ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS 1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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· ground from Andrew Clark and Jacob Jessup for $2 an acre. Four blocks of five acres each, with sixteen lots to each block, were surveyed with the plat centered at the current intersection of Main and Indiana streets. Moore built a large frame store on the northeast corner of Indiana and Main streets which served as a wholesale establishment serving large areas west of Mooresville extending into Illinois. Shortly after Mooresville was founded, Indianapolis was started about 20 miles away. Mooresville benefited as a supplier of goods to the state's capital, and roads between the two towns were built rapidly. Plans to connect Mooresville to the Central Canal via White Lick Creek were dropped after the state went bankrupt during construction of the canal. Several mills were built on both forks of White Lick Creek to take advantage of water power. A school society was founded in 1828, and a new brick school replaced the old log structure on East Washington Street in the 1830's. By then, Mooresville's population had grown to 200. The town incorporated in 1831, eight more blocks were added to the town, and town trustees were appointed. Business was centered downtown at the intersection of Main and Indiana streets until the 1960's, when the Village Shopping Center was built on South Indiana Street. A~ oak plank road was built east to Waverly and Franklin that today is State Road 144. Tolls were collected on roads leading to Plainfield, Waverly, Martinsville and Monrovia, today's State Roads 267, 144, 67, and 42. The Indianapolis and Vincennes railroad was completed in 1867, and the town gained a stockyard and two new mills powered by steam rather than water. The first town library, the Hovey Institute and Working Men's Library, was founded in 1855, and a reading room was opened. Books were moved to schools until 1912 when a library board was another reading room was started, and the library opened in 1916. Brown Township joined the town in supporting the library. In 1861, the Quaker Academy Building was constructed as a boarding school on what is now the Newby School grounds. The public school society purchased the Quaker school in lB70, and an addition was built to hold elementary students in lB81. A high school building was opened in 1909 and a gymnasium in 1921. The first Old Settlers gathering was organized by Samuel Moore in 1870, He gave what is now known as Old Town Park to Mooresville as a permanent site for the event. '- Many of the brick business buildings now downtown date from 1880 to 1910. In 1881, a large fire deS±royed the Odd Fellows Building, a three story building that had replace Moore's store. Many early town records were burned. Mooresville's first fire department was founded in 1904 and had hose carts to connect to Existing Conditions 7