|
|
|
History of The |
|
Gibson County Courthouse |
|
|
|
||
|
Introduction |
||
The area now known as Gibson County has been under French, English and United States flags. The French maintained fur-trading outposts at Miami (Fort Wayne), Quintenon (near Lafayette) and Vincennes. The English defeated the French during the French and Indian Wars (1689-1763), and the Peach of Paris (1763) France surrendered to England all of her territory on the North American mainland. The United States acquired title to the region now known as Indiana in 1783 at the end of the American Revolution. What is now Indiana was apart of the Northwest Territory and later the Indiana Territory. Nearly all of the first settlers in what is now Gibson County were from the British Isles or were their descendants. By contrast, the French settled Vincennes just 25 miles north. Gibson County became a separate unit of the Indiana Territory in March 1813, when it was separated from Knox County. It was not until three years later that Indiana became a state in 1816. According to Virgina Folck, "The First term of the Gibson County court of common please convened at the home of William Harrington on May 10, 1813, Judges William Harrington, Isaac Montgomery, and Daniel Putnam were present at this first session and immediately set off the first five civil townships: Madison, White River, Montgomery, Black River, and "Pattoco" (Patoka), meaning "log on bottom'." On February 14,1814, Judges William Harrington, Joseph Montgomery, and Daniel Putnam held a court of common pleas at which Commissioners William Prince, Robert Elliott, Abel Westfall, and William Polk reported. This report resulted in locating the proposed county seat at what is now known as Princeton. There were to be one hundred sixty acres purchased from the United States government, and the court ordered the first payment of $80 to be made. Henry Hopkins generously donated eighty adjoining acres. The court convened two days later at the home of Henry Hopkins to select a name for the new town. The names the commissioners were placed in a hat, and that of Captain William Prince was drawn and this is how "Prince Town" became Princeton. About two acres were retained by the county as the site for the courthouse. The state road running north and south formed the east boundary for the square, and became Main Street; the boundary on the south was Main Cross Street, now Broadway; the north boundary was North Street, now State; and the western boundary was called Hart Street. The streets were merely dirt wagon tracks scarcely cleared of tree stumps, dusty in the summer and intolerably muddy in the winter. |
|
History of The |
|
|