Culver Assembly Bulletin Recalls Ancient History

The Culver Citizen
Sep 13,20,27, 1933

Culver Assembly Bulletin Recalls Ancient History A glimpse into the early history of this community is given in a bulletin published July in 89, telling of the Culver Park Assembly. This valuable souvenir is the prized possession of S. C. Shilling.

The assembly was founded by H. H. and W. W. Culver on the grounds where the Culver Military Academy is now located with its purpose, as stated in the bulletin, "An organization of gentle men interested in the religious, moral and social advancement of the locality, but in no sense denominational or sectarian." Typical of everything the Culvers undertake, outstanding men of the country were secured for the program which ran from July 19 to August 1. Among them were Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, the great Brooklyn orator-preacher; Rev. John Matthews, the most eloquent preacher in the middle-west at that time; Rev.Sam Jones, the Georgia evangelist; Rev. Ben Deering, the "camp- meeting" preacher from Kentucky; and Prof. E. O. Excell, famous singer and composer of sacred songs.

Attracted Huge Throngs.

Huge throngs were attracted to the assembly that first year, 1889, with special trains bringing the people directly into the grounds They were accommodated in the hotel, tents and cottages on the ground, besides at the other hotels around the lake, which included the N. & G. Ohmer hotel and restaurant near the Marmont depot, the Palmer House, Lake View. Arlington and Lord House, while at Maxinkuckee were the Bay View, Lake House and Heller House.

The assembly was located on about 40 acres at the north end of the lake and the two main buildings were the hotel and the tabernacle. The former was a three-story structure with the offices on the first floor, a 36x72 dining room on the second floor and sixteen large sleeping rooms on the third floor. A meal ticket for 15 meals cost $5.00

Large. Tabernacle.

The tabernacle seated about 1500 in the main room and as many more under the wings. The seats were arranged in circles so that every auditor had a good view of the large platform. The names of the railroads at that time are of interest. There was the Vandalia, Nickel Plate, The Chicago & Atlantic which crossed the Vandalia at Marshland (editor's note what railroad is this now and where is Marshland? Delong and the railroad is the Erie), Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago at Plymouth, Louisville, New Albany & CHicago, and the Toledo & St. Louis

The Culvers and the Lake

H. H. and W. W. Culver, of the Wrought Iron Range Company, St. Louis, both married in the vicinity of the lake, and have spent much time there. Mrs. H. H. Culver is the daughter of the venerable Wm. J. Hand, who now resides on the east side of the lake, near the Assembly grounds. Mr. Hand was one of the early settlers of Marshall County, and has been a resident of the Maxinkuckee vicinity and a very prominent citizen of Marshall County for forty-six years. Mrs W. W. Culver is a daughter of G. S. Cleveland, who has been an active and prominent citizen of the county for forty-seven years, and who still resides at Plymouth. "Both of the Culvers were born in Ohio, and lived there til grown, when they commenced the business of selling stoves. They have travelled all over the Union, selling stoves and ranges. William Wallace Culver is the eldest. He has no residence at the lake, but summers there annually.

Henry Harrison Culver is the President of the Assembly. He has been friend of the lake for years, and has substantial improvements there. Both are men of very active business life. They are determined to make the Culver Park Assembly a useful and successful enterprise.

"In 1883 H. H. Culver bought an old farm and home on the east side, and began to improve it. Then the road ran alongside the lake and the house was on the bluff above the lake shore. He removed it a few feet, and built a handsome cottage at a cost of $8,000, on the site. The road was changed to its present line hack of the cottage, and the lovely bluff site was improved until it has been made one of the prettiest parks and summer sites in Indiana.

When he bought the place and built the house, Mr. Culver was in poor health, and expected to remain by the lakeside permanently on that account. A few years residence there so I completely restored his health that he plunged into business again, and now only has time to visit the lake in the summer months. A heavy stone wall has been constructed along the shore to retain the bank, and a romantic "lover's walk" follows the lake line. On the knoll above the of boat pier is the spot where it is supposed, by old settlers, the great and beloved Indian chief Aubinaubee (editor's note today spelled Aubeenaubee) is buried.

Mr. Culver's farm is well improved. He has now about 300 acres. On the farm is some very fine stock- stock -- thoroughbred cattle, sheep, hogs and horses. Culver Park adjoins, and was a part of it until set apart for park purposes. Mr. Culver's pretty site and its improvements are attractive; but a trip around the lake on one of the steamboats will reveal many other attractive summer homes on the bluffs, nestling beneath the shade of great trees, and from the doors and window of which the happy cottagers look out upon the lovely lake.

Maxinkuckee Lake.

"One of the prettiest little lakes in this country is in Marshall County, Indiana, ten miles from Plymouth, the County seat. It is three miles in length from north to south, and two and one-half miles in width from east to west. It is fed by hidden springs, from which the clear, cold, sparkling water issues all the year round. The shores are clean; clear of weeds, flags and undergrowth, and easily approached at any point. There is no decaying vegetation.The bottom is smooth and gravely. The depth increases from the shores gradually, until in the center it is at least one hundred feet. At a depth of twenty feet a silver dime can be seen at the bottom, so clear is the water and so clean and solid the bed of the lake. On one side the banks are steep and precipitious, high wooded bluffs rising twenty to one hundred feet above the level of the water. On the other side the shores are skirted here and there with woodland.The only apparent inlet is a diminutive stream flowing in through a little valley on the north. The only outlet is a silvery brooklet, flowing off to the southwest, and falling into the Lost Lake.

"The waters are always fresh, pure and cool, however, finding constant inflow from the springs and outflow through some subterranean channel. Although the water is so clear, fish abound, many varieties sporting with the silvery waves or gliding through the depths. It was always a favorite fishing place with the Indians, who made annual encampments about the shores and feasted on the finny tribes of "Maxinkuckee" - a name they gave the lake to denote the crystal clearness of its waters.

Mecca for Indians.

Maxinkuckee had been the rendezvous of Indian tribes for hundreds of years before the Mighty Chief Tecumpse bravely fought General Harrison at Tippecanoe, not far distant. At Maxinkuckee the strong tribes who possessed the fields and forests, lakes and rivers, vales and hills of the now densely populated region of Northern Indiana, held their councils of war, dancing around blazing fires; here too they smoked the pipe of peace, and rejoiced with the laughing waves over victories won, or enemies vanquished. Here they counted the scalps of luckless whites who fell under their merciless tomahawks. Perhaps the rocks and rills of this romantic vicinity, had they tongues to talk, could tell tales of terrible torture and touching trials through which the early settlers of this fine country passed as they sought to wrest from the red man nature's title to these lands.

The sons of nature were charmed by the natural attractions of the lake. Its romantic surroundings were suited to fill their untutored minds with awe, and to touch their responsive souls with feelings of delight. When they were forced to give up other haunts and habitations as the conquering pale face pushed them westward and southward, they clung tenaciously to the lands about the lake. These people of the forest left the loveliest inland sea they or their fathers had ever found in their wanderings, with bitterest tears and deepest sighs. Their legends had peopled the bluffs with the spirits of departed braves and patriarchal Indians, and made the depths of the clear waters the bathing place of their gods; the rising sun shone upon the graves of their sacred dead, and the glow of the declining orb of day made the rippling waters seem to them to speak of the goodness of the Great Spirit, who appeared to smile upon them in the radiance of the sunset or to rebuke them in the fury of the winds that often disturbed the bosom of Maxinkuckee.

Forms an Inspiration.

It is not strange that the imagination of even the savage son of the forest should have been aroused to find associations worthy of the romantic lake and its picturesque surroundings. Poets have found the Muses ever ready there; artists have felt a thrill of delight as they sketched its wide and shining bosom while the rays of a morning sun played upon it, or as the pencil traced on paper the graceful outlines of its shores, or the majestic heights of its bluffs, or the pretty little boats as they glide over its depths, like animated beings.

Orators have found inspiration along its shores; preachers have had glimpses of sacred Galilee as they looked upon its bosom; tired brains have been refreshed, weary frames have revived, careworn souls have been quickened, gloomy minds have been brightened, aching hearts have been healed, in the presence of the delightful little lake. Here the man of business had found rest from the facts and figures of the commercial world; here the teacher has found rest from the rules and three R's of the school room; here the student has found rest from the pages of history, or philosophy, or science; here the preacher has found rest from the sermons and songs of the established sanctuary, as he preached the gospel in God's first temple - the woods.

Here the matron has found relief from the routine duties of the household, and the maiden has rejoiced in the freedom of a circle where the goddess of fashion dare not dictate or demand: Here the invalid sufferer has found the elixir of life that restored color to the cheek, strength to the limbs, and joy to the heart Here the weary wanderer who sought everywhere for health has found the balm of healing. Here the people of crowded cities or summer-heated towns have found fresh air and cool breezes to restore their vigor and energy. The lake is celebrated for the cures of mind and heart and body which have been wrought around its shores. Those who have once visited Lake Maxinkuckee praise it; those who have tarried long love it.

Improvements Started.

Having been opened to the world by the construction of the Terre Haute & Logansport Railroad Vandalia line but a few years since, it has not yet been improved as it ought to be, but the good work has been well begun and will be vigorously prosecuted. The most attractive sites on the bluffs have been improved with handsome summer homes pretty cottages have been built and club houses erected on both sides; and the village of Maxinkuckee on the east side and Marmont on the westside have become thriving little towns. The Vandalia railroad depot at Marmont is a gem. The company is constantly developing its local property, and trying to make the railway an addition to the natural attractions of the lake, rather than blur upon its beauty. All of the cottages erected around the lake are well built and permanent. Several of them are very handsome and expensive.

The Whale's Jaw-Bones.

The story of Jonah and the great fish is at once recalled when you look upon the curiosity of the lake the veritable jaw bones of an enormous whale.

At the boat pier in front of Mr. H. H. Culver's cottage on the east side is erected the real jawbones of an Atlantic whale. These bones were discovered in New Hampshire, by W.W. Culver, a few years ago as he was driving through a village on the Atlantic coast. They had been taken from the head of an immense whale, that was cast upon the shore by the tide, dead; and had been buried for several months, that they might be handled; after which they were kept in salt water nearly a year. The young man who preserved them had many offers for his prize, one from Smithsonian Institute. Several museums also tried to buy them.

Knowing what a rare curiosity they would be in the west, Mr. Culver made an offer for them, with a view of placing them at Maxinkuckee. After considerable correspondence, and at great cost, they were secured by H. H. Culver, and placed in their position.

They weigh more than a ton, and were difficult to handle. The freight and expense of removal was enormous, but nothing compared - to the original cost. They are rare and valuable specimens of the jaw-bones of the great fish of the ocean. At the base these bones are three and one-half feet in circumference. As they stand over the boat entrance they are fifteen feet and eight inches in height.

A fish with such a mouth as was framed about these bones could swallow a Jonah and throw him up without tasting him. The preachers visiting the lake may find an interesting scriptural object lesson in the whale's jaw-bones.

Academy Founded.

The assembly continued for four years when Henry H. Culver conceived the. need of a military school for boys that would give them the training lacking in many homes. The tabernacle was rebuilt into a mess hall and the hotel was used as a barracks and-as class rooms, the Culver Militry Academy opening in the fall of 1894.

In the spring of 1895 the old hotel burned and the brick Main Barracks was immediately built, the first step in the progressive building program that has resulted in the fine group of imposing buildings to be found today on the campus of this famous school.

The Culver Park Assembly is not to be confused with the assembly built by the Christian church on the west side of Lake MaxinKucKee in lays. This assembly continued for a few years and the tabernacle was later used as a general meeting place for public affairs before it was torn down. It is this area that is still referred to as the assembly grounds.