Sheridan, Indiana
Official History of Settlement & Life
Sheridan, once the second largest town in Hamilton County, lies on the south edge of land originally owned by George Boxley. Considerable recent development has greatly increased the population of this historic town. The Sheridan Downtown Commercial Historic District encompasses approximately four blocks along Main Street from the former Monon railroad right-of-way north to Veterans’ Park and Pioneer Hill, the site of the George Boxley cabin, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The origin of Sheridan, which was first called Millwood, are vague due partly to the loss of all the town’s records in 1913 when a disastrous fire destroyed the Town Hall and many other buildings. No documentation supports the popular contention that Egbert Higbee started the town in 1860. Higbee, born in Ohio, and brought to Adams Township as a child, did indeed lay out a town he called Millwood on land adjacent to the district school (built in 1851). He had acquired the land in parcels and filed his town plat in April, 1866. Two and a half blocks were divided into twenty lots. It was oriented in an east-west direction along the south side of the Lafayette-Noblesville state road which Higbee designated as Main Street (present day Second Street). Higbee immediately began to sell lots to enterprising merchants and a few mill owners, and the little village got its start. Higbee himself built a mill and laid out additions to his original plat. Caswell Boxley, however, subdivided the south edge of his land, which adjoined Higbee’s plat across the state road, and laid out his own plat of Millwood immediately north and extending west of Higbee’s village. The initial town orientation was succeeded by one that put Main Street in a north-south direction. In a few years, the hamlet of Millwood applied for a post office and was granted one on January 30, 1871. Since there was already an existing post office in a village of the same name in Kosciusko County, this Millwood was renamed “Sheridan” in honor of the Civil War general. The town had an identity crisis for a few years as some people continued to call it Millwood, even in official records. Its location on the state road connecting Noblesville and Lafayette was a good site for an agricultural center. By this time other entrepreneurs had laid out additions to Millwood as well, but growth was slow until the coming of the Monon Railroad in 1882 stimulated a commercial and industrial boom. Several significant buildings from this early period survive today, including the H.J. Thistlethwaite building constructed in 1886 as an opera house, lodge room, and retail space.
Industry soon clustered along the railroad toward the south end of Main Street. The Monon passed through Sheridan at a sharp angle from northwest to southeast. In no time, it was lined with various mills and factories. The buzzing town of Sheridan incorporated in 1886. The subsequent discovery of natural gas on West 3rd Street in 1888 boosted the town’s growth even further, as several additional industries chose to locate here. Sheridan’s movers and shakers eagerly expanded their holdings to take advantage of this inexpensive fuel which, unfortunately as in the several other “gas boom” counties of Indiana, soon ran out. But for a time, Sheridan even had a glass factory, a cannery, and a brickwork, the Thistlethwaite Tile and Brick Plant. Several smaller brick plants sprang up, along with numerous other industries, including Indiana Condensed Milk-later purchased by Wilson’s Milk-a leader in canned condensed milk production. Despite the waning gas supply, many industries remained. Around the turn of the 20th century, Sheridan had become the second largest town in the county with a thriving commercial district. Included were several hotels, banks, and lodges sharing Main Street with a few dwellings. The Golden Rule general merchandise store and the dry goods store of Stanley Brothers were constructed during the 1890s. The town applied to Andrew Carnegie for funds to build a library, which was completed in 1912.
The great fire of 1913 started in a lumber company and destroyed much of the south end of downtown, which consisted mostly of wood frame structures. The Town Hall, which had stood on the east side of Main Street and south of 5th Street, burned. After the fire, a new brick building was constructed at the southwest corner of Main and Cora (now Jaycee) Streets, the previous site of a livery stable that also burned. The aftermath of the fire resulted in considerable change downtown. Over the next 15 years, scattered houses on Main Street disappeared and were replaced by commercial buildings. Only the far north end of Main Street retained its original residential character. Several new businesses appeared, including several movie houses, although even before the fire Sheridan had been proud of possessing more than one nickelodeon. Another type of business that seemed to thrive was the automobile dealership, but little evidence of this remains. The last bank of several institutions established in the town was the American State Bank of Sheridan. Built in 1914 at the corner of 4th and Main Streets, it operated as a bank until 2006. Farmers National Bank was located further south on Main Street adjacent to a hardware store. The post office was initially located within a general store on Second Street (the state road) east of Main Street. There were a number of other locations after that, among them a building on the west side of Main Street north of the American State Bank. Its final location was a beautiful new building, funded through the New Deal, built at the corner of 4th and Ohio Streets in 1940.
In the decades following World War II, other commercial areas developed. Some were along State Road 38 as it entered Sheridan from the east and along State Road 47 running east-west on the south edge of town. But downtown Sheridan retained its character as several historic buildings constructed from the 1880s to the 1930s remain. They constitute a three-dimensional historic document of Sheridan’s boom years and stand as the heart of its new growth and future potential.
Edited 2022
The origin of Sheridan, which was first called Millwood, are vague due partly to the loss of all the town’s records in 1913 when a disastrous fire destroyed the Town Hall and many other buildings. No documentation supports the popular contention that Egbert Higbee started the town in 1860. Higbee, born in Ohio, and brought to Adams Township as a child, did indeed lay out a town he called Millwood on land adjacent to the district school (built in 1851). He had acquired the land in parcels and filed his town plat in April, 1866. Two and a half blocks were divided into twenty lots. It was oriented in an east-west direction along the south side of the Lafayette-Noblesville state road which Higbee designated as Main Street (present day Second Street). Higbee immediately began to sell lots to enterprising merchants and a few mill owners, and the little village got its start. Higbee himself built a mill and laid out additions to his original plat. Caswell Boxley, however, subdivided the south edge of his land, which adjoined Higbee’s plat across the state road, and laid out his own plat of Millwood immediately north and extending west of Higbee’s village. The initial town orientation was succeeded by one that put Main Street in a north-south direction. In a few years, the hamlet of Millwood applied for a post office and was granted one on January 30, 1871. Since there was already an existing post office in a village of the same name in Kosciusko County, this Millwood was renamed “Sheridan” in honor of the Civil War general. The town had an identity crisis for a few years as some people continued to call it Millwood, even in official records. Its location on the state road connecting Noblesville and Lafayette was a good site for an agricultural center. By this time other entrepreneurs had laid out additions to Millwood as well, but growth was slow until the coming of the Monon Railroad in 1882 stimulated a commercial and industrial boom. Several significant buildings from this early period survive today, including the H.J. Thistlethwaite building constructed in 1886 as an opera house, lodge room, and retail space.
Industry soon clustered along the railroad toward the south end of Main Street. The Monon passed through Sheridan at a sharp angle from northwest to southeast. In no time, it was lined with various mills and factories. The buzzing town of Sheridan incorporated in 1886. The subsequent discovery of natural gas on West 3rd Street in 1888 boosted the town’s growth even further, as several additional industries chose to locate here. Sheridan’s movers and shakers eagerly expanded their holdings to take advantage of this inexpensive fuel which, unfortunately as in the several other “gas boom” counties of Indiana, soon ran out. But for a time, Sheridan even had a glass factory, a cannery, and a brickwork, the Thistlethwaite Tile and Brick Plant. Several smaller brick plants sprang up, along with numerous other industries, including Indiana Condensed Milk-later purchased by Wilson’s Milk-a leader in canned condensed milk production. Despite the waning gas supply, many industries remained. Around the turn of the 20th century, Sheridan had become the second largest town in the county with a thriving commercial district. Included were several hotels, banks, and lodges sharing Main Street with a few dwellings. The Golden Rule general merchandise store and the dry goods store of Stanley Brothers were constructed during the 1890s. The town applied to Andrew Carnegie for funds to build a library, which was completed in 1912.
The great fire of 1913 started in a lumber company and destroyed much of the south end of downtown, which consisted mostly of wood frame structures. The Town Hall, which had stood on the east side of Main Street and south of 5th Street, burned. After the fire, a new brick building was constructed at the southwest corner of Main and Cora (now Jaycee) Streets, the previous site of a livery stable that also burned. The aftermath of the fire resulted in considerable change downtown. Over the next 15 years, scattered houses on Main Street disappeared and were replaced by commercial buildings. Only the far north end of Main Street retained its original residential character. Several new businesses appeared, including several movie houses, although even before the fire Sheridan had been proud of possessing more than one nickelodeon. Another type of business that seemed to thrive was the automobile dealership, but little evidence of this remains. The last bank of several institutions established in the town was the American State Bank of Sheridan. Built in 1914 at the corner of 4th and Main Streets, it operated as a bank until 2006. Farmers National Bank was located further south on Main Street adjacent to a hardware store. The post office was initially located within a general store on Second Street (the state road) east of Main Street. There were a number of other locations after that, among them a building on the west side of Main Street north of the American State Bank. Its final location was a beautiful new building, funded through the New Deal, built at the corner of 4th and Ohio Streets in 1940.
In the decades following World War II, other commercial areas developed. Some were along State Road 38 as it entered Sheridan from the east and along State Road 47 running east-west on the south edge of town. But downtown Sheridan retained its character as several historic buildings constructed from the 1880s to the 1930s remain. They constitute a three-dimensional historic document of Sheridan’s boom years and stand as the heart of its new growth and future potential.
Edited 2022
Old Photographs of Sheridan
Historic Industries
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