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Explore the places and locations of ghost towns (at one time had a post office) and named places (never had a post office) in the Huntington County's northwestern area.

Huntington County has had libraries almost since its founding. One of the earliest was established by the “Working Men’s Institute” and founded in 1855. The HCTPL traces its roots to this library which, in turn, provided the foundational materials to a subscription library founded in 1874 called the Public School Library. In 1889 the library was reorganized under state law to become a “free” library supported by a tax levy. The new name was “City Free Library.” From 1889 until a building completed with funds from Andrew Carnegie opened in 1903, the library was housed in the city high school.The library changed names in 1971 to the Huntington Public Library when it separated from the school library. It changed again in 1975 when the service area was expanded to include Huntington Township. Since then, it has been the Huntington City-Township Public Library even though in 2003 the service area expanded with the merger of the Markle Library.The 1903 Carnegie Library building still stands at 44 E. Park and is now the location of TCB Games. The current building opened in 1987 and was expanded twice: in 1996 and 2010. A major remodeling was completed in 2019. The main length of the building was designed to resemble a canal boat with the prow rising above the entrance. The entrance even sits on top of the former route of the Wabash &amp; Erie Canal.

The Huntington City-Township Public Library (HCTPL) serves the people of both the city and township of Huntington as well as the town of Markle. Teachers and students in the county schools, another primary/secondary school with a presence in the service area, or Huntington University are also eligible for library cards. It has a large room dedicated as the B. Joan Keefer Genealogy and Local History Center in the main branch, and a small History Room in the Markle branch.

Huntington City-Township Public Library

Finkenbiner’s Corners (also spelled Finkbiner, Finkbeiner) was a small crossroads and the location of a saw mill in 1866. In 1879 there was a Blacksmith ¼ mile west of the intersection and a church ¼ mile east. Schools were a mile north and a mile south. Its location just south of the junction of two major early roads: the Liberty Mills Plank road (now the Bracken Rd.) and the Goshen Rd. (now Indiana 5) seemed to make it an ideal spot for a community to grow. For some reason, it failed to flourish.

This ghost town never even made it to hamlet status despite what would appear to be an ideal location near what once was a major crossroads.

Finkenbiner's Corners (named place)

Jean Gernand’s article on Warren Township has this to say about Makin:“A small settlement called Makin sprang up around Elias Sprinkle’s shoe cobbler’s shop. It later had two stores, a Blacksmith shop, post office and a brick school house. …It may be surprising to learn that President Theodore Roosevelt once appeared at a political rally in Huntington, and that the Makin area had its own group of ‘Rough Riders. They were 70 young men in uniforms who practiced their drills on horseback in a field near Makin. ‘T. R.’ was so impressed with their performance in the parade that he asked them to go around a second time.”[The practice field was just south of Makin at the intersection of 900N and 750W.]District School #4 was located in Makin from before 1866 until sometime after 1879 but before 1903 according to the maps when it was relocated one mile south. Even then, the school fell victim to consolidation after the 1917-18 school year. Neither school building survives. Township by Township relates:“As early as 1837, settlers in the [Makin] area began gathering in a cabin to worship. They next built a log church, which was called Plank Road Chapel, or the Slusser Church. In 1875, a frame church was constructed and given the name Bethesda. This was an active congregation and once had 90 members. … There is a beautiful painting of the church done by John R. Michael on display at the Huntington County Historical Museum.”It is said that during the Civil War of the twelve men of the church’s congregation who enlisted, only three returned. Makin’s church continued to exist long after the hamlet. It finally closed in 1991 and has been a residence ever since.In July 1855, Makin’s first post office was approved under the name of “Australia.” Benjamin Slusser was its post master. He was succeeded by Henry Dishong and then Anthony Youkinan(?) [the ledger of appointments is very hard to read]. Only a week after Anthony was appointed, the Australia post office was discontinued in Sep 1859. It was reestablished under the name of postmaster Abraham Makin in 1883 and operated until Aug 1885 when it was discontinued once again. In January 1886, when the hamlet once again applied for a post office, they asked for the name of Hensel. That was rejected, but the former name of Makin was accepted. It’s been Makin ever since, although the post office was closed for good at the end 1902.

A farm and the former Bethesda U.B. Church are all that is left of the small community called Makin that was busy enough for its own post office from 1855 to 1859, intermittently from 1882 to 1886, and then continuously from 1886 until 1902.

Makin today - looking southeast along the Bracken Rd. towards 750 W.

Makin (Ghost Town)

A 2021 Facebook discussion mentioned a place called Six Points. When asked to explain where that was, one county resident explained that she lived just up 750 W from that place in Warren Township. The location on the map matches her description.

Sometimes places get names just because we like to put names on things. In this case the name “Six Points” comes from the three roads that intersect here and form “6 points” (or they would if they all met in the middle which they used to do).

Six Points (named place)

First called Sawdust Hill after the mounds of saw dust generated by the mill, Luther obtained a post office in 1894 that operated until 1905. The post office application wanted the name Pray or Praysville, after merchant and postmaster Myron Pray, but these were both crossed out, and Luther was inscribed on the form.Township by Township recalls:“At one time it had a large mercantile where you could buy everything from needles to threshing machines.There were also two Blacksmith shops, a creamery, tile mill and a church. An unusual venture was a telephone company, which was organized in 1902 with a switchboard that was kept open for 24 hours a day. It was a challenge to recruit subscribers, however, as the monthly 41 fee was thought to be too costly.”A small cemetery just north of 114 and west of the intersection with 5 recalls the time when Luther had enough businesses and people nearby to have a church. Many of the original graves were moved to other cemeteries over time.Despite all of this activity, this busy crossroads community was never incorporated. When Indiana 114 was widened, what was left of Luther disappeared since the only remaining store no longer had enough room to operate. Today, there are two farm homes, a farm equipment auction house, and the few remaining graves in the old cemetery.

Although technically in Whitley County, Luther frequently appears on Huntington County maps and is discussed in some Huntington County history materials. Also, some buildings were (and are) on the Huntington County side of the border. Today, it is mostly a mysterious sign on the road.

Luther at the Intersection of IN-5 and IN-114 (looking northwest)

Luther (Ghost Town)

At first, the village was called Claysville after the clay soil. Unlike the soil, the name would not stick. When it filed a request for a post office, that name was already taken in Indiana, and duplicate names were not allowed. So, the residents changed the town’s name to the name of the county in Kentucky where the Westover and Guffin families had come from. (They were the families that platted the hamlet.) Bracken had a post office from 1868 to 1905. At one time, there was a district school on the north of the village and a sawmill just southeast of it. As the only settlement between Huntington and Liberty Mills, it was able to support a drug store, two small groceries, two doctors, a church, two Blacksmiths, a wagon shop, a saloon, and even a barber shop at various times over its history. The saloon was destroyed by a mysterious fire which legend says was started by a woman inspired by the temperance movement.The school, District #2, was first built before 1866 on the north side of the village, west of what is now Indiana 105. In 1883, the frame building was replaced with a brick school that was built on the east side of 105 at the corner with 1100 N. The school closed after the 1920-21 school year and its students went to the Bippus consolidated school. The building itself was torn down some years ago (sometime after 2010), but a small monument was built on the location using a few of its bricks and the dedication stone showing the name and year it was built.Like many of the smaller hamlets in the area, its demise arrived with the automobile and the consolidation of the one-room schools into township schools. The last business was a small store that closed in the late 1960s. Besides the school monument, all that remains today is about a half-dozen homes.

Originally called Claysville, the hamlet of Bracken was platted in 1853. It originally had 17 lots. The Bracken Rd. was originally called the Huntington to Liberty Mills Rd. It was one of the first roads in the county to be improved as a plank road.

Bracken (Ghost Town)

Bippus was originally called West Point after the train station on the Chicago &amp; Atlantic Railroad (later the Erie Railroad) which ran through town. (It was the westernmost point you could travel in the county before getting into the swamp as well as most western location on a circuit of singing schools – see p153 of the 1914 History for information on the schools.) It had 55 lots when platted in 1885. When they applied for a post office, the name West Point was taken, so they changed it to honor George Jacob Bippus who was instrumental in bringing the railroad to the community. “In its heyday, Bippus had three groceries, a milliner’s shop, two drugstores, a shoe cobbler, tin ship, creamery, livery barn (now the post office), harness shop, ice house, Blacksmith, feed mill and elevator, barber shop and the Bippus Bank, one of few that did not close during the Great Depression. [It also had its own telephone company.] …Bippus also claims the possible distinction of the first Safety Patrol in the nation. It was started by Seth Michael, station agent for the Erie, and provide for an older student, John R. Michael in this case, to escort the younger school children safely over the tracks. This followed a near accident at the crossing. John R. Michael went on to become a director for the Interstate Commerce Division in Washington, DC.”The Bippus State Bank was begun here in 1911 and had a presence until 2006. (Its headquarters is now in Huntington.) The bank started in the building on the southeast corner of the main intersection. It moved across the street to the southwest corner in the 1973. In front of this currently vacant building there is a memorial to the former high schools in Bippus. The first high school opened in 1898 on the east end of town. It operated until a newer school was built in 1916. The new school had a unique feature – the gymnasium was in the basement! Besides the low ceilings, players had to dodge support pillars (which were wrapped in padding). This gym was mostly used for practice, but some early games were played there. A formal gymnasium was added in 1928. The district schools were gradually closed after the 1916 building opened on the north end of town. By 1923 all the district schools were closed and all students in the township attended K-12 in the building which continued to serve until 1958 when it became a K-8 building and high schoolers were sent to Clear Creek and then in 1967 to the county’s consolidated Huntington North High School.Chris Schenkel was born here in 1923 and is buried at St. John’s Cemetery just out the west side of town off 800 N. After serving his country in WWII and Korea, Chris spent six decades broadcasting live sports events. In that capacity he was the first to broadcast golf’s Masters Tournament, call a college football game coast-to-coast, and be a live sports anchor for the Olympics (Mexico City). During these broadcasts he would occasionally say “You bet your sweet Bippy.” We believe that phrase developed in reference to his hometown of which he was immensely proud (despite what origins various websites give the phrase).

No disrespect to the hundred or so folks who still proudly call Bippus home. The term "ghost town" is used here only because Bippus lost its post office in August 2017. It is the largest community designated as a ghost town in Huntington County, and the largest community to ever exist in Warren Township. Platted in 1885, Bippus actually had a collection of shops before 1866. The post office opened in 1883 and operated continuously until its closure. Bippus’ most famous native son was the sports broadcaster Chris Schenkel. 

Despite losing its post office, high school, and most of its retail businesses, Bippus still has its own fire department and identity.

Bippus - main intersection, southeast corner

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Ghost Towns and Named Places of Warren and Western Clear Creek Townships

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