| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Chief Little Turtle — 1752 - 1812 |
| | . . . — Map (db m21066) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Duck Creek: Early Industry and Business Development |
| | Fort Wayne business had a start on Duck Street, named for the 19th century Duck Creek that drained the area from the higher ground near Superior Street into the St. Mary’s River. Along Duck Creek in the 1840s and 50s stood the City Mills, one of the largest mills in early Fort Wayne. Like other streams in the area, Duck Creek afforded an ideal opportunity for the beginnings of industry in the frontier community. The first industrial businesses in the city - blacksmithing, brick and tile making, . . . — Map (db m16997) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Earliest Railroad |
| | The Wabash & Erie Canal was instrumental in the construction of the first railways in Fort Wayne, which quickly became a railroading center in the Midwest. In 1852, along the canal at the present-day railroad elevation that borders the south edge of Headwaters Park at Lafayette Street, the first locomotive was unloaded from a canal boat. The locomotive was placed on tracks that were laid on Lafayette Street and led to the south side of town where the main line of the new Ohio and Indiana . . . — Map (db m16996) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Early Effort To Build A Park |
| | Around the turn of the century, the nationwide “City Beautiful” movement found local expression through the efforts of Charles Mulford Robinson and nationallly known landscape architect George Kessler. Seeking to reclaim the natural beauty of our rivers, Mr. Kessler incorporated them into a sweeping plan of riverside drives and parks that would bring the Indiana landscape into the heart of the city. Proposed in a report presented to the City's Park Board just days before the . . . — Map (db m17034) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Emerine Jane Holman Hamilton — 1810 - 1889 — Pioneer in Religion, Education, Philanthropy, Reform |
| | She encouraged local efforts to form First Presbyterian Church, establish a public library, support the national Women's Suffrage Movement, and donated land for Fort Wayne's first African-American church.
The Hamilton Estate on Clinton Street abounded in flowers, shrubs, and trees and included the homes in which granddaughters Edith, Alice, and Agnes lived.
This gardenscape is a tribute to Emerine's personal elegance and achievements. As it surrounds the plaza, it symbolizes Emerine's . . . — Map (db m16967) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — First Americans |
| | The confluence area of the Three Rivers was known to the native people since as early as the end of the last Ice Age, more than 10,000 years ago. As the glaciers melted and receded, they paused here creating a high point in the topography of the land. Early native people followed the edge of the glacier taking advantage of the food sources it provided, such as vegetation and wild game. The St. Mary's and St. Joseph Rivers join a few hundred yards east of this point and form the Maumee River . . . — Map (db m17064) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Flood Retention Walls |
| | The concrete retention walls at the north end of the plaza will help downtown Fort Wayne withstand future flooding when the rivers rise. They were constructed where sandbaggers and volunteers worked during the flood of 1982 to build a dike to protect the National Guard Armory and other buildings on this site. The flood protection walls, spanning both sides of the Headwaters Park Plaza, are dedicated to the people who helped Fort Wayne become known as the city that saved itself. — Map (db m17061) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Fort Miamis |
| | [Marker Front]:
French built a palisaded fort on this strategic site in 1722; named Fort Saint Philippe des Miamis. One of three French forts built in what is now Indiana to protect French fur trade from encroaching English. First of five forts built over time within a square mile of the center of present-day Fort Wayne.
[Marker Reverse]:
Nearby confluence of St. Mary's and St. Joseph's Rivers forms Maumee River, a strategic central part of the waterways system . . . — Map (db m21029) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Fort Wayne ~ Fort Dearborn Trail |
| | An ancient Indian trail, through Pottawattomie country, variably called the Dragoon, White Pigeon, Great Northwestern and Fort Dearborn Road. After 1795 used for mail delivery between Fort Wayne and Fort Dearborn. Captain Wells, Wayne spy, was slain along this route. — Map (db m20782) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Headwaters Park |
| | Architect Eric R. Kuhne was commissioned to design a flood control plan that would provide for a park and premier festival center. It could also serve as a model for flood control in other sections of the country. The Headwaters Park Commission was formed to implement and fund the plan that is now Headwaters Park. Construction to develop approximately thirty acres in the “Thumb” began in 1994 and was completed in 1999. There are approximately twenty acres of parkland that lie in the . . . — Map (db m17037) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Jail Flats |
| | Because of the often soggy conditions that discouraged use as either residential or commercial property, the area of Headwaters Park became known as the Jail Flats. The first jail in Allen County was a two-story hewn-log structure that was enclosed by a board fence, located on the southwest corner of the courthouse square in downtown Fort Wayne. When it burned in 1849, it was promptly replaced. However, after several prisoners escaped, it was determined that a better jail was needed. In 1852, a . . . — Map (db m16998) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Johnny Appleseed — 1774-1845 |
| | Johnny Appleseed legendary planter of orchards across Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, was a real person named John Chapman. He was a friend to all God's creatures and a missionary for the Swedenborgian religion, a Christian denomination.
He was also a smart businessman. Moving ahead of the waves of westward bound settles, he purchased property, carefully sowed apple seeds, and had seedlings available when the settlers arrived. His seedlings were valuable because apples were highly nutritious . . . — Map (db m21560) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Kekionga |
| | This area of the Three Rivers was a site of settlement of Native Americans for as much as 10,000 years. The collection of villages known as Kekionga, located in the present-day Lakeside neighborhood, was a center of the Miami nation in historic times. At the time of the Miami confederacy in the 1790s, Kekionga also was the gathering place for the Huron, the Ottawa, and the Shawnee.
Tradition holds that Kekionga means "the blackberry patch." To the Miami people this also had the meaning of . . . — Map (db m21501) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — League Park |
| | The first professional organized league baseball game was played here on May 4, 1871 ending in a victory for the Fort Wayne Kekiongas over the Cleveland Forest Citys by a score of 2-0. A wooden structure was built in 1883 and rebuilt numerous times over the next several decades. In 1908, Claude Varnell, whose Fort Wayne “Billikins” was a minor league team associated with the St. Louis Cardinals, rebuilt the park. This included the then unique idea of a grass infield. The field, . . . — Map (db m17026) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Little Turtle |
| | Miami Chief Mishikinakwa or Me-she-kin-no-quah, known to the Euro-Americans as Little Turtle, born circa 1747, played a significant role in the settlement of the area surrounding the confluence of the Three Rivers. He was the most successful Native American resistance leader during the frontier wars of the late 1700s. He was also one of President George Washington's greatest concerns in the development of the young United States. It was important to the new nation to hold control of this area, . . . — Map (db m16976) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Maumee - Wabash Portage — "Glorious Gate" |
| | Only land barrier
on shortest trade route
between Quebec and
New Orleans.
Eastern landing of eight-
mile carry from St. Mary's
to Little River. Used by
Indians, French, British
and American traders. — Map (db m21061) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Meshekinnoquah — (Chief Little Turtle) |
| | Chief Little Turtle was one of the most feared and respected leaders during the frontier wars of the 1780s and 1790s when Fort Wayne was born. Known to his people as Meshekinnoquah, Little Turtle is thought to have been born in 1752 in a village along the Eel River a few miles northeast of Columbia City.
Little Turtle rose to prominence as a warrior in 1780. As war chief of the Miami nation, he led them in defeat of the united States irregulars of Colonel LaBalme who attacked the Miami . . . — Map (db m21503) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Miami Legend of the Sandhill Crane |
| | Long before settlers appeared on the scene, the American Indian people here used the sandhill crane as a symbol for their tribe. Early British and American officials referred to the people we know as Miami as “Twightwees” in various spellings such as the English “Twaatwaa”, “Tweeghtwees” or “Twicktwigs.” A legend about how the name became associated with Miamis extends deep into the early history of its people. It is said that the early Miamis . . . — Map (db m17068) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Old Fort Wayne Well |
| | The "Old Well," an important factor in the
existence of the fort and its people, saved
the fort from Indian fire brands in 1812.
Fort Wayne was first built, near by, in 1794.
It was rebuilt, on this site, in 1804, and 1815.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Research by
Allen County - Fort Wayne Historical Society
Architect: Courtney Robinson — Map (db m21210) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Pirogue Landing |
| | Terminal point where French-Canadian boats, hollowed from 30-60 foot poplar logs, brought families and cargo up the Maumee River from Toledo and Detroit, and returned furs to Lake Erie in exchange for traders' supplies, from the late 1700's until the canal era of the 1840's — Map (db m16957) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Site of Last French Fort |
| | Erected, 1750, by Captain Raimond
Surrendered to the British under Lieutenant Butler in 1760.
Ensign Richard Holmes and British garrison massacred by Miami Indians in 1763.
The most severe engagement of battle between Gen. Josiah Harmar and Miamis under Little Turtle fought here, Oct. 22, 1790. — Map (db m21036) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — The Battle of Harmar's Ford |
| | To the Memory of
Major John Wyllys
And His Brave Soldiers Who
Were Killed Near this Spot
In The Battle of
Harmar's Ford
Oct. 22, 1790
With the Indians Under
Chief Little Turtle — Map (db m21358) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — The Battle of Kekionga |
| | The Battle of Kekionga in October 1790 was the fist battle fought by the United States Army after the War for Independence. The campaign had been ordered by President Washington against the Miami settlement of Kekionga, the center of Indian resistance to U.S. migration across the Ohio River.
On October 17, the U.S. commander, General Josiah Harmar, reached Kekionga with 1,453 regular and militia soldiers and found that the Miami had burned and abandoned their town. General Harmar sent . . . — Map (db m21497) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — The First French Fort / The First Playground in Fort Wayne |
| | [Left side of marker]:The First French Fort
The French lived among the Miami at the Three Rivers as early as 1697 when Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes (d. 1719), and Francois Marie Bissot de Vincennes, the son of Jean Baptiste (d. 1736), served as royal agents to the Miamis.
The first fort was built in 1722 on this site by Capt. Dubuisson upon the orders of the French governor in Quebec. The fortification was called Fort St. Philippe or Fort Miamis, was garrisoned by . . . — Map (db m26867) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — The Floods |
| | Most often the rivers here brought prosperity. They are the reason humanbeings settled here; established a land portage to connect with the Wabash River system; and attracted the canal followed by rails, highways, industry, and homes. They brought good, industrious people such as Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman, who was seen in 1830 arriving near this point on the Maumee River with his small boat laden with apple seeds. One significant flood recorded in the Three Rivers area occurred in . . . — Map (db m17030) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — The Fur Traders and the Military at Fort Wayne |
| | The French built Fort St. Philippe (Fort Miamis) west of this area by 1722, to command the land portage here between the Maumee and Wabash Rivers. It was important to the French to protect the area in their political competition with the British as a strategic location for the potential profit from fur trading with the native people Europeans were ready to supply the goods Native Americans wanted, such as metal tools, utensils, weapons, manufactured cloth materials and decorative items. Because . . . — Map (db m17067) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — The Last Two American Forts/The Siege of 1812 |
| | The Last Two American Forts
In 1798, Col. Thomas Hunt began construction on this site of the second American fort at the Three Rivers. this fort, which was completed in 1800, replaced the first, hastily built one erected nearby to the south by Gen. Anthony Wayne in 1794.
In 1815, after having withstood a siege three years earlier, this fort was replaced by Maj. John Whistler, who had assisted in the construction of the first two forts. This was the last fort in the Three Rivers . . . — Map (db m21219) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — The Site of General Wayne's Fort |
| | The Site Of
General Anthony Wayne's Fort
Dedicated October 22nd 1794
It Was The First
United States Fort
Near "Three Rivers"
This Fort Commanded
The Shortest Portage
Between The St. Lawrence
And Mississippi Systems
A Portage Known To
The Indians As "Glorious Gate"
And A Strategic Cross-Roads
In Early Trade and Exploration — Map (db m21020) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — The Wabash & Erie Canal |
| | Anchoring the southern edge of the Headwaters Park “Thumb” until circa 1874, the Wabash & Erie Canal’s importance to transportation to the western part of the United States and to the growth of Fort Wayne was substantial. Headwaters Park is on the “Summit” or highest elevation of the canal project and dependent upon the waters of the St. Joseph River to function. Ground breaking for the canal was held on February 22, 1832. The grand opening was celebrated here, . . . — Map (db m16985) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — These are the Hamilton Women of Fort Wayne |
| | Edith (seated), scholar of Greek and Roman mythology, wrote the classic text, The Greek Way.
Alice (standing), Edith's sister, influential industrial physician, advanced the reform of unsafe working conditions in our nation's factories.
Agnes (with young child), their cousin, accomplished painter and child advocate, worked in settlement houses and founded Fort Wayne's YWCA.
The Hamilton women have made lasting contributions to the well being of citizens on both local and national levels. Fort Wayne is proud of them. — Map (db m16956) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — Wabash and Erie Canal Groundbreaking |
| | On February 22, 1832, ground was broken two blocks north for the canal, which would link Lake Erie at Toledo with the Ohio River at Evansville. Jordan Vigus, Canal Commissioner, Charles W. Ewing, Samuel Hanna, Elias Murray participated in the ceremony. — Map (db m21045) |
| Indiana (Allen County), Fort Wayne — William Wells |
| | A tract of 320 acres of land extending west of the St. Joseph River (the modern Bloomingdale and Spy Run neighborhoods) was set aside by an act of Congress in 1808 for the Indian agent William Wells in recognition of his many services to the U.S. government. This act established Well’s right to occupy and develop the land with an option to buy at $1.25 per acre (rather than having to bid for the land, as was usually the case) when the area was opened for sales by the U.S. Land Office. Wells . . . — Map (db m26863) |
| Indiana (Allen County), New Haven — Gronauer Lock No 2 Marker |
| | Wabash and Erie Canal lock was discovered here June 1991 during excavation for highway construction. It was built 1838–1840 by Henry Lotz and named for lock keeper Joseph Gronauer. The rare, well-preserved timber-frame design lock measured 115 by 40 feet; lock chamber was 90 by 15 feet; two-thirds of the total structure was excavated and removed.
Numerous artifacts and 750 pieces of timber were recovered. After extensive preservation treatment, approximately 5 percent of total lock . . . — Map (db m2498) |
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