Transcript Evansville 1888 - Historic Evansville

Evansville 1888
A glimpse into the city’s past 125 years ago
Joe Engler
HistoricEvansville.com
Evansville 1888
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Prosperity of the Gilded Age after
Civil War/Reconstruction
Tremendous growth in population
and size
City limits were roughly St. Joseph
Ave., Garvin St., and Morgan Ave.
Street cars provided easy access
around town and the suburbs were
expanding rapidly.
Dirt roads, first paved 1889
Electricity and telephone were
becoming more prevalent
Evansville 1888 (cont’d)
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Civic buildings
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Railroads
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Court house (Main St. and 3rd St.); new one under construction
City Hall (3rd St. and Walnut St.)
Post Office (2nd St between Vine and Sycamore)
Evansville & Terre Haute (E&TH), later Central & Eastern Illinois (C&EI)
Peoria Decatur & Evansville (PD&E), later Illinois Central (IC)
Louisville & Nashville (L&N) - built Henderson Bridge 1885
Evansville Belt RR
Five daily papers
Corner saloons and grocery stores anchored city blocks
40+ churches of many denominations
Schools were separated by color
Big players in town
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Metal works/foundries
 Heilman Plow Co. (later Vulcan
Plow)
 George L. Mesker and Co.
 Orr Iron Co.
 J. H. Roelker foundry
 George Koch Sons metalworking
Breweries
 F. W. Cook Brewing Co.
 Fulton Ave. Brewery (Sterling)
Saw/planing mills
 Jacob Meyers & Bro. planing mill
 Rechtin Planing Mill
 Helfrich Saw and Planing Mill
Furniture
 Armstrong Bros. furniture
 Karges Furniture
 Evansville Furniture Co.
 Schelosky & Co tables
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Banks
 Old National Bank
 Citizens National Bank (5/3)
 National City Bank (Integra)
News/print
 Evansville Courier
 Evansville Journal
 Keller-Crescent advertising
 Smith & Butterfield
Other
 Lensing Wholesale
 Bernardin Bottle Cap Co.
 John Ingle coal dealers
 Igleheart Bros. flour mill
 Strouse & Bros. fine clothing
 Boetticher Kellogg & Co.
hardware
Lamasco
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Separate town northwest
of Evansville
Founded 1836
First Ave. eastward to St.
Joseph Ave., from river to Maryland St.
Named after founders Law, McCall, and Scott
Streets on cardinal directions, as opposed to
downtown parallel to the river
Merged with Evansville in 1857
Lamasco and the “North Side”
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Growing North Side of town
Street cars went up Third and Second Avenues
and turned west at Columbia Street
Fire station No. 8 built 1878
St. Mary’s Hospital bought property across First
Ave in 1885; didn’t build until 1894
Elite homes along First and Fulton Avenues
Willard Library recently completed
First Ave
Taken from 1888
panoramic map
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Willard Library
Crescent Furniture
Emanuel Lutheran,
Trinity Lutheran, and
First Ave. Presbyterian
Columbia School
Hose House No. 8
Heilman Home / St.
Vincent Day Care
Reis Home / Future St
Anthony Site
Willard Library
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Begun 1877; opened 1885
Donated by Willard Carpenter
Oldest library building in Indiana
Reis Residence
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Built 1872 for Anthony Reis
Tannery (leather) business
located at Fifth and Michigan
Designed by Henry Mursinna
same architect as Reitz
Home
Occupied the entire block
Died 1884 and land donated
by widow 1885 for a church
Became St. Anthony rectory
c1910 after Mrs. Reis died
Heilman Residence
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Built 1869 for former Evansville mayor William Heilman
Heilman Plow and Heilman Machine Works (later Vulcan Plow)
1931 becomes St. Vincent day care
Boetticher Residence
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Built c1877 for Edward Boetticher
Co-founder of Boetticher Kellogg
Converted to Owl’s Home in the 1920s
Razed last month
Straub and Blomer Residences
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Fred P. Straub c1872
Hardware dealer on Main St
HR Connects office space
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Frank Blomer c1874
Blomer, Schulte, & Reitman
furniture
Reich & Assoc insurance
Other First Ave Mansions
Other grand
homes along
First Ave built
around the
same time
Crescent Furniture Co
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Old furniture factory dates back to 1870s
NE corner of Franklin St.
Used as WPA headquarters c1940
Razed 1968, strip mall now on old site
Melzer Soap
Works
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Soap factory dates
back to 1860s
Third Ave &
Maryland St
Closed by 1940
Later miscellaneous
companies (laundry,
filter plant, and body
shop)
Nearby churches
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Trinity Lutheran
1841/1870
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First Avenue
Presbyterian
1875/1876
Emanuel Lutheran
1856
Catholic Churches
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Assumption (1836 – 1965)
Holy Trinity* (1851)
St. Mary* (1866)
St. Boniface* (1880)
Sacred Heart (1885)
St. Anthony* (1888)
* - German speaking parish
St. Anthony Catholic
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Established 1888
German-speaking
Split from Holy Trinity
Present church built
1894