History Gallery: Early History

Early scenes of Crawfordsville and Montgomery County

This is a view of James Patterson's Books & Stationery in 1860, at the corner of Green and Main Streets. Also shown is the Cheap Cash Store (today this is the spot of the Canine plaza fountain).

Taken in 1865, this view looks west on Main Street where it crosses Washington Street. To the right appears a fence and hitching post that bordered what was then the courthouse (the present day courthouse was built on that site in 1876). The Crawfordsville Journal office was in the four-story building, erected in 1836. Wabash College held classes in this building from 1838-1839 after its only building was destroyed by in a fire.

This photograph from 1865 looks north on Green Street from the corner of Main Street. The township trustee's office is visible in the center of the image. A dry goods store is in the far right of the photo with a sign for groceries, boots, shoes, and clothing. Just to the left is part of the sign for Frank M. Heaton's shop. Healton was a bookseller and stationer and dealer in "fancy articles."

Indiana G.A.R. Encampment (Grand Army of the Republic, Civial War veterans), 1909, Crawfordsville. A large group of men and women are shown in front of the Crawfordsville courthouse. The picture is looking east on Washington Street (bottom) and Main Street (far right).

The Ladoga East School building (the town's elementary school) is pictured in winter. This photograph was taken around 1910.

A large group of schoolchildren is standing outside of the New Market School building (School Number 33) in this photograph, c. 1900. Several hacks are parked in the background. This New Market School was built in 1898, and it was torn down in 1927.

Do you want to see more? You can search for items in our CDPL Local History Image database, which contains more than 10,000 images.

Here are also some links to image sets that may interest you!

Churches: View documents and pictures of local churches through the years.

Street scenes: Take a look at homes and streets that you may still be able to recognize today!

Veterans: From the Civil War to the present day, we remember our veterans.

Schools: Historical school documents and pictures are one of our favorite topics to collect.

Businesses: Stores, shops, receipts, fliers...we have quite a bit from local businesses.