Fort Wayne city directories start in 1858 with business and city resident addresses. Public domain copies before 1923 are listed on the City Directories page and embeded within the Timeline pages.
1880, March 31 - Wabash, Indiana became the first electrically lighted city in the WORLD!
Hooray! After a busy day, the arrival of our brand new POSTERS was just what the Museum staff needed! These 11 by 17 inch posters are now for sale in the Museum shop. Only $5.
Hooray! After a busy day, the arrival of our brand new POSTERS was just what the Museum staff needed! These 11 by 17 inch posters are now for sale in the Museum shop. Only $5.
When Wabash, Indiana became the first electrically lighted city in the WORLD, it was not with a traditional incandescent bulb. Four arc lamps (which produce light by an arc between metal electrodes) were mounted to the Wabash County courthouse and provided light for the entire town. Each lamp carried the power of 3,000 candles, while early incandescent lamps burned with the power of 16 candles. Pictured here are a model of the arc lamp and two articles describing the lighting.
Did you know that Wabash, Indiana was the first electrically lighted city in the world? Charles Brush, an inventor from...
Did you know that Wabash, Indiana was the first electrically lighted city in the world?
Charles Brush, an inventor from Ohio, had just completed a test run of his new arc lights in the town square of his hometown, Cleveland. He was looking for a town to try out his 3000 candlepower lamps. Wabash, with its courthouse centrally located on a hill, was the perfect guinea pig for this new technology.
On March 31, 1880, Wabash became the first electrically lit city in the world. According to an eyewitness, “the strange weird light, exceeded in power only by the sun, rendered the square as light as midday. Men fell on their knees, groans were uttered at the sight, and many were dumb with amazement.”
Another source opined that “Houses and yards were distinctly visible for a mile around and the Wabash River glowed like a band of molten silver.” Even people in neighboring cities could see the glow surrounding the city. Tourism picked up rapidly as word of the news spread. Hotels were packed with people who came to see the light. Passenger trains would stop in town and allow the folks 5 minutes to see the light before heading on their way.
Picture of the Wabash County Courthouse and the arc light that made it the first electrically lighted municipality in the world. Clarkson Weesner, in his 2 volume History of Wabash County (1914) [ Volume 1 Volume 1 page 353 ] left the following account: “At 8 o’clock the ringing of the courthouse bell announced that the exhibition was to commence. Standing on the street in front of the Plain Dealer office, we hurriedly looked around to measure the general darkness…the city to say the least, presented a gloomy, uninteresting appearance…. Suddenly from the towering dome of the courthouse burst a flood light which under ordinary circumstances, would have caused a shout of rejoicing from the thousands who had been crowding and jostling each other…the people, almost with bated breath stood overwhelmed with awe, as if in the presence of the supernatural. The strange, weird light exceeded in power only by the sun yet mild as moonlight, rendering the courthouse square as light as midday…At a distance of one square we could distinctly read nonpareil print….at two squares we could read brevier print…at four squares…we could also easily ascertain the time of night from the watch.”
Weesner described the arc light, pictured above, that lit up Wabash as “from the flagstaff of the courthouse four lamps, of the general design in use, are suspended, a plain glass globe surrounding the carbon points to protect them from snow and ice, the whole covered with a shield or roof of galvanized iron.”
By the way, according to Weesner, once the initial expense was paid ($1,600), it would cost the city fathers 15 cents per lamp-total 60 cents-to light up Wabash for 10 hours.
This is a copy of a woodcut that appeared in local newspapers showing the supposed effects of the Brush arc light used...
This is a copy of a woodcut that appeared in local newspapers showing the supposed effects of the Brush arc light used to light up Wabash in 1880. Some thought that the electric light would cause corn to grow to tremendous heights. That local farmhands would have to use ladders to climb the stalks to cut the corn off. Others thought that chickens would died because with night turned into day and chickens not sleeping during the daytime that they would quickly quit producing eggs and die.
According to the Wabash Courier, a mossback paper (democrat), said “many a farmer went home and gave himself a vigorous kicking for being such a blasted dunce as to ride 17 miles over a rough road to see ‘that ‘ere ‘e ‘lectric light.’” Major General Isaac Freeze of Lagro Twp was opposed to the “electric light” or indeed any other light that “compels a man to carry oil up to the top of a building 170 feet high to pour it into the lamps!” Then there was the Wabash Courier that thought it was all a fraud, even as the lights went on, being perpetrated by republican councilmen.
Regardless of the bad vibes, the light went on and impressed the vast majority of those in attendance. Newspaper reporters were on hand from Elkhart, Logansport, Warsaw, Fort Wayne, Delphi, Kokomo, Muncie, Peru, Marion, Huntington and North Manchester and were duly impressed with the electric light. The Western Union operator, James Waldo, was kept busy sending special telegrams to New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati and other papers.
1880, June 2 - Geo. H. Johnston, the census enumerator, started recording the 10th U.S. Federal Census in Eel River Township.
1880, September - Wabash, Indiana became the world's first electrically lighted city.
1881
No separate 1881 city directory, is a combined 1880-1881 city directory.
1881 - Article XIII of the 1851 Indiana Constitution was formally removed from the constitution. It prohibited blacks from migrating to Indiana, despite the fact that 11,262 blacks were Hoosier citizens as of the 1850 census. It was nullified by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting blacks citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws. Copied from 1851 constitution kept Indiana debt-free by Andrea Neal published in the November 3, 2014 Indiana Policy Review and also published November 5, 2014 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
1881, March 15
On March 15, 1881, Marion County Representative John W. Furnas introduced a resolution to the House that would amend the...
Marion County Representative John W. Furnas introduced a resolution to the House that would amend the Indiana Constitution to give women the right to vote. The House passed the resolution, and the Senate voted in favor of it the next day. However, proposed Constitutional amendments are required to pass two consecutive sessions of the General Assembly before it goes before voters to decide. Despite an extensive campaign by women for the passage of the suffrage amendment, it failed to gain support in 1883 due to the links between prohibition and the suffrage movement. It would be another three decades before Hoosier women gained the right to vote in 1920.
#OTD in 1881, Marion County Representative John W. Furnas introduced a resolution to the House that would amend the Indiana Constitution to give women the right to vote. The House passed the resolution, and the Senate voted in favor of it the next day. However, a proposed Constitutional amendment was required to pass two consecutive sessions of the General Assembly before it went before voters to decide.
Despite an extensive campaign by women for the passage of the suffrage amendment, the amendment wouldn’t even be heard in the 1883 session due to what historian Anita Morgan called “a clear case of political chicanery.” During the session, it was discovered that the suffrage bill had failed to be recorded in the House and Senate Journals, something that was required for legislation to be considered in a second session. Due to this technicality, suffrage opponents refused to call for a vote.
It would be nearly another three decades before Hoosier women gained the right to vote.
Learn more about the long fight for suffrage in the Hoosier state with this episode of Talking Hoosier History: Indiana Women's Suffrage
The image below, showing a pro suffrage broadside from ca 1916, is from the Indiana State Library Broadsides Collection.
FRIDAY FACT: Part of the criminal code the Indiana legislature approved in April 1881 said that marriages between a white person and a person deemed to have more than 1/8 negro blood were illegal, and those couples who did marry would be fined up to $1,000 and sent to state prison between 1 and 10 years. Anyone who assisted in these illegal marriages would be fined up to $1,000.
Source: Laws of the State of Indiana, passed at the special session of the General Assembly begun on the 8th day of March, A.D. 1881 (Indianapolis: Carlon & Hollenbeck, 1881).
Learn more about the 1892-1893 wood frame, three story structure built originally as a warehouse and headquarters for the American Red Cross by viewing the HABS documentation at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/md0218/
For #teachers and parents, the Heritage Education Services program of the NPS has created a "Teaching with Historic Places" lesson plan for the Clara Barton House which is available at https://go.usa.gov/xus3V
ABOUT THIS IMAGE
Clara Barton 1850
Earliest known photograph of Clara Barton. Probably taken in Clinton, New York in 1850 or 1851 while she was a student at the Clinton Liberal Institute. She is about 29 years old.
On May 21, 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. During the Civil War, she was known as the "Angel of the Battlefield," caring for the wounded and helping to identify the dead. Barton headed the Red Cross into her 80s. She died in 1912: http://fnote.it/6xw8
1881, April - FRIDAY FACT: Part of the criminal code the Indiana legislature approved in April 1881 said that marriages between a white person and a person deemed to have more than 1/8 negro blood were illegal, and those couples who did marry would be fined up to $1,000 and sent to state prison between 1 and 10 years. Anyone who assisted in these illegal marriages would be fined up to $1,000. Source: Laws of the State of Indiana, passed at the special session of the General Assembly begun on the 8th day of March, A.D. 1881 (Indianapolis: Carlon & Hollenbeck, 1881). Copied from an October 11, 2013 post by Indiana Genenealogical Society on Facebook.
1881, May 21 - Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross after her experience with the International Red Cross from Today's Document at The National Archives.
1881, July 2 - President James A. Garfield is shot. President for just four months, Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau as he was about to board a train at the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. Severely wounded, Garfield lingered until September 19. The nation is shocked, enraged, and captivated. Read the rest of Life and Death in the White House on Smithsonian National Museum of American History blog.
On this day in 1881, Ranald T. McDonald organized the Fort Wayne Jenney Electric Light Company, a manufacturing and selling concern, with $100,000 in capital — almost $3M in today's dollars. He established the company with the following officers: H. G. Olds, president; Perry A. Randall, vice-president; Oscar A. Simons, secretary, and R. T. McDonald, treasurer and general manager.
1882 - Congress passed the first laws that would bar entrance for (among other things) mental deficiencies, physical disease, people likely to become public charges, criminal background, and unaccompanied minors. Immigrants who were denied entry could appeal to a “special board of inquiry” to have their cases reviewed. From Ancestry.comPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, Immigration Records, Special Boards of Inquiry, 1893-1909.
1882, April 3 -outlaw Jesse James, aged 34, was gunned down by Bob Ford at his home in St Joseph, Missouri. See his Find A Gravepage.
1882, April 27 - Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, poet and leader of the Transcendentalist Movement, died.
1882, May 6 - The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States on OurDocuments.gov.
1882 - government directs states to record births, marriages, and deaths at the county level. It took most states several years well into the 20th century before these records became standard at the county level. Most people are surprised to learn their ancestors often have no birth, marriage or death records, unless recorded in individual church records, until well into the middle 1900's. These records became important for collecting various government benefits such as veteran compensation, insurance, and today social security. The Vital Records page at IN.govstates: The State of Indiana did not require births or deaths to be recorded until 1882, and they were not recorded by the state until 1907. For birth and death records between 1882 and 1906, researchers should contact the County Health Office where the birth occurred.
1882, September 4 - Thomas Edison flipped the switch that would start up America's first power plant in New York city. See Electrifying Manhattan video posted January 27, 2015 on American Experience | PBS .
1883, October 9 - Sam McDonald was the last person to hang in Fort Wayne just north of the jail flats in what is now Phase IV of Headwaters Park from article Sam Swings on the front page with photograph engraving of the October 9, 1883 Fort Wayne Daily Sentinel newspaper. He was acused of killing Louis Laurent and was hanged before a crowd of 250 ticket holders. Read the story A necktie party by Kevin Leininger in CITYSCAPES from the archives of The News-Sentinel newspaper. The story was detailed in the next days The Journal Gazette newspaper. The story was also published in the October 10, 1883 The New York Times and is available in a pdf. There is a Johannah wife of James McDonald died December 7, 1884 buried at Saint Patrick Catholic Cemetery near Arcola in Lake Township where Sam MacDonald's body was taken according to the New York Times story. Read Allen County’s Jail Flats by Tom Castaldi published July 3, 2014 in the History Center Notes & Queries blog. The History Centerhas photos of a piece of rope, cloth and a ticket to his hanging posted May 26, 2020 on Facebook. See Allen County Jail.
1883, November 18
Did you know the U.S. used to have "fifty-three kinds of time"? The headache that local time zones caused for railroads...
Did you know the U.S. used to have "fifty-three kinds of time"? The headache that local time zones caused for railroads led to the adoption of five standard time zones in the U.S. and Canada on November 18, 1883. The map shown here was printed in newspapers around the United States as part of an article explaining how the new time zones worked. The zones would be officially adopted by Congress in 1918.
1884, April 11 - the first Arbor Day in Indiana was observed. Between 1884 and 1912, Arbor Day was observed on various dates at the discretion of the governor. The most common date was the last Friday of October. It is not known why a fall date was chosen over a spring day. On March 10, 1913, the Indiana legislature passed a bill setting the third Friday of April as Arbor Day. In 1929, an amendment was passed in the legislature changing the date to the second Friday in April. Due to frequent conflicts with school spring vacations and the fact that Arbor Day occasionally fell on Good Friday, the date was again changed in 1991 to the last Friday of April, corresponding to the official date of the National Arbor Day. Copied from Learn more about Indiana Arbor Day at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Indiana's first Arbor Day was celebrated on April 11, 1884. Indiana could celebrate the holiday in April or October at...
Indiana's first Arbor Day was celebrated on April 11, 1884. Indiana could celebrate the holiday in April or October at the discretion of the governor. That changed in 1913. This image features a Norway Maple from Crown Hill Cemetery. Crown Hill Cemetery is known for its Arboretum. [ Norway Maple is considered an invasive non-native species - Norway maple (Not recommended) at Morton Arboretum ]
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
These famous words are synonymous with the Statue of Liberty and its promise of hope, freedom, and opportunity for those seeking a new life.
The words derive from “The New Colossus,” a sonnet inscribed on a bronze plaque attached to the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The sonnet was written by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), a Jewish poet and activist. She dedicated the poem to the refugees she aided in applying for asylum from anti-Semitic pogroms in Eastern Europe.
“The New Colossus” also inspired Irving Berlin to compose, “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor.” An immigrant of Russian and Jewish descent, Berlin forged an illustrious career, becoming an award winning artist and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient credited with shaping the Great American Songbook. Broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite stated that Berlin “helped write the story of this country, capturing the best of who we are and the dreams that shape our lives.”
At Our Records of Rights gallery at our building in Washington, DC, you can honor this legacy by visiting the deed of gift for the Statue of Liberty.
***
: Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” is inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, National Park Service.
: Photograph of the Statue of Liberty, Records of the Army Air Forces, ca. 1941-1947. NAID 68145981
: Deed of Gift for the Statue of Liberty, July 4, 1884. NAID: 595444.
Martha Washington is the first and only woman to grace the primary portrait of U.S. paper currency. Her image appears on the $1 Silver Certificate. 💵
The certificates were first printed in 1886, six years after the first legal tender dollar bill featuring Washington was issued. A slightly re-designed Martha Washington also was produced in 1891. The $1 Certificates were discontinued in 1957.
On this day in 1886 in Indianapolis, a trio of amateur historians--Jacob P. Dunn Jr., Daniel Wait Howe, and William English--successfully revived what had been a moribund institution: the Indiana Historical Society.
1886, September 4 - after 30 years battling to save his homeland, Apache chief Geronimo surrenders to U.S. government troops near Fort Bowie along the Arizona-New Mexico border. He was the last Indian warrior to formally give in to U.S. forces and signal the end of the Indian Wars in the Southwest. See 1886 Geronimo surrenders on History.com.
1886, October 28 - the Statue of Liberty is dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.
On October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was officially dedicated in a grand ceremony. The morning began with a parade of 20,000 marchers and nearly one million spectators in Manhattan. The flotilla parade in the harbor, pictured here, included over 300 ships; the smoke is the result of triumphant cannon fire. In the evening, a fireworks display capped the celebration. Read more here: Creating the Statue of Liberty 1865 - 1886 (Photo Credit: LOC)
On this day, October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland and other dignitaries unveiled and dedicated Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi's colossal #copper#sculpture, "Liberty Enlightening the World," in New York Harbor. It was designated Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1924. Employees of the National Park Service have been caring for the statue since 1933.
The Statue of Liberty has been documented by the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) with measured drawings, large-format photographs and a short historical report. See the records in the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection in The Library of Congress at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny1251/
It sure has been cold and snowy in our neck of the woods, but nothing like the Blizzard of 1888 (March 11-15) that dumped several feet of snow along the Eastern Seaboard and suspended travel for days in Connecticut. Boats delivered newspapers to Southport because trains could not get through. Five feet of snow reportedly fell, but winds created drifts of 15 to 20 feet. John Henry Beach noted in his diary on Wednesday, March 14th, 'commence digging out. Turned out with 18 men to open the road got down as far as Sam. Beach ['s house] and gave up."
This image, courtesy of the Fairfield Museum, can be accessed through Connecticut Collections (Connecticut Collections). An NHPRC Archives Collaborative grant went to support a project to enhance the capabilities of Connecticut Collections (CTCo), an open-source, online resource tool managed by the Connecticut League of History Organizations utilized by a statewide collaborative of 26 museums, historical societies, libraries, schools, and other cultural heritage organization
If you have a project that calls for collaboration among archives, please see our funding opportunity for FY 2025 at Archives Collaboratives and send in a draft by February 18.
1888, June 25 - republicans at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago nomiate Benjamin Harrison as their presidental candidate in the 1889 election. See photo on June 25, 2018 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook.
1888, August - Thomson-Houston bought the Fort Wayne Jenny Company. October 15, 1878 Thomas Edison formed the Edison General Electric Light Company. April 1892 GE merged with Thomson-Houston. From GE’s history in Fort Wayne published February 9, 2014 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
On this day in 1888, George Eastman patented the very first roll film camera and registers Kodak as a trademark. It revolutionised photography, allowing it to be truly portable. The first Kodak cameras produced circular snapshots, only 2.5 inches in diameter: Kodak No.1 Circular Snapshots
#OTD in 1889, Indiana Hospital for the Insane Superintendent Thomas Galbraith fired Dr. Sarah Stockton, the lead physician in the Women’s Department, for testifying about dismal hospital conditions. One trustee lamented her dismissal and charged that "Dr. Stockton was the only really capable physician out there. . . . the discharged physician knew more in a minute about the hospital and how its affairs should be conducted than Dr. Galbraith would learn in a year." Around 1900, Dr. Stockton returned to her former hospital, renamed Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane. The Indianapolis Star hailed her a pioneer, noting “Not longer than thirty years ago there was only one woman physician in Indianapolis-Dr. Sarah Stockton. Now there are fifty.”
#OTD in 1889, Indiana Hospital for the Insane Superintendent Thomas Galbraith fired Dr. Sarah Stockton, the lead physician in the Women’s Department, for testifying against dismal hospital conditions. One trustee lamented her dismissal and charged that "Dr. Stockton was the only really capable physician out there. . . . the discharged physician knew more in a minute about the hospital and how its affairs should be conducted than Dr. Galbraith would learn in a year."
Around 1900, Dr. Stockton returned to her former hospital, renamed Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane. The Indianapolis Star hailed her a pioneer, noting “Not longer than thirty years ago there was only one woman physician in Indianapolis-Dr. Sarah Stockton. Now there are fifty.”
The image below, showing Stockton on the right, is courtesy of the Indiana Archives and Records Administration.
1889, April 22 - the Oklahoma Land Rush started at noon. An estimated 50,000 people lined up for their piece of the available two million acres including all or part of modern day Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan, Oklahoma, and Payne counties. From April 22, 2013 Accessible Archives on Facebook.
1889, May 31 - the Johnstown Flood kills over 2,200 people in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the result of the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam. It was the first major disaster relief effort handled by the new American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton. After the flood, victims suffered a series of legal defeats in their attempt to recover damages from the dam's owners. Public indignation prompted a major development in American law—state courts' move from a fault-based regime to strict liability. From Wikipedia.
1889, August 12 - Zerna Sharp was born in Clinton County, Indiana. She wrote the Dick and Jane school books that helped teach millions of children how to read. From August 12, 2013 postIndiana Historical Bureau on Facebook.
1889, August 13 - the Worlds First Pay Telephone invented by William Gray was installed in a bank in Hartford, Connecticut. See photo and copy of patent in The Pay Phone’s Journey From Patent to Urban Relic The history of the device that is well on its way to becoming, well, history by Jimmy Stamp September 18, 2014 in Smithsonianmag.com.
1889, October 6 - Thomas Edison shows his first moving picture.
1889, September 22 - On September 22, 1889, the Chicago Tribune reported that construction was underway on the Standard Oil Refinery in Whiting. The paper noted that "Out on the sand dunes along the lake shore just beyond South Chicago and the Indiana state line, there are 800 men hammering rivets through great plates of boiler iron." The men were building fifty foot tanks for John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Co. Indiana-based subsidiary. According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, by the mid-1890s the Whiting plant was the U.S.'s largest refinery, "handling 36,000 barrels of oil per day and accounting for nearly 20 percent of the total U.S. refining capacity." In 1955, an explosion destroyed the Whiting refinery, leaving 800 homeless, taking the lives of two, and costing ten million dollars in damages. Standard Oil bought 140 of the 180 damaged homes and eventually rebuilt its Whiting plant. Copied from a September 22, 2022 post by the Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook. This refinery continues to be important for gasoline refinery in the Midwest as shown by this line: The Whiting refinery is the sixth-largest in the United States and BP's largest in North America. copied from the recent news story BP bringing Whiting, Indiana, refinery back to normal operation -company by Erwin Seba posted September 2, 2022 on Reuters.com.
The first known Christmas tree at the White House was not until Harrison Administration in 1889. Since then, the tradition has continued to evolve with the rest of the nation. The Clevelands followed the Harrisons with the first electrically lit tree at the White House in 1894. While many believe that Theodore Roosevelt "banned" Christmas trees, there is no evidence supporting that beyond the Roosevelts not having traditionally put up a tree. Coolidge became the first chief executive to preside over the National Christmas tree lighting ceremony on the Ellipse in 1923. In 1961 First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy added the tradition of choosing a holiday theme for the White House's Blue Room tree, starting with the "Nutcracker Suite" ballet. And since 1966, the National Christmas Tree Association has held a competition for the official White House Blue Room tree.
The first known Christmas tree in the White House was placed upstairs in the Second Floor Oval Room (then used as a family parlor and library) in 1889 (during the Benjamin Harrison administration). It was decorated with candles for the Harrison grandchildren.White House Christmas Trees The first Christmas tree in the White House was placed in the Second Floor Oval Room in 1889. The White House Historical Association.
First tree - There are two claims to the "first" genuine White House Christmas tree. President Franklin Pierce is said to have had the first indoor Christmas tree at the White House during the 1850s,[1] variously reported as 1853[2] or 1856.[3] More credible sources state that it was, in fact, President Benjamin Harrison's who had the first indoor tree (either in 1888,[4] 1889,[5][6] or 1891[1]). First Lady Caroline Harrison helped decorate the tree, which was installed in the second floor oval parlor, today's Yellow Oval Room.[5] There is an 1880 reference to President John Tyler in the 1840s, hosting a children's party at which there was a Christmas tree with gifts.[7] From White House Christmas tree at Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
: Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” is inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, National Park Service.