seded many years ago. The respective townships now have the following:
| Township | Brick | Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Clinton | 3 | 9 |
| Helt | 3 | 20 |
| Vermillion | 1 | 12 |
| Eugene | 1 | 7 |
| Highland | 1 | 11 |
| ----- | ----- | |
| 9 | 59 |
Estimated value of school-houses and lots, $59,000; of school apparatus, globes, maps, etc., about $4,000. Number of teachers employed in the county, about eigty-five. The enumeration of school children (six to twenty-one years of age) for Setpember, 1886, was 4,291, and the enrollment 3,467, or about eighty per cent.
The county seminary at Newport was built in early days under the general law appropriating a fund for the purpose. The same building, with an addition, constitutes the present "public-school" house.
The earnestness of the teachers in seeking professional knowledge is shown by their large attendance at the various normal schools of the State, their general habit of reading educational journals, and the wide-spread interest taken in institutes and associations. The townships principals appointed to preside over and superintend the township institutes are expected to organize and direct the work of the "Teachers' Reading Circle."
At one of the institutes the following ingenious poem was read, which deserves a place in this work:
Written for the
Vermillion County Medical Society. -- In July 1869, a meeting was held at Newport, comprising James McMeen and William C. Eichelbarger, of Eugene; Hiram and Lewis Shepherd, of Quaker Point; Henry C. Eaton, of Brouillet's Creek, and M. L. Hall and C. Leavitt, of Newport, -- for the purpose of organizing a county medical society. They adjourned to meet again a week or two afterward, but we find no account of further meetings until 1873, when they organized, electing Dr. I. B. Hedges, of Clinton, president. The membership subsequently attained twenty-two in number, but the association was permitted to "run down" in the course of about four years.
Western Indiana Scientific Association. -- The scientific spirit of William Gibson, then of Newport but previously of Perrysville, led him during the summer of 1875 to call a meeting of the friends of science with the view of organizing for efficient work. In August, that year, a preliminary meeting was held at Newport, comprising, among others, Professor B. E. Rhoads, William Gibson, M. L. Hall, William L. Little, Jesse Houchin, P. Z. Anderson and Samuel Groenendyke, -- the last two, however, sending letters of regret for their absence.
At the next meeting, August 30, they organized as the "Western Indiana Historical and Scientific Association," with a constitution and by-laws, "for the purpose of promoting discovery in geology, archaeology and other kindred sciences; for our mutual improvement therein, and for securing a cabinet of natural history and a collection of minerals and fossils as will illustrate the resources and wealth of Vermillion and adjoining counties in these respects." The constitution was signed by John Collett, William L. Little, William Gibson, H. H. Conley, M. L. Hall, S. B. Davis, M. G. Rhoads, Jesse Houchin, W. C. Eichelberger, Samuel Groenendyke, B. E. Rhoads and P. Z. Anderson. Mr. Collett was elected President, M. G. Rhoads, Vice-President; William L. Little, Treasurer; H. H. Conley, Corresponding Secretary; M. L. Hall, Recording Secretary, and William Gibson Librarian and Curator.
But the association, like most others of the kind, forgot to provide (or perhaps could not) for longevity by finding successors for the most active man. Mr. Gibson, the moving spirit, after fitting up and filling a neat little building with specimens, moved away: the soul gone, the organism was of course dead.
The Patrons' Mutual Aid Society, or Vermillion County Fire Insurance Company, was organized in the summer of 1879, by the Patrons of Husbandry, and is still flourishing.
The County Bible Society, with auxillary societies in the respected townships, and the County Sunday-school Association, similarly organized, are still at work, the latter quite vigorously. These, especially the former, are old institutions.
A county temperance organization, as a result of the "blue-ribbon movement,' was effected February 16, 1882, at Newport. The meeting was called to order by Capt. R. B. Sears, of Newport, a member of the State organization. Dr. E. T. Spotswood, of Perrysville, was chosen temporary chairman, and E.
H. Hayes, of Clinton, secretary. The permanent officers elected were, William Gibson, President; Thomas Cushman, Secretary; C. S. Davis, Treasurer. Vice presidents were appointed for the various townships, and an executive committee. Mrs. Emma Molloy, a noted temperance lecturer, was invited to make a canvass of the county. The constitution of the grand council was adopted. The members adopted resolutions to vote for none but temperance men for offices, and favoring a prohibitory liquor law for the State. Not being a religious or a secret society, of course it died.
The farm, about two miles south of Newport, near the Clinton road, and comprising a quarter section of land, was first entered by Wilbur and Davis from the Government; subsequently Peter Smith became the owner, and upon it as security he borrowed a sum of money from the county; failing to pay, the land became the property of the county, and many years ago was made a resort for the helpless poor. The land is valued at $35 an acre. The buildings hetherto used being almost valueless, the county this year (1887) is having erected a magnificent brick building, to cost $15, 750. It includes a department for the insane. The plan for this structure was drafted by Mr. Buntin, an architect of Indianapolis. The building is two stories high, with basement under the whole ground area, which is 40 x 108 feet. Can be heated with either steam or hot air. There are thirty-two rooms for inmates, six of which are finished for occupation by the insane. Five rooms are set apart for the superintendent and his family. The contract for the erection of this building was let march 30, 1887, to Moore & McCoy, of Danville, Illinois. The present superintendent is Joseph Conrad, who has had the office since the spring of 1881. His salary is $600. Average number of inmates, about twenty.
The postoffices of Vermillion County, enumerating from Clinton northward, are as follows:
Clinton.
St. Bernice, at Jonestown, in the north-western portion of Clinton Township.
Summit Grove, on the C. & E. I. R. R., in Helt Townihip [sic].
Toronto, at or near Bono, Helt Township.
Hillsdale, in Helt Township, at the crossing of the C. & E. I. and the I., D. & S. R. Rs.
Dana, in the northwestern portion of Helt Township, on the I., D. & S. R. R.
Newport.
Quaker Hill, at a place sometimes called "Quaker Point" eight miles west of Newport and in Vermillion Township.
Cayuga, in Eugene Township, at the crossing of the C. & E. I. and the T., St. L. & K. R. Rs.
Eugene.
Perrysville.
Gessie, on the C. & E. I. R. R., in the western portion of Highland Township.
Rileysburg, on the same road, two miles northwest of Gessie.Walnut Grove, Brownton, Highland, Atla, Opeedee, etc., are names of other points in the county where there are no postoffices.
The winter of 1818-'19 was so mild that but one light snow fell, which was on the night of February 18, livestock of all kinds wintered well without being fed.
November 18, 1842, the Wabash River, although full, was frozen over and remained
so until April 2. The day preceding the break-up a man with four yoke of oxen hauled saw-logs upon a wagon across the river at Perrysville.
In August 1875, and in February, 1883, and also in February, 1884, the floods of the Wabash rose unusually high and swept away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property.
A good wall map, 3 x 6 feet, of Vermillion County was published in 1870-'72, by James Tarrance, County Auditor, who afterward moved to Terre Haute and then to Texas.