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Welcome to the Putnam County Museum

Meet the Author

Larry Tippin has served as County Historian since 2008. His interest in history grew out of extensive research of his family roots and restoration of pioneer cemeteries. A semi-retired CPA, Mr. Tippin has served in a variety of civic and professional organizations.

He was a founding member of the Central Indiana Chapter of the Association of Government Accountants and served as Chapter President and Regional Vice President of the National Association of Government Accountants. He has also served as Treasurer and President of the North Putnam Alumni Association, as a member of the Board of Directors of the local Heritage Preservation Society, Putnam County Museum and the Friends of the Roachdale Library.

The museum is happy to host many of Larry Tippin's talks

on our Youtube channel, which can be viewed here:

Hamrick Station

Hamrick Station

Hamrick Station was a small community in Washington Township about five miles south of Greencastle on the Manhattan Road. One of the focal points of the community was the depot along the Vandalia rail line, which was completed in 1852 and later became known as the Pennsylvania railroad. The depot was not shown in the 1864 Putnam County map but is on the 1879 map from the Putnam County Atlas, as is the Hamrick Post Office which began in 1866. School No. 1 was located close eno

Greencastle Junction and Limedale

Greencastle Junction and Limedale

As we can see by the detail map in the 1879 Putnam County Atlas, the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad and the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad (later the Pennsylvania and Monon lines) crossed just southwest of Greencastle. Someone in a flash of brilliant deduction decided to call this area Greencastle Junction. This community was laid out in 1864 by William Stegg and surveyed by William H. Shields. In the year 1856, a lime and stone quarry began operation at the J

Groveland

Groveland

I am going to jump from Hanna's Crossing to Groveland. Malcolm Romine is in the process of writing an excellent book on the Bainbridge area which should be available in a few months. Brief history of the village of Groveland Groveland is a small community in Sections 2 and 11 of Floyd Township in Northeast Putnam County. Originally platted in 1854, it was never incorporated as a legal town. As noted in the following historical records, a railroad had been anticipated, but wa

Hanna's Crossing

Hanna's Crossing

Hanna’s Crossing was a collection of homes in Monroe Township where sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 meets. This community was four miles west of Bainbridge and nine miles north of Greencastle, at the intersection of what is now U. S. 36 and U. S. 231. Because this area is nine miles north of Greencastle, some people refer to it as Nine Mile. The prominent families in the early days included the Darnall’s and the family of Col. Alexander Shores Farrow. As noted in the map of Monroe Tow

Morton

Morton

Morton is a small community in northeast Clinton Township, at the intersection of Sections 2, 3, 10 and 11. Malcolm Romine prepared a history of Morton, which is available at the gift shop at the Putnam County Museum. I am going to just throw out a few pieces of information about the community and early newspaper articles here. You can read Malcom’s book for more detailed information. The first land patents in the area were taken out by Samuel Vest in 1826 and 1828 in Section

Pisgah

Pisgah

Mt. Pisgah (typically pronounced PISS-key) was a small community north of Portland Mills and south of Russellville, near the Putnam/Parke County Line. The community centered around the Mt. Pisgah Church and Graveyard, and a few nearby schools, including school number 9, also referred to as the Spencer School to the southeast, which operated until 1908. School number 5, sometimes referred to as Russell Central and later the Grimes school, was located a few miles to the northea

Brief history of Cairo in Russell Township

Brief history of Cairo in Russell Township

Brief history of Cairo in Russell Township As county road 1100N goes west from US 231 north of Fincastle, it intersects with county road 375W, near the intersection of sections 13, 14, 23 and 24 of Russell Township. In the mid to late 1800’s a small community named Cairo was located at this crossroad. It does not appear that this community was ever platted out as a town. The focal point of the area was nearby Schoolhouse #6, and a small scattering of homes and businesses. One

Wheaton

Wheaton

Let’s move a few miles west of Fort Red/Barnard to the community of Wheaton. Located about a quarter of a mile north of what is now U. S. Highway 236 on County Road 625E was the small community of Wheaton. Like Barnard, Wheaton prospered when the Springfield, Indianapolis and Decatur Railroad came right through town in 1880. I have always pictured this community as a stop on the railroad where the farmers would put their “wheat on” the trains but have no actual documentation

Barnard

Barnard

Over the next several weeks we will be posting information from some of the small, and often long-gone, communities throughout the county. These stories will include a brief history of the community, as well as representative samples of contemporaneous newspaper articles and photos, if applicable. Please note that these summaries are not intended to be comprehensive histories of the community, but rather a brief description of their early times. Comprehensive histories can of

Oakalla

Oakalla

Oakalla was a stop on what is now the Big Four Railroad a few miles west of Greencastle in Madison Township. Marked as Oakalla Station and PO in the 1879 Atlas, the little community was located near the confluence of Big Walnut and Little Walnut creeks. Noted for the fine limestone deposits nearby, Oakalla was one of the earlier places settled in Putnam County. We see Isaac Wolverton, Arthur McGaughey, Peter Stone and Matthew Cole taking out land patents in 1821 and 1822 near

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