History of Lawrence Township
In establishing the first political subdivisions of Marion County in 1821, the County Commissioners constituted the northeast portion of the county as Lawrence Township . The War of 1812 still fresh in their minds, the commissioners named the township for Captain James Lawrence, a hero of this war with Great Britain famous for his battle cry: "Don't give up the ship." The area was virtually uninhabited, witnessing only the occasional passage of Indian hunters who chose to remain after the Indian Evacuation Treaty of 1818. The township was blessed with "magnificent stands of hardwood" and, as recorded by another chronicler, at certain times of the year "much of the level land was covered with immense sheets of water, quagmires or ponds."
Among the first recorded settlers of the township were Elijah and Elizabeth Reddic who farmed a sizeable homestead in what is now the City of Lawrence . Hard working farmers, the Reddics were considered prosperous for the time having migrated from Pennsylvania with two yoke of oxen, two horses, twenty-five hogs, two milk cows and twelve sheep. Other early recorded settlers were Joel Wright and Elijah Fox.
Overall, settlement of the township was slow - growth being largely concentrated in Indianapolis to the southwest. Settlements which did occur (such as Castleton, Lawrence, Germantown and Oaklandon) were small farming communities served by roads roughly hewn through the forest, a general store and a small church which served as both a place of worship and a site for community social functions. In retrospect, when the township grew, it tended to do so sporadically and generally in response to developments beyond its own control.
Not the least of these developments was the building of the "B Line" Railroad at the height of the railroad building boom of the late 1840's and the 1850's. This line linked Indianapolis with Anderson , Muncie , Wabash and Fort Wayne , passing diagonally through the southern portion of Lawrence Township . The town of Lawrence was first platted north of this rail line in February of 1849 and, four months later, Oaklandon was laid out ten miles to the east parallel to its tracks.
Lawrence was originally platted by James White as the Town of Lanesville (Lane being a prominent resident and backer of the town's development). Perhaps indicating some political rivalry between Mssrs. Lane and White, the town was also commonly referred to as Jamestown . Immediately south of the town, a post office had been established in 1846. Due to its location in Lawrence Township , it was simply known as the Lawrence Post Office. The three names proved to be a source of considerable confusion until the problem was resolved in 1866 when the Marion County Commissioners officially renamed the town "Lawrence."
The town of Oaklandon was originally platted by John Emery who, along with other residents, saw a great future for the community because of its location along the railroad and Pendleton Pike. They envisioned a community that would "accommodate hundreds of homes, stores, churches, schools, factories, mills, and even exporters and importers." In deference to the stands of towering oak trees growing over the countryside, the community was initially called Oakland . It was not until the early 1880's that the "on" was added, once again (as in the case of Lawrence ) following the lead of its local post office which was so named.
The rapid growth and rise to prominence envisioned by the town's founders was frustrated by a series of national events. First, the Gold Rush of 1849 had diverted immigration to the West. Next, the Civil War had slowed new development and, finally, the Financial Panic of 1873 (when "no one was going anywhere") stopped the town's growth completely. By 1880, the founding fathers had resigned themselves that Oaklandon would be nothing more than a thriving county town linked to Indianapolis by a toll road whose passage took a half day and 60 cents.
The first local recorded slaying of an Indian by a Lawrence Township settler took place in the Oaklandon area. The Indian was a Kickapoo guide from the Algonquin Tribe. The killing and the subsequent investigation into its circumstances deeply divided the small community. Feelings ran so high that one group of German homesteaders moved to a site five miles north of the town along Fall Creek to establish their own settlement which they appropriately named " Germantown ." This small community continued to exist until 1941 when it was entombed in water by the construction of the Geist Reservoir dam.
Another reminder of the migration of northern European stock to central Indiana in the 1830's and 1840's was the small community of Vertland situated just north of what is now Castleton. The name was derived from its local storekeeper and resident, Milford H. Vail. The town had grown around the switching facility for the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad. When the railroad was reincorporated as the Nickle Plate Railroad, the switch was moved south and a station built on what is now 82nd Street . Vertland then gradually moved to or was assimilated by Castleton.
The first settlers of Castleton were Julia Sterret and her husband who had moved into a log cabin they built in 1841-eleven years before the town was platted by Thomas Gentry in 1852. This original plan contained nine lots and it wasn't until 1875 that David Macy developed its first addition containing 16 lots just east of the railroad. The town's first postmaster was "Old Billy" Anderson . The community became known as a Methodist center, its first church having been organized in 1873 by James T. Wright. The building used as the congregation's first church was a barn-like structure constructed of cherry beams moved from Vertland. The building subsequently served as a Magistrate Court , a school and a store.
By the turn of the century, Castleton was also known as a brick and charcoal making center. The industry's kilns were fired by natural gas from a local well. Unlike other local natural gas wells which failed around 1900 after a brief ten years of production, the Castleton well continued to produce fuel into the 1940's.
Well into the Twentieth Century, Lawrence Township 's growth had been measured, but it was only a matter of time until the buildup of Indianapolis , the popularization of the automobile and a concomitant move toward suburbanization began to impact this sparsely developed area to the northeast. Three principal developments took place that fed the remarkable growth we continue to see today: the buildup of industry in east Indianapolis during the 1940's; the damming of Fall Creek at 8200 Fall Creek Boulevard in 1941; and the opening of the I-465 and I-69 interstate system in the mid-1960's.
First to benefit from these developments was the Town of Lawrence . Established in 1903 just south of the town, Fort Benjamin Harrison had created a modest demand for housing and commercial development. When the U.S. Government opened its Army Finance Center at the Post, its use of civilian employees greatly increased this demand. The opening of Chrysler, Ford and Western Electric plants just south of the town along Shadeland Avenue initiated a thirty year period of growth that saw the town's progression to a 5th Class City in 1951 and its upgrade to a 4th Class City in 1961.
As a Fourth Class City, Lawrence was no longer governed by a Town Board. The City Council was enlarged from five to seven members. Morris Settles (a former deputy sheriff who had come to Lawrence as Marshal in 1955) was elected its first mayor-a position he held for twenty-four years. Mayor Settles' name became synonymous with the City as its population increased another 150%, solidifying its position as the second largest municipality in Marion County .
As the City's population grew, so did pressures to expand the City's boundaries and increase its economic base. Adding a sense of urgency to its need for territorial expansion was the movement toward a county-wide form of government being pursued by Indianapolis in the State Legislature. Fearing that the passage of such legislation would "freeze" the City's boundaries, the City Council routinely annexed roadway segments extending eastward to the Hancock County Line. This practice put off the politically unpopular legal step of annexation of communities such as Lantern Hills, Indian Lake , Fairwood Hills and Oaklandon while effectively preventing their annexation by the City of Indianapolis since annexation could not extend across streets of another municipality.
The practice also had the effect of increasing the City's share of State Gas Tax disbursements which were based on the number of miles of roadway in the community. Increasing the share of these state revenues was, in fact, a principal motivation when the Council moved to annex Fort Benjamin Harrison (another being the necessity of incorporating the Fort within its boundaries before it could proceed to annex the area east of the Fort). Initially opposed by the Army, objections were later withdrawn and, in 1970, Fort Benjamin Harrison became a part of the City of Lawrence .
By 1925, Oaklandon had established itself as a stable northeast-side community of some 500 residents. That year, in the early morning hours of February 13, a fire broke out in its business district. Fire apparatus had to come from Indianapolis and Fortville to fight the blaze. The truck dispatched from nearby Fort Benjamin Harrison unfortunately ran off the road and did not arrive until after the fire was out. Despite the efforts of the firefighters and townspeople, the fire destroyed much of the town center and the community set about rebuilding. L. W. Mohler's General Store, a town landmark, dates from this period.
The boom in housing construction which followed the Second World War finally brought about the discovery of the community. Despite the formation of the Oaklandon Citizens Committee chaired by Everett Hartig to oversee orderly growth, the town developed a virtual split-personality between the old center and the new subdivisions being built around it. The division seems to have weakened the community's sense of identity. This, coupled with the fact that the town had never incorporated, left it vulnerable at a time when other communities were looking for opportunities for expansion. It was in 1962 that Mr. Mohler, referring to new housing subdivisions either built or being planned in the Oaklandon area, was quoted by the Indianapolis Times as saying: "Gradually the old town will be encased by subdivisions and shopping areas. Then we will be annexed by Lawrence or Indianapolis ."
Stating that "the people in this area don't want anything to do with Unigov," Mayor Settles and the City Council of Lawrence, in the same year, moved to annex 5,871 acres east of its boundary to the Hancock County Line. The annexation was opposed in court by the Annexation Committee of the Eastern Lawrence Township Plan Council. Apparently having resigned themselves to their eventual loss of autonomy, residents responding to an informal survey conducted by the Plan Council indicated that 47% preferred to be annexed by Indianapolis and 27% by Lawrence-the remaining 26% being undecided. The poll carried no legal weight however, as the case was resolved in April of 1976 in favor of Lawrence , thus establishing its present boundaries.
As the northeastern segment of I-465 was in the final stages of completion in 1966, placing Castleton at the base of "an interstate triangle," residents described it as a dying town "engulfed in a sea of commercial business." Anticipating the inevitable growth the belt parkway and its two interchanges would bring to the area, the Marion County zoning Board had rezoned the area around the town "Commercial." While this was meant to accommodate the growth of the area, it also effectively prevented the town's growth through annexation. The move proved to be a mixed blessing as residents suddenly saw the value of their houses double, at the same time realizing that the town's fate had been sealed. Many predicted its complete demise in a brief ten years.
While Castleton languished, the area around the new regional commercial center was the scene of some of the most intensive residential development ever experienced in the county. Adding to this momentum was the presence of nearby Geist Reservoir with its potential for development.
In 1941, Fall Creek had been dammed by the Indianapolis Water Company to create a reservoir that suddenly became the State's third largest body of water. Stocked by the Department of Natural Resources, Geist Reservoir (named after the recently retired president of the company) immediately became a mecca for local fishermen and boaters who continued to enjoy its idyllic beauty and peacefulness for more than twenty years.
In January of 1961, the Water Company announced plans to develop the west and south shores of the reservoir for exclusive, up-scale residences. The development of 2,782 acres-to be known as Shorewood-would involve construction of 435 luxury waterfront units, 1,431 inland units, a marina, boat clubs, a private county club and a shopping center connected by forty miles of roads. Ambitious as the plan was, the project proved to be far simpler in its conception than in its execution.
The real difficulty began when the Water Company announced that, in order to guarantee the exclusiveness of the development, public access to the lake would be restricted. Public response was immediate, if not predictable. The Central Indiana Fair Plan Association was quickly organized and a petition drive initiated seeking government intervention in the plans. By June of that year, over ten thousand signatures had been collected and the petition was presented to the County Commissioners by Gerald Raper, spokesman for what the press termed the "Fishermen's March."
John A. Kitley, President of the Marion County Council threatened legal action to preserve public access to the reservoir since the Water Company had used its condemnation powers (or the threat thereof) to acquire the land initially and the State stocked Fall Creek which fed the lake. French M. Elrod, the President of the County Board of Commissioners, announced plans to acquire all or part of the Marion County shoreline for use as parkland through the Board's own statutory condemnation powers and indicated that the necessary bond issue was already being prepared. An Indianapolis Times Editorial appearing in the June 11 edition stated that it was "obvious that the elected officials have been talking to fishermen who outnumber Water Company officials at the polls."
An impasse was quickly reached over a potential purchase price for the land. Cost estimates varied widely depending on who determined the valuation: the County stressing the Water Company's original cost of $200 an acre and the Water Company emphasizing the land's best possible use after its investment in the reservoir's development. In the midst of the considerable rhetoric the confrontation produced, the County pressed its cause by refusing to approve either the development's plats or its proposed road system.
It became apparent that even the development of a scaled-down park along the shoreline could cost in excess of $10,000,000-an amount that would severely test local resources. An editorial in the July 7, 1961 edition of the Indianapolis Star urged the County to abandon its acquisition efforts on the basis that the purchase would also represent a long-term tax liability at the expense of increased property tax revenues that would accrue as the result of development. A political issue became an emotional one at this point, with both sides continuing to posture: the Water Company contending that, even though the County should buy the land, it would not allow it the use of the water in the reservoir and the County countering that, if necessary, it would even condemn the water itself.
A truce of sorts was eventually reached by both parties. The overwhelming cost of park land acquisition at Geist forced postponement of County plans, and local government began to see park development at the proposed Eagle Creek Reservoir as more feasible. The Water Company on the other hand decided that, because the political climate was inappropriate, it would postpone its plans at least until the upcoming elections when the composition of the County Council and Commission would likely change.
The final salvo of the skirmish was fired by the County Council, however. Having been unanimously turned down by the County Board of Commissioners when it formally petitioned them to buy the land needed for a park at Geist, it petitioned the Metropolitan Plan Commission in September of 1962 to rezone 223 acres of shoreline from its Special Uses category to the Parkland Category. The Plan Commission approved the petition. Under State law, the County Board of Commissioners was required to approve the rezoning and the Water Company found itself the reluctant owner of 223 acres of public parkland situated in the midst of its planned residential development.
It was not until 1978 that the development of Geist was finally initiated by an offshoot of the Water Company-The Shorewood Corporation. That year, the rezoning of 280 acres was approved by the Metropolitan Development Commission and construction finally began.
Growth in Lawrence Township has been explosive since 1950. Its population doubled by 1960, doubled again by 1970, and will be close to having doubled for a third time in forty years when the 1990 Census is taken. The precipitousness of this growth has created very real problems in the township, as well as concerns about its future. This plan will examine these problems in detail and enlist the assistance of its residents in proposing a sound approach to their solution.
