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N historical and descriptive sketch of Vanderburgh can be but little else than of Evansville. The county has but few attractions outside of that city. In 1812, Col. Hugh McGary, of Kentucky, settled on the site of Evansville, erecting a log house the first white man's dwelling in that section. At the time of this settlement there was an Indian village, of the Shawanoe tribe, near Pigeon creek. "In 1813," says Mr. Robert, "Warrick county was formed out of that portion of Knox county lying south of Rector's Base Line,' and extending from the boundary of Harrison county to the Wabash river, and Col. McGary, who owned the lower part of the present site of Evansville, laid out a number of lots, and donated some land to Warrick county, provided they would fix on this place as the permanent seat of justice. In 1814. the territorial legislature of Indiana divided Warrick county, creating Posey county on the west and Perry county on the east, which left the site of Evansville near the southwest corner of the then existing county of Warrick; for which reason the legislature ordered that the seat of justice be removed from Evansville to a certain tract of land owned by Nathaniel Ewing,' which was afterwards called Darlington.' This removal came near nipping the existence of the embryo city in the bud, and from this period until 1817, Evansville made very little progress, hardly having an existence as a village." However, it was not destined to remain long in obscurity. In 1816 and 1817, Gen. Robert M. Evans and James W. Jones, united with Col. McGary, and established the town on an enlarged plan. They purchased additional land, and

made some general preparations for improvements. It is said that Col. McGary entered the land soon after his arrival, and endeavored to make a survey; but, when Gen. Evans arrived, he made another survey, and had the whole tract platted.

This town, in its unsettled state, was called Evansville, in honor of one of its founders-General Evans. Gen. Evans was a Virginian, having been born in that State in 1783. He settled in or near Princeton, Gibson county, in 1805, and removed to Evansville to reside permanently, in 1824.

So soon as the town had been remodeled on its enlarged scale, a number of lots were sold and attention was attracted to the place as a convenient landing point for Vincennes (the Old French Fort), and other interior towns in the Wabash valley, which then gave promise of far outstripping Evansville. In 1818, Vanderburgh county was formed from the western portion of Warrick, and named in honor of Judge Henry Vanderburgh, one of the territorial judges and early settlers of Indiana. In the same year commissioners were appointed to fix the seat of justice of the new county, who reported to the county commissioners that, in consideration of the local advantages of Evansville, and of a liberal donation by the proprietors, of one hundred lots and five hundred dollars in cash, or such materials as will suit in the erection of the public buildings, they have established and fixed the permanent seat of justice of Vanderburgh county at Evansville. The town for a while made considerable progress. The first election was held in August, 1818, when twenty-five votes were polled. In one year from its establishment as a county seat, it became an incorporated town, by the election of Hugh McGary, Isaac Fairchild, Everton Kinnerly, Alfred O. Warner, and Francis J. Bentley, trustees. Hugh McGary was chosen president; Elisha Harrison, secretary, and lister of taxable property; John Conner, treasurer; and Alpheus Fairchild, collector and marshal. The first tax levy was twenty cents on the one hundred dollars of real property, and a specific tax on several kinds of personal property. The value of taxable property is not given in the records, but the total of tax duplicate for that year amounted to $191 284. On the twentieth

of March, 1819, the first meeting of the board of town trustees was held.*

In 1819, Evansville had a population of one hundred souls. A hotel, kept by Mr. Ansel Wood, was situated on the State road, now Main street, and stood in rear of the present site of Armstrong's furniture warerooms. In the same year, a Frenchman opened a store near the river bank. Other stores followed. "Their stocks were scant, but amply sufficient for the pioneers, with whom hard cash was a great rarity, indeed. Coon skins, and barter of that character, formed the medium of exchange, not only with themselves, but with the outside world." In this year, Amos Clark was made prosecuting attorney of the county; and Daniel Warner, postmaster of the new town. In 1820, John M. Dunham, David F. Goldsmith, Priestly Pritchett, William Mills, Jr., and John A. Chandler, were elected trustees; and James A. Boiss was appointed secretary; and Alanson Warner, treasurer. These early officers were, for many years, distinguished citizens of Evansville. They have all passed on to another stage of action. The first church in Evansville was built in 1821, under the auspices of Rev. D. C. Banks, of Ohio, a zealous Presbyterian clergyman.

We quote from Mr. Robert's somewhat remarkable pamphlet this authentic information concerning the early schools of Evansville: "The first school house was erected in 1824. It was a small brick building, and stood at the corner of Third and Main streets. Mr. Chute, an elderly gentleman, was appointed and empowered to teach the young idea how to shoot.' As early as 1818, he had occasionally received pupils at his cabin; but now, for the first time, a school was instituted to which all could send children hitherto unprovided and unafforded regular educational privileges. The school house was also regularly used for religious purposes. Rev. Mr. Wood, a Presbyterian minister, often preached there, as well as clergymen of other denominations. From 1825 to 1830, Evansville was under a deep shadow of commercial depression; but, in

the latter year, new hope and spirit seem to have possessed the people, and, as a consequence, improvement and development were visible. Produce began to find its way to southern markets in flat boats, on the Wabash and White rivers, and the convenient proximity of Evansville to these water-courses, made it a favorite landing place. During the spring and summer months trade was quite lively, and hundreds of boatmen returning from the Lower Mississippi made Evansville their point of debarkation, and it thus became known and appreciated as the Landing for the Wabash.' Some lively 'scenes' and gay fandangos characterized those times, but it grew to be a point of supply for much of the interior region of country watered by the Wabash and White rivers, and in this way laid the foundation for its present mercantile prosperity and importance.

"In 1834, on the establishment of the first State bank, Evansville was designated as one of the points for the organization of its branches. This greatly enlarged its financial facilities, and gave additional and timely impetus to all departments of business. In 1835-6, the State legislature having passed the Internal Improvement Bill, Evansville was made the southern terminus of the Central and Wabash and Erie canals. The Wabash and Erie canal, commencing at Toledo, Ohio, was to strike the head waters of the Wabash river, and follow the rich and prolific valleys of that and White river, terminating on the Ohio at Evansville. The Central canal was intended to pass from Muncietown, through Indianapolis, to Point Commerce, on White river, where it would be united with the Wabash and Erie canal. Thus Evansville, by a grand scheme of hydrographical inosculation, was to be placed in control of these stupendous works, commanding the outlet of two of the richest and most productive valleys on the globe. No wonder there was liberal impartment of new energy, new vigor and high hopes of the future. In June, 1836, the awarding of the contracts for the construction of the canal commenced, and a large immigration at once began to pour in; real estate advanced to high and fancy speculative rates, and the town appeared to have again taken a hold on prosperity, and deter

mined to prove Phoenix-like. But here another drawback occurred, and energy was hampered and enterprise fettered. A great financial revulsion occurred in 1837-8, which caused a suspension of specie payment by our banks, and a very considerable depreciation in the value of real estate. The crisis was general, and was severely felt all over the country in its sweeping damage, thus, for a time, blighting the fair prospects of Evansville. The work of internal improvement was abandoned, general stagnation in trade was prevalent, and the town not only ceased to prosper, but actually decreased in population. Much of the property of Evansville passed into the hands of Eastern creditors, in payment of the indebtedness of merchants and speculators, and for several years possessed very little market value. In 1840, the number of inhabitants had increased to 2,121, which shows quite a substantial gain for the time.

"Some time about the year 1845-6, Evansville began to recover from the prostration occasioned by the failure of the internal improvement system and the commercial crisis of the country, and business generally began to revive. The natural advantages of location which it possessed, attracted to it the trade of the surrounding country, and its mercantile interests re-began to advance and thrive. From that period the growth of Evansville has been steady and substantial; for many years, it is true, laggard and hardly perceptible, but never stationary or receding. Her course and career has been nothing less than a succession of progress and pause, but the latter seemed to have given strength rather than detriment; and if the ability of our people to recover after such damaging and discouraging impediments were repeatedly thrown in their way be any criteria, certainly such trials are brightly prognostic of an attainable power and excellence commensurate with what we to-day proudly claim for her. During the legislative session of 1856-7, a grant of land was obtained to extend the Wabash and Erie canal to Terre Haute, and subsequently another grant was obtained to aid in the construction of this work to the Ohio river at Evansville. This concession was made the basis of an arrangement by the State with her bondholders for