Counties of the Whitewater Canal
Indiana Counties
Dearborn County
Dearborn County was organized in 1803 by Governor William Henry Harrison, who named it after General Henry Dearborn, at that time the Secretary of War under President Thomas Jefferson. All or part of six other counties were carved from the original Dearborn County with the present boundaries being established in 1845.
The town of Lawrenceburg was established as the county seat in 1803. In 1810 a two-story courthouse was built but in 1826 it was destroyed by fire. A new courthouse was built and served until 1836 before the county seat was moved to the town of Wilmington. However, eight years later Lawrenceburg permanently became the county seat in 1844.
In 1820 the Manchester Pike was established as part of Indiana’s Internal Improvements Program, and in 1823 a road was constructed from Madison through Vevay, Rising Sun, and Aurora, to Lawrenceburg. From 1836 to 1843 the Whitewater Canal was built through Dearborn County. River and canal trade dominated the county’s commerce until the construction of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad in the 1850’s. (source: www.dearborncounty.org)
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Franklin County
Franklin County was created in 1811 from Clark, Dearborn, and Jefferson Counties. It’s namesake is founding father Benjamin Franklin. The county seat is Brookville, settled in 1804 and platted in August 1808. The courthouse experienced a fire in 1852 but no records were lost.
Four Indiana governors had Franklin County connections, as did a governor of Kansas, one of Utah and one of Wyoming.
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Fayette County
Fayette county was created by an act of the Indiana General Assembly in December 1818 from portions of Wayne and Franklin counties. The county’s name sake is the French Revolutionary War hero General Marquis de la Fayette. The surface of the county is divided nearly in the center by the west fork of “Whitewater”. The county is rolling in the east and south, and level in the north and west, with a large proportion of bottoms, and known for its agricultural success. Forests once dominated the area.
Connersville, the county seat was platted in 1813 by wilderness explorer John Conner. Connersville in it’s early days served as a fort and safe haven for European travelers heading west into the wild. John Conner, founder and namesake of Connersville, served as the first sheriff and surveyor for the young Hoosier community. Mr. Conner left Connersville sometime before 1820 to travel with his brother, William, to what is now Noblesville, Indiana, along the White River. Others followed Mr. Conner, such as John Wesley McCormick, namesake of McCormick Creek State Park in Owen County, Indiana.
Connersville saw slow growth until the Whitewater Canal Company was set to enter the picture making travel from Cincinnati to Hagerstown much easier for travelers. By 1845 the Whitewater Canal entered Connersville, which had established itself as a modest furniture producing and farm town, particularly the hog market, with boats shipping hundreds of head of hog to Cincinnati daily to be slaughtered. The canal also paved way for what would be come Connersville two largest industries, transportation and Roots-style blowers.
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Wayne County
The first permanent European-American settlers in the area were Quakers from North Carolina. They settled about 1806 near the east fork of the Whitewater River, an area including what is today the city of Richmond. Jeptha Turner, the first white child in the county, was born here in 1806.[3]
Wayne County was formed in 1811 from portions of Clark and Dearborn counties. It was named for Gen. “Mad” Anthony Wayne, who was an officer during the Revolutionary War. Wayne is mainly remembered for his service in the 1790s in the Northwest Indian War, which included many actions in Indiana and Ohio.
The first county seat was Salisbury, Indiana, a town which no longer exists. It was later moved to Centerville, Indiana in 1818, where it remained until Richmond was designated as the seat in 1873.
During the antebellum years, Wayne County had a number of stations on the Underground Railroad, a network of blacks and whites who aided refugees from slavery to reach freedom. Levi Coffin and his wife Catharine aided more than 1,000 refugees at their home in Fountain City, now designated as a National Historic Landmark and State Historic Site significant to the Ohio River National
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Hamilton County, Ohio
Hamilton County, Ohio, was established on January 2, 1790. It was the second county formed in the Northwest Territory. Residents named the county in honor of Alexander Hamilton, who was the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States and a founder of the Federalist Party. T Located in the southwestern corner of Ohio, the county’s southern border helps form Ohio’s boundary with Kentucky, while its western border helps form the state’s boundary with Indiana. Cincinnati is the county’s largest city and the county seat. (Hamilton County – Ohio History Central)
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