by George A. Nye
in 1929
Clunette, a village in Kosciusko county Indiana, is located at
the corner of sections 10, 11, 14 & 15 in congressional township
33 north, range 5 east of the 2nd principal meridan, in the civil
township known as Prairie Township. The government surveying party
which passed this point in April, 1834, made the first records
we have of this ground. This party was composed of F. J. Dawson,
deputy surveyor, D. C. Stephens and D. Wesler, chainmen, and Henry
Felkner, marker. They were establishing section lines and they
located the section corner which is now at the road intersection.
From this corner they recorded a white oak tree fifteen inches
in diameter stood S. 69 degrees W. 17 links (about 11 feet) and
that a sugar tree thirty inches in diameter born N. 82 degrees
E. 69 links (about 45 ½ feet). These witness trees have,
of course, long since disappeared, having been cut down by the
pioneer road builders, burned at a log rolling, or incorporated
into some building of the time.
The surveyors recorded the land to the south as being second rate
and having on it beech, sugar, hazel, sassafras, etc. At a point
two hundred fifty feet north of the corner they entered the prairie.
On the line east they entered the prairie at a point about eight
hundred feet from the corner. A little over a quarter of a mile
east of the corner they came to an Indian corn field. South of
this five acre field was found an Indian village, & going
north from the corner they crossed the Goshen-Logansport Road
at a distance of 627 feet and at a distance of 61 ½ chains
(4059 feet) a road going southwest. To the east and along this
road they found the cabin of John Powell. John Powell and Benjamin
McCleary, who lived two miles east in the north-east quarter of
section 13 are the only two settlers this part found living in
the township when they passed through. The land north of the corner
is mentioned as first class timbered land, on which was growing
sugar, oak and ash trees.
In October, 1832, near Rochester, a meeting of Indians and government
agents was held on the south bank of the Tippecanoe river. In
this meeting the Pottawatomies ceded their lands in Kosciusko
and adjoining counties to the United States. This was against
the will of some of the chiefs and one chief said as to leaving
the land "Me no quit". From that day he was known as
Chief Menoquit (Monoquet). This treaty was ratified by congress
in 1833 and this ratification was the signal for some thirty families
to move across the northern boundary of the county. They had been
waiting throughout the winter for news of ratification. Some had
been over and selected sites. It is supposed that William Felkner,
who had chosen a site on the northern extremity of Little Turkey
Creek Prairie, was a few days in advance of the rest. That John
Powell and Benjamin McCleary, formerly mentioned, were amongst
these thirty some families is a reasonable supposition. A daughter
of William & Mary Ann Felkner born May 15, 1833 was the first
white child born in Kosciusko County.
Preemptioners now took up land in the county expecting to buy
it as soon as it was offered for sale. Amongst those who settled
around the present site of Clunette were James Ross who came in
1835, Jacob Smith, John Martin, Samuel D. Hall, and others. When
the land offices were located at LaPorte and Rochester they rode
horseback to these places where, for the uniform sum of $1.25
per acre they purchased the land now (1922) worth $200.00 an acre.
Early settlers in this new land led a hard life. Their homes were
built or torn down occasionally by the Indians who behold with
disgust the entrance of so many whites onto their hunting grounds.
The settlers had to combat poverty, fever and ague, cold winters,
and loneliness. Some families became so stricken with illness
that all of its members would be found lying about on the floor
at the mercy of a good neighbor. In the face of such hardships
some of the early settlers returned to their former homes, but
the greater number remained upon their new homesteads.
In giving up possession of the land, the Indians were to be paid
certain sums of money by installments and were to be allowed to
hunt for two years upon the grounds. Their actual possessions,
however, were to be known as reservations, one of which was to
be at Monoquet, another at Oswego. Any Indian with money was easy
prey to the whites and so Eli Summy and William Biggs started
a store in a shack at the corner of the sections for the purpose
of trading with the redmen. Their bachelor headquarters was known
as Narvoo, which name they later changed to North Galveston. This
was in 1846. Their shack in the brush soon was replaced by a substantial
building in which they conducted a traders' exchange for a number
of years. Finally they moved their store into Leesburg and in
1860 David Anglin and Daniel Bowman were the proprietors of the
general store in Galveston.
In 1846 the village of North Galveston was laid out by Felix Miller.
At that time he owned the land north-east of the corner. He was
a man of excellent character, well-liked by all who knew him.
He built a new barn of such generous dimensions that the members
of the New Light Christian Church used it for some time as a meeting
house. Miller moved away to another part of the country expecting
the little village he had founded to grow into a large commercial
center. It was in the heart of a good prairie only a few miles
from Leesburg, which then had fond hopes of being the county seat,
and so in Miller's mind North Galveston would have a busy future.
But the extension of the county to the south, the building of
the Pennsylvania Railroad, and other causes dispelled the fancied
dreams of greatness and the village of 1846 remains a village
in 1922 and must be classed with Oswego, Monoquet, Sevastapol
and Packerton. Even then it has outrun some of its competitors
such as Dodgertown, Kinsey, Millwood, Angleton, Farmers and Charlottsville,
all of which have completely passed from the face of the map,
perhaps never to be revived.
Issues of the Northern Indianian newspaper for 1860 contain
the advertisements of Bowman and Anglin. This store run by David
Anglin and Daniel Bowman was, of course, a general store in whose
stock could be found most any article from a needle to a plow
point. By this time fair roads had been put through to Warsaw
and the proprietors purchased much of their stock from Thrall's
(wholesale and retail) Drug Store, opposite south of the Public
Square, and of Chipman and Brother, who had conducted for many
years, a general store opposite east of the square. Metcalf Beck
had a fully stocked general store in Leesburg and sold some at
wholesale to smaller places. Bowman and Anglin bought up furs
and farm produce to sell to the larger markets. Their line of
staple groceries did not include many things now offered for sale,
for example, flour. This article was a home product in all rural
communities. The grinding for North Galveston was done mostly
at Hoover's Mill on the north side of Hoover's (Huffman's now)
Lake. Here the men and boys who were fortunate as to get a trip
to mill would fish until their grinding was done, abandoning their
piscatorial pursuits only to answer the bugle call announcing
dinner. Willet's Lake at this time was also noted for its good
fishing.
Some of the trading, of course, was done in Leesburg. Powells
traded there more or less for a number of years. It was their
custom to ride horseback, grown people and children as well. One
of the stores at which Powells traded was that of Dominique Rousseau.
For a wife, Mr. Rousseau had chosen one of the Indian beauties
and her home was of interest to her girl callers. They would usually
find her sitting on the floor in front of the large fireplace.
On the floor were her blankets. If mealtime were near, she would
be found baking flapjacks on the live coals, or making corn meal
mush, a common dish in those days. Rousseau was a Frenchman and
it was no uncommon occurrence for the French to unite in the holy
bonds of matrimony with a descendant of King Phillip, Pontiac,
Pocahontas or other noted Americans. The trait which the French
possessed of being by nature traders and trappers kept them in
close relationship with the tribes. The Indians on this account
treated the French more kindly than they did the Englishmen who
came to settle permanently and use the happy hunting grounds of
the savage for the abode of a more modern nation.
It was sometime after the war that Hiram Boggess conducted a store
at North Galveston on the west side of the street, some distance
south of the cross-roads. Boggess was known as a rather eccentric
old gentleman who hailed from the vicinity of Leesburg. From current
reports his store was a desirable place to trade, but his methods
would scarcely bear the inspection of the pure food commissioners
of today. This was true, to some extent, of all stores of sixty
years ago, when no screens were used and the hitch racks faced
the front door. Mr. Boggess, like many of the villagers, did not
bother about wearing any shoes except when on dress parade. Sitting
out in front of his store on a summer's day barefooted, or working
around his old blacksmith's shop, he was a village fixture known
to every one who passed his way. At times, he is said to have
lost his religion. Especially was this true when on one occasion
a billy goat upset Mr. Boggess and spilled onto the barn yard
ground the entire contents of a bucket of corn he was carrying.
Just where the goat struck him was always a matter of debate,
but as it could hardly have been in the stomach it must have been
in the vice versa. With all his shortcomings he was known as a
good old gentleman who was willing to lend a hand whenever the
exigencies of the case demanded it. His first wife is remembered
as a miracle worker. She was one of those few gifted people who
had the power to cure boils, bunions, and corns by placing her
hands upon the affected parts and chanting the mystic rhymes which
brought the divine cure from on high. Boggess's store was a two
storied frame building which sat near the present site of the
old brick schoolhouse. Scott Schell lived up above the store.
Boggess lived in a house just south of his store. The blacksmith's
shop was located nearby.
Every village of the days gone by, had its blacksmith's shop.
It was one of the first institutions to open its doors, and today
where fall the moldering ruins of a village of the sixties, may
still be seen the little old shop, covered with show bills, its
doors falling off, the roof sagging under the strain of the winter's
snow, and within nothing but desolation. Usually there was a large
tree close by, under which the patrons sat in the summer while
waiting their turn. Here was a favorite place to hear the true
voice of the people. Their speeches here were well-seasoned with
Biblical allusions, they were pure, unadulterated expressions
that came directly from the heart. Every subject worth debating
at all sooner or later found its way to the village smithy's shop,
be it the latest marriage, the latest bit of seasoned scandal,
or such great political questions as the Emancipation Proclamation,
the Boss Tweed Ring, or the death of James A Garfield at the hands
of the half-crazed fanatic, Charles Guiteau. Here every political
campaign, the republicans and democrats threshed out their difficulties,
the smith, of course being neutral on all questions for business's
sake. It is true that all the arguments around these minor forums
were not carried out strictly according to the modern rules of
forensic debate. For many of the presentations no brief whatsoever
had been prepared, however, some of the answers might have taken
the brief, terse nomenclature of, "Go to H___", or words
to that effect as the defeated opponent drove his team away en
route home. But not all the conversation about the shops was of
this nature. Here too, people who had not seen each other for
a long time would happen to bring their teams the same day, and
under the shade trees they would rest and visit, their tender
words of love and friendship being mellowed into music for the
soul by the measured beat of the bellows and the chiming of the
smithy's sledge upon the ringing anvil. Patronized by every villager
and farmer at all seasons of the year, the village blacksmith's
shop in the days gone by was a favorite resort for the citizens,
young and old.
Sometime in the sixties Joseph S. Neely purchased the store at
North Galveston. It was then run under the name of Neely and Brother.
The Neelys found the place a very pretty little cross-roads village.
The surrounding country was being rapidly settled. They hauled
their goods from Warsaw, and took orders for whatever they did
not keep in stock. With the incoming of new settlers their trade
increased. Amongst the prominent families in and around the village
at this time were those of Joel Hall, Hiram Hall, John Powell,
Harvey Anglin, Lansom Summy, Edmon Thomas, Jacob Smith, Christian
Byler, William Hughs and Toliver G. Parks.
The community was alive. Roads were improved. Ditches were petitioned
and much of the low ground drained. The price of land had gone
up. cabins had long been supplanted by frame houses built with
lumber sawed at Myer's Mill in Leesburg or one of the several
others in the north part of the county. The day of the large farmhouse
was at hand and farmers vied with one another in making their
houses pretentious and keeping their premises neat and clean.
It was the day of travel by horses. Every farmer had his fast
horses for driving. The horse that could not clip off the trip
to Leesburg in twenty-five minutes, or the trip to Warsaw in an
hour was entirely out of the race. Every youth had to have a rig,
and horse racing on the main streets of the village was a common
event. Neelys kept in stock all such articles as buggy whips,
curry combs, brushes, harness parts, and robes. A youthful suitor
to sand any show at all with the fairer sex, had to have a horse
that could clip off a mile in three minutes. To properly show
off this pacer or trotter he had to have all the harness well
oiled with the metal parts polished. The horse's head was well
poised when it assumed about a sixty degree angle with the horizontal.
Blinders must, of course, cover both eyes. No reason was given
for this except that that was the way their fathers did it. Once
in a while just to scare the fair one, a kicking strap or bucking
strap about two inches wide was fitted over the horse's hinder
parts to keep him from upsetting the buggy when they would meet
a threshing machine and rear, or when the youth, just to show
off, would tickle him in the groin. With this kind of horse, a
Harper buggy with wheels of second growth hickory, running gears
bright red, in the socket a dollar whip that would crack like
a small cannon when used, no youth needed to be ashamed to court
the daughter of the richest landowner around North Galveston in
the seventies.
During Mr. Neely's stay in the village, the medical profession
was represented by Doctors Ludlow Cole, John Wesley Love, and
Nicholas E. Manville. Dr. Edward Parks, the first doctor of the
village, had moved to Leesburg. He was a very capable doctor and
a good surgeon. Doctor Daniel Bowman had moved away, taking Lucinda
Hall of North Galveston, his wife. There was much sickness in
these days. Fever and ague was common. Typhoid fever was prevalent
much of the time. This was done, no doubt, to the standing water
on the marshes, and to the fact that most people drank from dug
wells. Doctor Manville's death was very sad. Mistaking jelseminum
(?) for cough syrup he took a dose of this poison and died soon
after.
Doctor Love died in the fall of '66 from typhoid fever contracted
from his patients. Could these old servants of mankind talk to
us now, they would relate many cases of suffering such as we know
nothing about. Dr. Parks had doctored there for years. He knew
the earliest settlers, Jake Smith, who lived east a short distance,
the Rosses, the Halls, the Bishops, the Carmines, and John Martin
from Virginia. When Cyrus Wolf, as a lad, came to the village
after the doctor from his father's home two miles west, in 1867,
he secured the services of Doctor Daniel Bowman. Every household
had its bitters for ague, (the more bitter, the better), prickly
ash, bitter sweet, and tansey. Every good grandma had her flower
bed, and at one end her medicinal herbs.
Cyrus Wolf found the village consisting of a store, a frame church
and school house, and a blacksmith's shop. Big days were fourth
of July, and days when political demonstrations took place. James
Ross remembers that a good rally celebrated the election of James
Buchanan in '56. Buck horns on a long pole were carried in the
parade. During every campaign some kind of a demonstration took
place; there was much shooting, shouting, and withal some little
locking of horns with the hard cider flowed too freely. Two granges
were in and about the village. These organizations did a great
deal towards keeping up a community interest.
There was also a Grange at Stony Point, and we find at one time
the officers were as follows: Worthy Master S. D. Anglin, Worthy
Secretary, Thomas Ross, Overseer, E. Wolf, Lecturer, Jehu Ross
and Steward, M. Boon, Assistant Steward, J. G. Anglin, Treasurer,
J. F. Anglin, GateKeeper, M. Ross, Chaplain, W. C. Zinn, Crese,
Sarah V. Martin, Flora, Adaline Taylor, Lady Asst. Steward, Almira
Scott and Pomona, Emily O. Anglin. They held regular meetings,
each grange having at least twenty-five members. In the grange
halls and out in the open took place the public speaking during
a campaign. Speakers were Hon. James S. Frazer, Hon. William Williams,
and O. Musselman, of our own county, and such men as Francis P.
Blair, Oliver P. Morton, and Robert Ingersoll, and others of national
fame. Seldom would the speakers of national fame visit the smaller
places, but when they spoke at Warsaw every one turned out for
a jolly good time lasting all day. In North Galveston elections
were held at the schoolhouse.
Neely's store became the distributing point for the mail. It was
customary for someone who happened to be going to Leesburg to
bring back with him all of the village mail. Leesburg was on the
stage line from Leesburg to Goshen. Every day the stage coach
of Peter L. Runyan took the mail to Leesburg from Warsaw. In Leesburg
the sound of the driver's horn as he entered the town was welcomed
by those who took the daily paper and by those waiting at the
Empire House to go north. The Empire House was run by J. S. Lessig,
a prominent citizen of Leesburg at that time. At Neely's store
each evening the mail was distributed. Here the citizens would
meet to talk over such events as Grant's election, the great Centennial
Exhibition in Philadelphia, the Hayes-Tilden contest and the great
fire of Chicago. Those were some of the balmy days of the village,
the days to which many of the older people now look back upon
as their happiest days, the days of childhood.
Alex Harley and George Harley purchased the store of Neely's in
1880, and for twenty-one years conducted a first-class general
store patronized by most of the good citizens of the prairie.
Their only competitor was Hiram Boggess. The Harleys came from
Ohio. Three boys, Eugene, Porter, and John took their stand with
the youths of the village and scarcely any village prank was played
during the eighties without one or more of the Harley boys counted
among the prime instigators. Harleys added to the stock of the
store, made some changes for the better, and became very popular
in the neighborhood. The store building at this time was a two-storied
frame facing the north. It stood at the southwest corner of the
crossroads.
Due to the leadership displayed by the Harley Brothers, the United
States government about 1882, while Garfield was president established
a post office at Harley's store. Although there had been a postoffice
at North Galveston some years before, it had been discontinued
and people were getting their mail in a haphazard manner from
Leesburg four miles east across the prairie on the Cincinnati,
Wabash & Michigan railroad. Due to the generosity of the postmaster
there, the mail for all North Galveston people was given to some
messenger who happened to be in town. In winter or during the
busy farm season this made it a long time between mails. Then,
too, this method admitted of great publicity of matters of a more
private nature and valuable mail would be subject to loss through
carelessness perhaps on the part of some person who did not fully
appreciate the responsibility.
When Harley Brothers petitioned congress for a postoffice at North
Galveston, they were advised that confusion might result because
in Howard county there was already a town called Galveston; that
the office would have to be know by some other name. The next
question about the village then became "What shall be the
name?" To Alex Harley must go all the credit for naming the
village Clunette. Many names had been selected and suggested,
talked of and discussed, but none could be settled upon as hardly
appropriate for the village. It had to be named within a certain
time or there would be no post office there. Every day counted
and time was fleeting. Boggesville, Wolfton, Harleypolis, and
Hall's Crossing all would have been appropriate, but such names
might have aroused some jealousy amongst the older inhabitants.
One day when Alex Harley was opening up some new stock he christened
it with a name formerly unheard of, a name nobody understood,
a name that baffled philologists, a name, perhaps which no other
city, town, hamlet or crossroads listed in the archives of the
government had ever borne. He had opened a caddy of tobacco. Across
the wooden lid in large red letters was imprinted the word "Clounette".
"Here, boys," he said, "here is the proper name
for our postoffice. Let's leave out the "o" and just
say "Clunette." It was carried unanimously and without
further ceremony this name which seems to be of French origin
was sent in. What it may mean to a southern tobacco grower or
dealer we do not know, but anyway it sounds good and is easily
pronounced. The postoffice was duly established and George Harley
was appointed postmaster.
The office established, the mail question was not settled until
the contract was let for carrying the mail regularly from Leesburg
once a day except Sunday. The work was bid on and the contract
let to Joel Hall. Mr. Hall sub-let the job to Gene Harley, then
just a chunk of a boy. Gene was the proud owner of a pony and
was looking for just such a place as this. And so, for a long
time Gene Harley rode the mail circuit leaving for town about
ten in the morning and getting in sometime before dark. Through
storms of sleet, snow and rain, driving over a prairie, Gene carried
the mail by pony express. Many a time the friends at Leesburg
would request him to wait until a storm had abated, but with courage
and stamina that would have become one of more advanced age, the
boy was off on his pony for the postoffice on the prairie where
he was received with outstretched arms by those who were waiting
on their mail.
Later, conditions were changed and Clunette was put on a star
route out of Warsaw. The route ran from Warsaw to Clunette, then
to Angleton and then on to Millwood. A full trip from Warsaw and
back again was made each day. The driver left Millwood early in
the morning and came down through Angleton where Will Anglin ran
a general store. From here he went to Harley's at Clunette and
then on into Warsaw. In the afternoon the drive was reversed,
the driver trying to remember all the errands he was to do for
people along the route while he was in the county seat. This brought
the evening mail to Clunette, and, of course, all the villagers
called at the postoffice after supper for their letters, magazines
and newspapers, especially the Northern Indianian which
was issued every Thursday.
The old store building faced the north and was two-storied. Up
above there was a grange hall. This building burned in 1887, on
December 27th. The fire was supposed to have caught in some rags
which were stored in an old church building which had been moved
up near this building and was being used for a warehouse. The
night of the fire it began to rain and snow about 11 p.m. and
put the fire out. Mrs. Hall's daughter noticed the fire coming
out of the old building when she was getting read to go to bed.
There was a big dinner bell at Hall's which they never allowed
anyone to ring unless there was serious trouble. They rang this
and got the neighbors in from all about the country. Gene, Porter,
and John Harley were sons of George Harley and slept in a room
above the store. John was just a little fellow. They got the books
out of the store which recorded all the credits for they did much
crediting. The wind was in the southwest and Mr. Hall ha to work
to keep things from catching on fire about his premises. The fire
was a sad loss to the Harleys because they carried no insurance.
The store was rebuilt a good bit by donation from the people of
the community. The Harleys came from Ohio to Clunette.
The postoffice remained at Harley's until Cleveland's administration,
when W. H. Thomas became postmaster and the office was moved to
a building south of the corner store. Winifred Scott Schell succeeded
Mr. Thomas as Uncle Sam's representative and in 1891 the office
was again back in Harley's store. Here it remained for ten years
when it was it was discontinued and Clunette was put on Route
5 out of Warsaw. This route was driven by George Foster, of Warsaw.
George received the remarkable salary of $600.00 a year. With
this he had to keep two horses and furnish a mail wagon. This
wagon was a light affair, the lighter the better, and looked like
a dry goods box mounted on a chassis. Glass doors slid open on
each side. Enclosed within this vehicle with a lantern, the mail
driver of the early days of the twentieth century could drive
the coldest day and keep warm. When roads were bad both horses
were hitched to the wagon. Most of the time one horse sufficed.
The writer rode the route one day with Mr. Foster and helped him
pick some cherries near Clunette at noon. All the people along
the route were very good to the driver, donating to him many farm
products and fruit in season. Route 5 was started out of Warsaw
about 1901 while Charles B. Bentley was postmaster at the county
seat. This year also marked the close of the long residence of
Harley Brothers at the village of Clunette. Mr. Alex Harley, with
his family, moved to Warsaw to take up the duties of county treasurer,
which he held with honor for four years. Gene Harley moved to
Leesburg where, with John Harley, he established one of the largest
dry goods and grocery stores in the town. The crossroads store
at Clunette passed into the hands of ____ and the Harley family
which along with the others had contributed much to the life of
this inland village left its social circles and home fires to
the precious care of a new generation.
There are few people living today (1929) who figured prominently
in the early history of Clunette. Most of them have long since
passed to their reward. Joel Hall, who for years lived in the
big house northeast of the crossroads, Clunette's Hotel one might
say, passed away at his home in Warsaw some fifteen years ago.
His good wife lived with her daughters on Lake Street for a long
time. They will be remembered as people of sterling character,
whose influence helped to make the community in which they lived
one of the most cultured settlements in the county. Toliver G.
Parks lived to a good old age. I. T. Smith lived south of Clunette
until a few years ago, being a petitioner of the I. T. Smith road
between Warsaw and Clunette. Dr. Byler is still a physician in
Warsaw, but well up in years. Angeline Powell spent her last years
with her son in Warsaw. Her mind was very clear on incidents of
the past when she was a girl around Clunette. The Powells settled
in very early days one mile north of the site of Clunette. It
is no doubt true that this corner known as Powell's Corners has
held its name longer than any other crossroads in the county.
It is not the purpose of this article to follow the history of
the village of Clunette further than about the year 1901. A few
general statements, however might be made from the writer'' own
memory. Instead of growing into a town, the village remains today
no larger, if as large, as it was in the seventies (1870's). With
the advent of the automobile and good roads, it is customary for
people today to go many miles to trade. They seek those places
where competition is keen and prices are made on narrow margins
of profit.
An excellent gravel road known as the Boggs Road was built through
Clunette east and west about ten years ago. Through Powell's Corners
the Hartzell Road was built a short time later. These connect
with Nappanee, Leesburg, Etna Green and Warsaw. A person going
to Nappanee today from the village rides over the Hartzell Road,
the D. K. Martin Road, the George Rummel Road, the Harmon Road,
through East Millwood and on into Nappanee over the nine foot
Gwinn Road. The latter was one of the first hard surface roads
ever built in this vicinity under the surveyorship of George W.
McKrill assisted by Charles L. Sellers, the most precise engineer
that ever practiced in the county.
The route to Warsaw now leads east over the Boggs Road to a stretch
built by Clarence Helvey, County Road Supervisor, thence east
to the concrete road known as the Starner Road at Rosebrough's
Crossing, thence south through Monoquet on this road, then on
to Warsaw over the new State Road No. 15 which is now being constructed
by E. A. Gast from New Paris to Warsaw. To make the fills, a gravel
pit was started in the spring of 1929 on the south edge of Leesburg
where formerly there was a pretty level field. Heavy fills have
been made just north of Leesburg and across Wheeler's marsh north
of Warsaw at Pike Lake outlet.
Atwood may be reached over the Boone Road and Etna Green over
the Johnson Road built while Paul Summy was surveyor. And so the
building of these roads has led to school consolidation, church
consolidation, and has had a tendency to keep the smaller towns
at a standstill unless they happen to be on a main road, and even
then it is doubtful if the small town is going to profit a great
deal from the tourists, most of whom fly through the place thirty
to fifty miles per hour.
But while the village has scarcely held its own in population,
yet we must say that in appearance it has no doubt improved. The
homes are well kept, the buildings painted, and the fences neatly
trimmed. One of the neatest appearing schoolhouses in the county
is located here. The farming district round about is noted for
its fertility and being level, it is easier tended than for instance
the hills of Monroe township. The township trustee, Mr. Lester
Yeiter, and his good wife have run the store for a number of years
and live next door south. Doc. Roose, whom everyone in the township
knows, is the handyman about the village and looks after the general
welfare of the school house. High school students are taken in
auto busses to Atwood and Leesburg. The doctor lives as a single
man in a small frame house on the east side of the road just north
of the corner. One of the finest appearing farm homes in the county
is that of Arthur J. Anglin, just west of the village. Mr. Anglin's
people were early settlers in and around this vicinity and he
and his family have helped to keep the Clunette community in high
standing. The Wolf family and the Byer family who, for a number
of years, lived in the village and contributed much to the village
life in church and school, have both moved to Warsaw. Mr. Cyrus
Wolfe is a highly respected old gentleman living with his daughter,
Edna Wolfe, in the famous third ward of the county seat. Mr. Ernest
Byer, the village clown of 1914, is now prominent in the gasoline
and oil business in Warsaw. Miss Edith Maxine Anglin, graduate
of Northwestern is now a popular teacher in LaGrange, Ill.
And so changes might be enumerated at great length. Suffice it
to say that the village of Clunette has always been held in high
esteem and some of our best citizens have come from this community.
May it ever be so!
What the future may hold for this village nobody can say. Whether
it, at some future day, due to an oil boom or a great airport
project will become a great metropolis of the prairie, whether
it will stand still for another century as a small inland crossroads
village, or whether in the annals of future history citizens flying
over will point down to the vicinity and say "Years ago there
used to be quite a village there called Clunette" this historian
of 1929 cannot say. Whatever happens, the word Clunette will bring
back many tender memories to those who now, and in years gone
by, lived there and were active in those early days when crossroad
communities figured so prominently in the life of the nation.
(newspaper publication date unknown)