One Township's Yesterdays Chapter XXXVIII  

IN COMMUNITIES UNITED

"Columns of pale blue smoke, like clouds of incense ascending, Rose from a hundred hearths, the homes of peace and ." ... Henry W. Longfellow

NOT LONG AFTER THE FIRST WHITE SETTLEMENTS in Union Township, the people began to gather together in communities here and there. Like most folk the world over, they were naturally gregarious and longed for the companionship and neighborly nearness of one another.

The first communities took the form of neighborhoods, so called, and rather scattered settlements; soon thereafter little villages sprang up, one or two of which progressed at a goodly pace, while the rest remained almost stationary and in certain cases even became retrogressive.

Among the first of the villages in the township was Maxinkuckee, situated half a mile east of the lake by the same name, on a high bluff from which is obtained perhaps the finest view to be had of the lake. This village was never regularly platted and laid out as a town. There are two streets: Lake street, running east and west, and Washington street, extending north and south. For many years, Maxinkuckee had a post office, but the rural free delivery system finally led to its discontinuance.

Union Town was originally laid out and organized, June 8, 1844, on the northwest shore of Lake Maxinkuckee. BAYLESS L. DICKSON was responsible for laying out and platting the original town-site. He owned a farm bordering on the lake, a part of which embraced the land now covered by the town of Culver. Some years ago, historian DANIEL MC DONALD wrote to Culver editor A. B. HOLT to the effect that Union Town was platted and named by MC DONALD's uncle, BAYLESS L. DICKSON, out of the southwest corner of Section 16, town 32, range 1 east.

This was a slice from a parcel of land DICKSON had entered for farming purposes. This was in 1844. A short time prior to that year he had married a second cousin of DANIEL MC DONALD, EMMA HOUGHTON, who lived to a very advanced age. Daniel visited the log cabin of his uncle and aunt, after they had located in the Union Town neighborhood. "I am not sure," he told Mr. HOLT, "but I think their log cabin was the only dwelling there at that time. My father and his family lived in a log cabin in the woods a short distance south of where Hibbard now is."

So far as MC DONALD could remember, Union Town was the first town or village, or whatever you might call it, that he visited in the county.

The statement of the original plat of Union Town says: "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 16 1/2 feet." The statement was signed by BAYLESS L. DICKSON as Proprietor, and the witnesses were G. S. CLEAVELAND and JOHN L. WESTERVELT.

In 1851 the town was resurveyed and transferred to Mr. DICKSON's brother-in-law, THOMAS K. HOUGHTON, and the name was changed by the board of county commissioners to Marmont. Dr. G. A. Durr , then a resident of the town, was responsible for having the name changed to Marmont in honor of a French general of that name.

In 1857 Mr. HOUGHTON filed a certificate attached to what purported to be an amended plat of Union Town. PETER ALLERDING, in 1884, filed what he called the "Vandalia Addition to said Union Town," and in 1886 ALBERT D. TONER made an addition to the Vandalia addition. Other additions, including the Ferrier, came later.

On October 4, 1895, the board of commissioners changed the name from Marmont to Culver City, on petition of O. A. REA and ninety-nine others. The new name was in honor of HENRY H. CULVER. Later, the "City" was dropped.

In 1882 Burr Oak, Rutland and Hibbard came upon the scene. The description and plat of Burr Oak was filed in the office of the county recorder, November 1, 1882. MICHAEL BURNS was Proprietor. In 1885 FRANKLIN OVERMYER filed the plat of Overmyer's addition to Burr Oak station. Besides these settlements there were various neighborhoods scattered throughout the township. Among them was the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood, of which some years ago ULEE MCCLANE, a pupil in Mt. Pleasant school, wrote: "The first families of this neighborhood were NICK WALLEY, Grandpa CROMLEY, DANIEL EASTERDAY, Grandpa BUSART, Grandpa HOSIMER, ZECHIEL and BROWNLEE." The first families in the township," the essay continued, "lived in a very different manner from those at present. They all lived in log houses. The houses had one large room below and nearly always an attic or loft above where the people slept. There was generally one window in the loft. Down stairs they had one door and a window or two. To go upstairs they had pegs driven in the wall to climb up on, or sometimes there would be a ladder."

Well known in early days, as now, were the Poplar Grove (with "Geiger Town"), Washington and Zion neighborhoods. Others took title from early settlers, as the Sickman, Osborn, Cromley, Shaw (called "Shawtown"), and Bucklew neighborhoods, to name a few of them.

So it was that, practically from the very beginning, the people who came to settle in this new western land sought encouragement and peace and contentment in community life within the bounds of Union Township.