The most important matter to come before the county commissioners in 1824 was the proposition of John T. Barr and John McCorkle in regard to the town plat which they had laid out in August. The offer included a grant to the county treasury of $500 cash and the donation to the county of one square for the use of public buildings (the present Court House square), one lot for a school building, and one lot for a church of no particular denomination, but free to all. In addition to this, Barr and McCorkle offered various other lots located throughout the plat to be disposed of by the county.
The commissioners lost little time in accepting this offer, and the town of Fort Wayne consisting of about sixteen square blocks came into existence. The deed was made out to John Tipton, the county agent. The first lots were sold September 18, 1824, under the direction of Tipton. The buyers were Francis Comparet, William Barbee, William Suttenfield, Edward Mitchel, Thomas Rue, Charles W. Ewing, Rees Goodwin, John J. Griggs, Benjamin Kercheval, Christopher Vallequitte, Jean B. Richardville, Alexander Ewing, William Murphy, Benjamin Archer, Moses Scott, James Scott, William N. Hood, Jacob Everly, Walker and Davis, Samuel Hanna, and Benjamin and Jacob Glossbruner.[7]
Some of these lots, in the heart of the present city, sold for $10.25; the highest brought only $25. The entire thirty-six lots comprising this original sale netted only $690.50, an average of less than $20. per lot. Most of the purchasers made a down payment of half the purchase price. After the sale of some of the remaining lots, Tipton resigned as county agent on September 5, 1825, and Charles W. Ewing was appointed to fill the vacancy.
With the selection of Fort Wayne as the county seat and the improvement and sale of the public lands, new settlers began to arrive in 1824. One of these was Hugh Hanna, the brother of Samuel Hanna, who established the first cabinet and carpenter shop. The villagers were becoming prosperous enough to build more permanent homes and furnish them with better furniture. Chief Richardville and Samuel Hanna, following the best tradition in the East, imported most of their household furnishings from France.
Another indication that Fort Wayne was becoming a village for the more permanent type of settler was the establishment of a small brick factory north of the town by Benjamin Archer who also arrived in 1824. From the products of his yards the first brick building at Fort Wayne was constructed near the end of that year.
Other settlers of 1824 were Mrs. Peter Edsall and her nine children. At Fort Wayne the family purchased a farm. Later her sons—Samuel, John Simon, and William—became identified in the developments of the town, establishing saw mills, laying plank roads, and finally contracting for the construction of the first railroad to reach Fort Wayne. William Stewart, Smalwood Noel, John Bruno, Charles and Francis Minie, Richard Chobert, and Joseph Barron also came to the village in 1824. Most of these people came from Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia by way of the Ohio and St. Mary’s rivers. A few of them came from the Detroit region or from New York state by way of Lake Erie and the Maumee river.
[1]U. S. Statutes at Large, 3: 701-2; 6:448.
[2]At a later date part of the reserve was taken over by the state in connection with the opening of the Wabash-Erie canal; the remaining twenty acres were purchased by Cyrus Taber and opened for sale in 1835. It appears from John Tipton’s correspondence at the time that he and Allen Hamilton also had an interest in Taber’s purchase.
[3]John Tipton Papers, II, IHC, XXV, p. 18.
[4]Revised Laws of Indiana, 1823-24, p. 109. This legislative act took effect April 1, 1824.