The Vidette-Messenger Centennial EditionThe 1936 special edition celebrating Porter County's centennial year . . . .
The following article has been transcribed from the August 18, 1936, issue of The Vidette-Messenger, published in Valparaiso, Indiana. This particular special edition focuses on Porter County's centennial celebration and contains a 94-page compendium of Porter County history up to that time.
Return to the index of articles from The Vidette-Messenger's Porter County Centennial special edition.
Source: The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso,
Porter County, Indiana; August 18, 1936; Volume 10, Section 1, Pages 4-5.
Porter County's First Century
The story of Porter County's First Century. A community epic from a pioneer
settlement to a bustling and prosperous community is picture produced in
panorama of years since the county's founding in 1836, Intrepid French
missionaries the first white men to traverse the valley, termed it "Natural
Wonderland."
Midwest call is sounded.
The story beings - the narrative of century fraught with achievement.
Porter county is 100 years old in this year of our Lard and there's drama,
intensely human, in her story.
What wonders this century are wrought?
From tallow dip to electric illumination.
From oxcart to skyliner; covered wagon to Zephyr.
From the little red school house to modern educational systems.
From grist mills to world-renowned factories.
From a trading post to a prosperous 22,000 population.
All of these transitions and more are woven into the web of Porter county's
history, which this account will endeavor to chronicle.
But first to digress to lay a foundation for the coming of the pioneer life to
the county; to tell briefly what transpired before those days, over a century
ago when the Morgans, Campbells, Adams, Bells, and Clines cast approving eyes
upon this virgin land and vowed here to build their homes.
More than and a half centuries ago white men first visited the region that is
now Porter county. They were intrepid French traders and Jesuit missionaries,
the former plying their trade and the latter seeking to implant the Cross of
Christianity in the hearts of the red men and to claim the rich northwest
territory for their sovereign, Louis XIV of the throne of France.
In 1672 the two Catholic missionaries - Father Allouez and Father Dablon -
traversed the country from the Lake Michigan shore to the Kankakee river,
stopping at Indian villages and studying the characteristics of the country.
The following year Father Marquette, on his return eastward from the Mississippi
river, passed up the Kankakee river with six of his companions. Upon reaching
the source of that stream they made portage to the St. Joseph river, down which
they passed an then crossed the lake to the French posts on Green Bay.
In 1679 Robert Cavillier, Sieur de la Salle, set out from Canada for the purpose
of discovering the Mississippi river and descending to its mouth. His company of
some thirty men, among whom was Henri de Tond, Father Hennepin, and Sieur de la
Motte, passed down the Kankakee and Illinois rivers. On that occasion, LaSalle
failed to reach the mouth of the great river, and in 1680 he returned eastward
by land, passing through Porter county on his way to Frontenac.
In 1681 he again started westward - this time with a much larger company -
followed the lake share, and in April 1682, reached the mouth of the
Mississippi, where he laid claim in the name of France to all the country
drained by that river and its tributaries, giving the country the name of
Louisiana in honor of the French king. By this act, Porter county became a
dependancy of France.
All northern Indiana became a British possession in 1759, and there sprang up a
spirited rivalry between the French and English for the control of the fur
trade. Louisiana was ceded to the Spanish by the secret treaty of Fontainebleau
in 1762, and nineteen years later the Spanish authorities decided to take
possession of the territory about the head of Lake Michigan.
Although Don Pierre was permitted to occupy the country without bloodshed or
resistance, his victory was of comparatively short duration, for the treaty of
1783, between the newly recognized republic of the United States and Great
Britain, fixed the western boundary of the United States at the Mississippi
river, and Spain was soon forced to acknowledge the claims of the new
government. The British retained possession of the post at Detroit and continued
to exercise dominion over the country in the westward until 1796, when Porter
county really came under the authority of the United States.
The triumph of Continental arms in the Revolutionary war paved the way for the
conquest of the vast Northwest territory, opening the rich middlewest to the
relentless advance of civilization. Settlement was a tedious process, however,
until just before the turn of the nineteenth century in 1796.
Through a peace agreement with the Wyandats, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattomies,
Sacs, Miamis, Delawares and Shawnees, the Indians, in exchange for government
annuities in money and supplies, relinquished large tracts of land which could
be opened for settlement.
By an act of congress, approved May 7, 1800, the territory northwest of the Ohio
river was divided and Gen. William Henry Harrison, later president of the United
States, was appointed governor of the newly established Territory of Indiana. A
meeting was held at Vincennes on January 10, 1801, and certain regulations for
government of the territory adopted.
The first movement of the United States toward exercising authority over the
country around the head of Lake Michigan was in 1803 when Col. John H. Whistler
was directed to establish a fort at the mouth of the Chicago river. The fort was
completed in the spring of 1804 and was named Fort Dearborn.
It became headquarters of the fur traders of the lake, and wielded considerable
influence over the Indiana inhabitants of Porter County. Trappers and hunters
increased in numbers along the Calumet and Kankakee rivers; corn was cultivated
upon the prairies and taken to the fort to supply the white people there, the
traffic being carried on by means of canoes which skirted the lake shore, or by
pack ponies over the Indian trails.
Under the terms of the Greenville treaty the Indians conveyed 16,000,000 acres
of land for the miserable pittance of $2,600 and a promised annuity of $1,000.
Twenty-eight years later, in 1832, dissatisfaction with the treaty provided the
spark that sent the great Indian chieftain, Black Hawk on his mission of pillage
and hate.
Settlement of the treaty territory was marked by untold hardships. Among the
Indian leaders taking part in the trouble was Tecumseh, one of the greatest and
most influential Indian chiefs. The second war with England definitely settled
British interference with the Indians as they considered it no longer an
advantageous policy to pursue and it definitely fixed American title to the
lands south of the Great Lakes as it existed before the war. An attempt was made
by the British commissioners to help their Indian allies in the treaty which
closed the war of 1812; their purpose being an Indian nation in the already
established American northwest territory, but excepting eastern Ohio where white
settlements were definitely and firmly fixed.
The American commissioners refused to consider the proposition and stated they
would break off negotiations if the British commissioners insisted upon settling
aside of American territory for Indian tribes. The British commissioners yielded
and the Indians were left to their fate to make the best terms possible with the
Americans for peace. The Pottawattomies in 1815 made a new peace agreement with
the Americans and in a short time the tribes generally were said to accept the
peace terms offered them.
In 1816, Captain Hezekiah Bradley with two companies of infantry rebuilt Fort
Dearborn on the Chicago river which was destroyed during the war of 1812. At
that time it was ordered abandoned by Captain Heald, successor to Captain
Whistler, as impossible of defense and the seventy men, women and children who
occupied it were attacked by Pottawattomies and Winnebagoes on their retreat
from the fort. Some Miamis who were supposed to be friendly to the United States
were sent to aid them in their retreat and the result was a massacre.
A few survivors, surrendering to the promise they would be sent to Detroit, were
guarded by Shawhena and a few other Indians who intended to carry out the
agreement. Many of the savages insisted on the scalps of the prisoners, and as
they were in the majority, it is doubtful if the prisoners lives would have been
spared but for the arrival of Shauganash, "Billy Caldwell," who by threats and
persuasion, obtained possession of the prisoners and eventually brought them
safely to a white settlement.
Indiana was admitted to statehood in 1816, and the government purchased from the
natives a strip of land ten miles wife, extending across the north part of the
state.
After that the border enjoyed peace and tranquility. Trappers and traders
returned to their favorite haunts and a new era was about to open. John Kinzie,
called by many the father of Chicago, reopened his trading store there after the
arrival of the troops and Jean B. Beanbein also settled there. A short time
later Francis LaFramboise became a resident. As a fur center Chicago now became
generally known.
The various division of the Northwest territory swarmed with agents of the
American Fur Company, organized in 1809 by John Jacob Astor, or New York, and
the Northwest Company, the Mackinaw Company, and the Southwest Company, shortly
came under Astor's control, which gave him a monopoly on the fur trading in the
Great Lakes territory. The practice of the American Fur Company in dealing with
the Indians were of the most pernicious character and through the government
sought to protect them by proper laws, these were not generally observed.
In 1812, the first white settler made his home at the place now known as
Baillytown, in Westchester township. He was Joseph Bailly, or Baille. Mr. Bailly
established a store and built up a considerable trade with the Indians. He had
married an Indian woman, and was thoroughly acquainted with the habits, customs
and language of her people. Madam Bailly spoke French fluently, and adopted many
of the customs and refinements of civilized life, but always retained the dress
of the aborigines. The settlement of Baillytown became widely known. Travelers,
traders, adventurers, missionaries and government officers made it their
rendezvous. It was the leading place for assembly for religious services; it was
an important center of trade; it was a place of safety in time of danger. Mr.
Bailly purchased a sloop in order to navigate the great lakes, and gave his
daughters the advantages of travel and an eastern education.
In 1831 a road was cleared from Detroit to Fort Dearborn. It passed through what
now constitutes Jackson, Westchester and Portage township. It was a wild, rude
pathway, fatiguing in its roughness, abounding in dangers and often uncertain in
its course. Over this a mail line was established between Detroit and Fort
Dearborn, the mail being carried in knapsacks upon the backs of soldiers, two of
whom were regularly detailed for the purpose. In 1832, the entire Northwest was
thrown into great consternation by the tidings of outrage and massacre committed
by Black Hawk in the regions near the Mississippi. The territory of Porter
county, with its single white inhabitant, had little to fear, but the natives
were very much excited by the events. Government troops were immediately
dispatched to the scene of the war, and passed over the Detroit and Fort
Dearborn road.
Alexander Robinson was now chief of the Pottawattomies, having been chosen to
that office in 1828. He was known among the natives by the name Chechebingway.
He convened a great council of the tribe at Fort Dearborn, and successfully used
his influence to establish a lasting peace with the whites. Within this year,
the government purchased the Indian title to all the lands of Porter county
lying south of the old Indian boundary established in 1816.
The doorway to determined settlement was opened in the bloody struggles that
were wages in 1832. The power of the Indians in Illinois, Indiana and other
states was forever shattered and remnants of the once ---?--- tribes, their
spirits broken, were scattered beyond the Mississippi.
Word of a natural wonderland beyond Lake Michigan filtered back through the
east, into Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Connecticut, and all of
New England. Pioneer hearts stirred, God-fearing folk left for this new El
Dorado.
Porter county lent itself naturally to settlement. The broad prairies and
timberlands, blanketed with rich topsoil, attracted the shrewd eyes of the
pioneers, not to mention the striking beauty of the area.
Other factors, too, are explanatory of the wave of migration which engulfed
Indiana in those early decades of the last century.
The improvement in overland travel, the packet down the Ohio, and over the Great
Lakes, and by prairie schooner, over well defined pioneer trails, also played a
part together with the safety of life and property guaranteed by treaty with the
Indians.
Thus the tide of empire moved steadily westward.
Article transcribed by Steven R. Shook