HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
CHAPTER 6
TOWN OF ORLEANS
The town of Orleans, in Orleans Township, claims the distinction of being the oldest laid-out town in Orange County. The original plat of the town was recorded at Salem, Ind., while Orange was a part of Washington County. and Indiana yet a Territory. It was dated March 11, 1815, and signed by William McFarland and Samuel Lewis as owners of the land, and by Samuel Alexander as Surveyor. This plat shows the original town to have six streets running east and west, named Vincennes, Main, General Coffee, Washington, Jackson and Wayne, and seven running north and south, named Cherry, Kerr, Alexander, Sugar, Congress, Lemon and Lindley. There were forty-eight full squares of eight lots each and one tier of eight half squares, on the north side, making in all 416 lots. The following is a copy of the record:
Plan of the town of Orleans, Indiana Territory, as laid out within the county of Washington, upon the southwest quarter of Section 30, of Township 3 north, of the base line in Range 1 east, of the second principal meridian line, of the lands directed to be sold at Jeffersonville. References: Each lot in the town of Orleans, Indiana Territory, is 80 x 160 feet, and each street 60 feet wide, and each alley 10 feet wide. Congress Square is composed of Lots Nos. 167, 168, 169, 170, 195, 196, 197 and 198 to remain for the purpose of erecting any building for county, Territory or State, or deemed necessary by citizens of the town. The streets and alleys to remain as open and common highways forever, excepting where they pass within the limits of Congress Square where they become a part. No part of Congress Square ever to be appropriated as a burying-ground. March 11, 1815.
Test SAMUEL ALEXANDER WILLIAM McFARLAND. Surveyor. SAMUEL LEWIS. Two months before this time, on the 8th of January, Gen. Jackson had achieved his famous victory over the British at New Orleans, and in honor of that event the patriotic founders and pioneers of the new town christened it Orleans. The first house on the present site of the town is said to have been built by Samuel Lewis, and as saw-mills had not yet found their way to this frontier, it was made of logs. It was used as a tavern for several years, where the wants of weary pilgrims to this Western World could be supplied, and where at night before the blazing fire they were beguiled with marvelous tales of the new country’s wonders and advantages. Soon after this came John Steers, who launched the first commercial bark on this ocean wilderness. And a tiny craft it was, too. Built of logs and stocked with the pioneer’s necessities, and gaudy notions to attract the occasional savages that yet lingered reluctant to quit their early hunting ground, what a contrast this first store of Orleans presents to those of the present day. It is said that the first blacksmith was William Redfield, who came among the earliest settlers and followed his trade in all its branches, from gun-mending to horse-shoeing. The first grave at Orleans was dug in’ 1816, for a man named Festerman, a German, whom the icy hand of death had rudely seized. The reign of Hymen extends equally to the remote dwellers on the frontier and to the luxurious resident of the city. The first matrimonial act in the infant town was that of John B. Moyer and a Miss Misenhamer, in the year 1816, and it was an undoubted case of "love in a cottage." The first schoolhouse was a log one, built it is said, in 1823, and Mr. S. B. A. Carter was the first teacher. In this house and under this instruction many of the children were educated in the primitive manner of the time, and they afterward came to be among the best and influential citizens of their community.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
In 1817 Mr. Lewis built a small brick house and Messrs. Hardin & Kimbley erected the first frame in 1822. Being situated in a happy and fertile district the new town grew rapidly, and for a time bid fair to be one of the principal places in southern Indiana. Merchants came with new stores and new goods, mechanics brought their skill and industry, and the professions had here their early representatives. Two men who went far toward building up the commercial interests of the town were Benjamin and Ezekiel Blackwell, two brothers, that were long among the foremost men here. As early as 1823 they were actively engaged in merchandising. William McLane conducted an early store. How different was the method of carrying on business in that day from the ways of the present. Then the hunter or farmer brought in his peltry or products of the soil, and received in exchange for them the merchant’s wares. Each merchant bought all kinds of produce, and when sufficient was received they were hauled by wagon to Louisville. Now the producers sell their products to men who make a specialty of a particular kind, and get cash in return. They then go to stores and buy for cash what they want, where only that article is kept. In 1823 Benjamin Webb was doing quite an extensive mercantile trade, and in 1827 Kimbley & Moyer and Burton Sutherland were in business, the latter having one of the old-time "groceries" that bring many pleasing recollections to life’s gray-haired veterans, who still haunt their boyhood’s scenes and dwell with emphasis on the bygone sobriety of mankind. Another of these groceries was kept by Freeman Wright, from 1829 to 1831, and perhaps longer. Others who engaged in keeping these stores, where liquor was the order of the day, were Abner and Jeremiah Wilson and Samuel Hogen, in 1832, Thomas Busick in 1840 and several years prior, James Ware in 1839 and before, and William Teal in that year. In 1840 were Gabriel P. Busick and William Field, Thomas B. C. Taylor in 1844, and L. J. Kimbley in 1846. A considerable excitement was created in 1848, when one of the Busick men applied to the County Commissioners for a license. Several of the citizens of Orleans remonstrated, but after a hot contest a license was finally granted. Other merchants have been Moyer & Hasler, 1828-29; Henry Lingle, 1831; Charles Glover. 1834; Fulton & Bradley, 1838; Bradley & Allen, 1842; J. C. Busick, 1842; J. &. J. B. Moyer, 1839; B. & J. B. Webb, 1839-40, and many others of prominence, among whom may be mentioned Col. William McLane, who afterward went to Lawrence County and became one of its foremost merchants; the firm of Walker & Richards, that succeeded Bradley & Allen, about the year 1854; Lynch Brooks and John G. Huff.