U Named Places in Allen County, Indiana

University of Saint Francis

Episode 166: Bass Mansion published December 20, 2021 by Granite Ridge Builderson YouTube
One of Fort Wayne's hidden architectural gems: the Bass Mansion, located on the campus of the University of Saint Francis. Join the BTS crew as we explore the ornate styles of the mansion, plus a bit of football action with Johnny the Saint Francis Cougar!

www.sf.edu, founded in 1890 in Lafayette, Indiana. Moved to Fort Wayne in 1944. Founder of Sisters of Saint Francis of Perpetual Adoration religious order has had lasting impact in the Fort Wayne area Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, sisters from University of Saint Francis plan to attend Mass in Germany elevating her to one step from sainthood. by Kevin Kilbane was published November 7, 2013 on The News-Sentinel newspaper. Order’s founder to be beatified by Rosa Salter Rodriguez published November 7, 2013 in The Journal Gazette newspaper. Saint Francis at 125 a The News-Sentinel newspaperDigital Special.

July 8, 2021 post by ARCH, Inc. on Facebook:

Have you seen this unusual building in Lindenwood Cemetery and wondered what it was? Currently it is used for storage, but it had a grand life before its cemetery days. The building was located at Brookside, the John Henry Bass estate, where University of Saint Francis is now. The building used to be the “Palm House.” Tropical plants were grown in this building.

 

Underground Railroad

March 26, 2023 post by the Kentucky Genealogical Society on Facebook:

A clandestine network of routes and safe houses helped many people who were enslaved escape into free states and for some, Canada, during the Underground Railroad. While there were numerous routes through different states to freedom, here is a map of routes through Indiana and Michigan.

#Kentucky #genealogy #familyhistory #UndergroundRailroad

Underground Railroad in Indiana premiered March 18, 2021 by ARCH, Inc on YouTube
ARCH ( Architecture and Community Heritage) has been a leading force for preservation in Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana since 1975 with monthly programs and more on their website: https://archfw.org/. Recordings of ARCH, Inc. programs are premiered on YouTube.

  1. See our African-American People page and Slavery in Indiana section.
  2. The only confirmed underground railroad house in Allen County is the 1840 ALEXANDER T. RANKIN HOUSE at 818 Lafayette Street discussed by ARCH ( Architecture and Community Heritage).
  3. The Underground Railroad and the Antislavery Movement in Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana 182 page document by Angela M. Quinn ARCH ( Architecture and Community Heritage), Fort Wayne, Indiana 2001 at the National Park Service.
  4. The Broun-Leslie house built before 1850 on 1.27 acres on the corner of East State Boulevard and Reed Road, formerly included a glass greenhouse built in 1948. The property is mentioned in history books about the Underground Railroad including a photo on page 155 in Jeanine Michna-Bales’s new book, “Through Darkness to Light,” published March 28, 2017 by Princeton Architectural Press available on Amazon.com. From Underground Railroad property vs. crony capitalism in City of Fort Wayne by Linda Leslie publilshed June 18, 2015 on Frost Illustrated now on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
  5. 020717 Jeannie Regan Dinius, Indiana DNR, Speaks About Underground RR in Indiana posted February 13, 2017 by Kevin Murphy on YouTube
    Indiana Department of Natural Resources representative, Jeannie Regan-Dinius, proved a detailed account of Indiana's history regarding slavery and the Underground Railroad. Her presentation is especially rich in its emphasis of investigative methodology required to separate mythology from documentable fact, a tutorial that could serve well for any field of investigation.

  6. “We actually have correspondents from Levi Coffin, which recommends to someone to go through Fort Wayne because at this time he believes this to be the safest route,” said Connie Haas Zuber, Executive Director of ARCH Incorporated. Copied from ‘We need to know where we came from’: Underground Railroad has ties to northeast Indiana, Jada Jones, October 23, 2023, CBS WANE-TV NewsChannel 15.
  7. Page 455 Please receive and forward the same to George D. Baptist, Detroit, Michigan, by way of Camden and Fort Wayne; I consider that to be the safest route. from Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the Reputed President of the Underground Railroad; Being a Brief History of the Labors of a Lifetime in Behalf of the Slave, with the Stories of Numerous Fugitives, Who Gained Their Freedom Through His Instrumentality, and Many Other Incidents: Electronic Edition. Coffin, Levi, 1798-1877
  8. Underground Railroad Sites: Fort Wayne at Underground Railroad Sites in Indiana at Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
  9. Levi Coffin: the “President of the Underground Railroad” at Rutherford B. Hayes Presidental Library & Museums.
  10. October 28, 2023 post by Ray E. Boomhower on Facebook:

    “I thought it was always safe to do right. The Bible, in bidding us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, said nothing about color, and I should try to follow out the teachings of that good book.”

    Levi Coffin, born on this day in 1798

    Levi Coffin and "The Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad"

  11. Underground Railroad section of Indiana Historical Bureau on IN.gov.
  12. Underground Railroad at the Division of Historic Preservation & Archaeology section of Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
  13. Underground Railroad: Indiana State Laws at the USDA Forest Service.
  14. The Underground Railroad in Indiana Indiana: Crossroads of Freedom! Find out how Hoosiers played a role in the Underground Railroad in this article for grades 3-12 at Education National Geographic.org.
  15. Underground Railroad in Indiana at Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
  16. Catharine Coffin, an antislavery activist who opened her Indiana home to help freedom-seekers on the Underground Railroad, has been honored with a new Forever stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

    Posted by The Journal Gazette on Thursday, March 21, 2024

    Thursday, March 21, 2024 post by The Journal Gazette on Facebook:

    Catharine Coffin, an antislavery activist who opened her Indiana home to help freedom-seekers on the Underground Railroad, has been honored with a new Forever stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

    Antislavery activist from Indiana honored with Forever Stamp

  17. Unveiling Catharine Coffin's Stamp

    Tonight we're proud to unveil the new Underground Railroad Forever stamp series featuring Catharine Coffin! One of 10 stamps in the series from the US Postal Service, it honors the work Catharine did to provide shelter, food and guidance for freedom-seekers. We have a limited amount of stamps available for purchase in our gift shop. Stop by and get yours!

    Posted by Levi and Catharine Coffin House State Historic Site on Thursday, March 21, 2024

    Thursday, March 21, 2024 post by the Levi and Catharine Coffin House State Historic Site on Facebook:

    Tonight we're proud to unveil the new Underground Railroad Forever stamp series featuring Catharine Coffin! One of 10 stamps in the series from the US Postal Service, it honors the work Catharine did to provide shelter, food and guidance for freedom-seekers.

    We have a limited amount of stamps available for purchase in our gift shop. Stop by and get yours!

Urban Legends

6 Fort Wayne Urban Legends to Keep You Up at Night by Aaron Michael MicClaskey listed Devil's Hollow, The Lady in White on Main Street, The Lights on Bruick Road, Stairways to the Abyss, Poe's Haunted Bridge and The Phantom of the Embassy published October 6, 2015 on Inside IPFW blog was discussed July 4, 2017 on You are positively from Fort Wayne, if you remember... Archived group only visible to existing members on Facebook.

United States Archives

The United States has been accumulating records since the first meeting of the Continental Congress in 1774, and, as the...

Posted by US National Archives on Tuesday, February 27, 2024

February 27, 2024 post by the US National Archives on Facebook:

The United States has been accumulating records since the first meeting of the Continental Congress in 1774, and, as the government grew, so did the paperwork it created. Until 1934, however, there were no national archives to consolidate the papers, so each government department, bureau, or office retained custody of its own records.

In this Pieces of History blog post, learn about the creation of "The Guide to the Archives of the Government of the United States in Washington," published in 1904. The book was lauded as the first comprehensive list of records held by the federal government and was instrumental in the creation of the National Archives in 1934.

The First Guide to Federal Records [ Guide to the archives of the government of the United States in Washington ]

#HistoricalPreservation #GovernmentRecords #PiecesOfHistory

United States Post Office

Street View photo from Google Maps. Downtown USPS occupies the former 19th century Pennsylvania Railroad complex area at 1501 South Clinton Street.

We were at the downtown post office this afternoon and reminded of this blog post by Tom Castaldi: http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-pennsy-shops.html

Posted by The History Center on Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Tuesday, June 17, 2014 post by The History Center on Facebook:

We were at the downtown post office this afternoon and reminded of this blog post by Tom Castaldi: The Pennsy Shops

See our Pennsyvlania Railroad page.

  1. Post Office Reports of Site Locations, 1837–1950 at The National Archives. Listed on microfilm: Indiana: Roll 158: Indiana, Adams – Cass Countieswith 1203 images NOT transcribed as of 3-22-2024.
  2. Post Office search results at History Center Digital Collection on the mDON mastodon Digital Object Network.
  3. 1820 first US Post Office on The Landing.
  4. See Old US Post Office.
  5. 10/16/1899 date when Fort Wayne listed on Indiana: Dates That First Rural Routes Were Established at Post Offices, through 1904 at USPS.com.
  6. In 1820, the national government recognized the growing importance of Fort Wayne by establishing the first post office...

    Posted by The History Center on Monday, February 18, 2019

    Monday, February 18, 2019 post by The History Center on Facebook:

    In 1820, the national government recognized the growing importance of Fort Wayne by establishing the first post office to serve Allen County. The first postmaster of Fort Wayne, Benjamin B. Kercheval, was appointed on February 4, 1820. As Kercheval declined to serve, Samuel Hanna became the first man to serve Fort Wayne as postmaster, holding this post from 1820-1825. Another citizen to hold the position of postmaster, from 1825-1831, was prominent local businessman Allen Hamilton. John G. Maier served as postmaster from 1853-1861. Today Kathryn Harris serves as the 36th Postmaster of Fort Wayne and Allen County. Though established nearly 70 years earlier, the first building constructed for use as U.S. Post Office and Federal Building did not open to the public until 1889. Located at the corner of southeast corner of Clinton and Berry Streets, the new post office filled the area left following the destruction of First Presbyterian by fire in 1882. Built out of sandstone in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, this impressive post office served the citizens of Fort Wayne and Allen County until the completion of the new South Harrison Street U.S. Post Office and Federal Building in 1932. After 35 years, the Post Office vacated the Federal Building in 1987, moving into larger quarters located at 1500 South Clinton. 198 years after its establishment in Fort Wayne, the Post Office continues to faithfully serve the people of Fort Wayne and Allen County.

    Visit The History Center to see our new temporary display entitled, Handling Our Mail - The United States Post Office: Serving Allen County Since 1820. #sociallyhistory

  7. From today's Writer's Almanac: Fifty years ago today, in 1963, the United States Postal Service introduced ZIP codes. "...

    Posted by The History Center on Monday, July 1, 2013

    Monday, July 1, 2013 post by The History Center on Facebook:

    From today's Writer's Almanac:

    Fifty years ago today, in 1963, the United States Postal Service introduced ZIP codes. "ZIP" stands for "Zone Improvement Plan" — designed to make sorting and delivering mail more efficient. The first three digits represent the part of the country the mail is going to, and the last two identify the post office within that region.

    In 1983, the U.S. Postal Service rolled out "ZIP + 4," which added a hyphen and four additional digits. The first two digits of the addendum stand for a specific group of streets or cluster of large buildings, and the last two narrow it down further, specifying one side of the block or even one floor in a large building.

    ZIP codes start with zero in the Northeast and get bigger as one moves south and west. There are more than 42,000 ZIP codes in the United States.

  8. December 15, 2016 post by Hofer and Davis, Inc. Land Surveyors on Facebook:

    For "Throwback Thursday" we share this article from The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette regarding the "new" downtown post office. If you recall we shared a picture of the Hofer brothers back on September 15th surveying the site in the fall of 1975.

    The land was bordered by Lafayette, Brackenridge and Barr streets and Douglas Avenue and lots south of the block extending on Lafayette Street to the Penn Central railroad tracks. It was shared December 15, 2022 on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.

    See Old US Post Office.

  9. USPS to keep downtown Fort Wayne facility open with plans to invest up to $5 million Devan Filchak March 21, 2024 The Journal Gazette newspaper

Back to top

Page updated: