Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1900 — NAMING THE HOOSIER [ARTICLE]

NAMING THE HOOSIER

Tecumseh, Su war row and Others Bkk*: J gested Before Choice Was Made. A ?: W. A. Bell, uow president of Antioch , College and formerly a resident of in- : dianapolis, has written an interesting palter on the development of Indiana, devoting considerable attention to the naming of Indianapolis in 1821. On this subject Mr. Bell says: Judge Jeremiah Sullivan, of Jefferson County, tells the following story:. Gen. Marston G. Clark proposed “Teenunseh” (in honor of one of Indiana’s most distinguished citizens), and very earnestly insisted upon its adoption. When it failed he suggested other Indian names. One member of the commission proposed "Bnwarrow.” Other names were proposed, discussed, laughed at aud voted down. Finally I moved to fill the blank- with “Indianapolis.” The name created quite a laugh. Samuel Merrill, however, seconded the motion. We discussed the matter fully, the members conversed with each other, informally, the name gradually commended itself and was finally * adopted. In 1821 another commission platted the city, a mile square, and sold at auction over 300 lots. The lot bringing the highest price—ssoo—was the one on the northwest corner of Washington aud Delaware streets. Up to this time almost the entire city plat was covered with immense forest trees. The first store came in 1821 and located on the bank of White River. There was no county organization and therefore no courts—not even a justice of the peace. This was then a part of Delaware Comity, but the citizens had to go to Connersville, in the White Wabash district, for all court business. About this time a young conple concluded to marry, and there was no marriage license to be bad nearer than Connersville, sixty miles away, through an almost unbroken wilderness. But the young man, nothing daunted, started out on foot, and in dne time returned wito bis, license. Even now the trouble wtts not over, for the couple had to wait three or four weeks for a preacher to come along who was authorized to solemnize their marriage. Mooresville, fourteen miles southwest, for many years outranked Indianapolis as a business center. When Calvin Fletcher, I. and Nicholas McCarty opened a drygoods store as partners they advertised through the papers by circulars that th£y had opened a stock of goodo which in size, variety, in quality and price could not be excelled at Lawrenceburg, Madison or Mooresville.