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/