The Shelbyville Republican
Monday, October 27, 1947
Page 3 column 3
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YOUR TOWN OF BLUE RIDGE
By Hortense Montgomery
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The subject of our sketch today was
not born Blue Ridge but Cynthiana, a name given to it by James
Marshall, one of the earliest pioneers, in honor of his home town
in Kentucky. One will find in going through the history of our
county that many of the earliest pioneers came from that state; and
one finds too, that natives from ‘Old Kaintuck’ still have a
fondness for us and keep coming.
When Cynthiana became a post office
station the government gave it the name of Blue Ridge because there
was another Cynthiana in the state and a confusion of mail came about
just as it did in the case of Marion. But in contrast to Marion
which held fast to its pioneer name the name of Cynthiana passed out
and the name of Blue Ridge stuck.
Why the name “Blue Ridge?’
We
found no reason given and so, using our imagination, we decided it
was because the village is situated on a higher tract of land than
the surrounding country and from its vantage point the blue skies
could be seen in all directions.
Village was founded August 19, 1835,
by the Youngman brothers and Thomas Spurgeon. By the
time it was platted all the land in its township of Liberty was taken
over by the settlers, showing that it must have had many advantages
such as fertility of soil, good location and natural resources. Mr.
Spurgeon, named above, divined the possibilities for fruit growing
and was the first man in the county to start an orchard. Perhaps
Johnny Appleseed had left some traces of his wanderings. In any case
Mr. Spurgeon must be given credit for giving a start to fruit growing
in Shelby county.
The pioneer merchant of the village
was John Youngman, who sold goods there as early as 1833 and
thus preceded the town’s platting by two years. D. Fox
built a sawmill there in the early 1830’s. Clearing the forest
lands for agriculture brought about the early selection for sawmill
sites and this brought the first families to the site; then a general
store was established to meet the need of the families.
First school of which we found any
mention was a three room brick building; for a number of years there
was an excellent high school and a three-year term; Mr. George
Meltzer was a teacher here and one of the teachers at Waldron and
Addison, but that is a story to come later.
The first church was a Methodist
church built probably some time during the sixties; a number of years
later the Christian Union Church was organized and built its church. This was a thriving congregation and the Methodist Church was closed
several years ago and the building sold. Blue Ridge prides itself on
one of the loveliest cemeteries to be found anywhere; it is located
at the west edge of the village.
Mr. Chadwick in his history, published
in 1909 lists the following as enterprises of the village: Two
general stores, two confectionaries, a farm implement store, a
telephone exchange managed by William Ensminger, a straw mill,
a saw mill and grist mill. managed by Richard Marshall, a
blacksmith shop owned by N. Yager, a harness and shoe repair
shop owned by John Gahimer, a hotel owned by Oliver Harlan.
At one time it had a Grange and an Odd Fellows and Knights of
Pythias lodges. Blue Ridge is still a thriving village and has some
excellent stores. Lawrence Creed now owns the lot on which
the Methodist Church stood and has his home and a thriving garage
business there. Wendling and Marshall have a hardware store
and garage; Virgil Doles has an exceptionally good grocery and
meat market; Harry Fox has a thriving business as a driller of
gas and water wells; he owns the property on which an old mill stood
and has built a large building in which he houses his trucks and well
rigs and does repair work on the rigs.
Blue Ridge has excellent telephone
service but all calls go through the Waldron exchange, which has
recently had the dial system installed.
Discussing a small village one finds
the names of the farmers in the community about, often mentioned with
it as indeed they should be for the farmers and the town are too
intimate linked together to be separated. Among the earlier and
middle years of the village we found the names of Powell, Query,
Seely, Waggoner, Wilken, Cotton.
Contributed by Barb Huff
The Shelbyville Republican
Wednesday, April 16, 1924
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BLUE RIDGE NEWS.
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Mrs. Morlis Childs
of Shelbyville is suffering from an attack of the mumps. She is at the
home of her parents Mr. and Mrs. Clell Mann.
Mr. and Mrs. Russell
Fagel and Mr. and Mrs. Roy Fox and son, Wallace,
were business visitors of Greensburg Tuesday evening.
Miss Della Calahan
[Callahan], of near Fairland was the week-end guest of Miss
Gladys Meltzer.
The Ladies Aid of the
M. E. church added about $22.00 to their treasury Tuesday. The proceeds
of the dinner served at the George Meltzer sale.
Mr. and Mrs. Sam
Fessler entertained Sunday Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Northern
and daughter, and Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Fessler and
children.
Mrs. Earl Hauk
who has been quite sick for the past week is some better at present.
Mr. and Mrs. Roy Fox
have moved to their new home here. They have purchased the residence
property of William McMullen.
Mrs. Melissa
Tillison who has been quite poorly is able to be up again.
In honor of their
thirty-sixth wedding anniversary, which occurred on Tuesday, Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph O'Dell entertained about fifty relatives and members of the Blue
Ridge M. E. Sunday school at their home in Blue Ridge. A pitch-in
dinner, served cafeteria style, with all the good eats imaginable, was one of
the main features of the day, and very much enjoyed. Several musical
selections were given by Misses Beulah Marshall, Vivian Gahimer,
and Elizabeth Tillison; also several songs by Mrs. Harry
Marshall, Elizabeth Tillison, Mary Nell Kennedy, Josephine
Smeltzer, with Vivian Gahimer at the piano,
and Beulah Marshall with violin. Those present to
assist Mr. and Mrs. O'Dell in celebrating the event were
their son, Walter O'Dell, daughters, Mr. and Mrs.
Maurice Mains and children, Mr. and Mrs. Nobel Winton and
son; also Rev. and Mrs. O. E. Haley and two sons, John
Thompson, Loren Jackman, Winfield Thompson, Sam Shackleford,
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Smeltzer and daughter, Mrs. Thomas
Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Loren Tillison and children, Mr. and
Mrs. Hayes Marshall and children, Mrs. Samantha Tinsley,
Mrs.
Melissa Tillison, Mrs. P. D. Lewis, Mr. and Mrs. Bert Whitinger
and son, Bernard; Mr. and Mrs. Louis Gahimer and daughter,
Vivian; Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Day, Mr. and Mrs.
Irvin Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. George Neeb and children.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming
The Shelbyville Daily
Democrat
Tuesday, February 20, 1906
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BLUE RIDGE.
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Our schools will close in
about four weeks.
Quite a number of our
citizens are on the sick list.
Balis Coy and
family spent Sunday with friends at Adams.
A little child of Joe
Baker's is quite sick at present with pneumonia.
The condition of Phil
Apple is very much improved and his recovery is now assured.
A number of our young men
attended the play at Shelbyville on Monday night.
Adam Richey
and wife, of Rush county, spent Sunday the guest of Alf Owens
and family.
Nathan Youngman,
who has been confined to his house for several weeks, is able to be on the
streets again.
Mrs. Redinbaugh
was called to Moscow last week on account of the serious illness of her sister, Mrs.
Jones.
John Marshall
is not so well and a specialist has been called from Indianapolis to consult
with his physician.
Franklin Wagoner
and wife living east of town, are spending the week with their daughter, in
Madison county.
Harry Query
and Harley Yager were recently initiated into the mysteries
of thet[sic] Masonic Fraternity at Waldron.
Two of our young men
engaged in a fistic encounter Saturday night, but were separated before either
was seriously hurt.
William Baker
has purchased a team of horses from Yager and Marshall and will
engage in farming as will also Sam Fisher.
Samuel Henderson,
who lives alone was found quite sick last week by his neighbors. Dr. Inlow
was called and he is now much better.
One of our carpenters
says that a young professional man of our town has contracted with him to build
a house, but wants it kept secret. Ask Maud.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Cynthiana was laid out by Andrew Snyder and Isaac Sprinter, August 18, 1835. Surveyed and platted by J. B. Nickel same
date. It contained fifty lots arranged as follows: Twenty-five on the north side of Main Street laid off for Andrew Snyder and twenty-five on the south side for Isaac Springer. Main Street fifty feet wide, occupying the county road running east and west; Walnut Street fifty feet wide,and North and South Streets each thirty-three feet. All alleys ten feet wide. The lots fifty feet front on Main Street 100 feet back. This village is situate
near the northeast corner of Liberty Township, and Main Street extends east to the county line between Shelby and
Rush Counties. It is eight miles east of Shelbyville, and about one-fourth mile east of the crossing of Conn's
Creek, on the county road running west to Shelbyville. Cynthiana itself is "set on a hill," and is remarkable for the high hills north, south, and west of it; whilst to the east is a broad level plain extending far into Rush County. The post office at this place is called Blue Ridge. The land upon which the greater part of the town has been built was owned by Andrew Snyder. It was named by James Marshall
in honor of his native town Cynthiana, Ky. John Youngman, was the first
merchant and probably sold goods there as early as 1833. S. Robinson
was the second. Then came John
De Vaul, M. Crail,
and A. Jerrell. D. Fox
built a saw mill late in the thirties. The present business of the town is conducted by W. C. Yeager, I. W. Inlow, Jacob
Querry, I. W. Marshall, J. N. Marshall, Aaron Austin,
and James Stead.
Blue
Ridge Lodge, I.O.O.F., No. 554, was
established at Cynthiana November 22, 1877. The charter members were: M. L. Waggoner, N.G.; Arrass
Jones, V.G.; E. T. Jones, Secretary; S.
H. Yager, Treasurer;
Asa Forsythe, Smith Solomon, Stanfield Marshall and David
Solomon. The present
membership is twenty-two, and the treasury has about $900 on hand, showing vigorous growth. In the hall of
the lodge hangs an old clock that has been marking the course of time for more than fifty years, and is still counting
the hours with a melancholy tick that echoes through the lonely room. The present officers are:
Pliny Hungerford, N.G.; J.
C. Marshall, V.G.; E. W. McDaniel, Secretary, and S.
H. Yager, Treasurer.
A grange flourished here at one time and had upwards of sixty members. A store was kept by the society
a short distance west of Cynthiana, but it was discontinued four or five years ago.
History of Shelby County, Indiana, Chicago: Brant & Fuller, 1887, page 448-449.
Copied by Phyllis Miller Fleming
Shelby County Newspaper Democrat
Special Correspondence of the Democrat:
Cynthiana
June 8, 1885
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Rev. Mellender will preach here Sunday
afternoon.
Rev. Wolf will preach here Saturday night and
Sunday.
Scott Fox , who has been sick for sometime, is
improving slowly.
Mrs. William Zoble has been very sick for
several days, but is now better.
Mrs Flora Whaley has gone to spend a few days
with her husband in Ohio.
Joseph Stewart had his arm badly broken
Saturday by a fall from a road cart.
On Wednesday night last, lightning struck Lucy
Ensminger's house, near this place. Damage slight.
Mr. A. J. Jones and wife, of Zionville, Boone
county, are here on a visit to friends and relatives in this place.
Uncle Peter Nebb paid our town a visit
Saturday. He will be ninety years old in September, and he says he can walk to
Shelbyville and return the same day.
Charley Jones, of Madison county, who has
been spending a few days with relatives and friends here, returned Saturday,
accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Garson Marshall , of this
place.
The good people of this place met at the M. E.
Church Sunday last and organized a Sunday School.
James Tillison was elected superintendent.
The school will no doubt be a success. Parents are requested to come out to
Sunday school, accompanied by their children.
Contributed by Linda Ellis
THE SHELBY DEMOCRAT
March 12, 1885
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CYNTHIANA CULLINGS.
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Special Correspondence of the Democrat.
CYNTHIANA, March 10, 1885.
--- W. C. Yager is on the sick list.
--- Uncle Dick Shaw injured himself somewhat by a fall a few days ago.
--- "Tony" Galimore will work for Philip Slifer, of St. Omer this year.
--- Rumor has it that a Government licensed saloon will start in this place soon.
--- Wm. Farrow remeved[sic] to W. J. Duxton's farm in Noble township yesterday.
--- Mrs. Aaron Austin, who broke a limb in January, by a fall, is improving very slowly.
--- Aunt Patsy Jones fell with an arm-load of wood one day last week, breaking the larger bone of the forearm. It is not a serious, but a very painful accident. She is almost eighty years of age.
--- Quite a number of our youths were summoned before the grand jury last week. As no one knew of any misdemeanor of any kind, their trip resulted in nothing but showers of imprecations upon the heads of the men who had them summoned.
--- The joke seems to be on a couple of our resident lumberers, who cut a slippery-elm for a black walnut on R. M. Wagner's farm last week. Mr. Wagner says he could have borne the loss of the elm patiently had there not been a valuable fox-grapevine attached to it, which was also demolished.
--- The bridge excitement was booming last week. A subscription paper for money to build approches for the proposed bridge over Conn's creek at this place was circulated and $450 subscribed in a short time. If the Commissioners will pay for the bridge our good citizens will pay for the approaches. We do not believe there is another place in the county needing a bridge worse than this. In times of high water our mails are always delayed and all kinds of travel entirely suspended. Our farmers take their grain and other produce to other markets than our county seat, thereby taking from it a vast amount of trade that by virtue of distance and a pike should belong to it. Our Rush county neighbors have been the most liberal with the paper, as they would find it much more convenient to do their trading in Shelbyville than in Rushville, where they must of necessity go with the present condition of affiars. By all means let us have a bridge.
GROVER.
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BY ANOTHER CORRESPONDENT
--- Mrs. Jane Yager and Mrs. Jane Shaw are sick.
--- Rev. Wolf will preach at the M.E. Church next Sunday morning and evening.
--- Grandma Jones, while getting a load of wood one day last week, fell and broke her arm.
--- Mr. Thomas Trackwell and wife were visiting their friend, Fred Friday, one day last week.
--- Nathan Youngman and Barney Yager have the New Mexico fever in the worst stage, but I think they will get over it.
--- I understand that Mr. Moak, of Toga, will move here soon. He is a clever fellow, but I would inform him that we want no saloon here.
--- Jacob Query has hired Jefferson Fox and Curtis Mayhood for the coming summer, to work in the tile factory and you bet they will move things, as they are both first class hands.
--- I see my Republican friend, known as "Snuff Thompson," is troubling himself about my firend Bill Mann. I would ask him if he remembers the time he hauled fodder, or in other words the little brown jug.
BALL.
Copied by Phyllis Miller Fleming
History of Towns Index