From Time to Thyme

By Paula Dunn

Hamilton County Quiz, Adam Township

Adams Township is the Hamilton County Bicentennial Commission’s featured township in May. That means it’s time for the Adams Township quiz!

Here’s another chance to test your knowledge of Hamilton County history . . .

1. Sheridan wasn’t always known as Sheridan. What was it originally called? (I’ll give you bonus points — well, at least a hearty Woo Hoo! — for coming up with the other three names that were suggested.)

2. For nearly 100 years a sweet product was Bakers Corner’s main claim to fame. What was it?

3. Who was Adams Township’s first settler and when did he arrive?

4. True or false — Boxley was founded by George Boxley.

5. Hamilton County’s first airport was located in Adams Township. What was its name?

6. What major disaster struck Sheridan in 1913?

7. How did Ekin get its name?

8. Boxley was once the largest, most important town in Adams Township. What happened to change that?

9. Name two of the three main landmarks currently found in East Union, the tiny neighborhood at the intersection of U. S. 31 and 296th Street.

10. Sheridan High School has long been a power in Class 1A football. How many state championships has Sheridan won?

And the answers:

1. Sheridan was laid out by Egbert Higbee in 1860 as Millwood. (You get the Woo Hoo! if you knew Millwood beat out Phineasville, Higbeeville and Pioneer City.) “Millwood” later became “Sheridan” for the usual reason — Indiana already had a Millwood post office.

2. Pickett’s Autumn Gold Sorghum. Blacksmith Warren Pickett began producing the sorghum in 1913. After his death, his son and grandsons kept the popular family business going until a fire destroyed the factory in 2009.

3. Abolitionist and pioneer educator George Boxley built the township’s first cabin in 1828 on a hill on what would later be the north side of Sheridan. (That very cabin was restored in recent years by the Sheridan Historical Society and you can visit it on Saturdays from June to September.)

4. False. Did I catch you on this? Boxley — or Boxleytown, as it was sometimes called — was laid out in 1836 not by George Boxley, but by his sons, Addison and Dr. Thomas P. Boxley. They named their town in honor of their father.

5. Blackhawk Airport. Owner Lloyd G. Bailey, a Sheridan High School alumnus, named his airfield after the school’s athletic teams.

6. One hundred and ten years ago this month Sheridan was nearly wiped off the map by a fire that started at the Weaver Lumber Company. There were no fatalities, but over 20 businesses were destroyed, as was the Wesleyan Methodist Church and its parsonage. In addition, most of Sheridan’s early records were lost when the town hall burned.

7. Store owner James McKee, who founded the community, named it Ekin in honor of Civil War General James A. Ekin. General Ekin is best known for being a member of the military commission that tried the conspirators involved in the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

8. The Monon Railroad happened. After the tracks were laid through Sheridan in 1882, all the business and travelers that had kept Boxley humming went to Sheridan instead. Sheridan grew and Boxley gradually got smaller.

9. Okay, this isn’t really history, but I couldn’t come up with a good historical question for East Union.

More crossroads than community, East Union consists of a few homes, the East Union Cemetery in Adams Township, the East Union Christian Church in Jackson Township and Lisa’s Pie Shop, which is on the north side of 296th Street and is actually located in Tipton County.

10. The Blackhawks have won nine state championships, all under coach Larry “Bud” Wright — 1980,1984, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

– Paula Dunn’s From Time to Thyme column appears on Wednesdays in The Times. Contact her at [email protected]