie to Sandusky settlement and to old Fort Duquesue, a French possession, now the city of Pittsburgh.
The road is well over 200 years old, out-dating the United States republic by perhaps 75 years. It was used to forward French provincial troops to French settlements or posts in Wisconsin. It was first traveled by the French Jesuits and explorers.
It was called the “Territorial Road” because it led to the territories of Indiana and Michigan, the name “Territorial” being applied to it after the British evacuated the territory, which was about 1816, after the War of 1812-1815 between the States and Great Britain.
The road was known as the Vistula road when it was under the French flag. Then after the French and Indian Wars, when the country fell under the rule of Great Britain, English troops marched over the road to Fort Dearborn (Chicago) and beyond.
One of the best stores ever in Lima was kept by Gale and Williams, and afterwards by Samuel P. Williams, who did business on a gigantic scale until 1853. The goods were purchased in New York, shipped by Erie Canal to Buffalo, transported by vessel to Michigan City and then hauled in wagons to Lima. The freight bill amounted to $3,000 on a stock valued at $20,000. Owing to the scarcity of money in early years, sales were usually a sort of barter. Mr. Williams took large quantities of pork, wheat, butter, eggs, etc., shipping the same by wagon to Eastern markets.
In 1854, Samuel P. Williams and John B. Howe found the LaGrange Bank of Lima, receiving a charter under the free banking law of the State and having a circulation of $70,000. A good banking business was done until 1857, when the bank became a branch of the State Bank of Indiana, with a capital stock of $150,000, this was owned by 12 men, among whom were John B. Howe, Samuel P. Williams, Samuel Burnell, James B. Howe, Thomas J. Spaulding, A. Halsey and Philo Nichols. In 1862 in accordance with an act of Congress the institution became a National Bank, with about the same stockholders, with a capital stock of $100,000. It continued thus until 1880, when a private banking business was begun. The same stockholders soon founded the National Bank of Sturgis, owning a controlling interest in the stock, and bought largely of the stock of the National Bank of Coldwater.
In 1833, a small log school house was built about a quarter of a mile southeast of Mongoquinong. Here it was a rude affair with three or four small windows, a huge fireplace, and a few rough desks and benches. John B. Howe taught the first school in Lagrange County. Some 18 or 20 scholars were in attendance, and the teacher was paid some $10 or $12 per month for his services. It was not a subscription school but the funs to pay him were either raised by ordinary taxation or from the sale of Section 16. After 1835, the school was held in vacant houses, the Presbyterian Church, and the court house, until a frame school was erected where the depot used to stand north of the Lima Elevator, at a cost of $500. This was used until the beginning of the Civil War.
In 1855, Samuel P. Williams, along with other citizens, erected a frame building, at a cost of $2,500, on the lot just west of the “Old Home” and where the Slater home now stands, for a young ladies’ seminary. A graduate of Mount Holyoke was employed at a salary of $300 a year to take charge. From 25 to 60 young ladies were in attendance but the school was barely self-supporting. In 1862, the seminary was sold to the village, and used as a public school until the original part of the present school was built in 1874-1875 at a cost of over $20,000. The Lima Township Consolidated High School was the first in the state to be commissioned, which was in the year 1887.
The earliest attempt at building a railroad of local interest to Lima was the projected Buffalo and Mississippi Railroad for which a charter was given by the Legislature in 1836-37. Most of the pioneers agreed to mortgage their farms in order to buy stock because they realized what a benefit it would be to their economy. But it was soon known as a defunct enterprise. For more than 20 more years their products were taken to market by teams and the necessary commodities then brought back by team at great expense.
The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, first agitated in 1855, was not completed until 1870. The first locomotive reached the village of Lima from Sturgis on April 11, 1870, and was welcomed by the roar of cannon and band music. Flags were flying to the breezes and old men and youth shook hands as never before. The next year the road was constructed from Sturgis to Grand Rapids.
Rev. Leonard B. Gurley organized the Methodist Church at Lima in the home of Robert Hamilton in 1831 – the first religious society organized in the county.
In July 1832, Rev. Christopher Cory preached in Lima, in the open air, having a stump for a pulpit. From this time onward he continued his labors, preaching in private homes, the school house and elsewhere, until November 1833 when he organized the Presbyterian Church of Lima.
Bishop Philander Chase was the first minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church who preached in Lima. He was the first Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio. He preached at Lima as early as 1834, but resided in Michigan. I 1836-37, Mr. Whitesides preached every alternate Sunday at Lima. The Church was established at Lima in 1851, and the church building was erected in 1852.
In his later years, John B. Howe devoted his time to a study of financial problems, publishing four books, and to making speeches in all sections of the state. Upon his death in 1883, his estate left $10,000 and his residence, which had been constructed in 1875 at a cost of $22,000, to the Diocese of Indiana.
In 1884, Bishop Knickerbocker, Mrs. John B. Howe, and the Rev. Dr. Charles Spaulding, after a careful study established the Howe Grammar School with Dr. Spaulding as Rector. In 1895, Dr. Spaulding resigned and the trustees leased the school to the Rev. John Heyward McKenzie. Under his administration the school grew and was established upon a modified military basis. In 1920 upon the death of Dr. McKenzie the trustee took over the unexpired lease and determined to carry on the school themselves in trust for the Episcopal Church.
The name of Lima was changed to Howe in 1909 honoring John B. Howe, the first lawyer, the first teacher, the first banker and the founder of Howe School.