A Brief History of Spiceland, Indiana

Spiceland was settled in  the 1820s by Quaker pioneers from Virginia and the Carolinas, although the town was not officially established until 1847 nor incorporated until 1869. The community was named after the spice bush, a shrub that was growing in abundance when the pioneers first arrived in what was to become Spiceland Township, Henry County, Indiana. Spiceland was the home of the famed Friends Academy (1870-1921). Spiceland High School operated from 1922 until consolidation in 1969. The Alumni and Former Students Association, founded in 1887, is the oldest organization in Henry County. The Spiceland Sanitarium and Mineral Springs existed from 1893 until a fire destroyed the facility in 1913. A glass factory which opened in 1890 was a direct result of the natural gas boom in Eastern Indiana. Other early factories produced glue, furniture, bricks and tile, washing machines and processing tomatoes. The Spiceland Town-Township Public Library had its beginning in 1863. Spiceland was a station on the Underground Railroad before the Civil War and prior to 1900 was home to a large African-American community.

A restored Spring House on the grounds of the Spiceland Sanitarium.

The Oliver C. Steele Manufacturing Company was a producer of window shades from 1900 to 1994. The Luther O. Draper Shade Company was founded in 1902. This firm, known today as Draper, Inc., is one of the largest manufacturers of window shades, movie screens, easels and gymnasium equipment in the United States. Other local manufacturers are Hoosier Lamp Co., established 1968, Spiceland Wood Products, established 1981, and Mondrush Technologies, Inc., a plastics molder, established 1993.

The churches of the area include Spiceland Friends Meeting (org. 1824, church erected 1874), Spiceland United Methodist (org. 1870, church erected 1905), Smyrna Baptist (org. 1963, church erected 1968), Dunreith Christian (org. 1838, church erected 1909), Liberty Baptist (org. 1982, church purchased 1983), and the Ogden United Methodist (org. 1860s, church erected 1874), Spiceland Nazarene Church (org.1963, church erected 1965). The African Methodist Church (org 1871) was dismantled and the lot sold in 1930.