Shelbyville
November 30, 1870
Shelbyville, Shelby Co, IN.
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Shelbyville, from whence I date my present correspondence,
is the capital of Shelby county, situated at the crossing of the Indianapolis Cincinnati & Lafayette and Columbus
and Cambridge City branch of the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad, twenty-six miles southeast
of Indianapolis, and eighty-nine miles west of Cincinnati. It might also be stated that the town is situated at
the Junction of Big and Little Blue rivers, as they come together near the place. It is an active business
place of about three thousand inhabitants; is very pleasantly located and contains several substantial brick business
blocks and quite a number of handsome private residences. The streets are well imprved and the town presents
a clean and tidy appearance. It contains six church edifices, one Union School building, a handsome brick
structure erected at a cost of $33,000, in which a graded school is in progress, Masonic and Odd Fellows' Lodges,
Temperance organization and German Benevolent Society. Its manufacturing interest is represented by three flouring,
one saw and one woolen mills, one extensive plaining mill and sash, blind and door manufactory, one carriage manufactory,
two furniture manufactories, two stave factories, one foundry and machine shop, two tanneries, one distillery,
two lumber yards, four grain houses, two banks, two newspapers, Volunteer and Republican, three livery stables
and four hotels, besides a full complement of blacksmith, wagon and boot and shoe shops. The different lines of
merchandise are represented by well filled stores.
The county of Shelby embraces an area of four hundred
and eight square miles, and contains a population of about twenty-three thousand. The face of the county
is generally level, very rich and fertile soil, and produces large yields of all kinds of agricultural produce.
The country is well improved and supplied with good roads and bridges. It is also well watered and
abounds in good timber, such as walnut, oak, poplar, ash, buckeye, etc. It is said that the county has no
less than three hundred miles of graveled roads, some thirty-four roads already graded and graveled in the county,
eleven of which diverge from the town in different directions, penetrating every portion of the county which draws
the trade from a large scope of country, making Shelbyville a good point for merchandising, and from observation
I should think that the merchants have all grown wealthy, perfectly independent, yet devoid of energy and enterprise,
and from indications care not for the general welfare and prosperity of the town and surrounding country. The
manufacturers on the contrary are all alive to the interests of the town, and liberally patronize any laudable
enterprise that tends towards showing up the advantages and facilities of their city so as to attract enterprise
and capital.
Big and Little Blue rivers furnish ample water power
to propel machinery, and are so situated that at a small cost the privilege could be so improved that a fall of
over forty feet could be obtained in a distance of eight miles, with sufficient water to run any number of manufactories.
By this means the town could also be supplied with water, with a reservoir at the head of the falls. The
water would flow into the second tories of the houses in the city. This, as well as many other advantages
with which Shelbyville is surrounded offers great inducements to parties seeking locations for manufacturing purposes.
The live business men of the place are its manufacturers
among whom we can but briefly notice:
J.
R. Stewart & Co., general contractors
and builders and proprietors of the Shelbyville Planning Mills. They manufacture doors, sash, blinds and
mouldings of all kins; also, general dealers in all kinds of dressed lumber, including pine lumber, shingles, lath
and all kinds of building material. They employ thirty men, and haveo ne of the most conplete establishments
of the kind that I have seen in the State. The entire building is stocked with the very best new and improved
machinery, embracing everything in the line of wood working machinery. The mills are kept perfectly clean
and tidy, having the pot dusters attached throughout the establishment.
A. Swain,
proprietor of the Star Steam Flouring Mills. These mills are of brick, three stories high, and are stocked
with new and improved machinery, and have three run of stone. It has a capacity of one hundred barrels of
flour per day, and consumes fifty thousands bushels of wheat every season. He is also general dealers in
grain, and ships from forty thousand to fifty thousand bushels of wheat per annum. He also manufactures meal
for the trade.
M. G. Murdoch,
proprietor of steam flouring and saw mill, and general dealer in all kinds of grain, flour, lumber, lath, shingles
and building material. The flouring mill has two run of stone, with a capacity of fifty barrelsof flour per
day. He also manufactures kiln dried meal for the trade. The capacity of the saw mill is four thousand
feet per day. He also manufactures his own staves and barrels, and is a live, wide-awake business man,
and employs twenty men.
J. H. McGuire & Co.,
porprietors [sic] of the Shelbyville carriage works manufactory. They manufacture all kinds of carriages,
buggies and spring wagons. They use first-class material, and employ the very best of workmen. Having
fifteen men, who turn out from thirty-five to forty complete jobs per season. The work turned out by this
establishment is equal to any I have examined.
Elliott & Co.,
proprietors of the Shelby Flouring Mills. These mills are situated on the Big Blue river, and are run by
water. They have five run of stone, with a capacity of two hundred barrels of flour per day. They also
manufacture meal and buckwheat flour for the trade, and consume one thousand bushels of grain every twenty-four
hours. They ship anuualy [sic] ten thousand barrels of flour, and from thirty to forty thousand bushels of
wheat. The mills are stocked with four double turbine water-wheels, and are among the most extensive flouring
establishments in the country. The flour is well known as being very fine.
The only enterprising merchants we found in the place
are Trees & Griffey, general dealers in hardware, iron, steel, nails, glass,
stoves and house furnishing goods, andmanufacturers of tin, brass, sheet iron, and copper ware. They occupy
two rooms one-hundred by forty feet, and carry a full line of everything in each department.
The Ray House
is the popular hotel of the place, conveniently located, well furnished, and a very comfortable place to rest at.
The house is presided over by O.
G. Keck, proprietor, a kind and courteous
landlord.
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