Connie with Noel Brumm’s 1947 International ID 6 tractor we sponsor at the Antique Tractor display!

Early Hendricks County FairsEarly Hendricks County FairsEarly Hendricks County FairsEarly Hendricks County Fairs

The Hendricks County Agricultural Society was organized in 1852,

and bought grounds three acres in extent, a mile west of Danville, for fair purposes. Many changes were made, and additions to the

grounds were purchased from time to time. Fairs were held annu-

ally until 1881, when the society having previously become in-

volved' in debt, it was totally unable to pay its premiums, and the

property was sold. From the History of Hendricks County ~ Intra-State Publishing Company – 1885

Hendricks County History TidbitsHendricks County History TidbitsHendricks County History TidbitsHendricks County History Tidbits

From The Derrick TeamFrom The Derrick TeamFrom The Derrick TeamFrom The Derrick Team

Those Tricky County RoadsThose Tricky County RoadsThose Tricky County RoadsThose Tricky County Roads

As you drive on county roads in Hendricks County you often find the

sudden 90-degree turn with a short bit of road before another turn back in the direction you were driving. This is usually due to the na-

ture of how early roads were based on trails that often cut across the

areas of land before they were sold. You can see variances from some

of the earliest maps of the county roads vs. today’s maps. (The 1876

map below is available at http://www.co.hendricks.in.us/)

Once land was purchased and prepared for use by the new owner

they often asked that the county vacate the road across their new

land. This is evident in early records of county proceedings in various meeting documents in archives. For roads still used the solution often

was to reroute the roads along the property lines. Of course when

mostly used by slow foot and horse traffic 90 degree turns weren’t

much of an issue. Today these corners are usually marked with tire

skid marks from inattentive drivers.

Hendricks County CourthouseHendricks County CourthouseHendricks County CourthouseHendricks County Courthouse

The first courthouse was completed in April 1826

in Danville (2 years after it was created as the

county seat). It was constructed of peeled hick-

ory logs. It was replaced in 1830 with a square brick building. That was later replaced with a

nicer brick building shown below in 1862.

The current limestone courthouse was built in 1913 after the previous

one collapsed in January 1912 due to heavy snow on the roof.

How Danville Got It’s NameHow Danville Got It’s NameHow Danville Got It’s NameHow Danville Got It’s Name

The man directly responsible for the naming of the newly incorporated

county seat of Hendricks County was Judge William Watson Wick, one

of the pioneer jurists of Indiana. He was judge of the Indiana’s fifth

circuit covering several counties. Judge Wick was holding court in

Hendricks County when the commissioners were discussing what to name the county seat as they considered the incorporation in 1858.

The Judge had a brother named Dan and in honor of him he urged the

commissioners to adopt the name Danville, which was done.

About the time of the incorporation of Danville the local water was re-garded the best in the area with springs of pure water at several loca-

tions. One of those springs was even located right in the court house

yard. When an election was held in the town some of the voters would

get thirsty and depart for the spring in the hollow to get a drink. How-

ever, their source of supply was a keg hidden in the bushes alongside the spring. Makes one wonder if they were heading out to the keg to

drink one to Dan, the man their new county seat was named for. The

name Danville stuck and whether you agree or not, you’ll have to be

the Judge. This Information from the History of Hendricks County by Hon. John V. Hadley published in 1914

The Hendricks County Administration Building located in Danville

How Plainfield Got It’s NameHow Plainfield Got It’s NameHow Plainfield Got It’s NameHow Plainfield Got It’s Name When Indiana was first created in 1819 Hendricks County was all

wilderness and inhabited by the Delaware Indians who mainly used

it for hunting ground. The Indians had no major trails or villages in

the county so they only came and hunted the area and then left. Much of the northern part of the county was swampland so the first

settlers found the best area to settle in was the southern sections.

In 1820 many new settlers to the area came from Guilford, North

Carolina and settled on White Lick Creek and used the abundant timber to build log cabins. They named

the township that was formed in the

area Guilford after where they had mi-

grated from. As many of the early set-

tlers were Quakers, they lived a simple life and dressed in rather plain looking

clothes.

As more settlers moved into the area,

they saw the beauty of the wilderness occupied by the plain people and came up with the name of Plainfield to describe what they saw.

Plainfield was first incorporated in 1839 with an election of 42

votes.

Later the incorporation charter was given up in favor of township

rule. In 1904 Plainfield was again incorporated and has continued

to grow as the largest town in Hendricks County.

How Avon Got It’s NameHow Avon Got It’s NameHow Avon Got It’s NameHow Avon Got It’s Name

The first settlement of Avon was about the year 1830. It was dense

forest everywhere. In small clearings little cabins of round logs

sprang up and in a very short time this became a "neighborhood."

In 1833 the first of many post offices were setup and the area was known as Hampton. Later in 1852 it was called White Lick.

In 1867 a Mr. Smoot ran a store and a

headed petition to Washington for a

post office but no name was sug-gested for the new office, so the au-

thorities used the first name on the

petition. When the commission, dated

April 28, 1868, reached him the listed name was Smootsdell.

When the Indianapolis & St. Louis railroad was being surveyed the

man marking the stakes made fun of the name of the post office, and

said, "I'll name the town." He penciled "New Philadelphia" on a stake and drove it in.

When the road was completed the company drove another stake with

"Avon" painted on it. The people liked the name and petitioned to

have the post office name changed to Avon. The Town of Avon was officially incorporated in 1995.

So we really don’t know why Avon came up as a name for the road

company but that’s why Avon is the official name now. I do think it

has a better ring than Smootsdell (sorry Mr. Smoot). Information from “The History of Hendricks County” John V. Hadley 1914

How Brownsburg Got It’s NameHow Brownsburg Got It’s NameHow Brownsburg Got It’s NameHow Brownsburg Got It’s Name

On August 25th, 1835 a man by the name of William Harris recorded

a plat of land under the name of Harrisburgh. This land had been

purchased by him and other family members during the early 1830’s.

At the time he recorded the plat in Danville, he mostly owned the

land to the north of what is now SR 136 and Joshua Harris owned the land to the south side extending west of White Lick Creek.

As William seemed to be determined to develop the area, Joshua sold

a portion to William on September 17, 1836 making William the sole

owner of the area around what is now SR 136 and Green St. William then divided the area into lots to establish the town center at this

point to be known as Harrisburgh. When the first post office was to

be setup in the new town, it was determined there was already a

town named Harrisburgh in Indiana (that no longer exists) so the town name was changed to Brownsburgh in honor of James B.

Brown, the original settler of the area.

In 1848 the town was incorporated and a chairman and 5 trustees

were elected to oversee town affairs. Due to reasons not clear this status was lost afterwards until 1893 and the county commissioners

revived the status but the “h” was dropped from the name.

So if not for a town that no longer exists, we would be cheering on

the Harrisburgh Bulldogs. This information from a great book, “The Village of Brownsburg” by Peg Kennedy

and Frankie Konovsek.

Notes From Early Hendricks County Notes From Early Hendricks County Notes From Early Hendricks County Notes From Early Hendricks County

The eighth General Assembly of Indiana met in early December of

1823 and created 3 counties. On December 20th of that year Governor

William Hendricks signed the bill officially creating them, passed by

both houses of the Legislature, and one new county was named in his honor. Hendricks County officially started operations on April 1st, 1824.

The first handful of settlers setup their initial location on White Lick

creek on the south side of what is now Plainfield in the spring in 1820.

Indianapolis was a small town then and the nearest transportation for supplies was from the Wabash River. The original settlers cut a trail to

the Wabash and called it the Terre Haute trail, which was near the area

eventually used for the National road that later became US 40.

The first recorded birth in Hendricks County was in 1820. The first

death was in 1821. The first 2 schools were built in the summer of

1823. The first marriage license issued by the county clerk was on Nov

17th, 1824 with the marriage performed by the first justice of the

peace, Samuel Jessup.

The area that eventually became Hendricks County was originally part

of the Delaware Indians territory that covered much of central Indiana.

There were no permanent Indian villages as most of the area was used

for hunting. When the early settlers moved in the Indians were very friendly and there was a peaceful coexistence that lasted until they left

to go west because of The Treaty of St. Mary’s. By 1826 there were no

Indians left in the area.

The first judges of Hendricks County took an oath to the Constitution of the United States, The State of Indiana, their office, and against duel-

ing. Apparently the state legislatures wanted to do away with that

common English tradition still in use at that time.

Find out even more about Hendricks County History

at The Hendricks County Historical Museum. 170 South Washington St. Danville, IN 46122

317-718-6158

Open: Saturday 11am - 3pm

www.hendrickscountyhistoricalmuseum.org/