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    One of the few unspoiled old places in Indiana is the fine old town of Vernon. There are not many of the old places left untouched by the mailed hand of modernism. Old Vernon seems to be the patriarch among the good old Hoosier towns of yesteryear, where people live serenely happy and contented and where old-fashioned hospitality and early day culture have not gone out of style. We always stop in Vernon and chat awhile, there is a pleasant after effect from the little visit. On this particular visit we were received by Judge Carney of the Sixth Judicial circuit, who is also the president of the Jennings County Hisorical Society, and ably assisted by Attorney Hargesheimer, we were shown some of the historical sites of the town. These gentlemen related to us significant historical facts of Vernon and Jennings county. They told of John Vawter, the pioneer and first settler on the site of Vernon. He came up from Madison in 1915 with his wife and children and built a log cabin near the site of the present Courthouse. His nearest neighbor was ten miles distant. He built the first flour mill here in 1816 and operated it for many years. He built one of the first brick store buildings in the town, which is still standing and occupied by Maurer's drug store. He owned the Jennings County Times, which succeeded the Vernon Visitor in 1840. Vernon was incorporated as a city in 1851. The first sessions of court were held in a log cabin schoolhouse, probably where Joel Butler opened the first school. In 1818 a brick building was erected by the county and used until the present Courthouse was built in 1859. This building is shown in the sketch above and is a very picturesque old building. The detatched clock tower, a campanite-kind of tower, is quite unique in courthouses. The only other one that I have seen is at Martinsville.

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