At the seventh mile stone, a little beyond West Clear Creek bridge, stood the shop of Jeremy Mansur, who manufactured the first axes made in the county of Wayne. When Martin Van Buren made his trip through Indiana, many persons denounced him as an enemy of the road, and some one in Richmond, to inflict chastisement upon the distinguished statesman for his supposed unfriendliness, sawed a double-tree of the coach in which he was traveling nearly through, and it broke near Mansur’s ax-shop, causing Mr. Van Buren to walk to the top of a hill through thick mud. The author of this mishap to Mr. Van Buren subsequently boasted that he had put a mud polish on Gentleman Martin’s boots to give him a realizing sense of the importance of good roads.
Near the ninth mile stone from Richmond were two celebrated taverns, Eliason’s and Estepp’s. Both were brick houses and well kept. Joshua Eliason was a man of medium size, jovial disposition, remarkably industrious, and a zealous member of the Christian church. His tavern was on the north side of the road, and, in connection with it, he maintained two one-story emigrant houses to accommodate families moving west. The emigrants carried and cooked their own provisions, and paid Eliason a certain sum for the use of his buildings. Drove yards were also a profitable feature of Eliason’s tavern. He sold grain to the drovers, and after the cattle were turned out, put his own hogs in the vacated field to eat up the remnants and refuse.
BRIDGE OVER WHITEWATER, RICHMOND, IND.
John Estepp’s tavern was on the south side of the road, nearly opposite Eliason’s. He had one emigrant house, and did an extensive business. He was a man of the lean order, but always on the alert to turn an honest penny.
A short distance beyond Estepp’s, Centerville comes in view, near where Daniel L. Lashley kept the principal tavern. He was a large man, and had a large patronage.
Centerville boasts of having been a nursery of great men. Here Oliver P. Morton, when a young man, worked as a hatter, and Gen. A. E. Burnside pursued the humble trade of a tailor. Gen. Lew Wallace and Gen. Noble went to school in Centerville, and possibly the germs of Ben Hur had their origin in this rural village. Hon. George W. Julian, of free soil notoriety, was at one time a resident of Centerville, and Judge Nimrod Johnson, of the State Supreme Court, and John S. Newman, ex-president of the Indiana Central Railroad Company, were among the noted personages who lived there. Centerville was for many years the county seat of Wayne county, and the removal of the offices and archives to Richmond produced a feeling of jealousy between the inhabitants of the places which lingers in a measure to this day, although Richmond has far outstripped her ancient rival in growth and improvements.
West of Centerville the road crosses Nolan’s Fork, a small Indiana stream, and a short distance beyond, and near the Poor Farm, a toll-gate was established, and there was also a tavern at this point. One mile west of the Poor Farm, Crum Fork is crossed by means of a bridge, and between this stream and Germantown there was another toll-gate and also a tavern. There is a bridge over the stream between Germantown and Cambridge city. West of Cambridge City, and near Dublin, there was a toll-gate, and a short distance west of Dublin, the road passes out of Wayne county.
The road forms the main street of Dublin and is called Cumberland street, by reason of this fact. The first tavern established in Dublin was by Samuel Schoolfield, an old Virginian, pleasantly remembered on account of his staunch patriotism. He displayed on his sign-board the motto: “Our country, right or wrong.”