 Montgomery
County, named in honor of General Richard Montgomery, was organized in 1823.
It contains 504 square miles, and is bounded north by Tippecanoe, east by
Clinton, Boone and Hendricks, south by Putnam and Parke, and west by Fountain.
It has eleven civil townships, viz: Clark, Scott, Brown, Walnut, Union, Franklin,
Wayne, Cole Creek, Sugar Creek, Ripley and Madison. The population in 1830
was 7,376, in 1840, 14,438, and at this time [1849] about 18,000. The western
part of the county, and near the principal streams is somewhat hilly and
broken, the north and central part undulating, and the east and south level.
The timber is generally of a good quality, and the soil, with scarce any
exception, rich and well adapted to corn, wheat, grass, fruit and all the
products common to the climate. There are several good prairies in the north
part of the county, now mostly in cultivation, and occasionally barrens or
oak openings, but two-thirds of the county were originally covered with heavy
timber.
The surplus articles annually exported from the county are wheat 150,000
bushels, corn 100,000 do., 20,000 hogs, 3,000 cattle, 400 horses, and 200
mules, estimated to be worth $250,000. There are in the county eight gristmills,
twelve sawmills, three woolen factories, one oil mill, thirty-three stores
and groceries, thirteen lawyers, thirty-six physicians, thirty preachers,
thirty-six churches, mostly Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterians, two printing
offices, and the usual proportion of mechanics. The Wabash College is in
this county, while the Female Institute and the County Seminary are in a
good condition, and there are common schools in most of the school districts.
The taxable land in the county amounts to 300,000 acres. The completion of
the Crawfordsville and Lafayette Railroad, which has been commenced with
much spirit, will make Montgomery among the richest and best counties in
the State. |
