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 was never built. One of the more noteworthy incidents of the community was the double murder of Tilgham and Lydia Hanna in 1861, which we discussed a few weeks ago.
From Groveland Centennial 1854-1954 prepared by Ethel Ader, Mary Ader, Grace Arnold, Mariam Houser, Helen Ryland, Giffie Shepherd, Jo Sutherlin and Wilma Wallace, which is on file at the Putnam County Public Library, we learn that the first settlers came to the Groveland Community in 1827. Among them were Joseph, Daniel, Solomon, Peter, Martha and Jacob Evans; William, Spencer, Harvey and A. L. Collings; William, Aquilla, J. M., Henry B., Rachel and Avington Pickett; Joseph, J.C., I. J., Mary and Abel Wilson; Henry F., George, Conrad and Jacob Kurtz·; Henry Weller; John Underwood; William and Wyatt Harris; Samuel Osborne; John Shoptaugh; John, Jacob and Solomon Ader; Jacob and James Willis; Jacob Wiseheart; Adam and Richard Ryner; William and Moses Shepherd; Jacob Wesner; Thomas Maloney; Leroy Furgason; Azariah McPheters; John W. Cooper; James Monday; Samuel McKinley; John King, and Abner Sandis. Many of these moved west at an early date and others soon took their places. A complete list is impossible because of lack of records.
The history of the Regular Baptists in Floyd Township dates from the year 1826, in which they formed a society and built a house of worship called Enon. the same being the first structure of the kind in the township. They also built the second church in the township and named it Palestine. Charles and Carter Hunter, of Marion township, preached the first Baptist sermons in Floyd in the year 1826. They were followed by J. Cost, Spencer Collings and Thomas Broadstreet, who rank among the early Baptist ministers of this part of the county.
In July of 1852, a post office was established in the home of Henry B. Pickett in the first house south of Groveland, with Mr. Pickett as Postmaster. The mail was brought from Fillmore by horseback once or twice per week. The following postmasters have served at Groveland : Henry B. Pickett, July 19, 1852; D. T. Summers, June 21, 1854; Benjamin I. Summers, November 18, 1858: Wilson Fisher, June 8, 1859; J. W. Hanna, December 11, 1860; Weakly Mason, October 18, 1861; Elias Horner, April 30, 1862; Salmon Hall, March 25. 1865: James Turner, December 26, 1876; S. M. Comer, July 5, 1878: Tames Turner, January 26, 1880; Jonathan Owens, July 10, 1885; W. M. Owens, April 17. 1888: William A. Wood, May 31, 1889; Joseph E. Graham, October 26, 1891 ; discontinued February 14, 1905. In 1854 the post office was moved from Picketts to the building on Lot 7, and D. T. Summers was made Postmaster. It was moved from one store to another until it was located in the store owned by Woodson Munday and Edgar Graham which was in the Masonic building then located on the southwest corner of Lot 9. The mail was then brought from Danville by John Chasteen of New Maysville. He drove a two-horse hack to Danville each morning and returned in the afternoon with the mail. In 1905 the Rural Free Delivery was started, and the post office was discontinued.
In 1853 a company was formed, stock sold, and a line surveyed for a railroad connecting Indianapolis and Springfield, Illinois. A station was needed in this community, so a town was platted and named Groveland. The land for the main part of this town was entered by Henry Weller in 1830. The part west of Main Street by Daniel Evans in 1827, and that south by Leroy Furgason in 1831 and Joseph Evans in 1830. On March 10, 1851, B. F. and D. T. Summers purchased 5.48 acres of land from Henry Weller. Before this B. F. Summers had purchased 6 acres just south of this. These two pieces and the edge of the farm on the west then owned by Solomon Ader constituted the land of the original plat. Most of the lots were sold in the next three years for from $35 to $50 per lot. Much grading was done for the railroad. New people moved in and the town grew and prospered until 1858. In that year the railroad company failed, and the stocks were sold at auction.
The first east and west road was a rude path following the old Indian trail. In 1878, David Ader, J. P. Christie, John Wilson and others formed a company to grade and gravel the road from Bainbridge to Groveland. To pay for this, toll gates were established. One was at Groveland just south of the store and east of the Masonic building. A toll house was built on the corner and people paid to travel over the road until it was taken over by the government about 1895. This road is now known as “0ld U.S. 36,” which runs a little south of the current state highway and is still a functioning road. The road east of town was improved about four years later than that west. It was widened and improved until in 1933 it was paved from Danville to State Road 43, which is the current or “New” State Road 36.
