History of Richland Township

 https://www.pendletontimespost.com/2023/04/27/history-of-richland-township-part-1/

https://www.pendletontimespost.com/2023/05/04/history-of-richland-township-part-2/

The two posts above on the website of the Pendleton Post provide a great history of Richland Township in Madison County, Indiana, where I grew up. I always felt that we lived in a special place, on a hard concrete former highway called a “Pike”. Plus, we had to cross a small bridge (now closed) over Killbuck Creek where there were many interesting stories about things that a used to exist off into the woods nearby. We also lived across the street from a corn field and we explored a little creek on the back (east) side of the corn field. I never knew that it was called Little Killbuck Creek.

So, of course, the name Killbuck was that of a Native American (“Indian” in our time and not really a term of disparagement). The Pike was Alexandria Pike, for obvious reasons even to us since we took the road into town (Anderson) and could ride our bikes north halfway or more to Alexandria and could picture in our minds how the road would have proceeded on to Alexandria before being replaced by the newer divided state highway, Indiana 9.

The last couple of crossroads going north also had interesting names, Prosperity Road and Moonville Road. And Moonville was an actual place, although there were no businesses there in our time. Prosperity was once a place too, but very short lived.

It turns out that Alexandria Pike was a part of a larger project called the Shelbyille to Fort Wayne Road. We’re talking dirt (barely) road here, of course. After that project failed, a fellow paid to use the path to create a toll road. Essentially the same concept as the Florida Turnpike, where you had to pay at the toll house (complete with gate) to enter the road. We’re still talking dirt road now, not even sure we’re talking gravel. The concrete came later, after the government took over the road again and once cars capable of higher speeds needed a better surface. We also learned how to use concrete to build a road! When I was a teenager running all over these roads, the county decided to pave the road with blacktop. Smooth, but maybe not a better surface over the long haul.

Today, across from our house at 2833 Alexandria Pike, are a small number of McMansions with a lake in their back yard. That’s because during our teen years a massive gravel pit was dug where the corn field was located and eventually….years and years later… the gravel pit was “reclaimed” and a beautiful, very small lake created. I remember swimming in the gravel pit (a huge no-no) and seeing a drowned body being pulled from the gravel pit (told you so!). Corn field or gravel pit, it was a magical place!

The articles also tell the story of Killbuck Creek and its history as a source of water power for mills. One of the mystery stories was that there was an amusement park or circus headquarters near the old bridge also.

The best story is a true one…that Killbuck Creek was an integral part of one of the biggest state infrastructure projects (boondoggles) of all time…the Indiana Central Canal. To be honest, it’s hard to predict the future and it had to seem like a good idea at the time (1830’s). The Erie Canal was a huge success, including financially. So the idea was to build a canal that would connect that canal to the Ohio River, and thus the Mississippi River. Interestingly, it was built in non-connected section’s simultaneously to save time. One of the sections was Killbuck Creek! Moonville was actually the site of a large camp for workers who were digging the canal. (Actually, widening and deepening the creek, by hand.) When the country went into a depression, the whole project went bust and the state owed a whole lot of money…like more than the total state budget lot of money…to folks over in England who had loaned the money. Needless to say, Indiana almost became a private property instead of a state and some really good negotiating barely allowed to state to avoid bankruptcy. They might had waited out the depression, but guess what…railroads came along and the canal stopped making any financial sense.