UNION TOWN - MARMONT - Culver  

The present town of Culver has had considerable of a struggle in its original survey and in keeping the names that have been given it from time to time. Union Town was originally laid out and platted by Bayless L. Dickson, who owned a farm bordering on the lake, a part of which embraced the territory now covered by the town of Culver . This was on the 8th of June, 1844

The following is a copy of the statement made and the certificate attached to the original plat of Union Town :

Union Town is pleasantly situated in the southwest quarter of section 16, town 32, range 1 east. It is laid out in such a manner that it presents to the eye a view of Lake Maxinkuckee, and is surrounded with as good a country as can be found in northern Indiana. It has the advantage of three state and two county roads running through it. The streets are all 66 feet in width and the alleys are 1 61/2, feet.

BAYLESS L. DICKSON, Proprietor.
Witness: G. S. Cleaveland, John L. Westervelt.
Union Town, June 8, 1844

. In 1857 Thomas K. Houghton became the owner of the town, and on the 9th day of June, 1857, filed the following certificate attached to what purported to be an amended plat of Union Town.

"Union Town is situated in the southeast corner of section 16, town 32, north range 1 east, Marshall county, Indiana. The southeast of said section is the commencing point of this town plat; the streets are all of a width, being 66 feet; the alleys are 66 feet; the lots are 66 feet in front and 99 feet back; so planned by the original survey. All lines running north and south bare no degrees and ten seconds east, and those that run east and west bare south eighty-nine degrees east. The magnetic variation at this date is 50 degrees 10' east. I, J. B. N. Klinger, Surveyor of Marshall County, certify the above to be correct."

Prior to this date, to-wit: May 6, 1857, Thomas K. Houghton appeared before M. W. Smith, a justice of the peace in Plymouth, and acknowledged that the above survey locating and laying off said town of Union Town was done by his order and direction for the purpose of locating a town by that name and as therein specified by the surveyor thereof. That said survey and plat is intended to supply the place of the old survey made by Henry B. Pershing, that being inaccurate.

On the 20th of March, 1890, the following affidavit was filed for record in the recorder's office :

"I, J. B. N. Klinger, ex-surveyor in and for Marshall county, state of Indiana, Swear that, upon the request of Thomas K. Houghton, then Owner and proprietor of the town of Union Town, in said county, he employed me as surveyor of said county, April 24, 1851, to resurvey and plat said Union Town. In setting out the location I made a clerical error, locating it in the southeast corner of section 16, township 32, north, range 1 east, when it sho uld read southwest corner of said section No. 16, township 32, north range 1 east, and the same was part of record, the error being over looked, and further deponent sayeth not."

February 13, 1884, Peter Allerding filed what he called the "Vandalia Addition to said Union Town." The addition is in the west half of the south forty acres of section 16, 32, I, except Thomas K. Houghton's corrected addition; also except three acres known as Bowles lot, and three acres immediately south of the same. Said addition being divided into 24 lots, and numbered from 1 to 24 inclusive; also 5 outlots and numbered from 1 to 5 inclusive. The length and breadth of said lots being indicated by figures on said plat; also the width of all the streets and alleys.

On the 5th day of August, 1886, Albert D. Toner made an addition to the Vandalia addition, said addition being laid out of lots Nos. 3,4 and 5 of school s ubdivision of Section 16, 32, I, commencing at the northwest corner of said lot No.3; said additions being divided as shown on plat in 13 lots and numbered from 1 to 13 inclusive; and also eleven outlots, numbered from 1to 31 inclusive. The length and breadth of said lots being indicated by figures on said plat; also the width of all streets and alleys are so indicated, except from this plat outlots 2, 7, 8, 10 and 11.

Marmont -

The name of Union Town was changed to Marmont when a resurvey was made in 1851. Dr. G. A. Durr was a resident of Union Town at that time, He was of French descent and succeeded in having the name changed to Marmont in honor of a French general of that name.

It was many years after the village took the name of Marmont before it as incorporated under the law as a town. The first election was held under the corporation J uly 5, 1894; the election board being composed of J. H. Koontz, D. C. Walter and E. M. Scates.

The following was the res ult of the election :

Trustees: S. E. Medburn, Marcus F. Mosher and John W. Solider ;

clerk, Fred L. Carl;

treasurer, Henry M. Speyer;

marshal, John F . Crumley. Crumley did not qualify, and the board appointed Ozlas Duddleson who did not furnish bond. The board then appointed Nathaniel Candy, who qualified and served.

On October 4, 1895, the board of commissioners changed the name from Marmont to Culver City, on petition of 0. A. Rea and ninety-nine others, being a majority of the qualified electors of said Culver City.

The first election after the name was changed to Culver City was held May 6, 1896, res ulted as follows: Trustees: J. H. Castleman, E. W. Cuiselman, F. B. Harris, of whom Mr. Harris was subsequently chosen president of the board; clerk, Charles Zekiel; treasurer, Henry Speyer ; marshal, Nathaniel Candy. The proposition to change the name of Marmont to Culver City met with the unanimous approval of the citizens of the town; but when the matter was presented to the post office department at Washington it declined to change the name of the post office to Culver City for the reason there was already a post office in Indiana by the name of Culver , a village by that name in Tippecanoe County on the line of the Big Four railroad, and for the further reason the word "City" had been eliminated from all towns bearing that annex to the reg ular name. Henry H. Culver , after whom the town had been named, went to the village of Culver in Tippecanoe County and at once entered into negotiations with the authorities of the town of Culver to change the name so that the name of Culver in Marshall county co uld be recognized by the post office department and thus secure the naming of the post office, Culver , the same as the town. In the prosecution of his negotiations Mr. Culver found that the town of Culver in Tippecanoe County had been named in honor of a man by the name of Crane Culver , and the citizens were much opposed to making any change. Mr. Henry H. Culver was one of those sort of men that never gave up any laudable undertaking, and having for his motto, "Where there is a will there is a way ," he concluded to use a little financial diplomacy and proposed to pay the town authorities all expenses of the change for the name of Culver , and suggested that they co uld honor the name of the Culver for whom the town had been named by giving it Mr. Culver 's first name "Crane." These suggestions were agreed upon and the contract f ully carried out. The papers were properly made out and forwarded to the post office department at Washington, which recognized the name of Crane instead of Culver , and changed the name of Marmont to Culver , omitting the word "city ," and so Marmont and Culver City became Culver and will probably so remain for all time to come.

The government census of 1900 gave the pop ulation of Culver at 505. A census taken January 1,1908, by the editor of the Culver Citizen shows the pop ulation to be at that date 661.

Culver Fire Department.

The Culver fire department was organized January 22, 1903, in accordance with a resolution of the town board. The charter members were: 0. M. Byrd, Ed Zekiel, Charles Medburn, F. W. Cook, Al Mawhorter Walter Byrd, Will Cook, M. H. Foss, G. W. Smith, Thomas E. Slattery: Arthur Morris, T. 0. Saine and J. R. Saine.

First Officers: Chief, T. 0. Saine; assistant chief, Arthur Morris; secretary, J. R. Saine; treasurer, Thomas E. Slattery. T. 0. Saine held the position of chief until he resigned August 9, 1906, when 0. A. Gandy was elected to fill the vacancy, and was reelected January 10, 1907. March 16, 1905, the company purchased a building, where it has a permanent home.

At the time of its organization the company had no equipment save a few rubber buckets and three ladders purchased by the town, which were so heavy it required the combined efforts of a dozen men to erect them. With the installation of waterworks in the fall of 1907 a hose cart and hose was provided and the company had some real practice in the art of fire fighting, developing a degree of proficiency surprising in view of their unfamiliarity with fire apparatus. In November 1907, through the generosity of Chief Fred H. Kuhn, of the Plymouth fire department, the company was presented with a hook and ladder truck, which has been thoroughly overha uled and repaired and proves to be ideal for their requirements.

Antiquarian and Historical Society

. The following notice appeared in the Marshall County Republican of February 15,1858, and indicates that the people of that part of the county, even at that early day, were alive to the importance of preserving for future generations the early history of the county:

"Notice 1st. That a meeting will be held at the schoolhouse in Union Town on the evening of March 4, 1858, to take into consideration the propriety of forming a society to be known as the ‘Antiquarian and Historical Society,' for the purpose of collecting as many of the circumstances and incidents relative to the settlement of this region of country from the first settlement to the present time, that it may be read by posterity, which we believe will be of great interest. Union Town, February 15, 1858."

Who the movers in the matter were, or whether the organization was effected, nothing can be ascertained. Bayless L. Dickson, who :was the founder of Union Town, and one of the earliest settlers in that region, was probably the head of it. Isaac N. Morris, who was something of a historian and a great reader, and who lived near by, was undoubtedly one of those who were interested in preserving the history of that locality, but these early pioneers and many others who resided there then have passed away, leaving no record to perpetuate the history they helped to make.

Exchange Bank of Culver

Mr. S. C. Shilling is the president of the bank and William Osborn cashier. When Mr. Shilling took charge of the bank in 1901 the deposits were $18,000, the loans $11,000, and the number of open accounts 100. At the present time the deposits are $50,000, the loans $40,000 and the open between 250 and 300. The bank recently purchased an eligible lot in the center of the town, on which it erected and is now settled home amid surroundings luxurious enough to place it in the rank with similar institutions anywhere in the northern part of the building is the finest in the town of Culver , and in addition to it houses that other leading business factor, the post office, besides to the Masonic lodge on the second floor, and also three professional men. Not only the owners of the bank are proud of the institution but the community at large are equally gratified that they have in midst so important a factor in the building up of the business of their town.
HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY 1908 BY Daniel McDonald pg 125 - 129