Genealogy

Jefferson Twp. Cities

Past & Present

Pike County,

Indiana

          Fidelity, Indiana, was located in Marion Township, Pike County, Indiana. Fidelity Post Office was located at the top of Dillon Hill, about three miles north of where Velpen was later located on what is now Highway No. 257. It is shown as a town in the 1882 map of Indiana. At this time Velpen is not yet developed and does not appear on the map. Ella Dillon Bowers and Kitty Dillon Arnold daughters of James Dillon both recalled the beginning of Fidelity. In
late 1860's, their father built a small building at the corner of his garden for a country store. Willis C. Beadles who worked for him helped in the operaton of the store. Merchandise sold in the small country store included various patent medicines, particularly San Jento Bitters that Dillon had learned about in his sea travels.

        Not long after the business was in operation, James Dillon, Willis C. Beadles and a number of their neighbors and friends, including Captain Sasser Sullivan, Leroy Robinson, Captain John Townsend and others began working to secure a post office in the store. They were successful and Fidelity Post Office came into being on July 24, 1871. Willis C. Beadles became the first postmaster. Ella Dillon Bowers said that the people of the area would come to the store to wait for the arrival of the mail. The postal route was from Jasper to Fidelity then to Otwell. Residents of the area assembled in the store at mail time to wait for it to come. Upon the arrival of the mail, the people would gather around the postmaster and he in military style would go through it, call out the name of the addressee and when the person answered, pass it back to him or her.

      Later the store became more of a general store and was moved down the road one-half mile south next to the Sulphur Springs School (School No.3) and just north of White Sulphur Springs also known as Sweet Sulphur Springs. During this time, the school children often frequented the store. Ella Bowers said that the students would trade eggs to the store for school supplies. In the 1880's, Beadles purchased twenty acres of land from Wes Morton across the road from the James Dillon property and built a home and a larger country store. Fidelity Post Office was opened in Beadle's store on February 1, 1881.

     The 1881 Plat Book for Marion Township, Pike County, shows the community of Fidelity, School No. 3 and White Sulphur Springs. At this time, the post office Is located in the northeast corner of the twenty acres owned by Beadles. This is also the northeast corner of Section 32. James Dillon's home and the original site of the Fidelity Post Office were located in the southwest corner of his properly that was the southwest corner of Section 28. Presumably, the original store and post office fronted on the road.

      On January 10, 1883, the Jasper mail carrier for the route between Jasper and Otwell was able to secure a termination of the Fidelity Post Office on the ground that it was off his main route. The people of the areas strongly protested the discontinuance of their post office. The editor of the Petersburg Weekly Paper editorialized that when the Jasper mail carrier took the route, he did  so with the understanding that Fidelity was a point on the line and therefore should have no complaint.  The protests paid off and on July 5, 1883, Fidelity Post Office was once again opened. Beadles remained the postmaster during the entire time.The post office then continued in Fidelity until December 26, 1884. But, on that date, it was shut down by the postal authorities and the Fidelity Post Office faded into history.

       Velpen was platted in 1881 about 3.5 miles south of the original site of the Fidelity Post Office. Velpen was not in existence when the 1881 Plat Book of Pike County was made and is not shown thereon. The Louisville-St. Louis branch of the Airline Railway is shown on the 1881 plat. It later became a part of the Southern Railway. The railroad coming through the area spurred the development of the town. The loss of the post office and the growth of Velpen
drew W.C. Beadles to the area. He built a two story brick building in the town and moved his home and business to that location. By building the first brick building and establishing his business in Velpen, Beadles became part of the early history of Velpen.

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(Sources: (Conferences with Kitty Arnold and Ella Bowers, 1948, Information furnished by Sandy McBeth; Story in Petersburg Weekly Paper, January 26, 1883; Story in Press Dispatch, January 20, 2000, Petersburg, Indiana: Ruth Miley McClellan, Pike County History, Bicentennial Edition, 1776-1976, Pike County Historical Society, Petersburg, Indiana; History and Families, Pike County Indiana, 1816 1987; Indiana Post Office index.)) . .

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A special Thanks to Carrol F. Dillon for this Pike County History.

     This article was written by Mary Poselwait of the Pike County Historical Society for the Pike County Press-Dispatch. This piece of History appeared in the  August 13, 1998 newspaper. Our thanks to Mary and Frank Heuring , Editor of the Press-Dispatch for allowing its use on this Web Page.