Carroll County IN Archives History - Books .....Chapter XIII 1916
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Book Title: History Of Carroll County Indiana

CHAPTER XIII.

CITY OF DELPHI—COUNTY SEAT-WATERWORKS AND LIGHTING SYSTEM- 
TELEPHONE SYSTEM-FACTORIES-SEWERAGE SYSTEM—STREET
IMPROVEMENTS-DELPHI PUBLIC SCHOOL.

CITY OF DELPHI.

Delphi is the seat of justice of Carroll county. One hundred acres of land was
donated by William Wilson, May 15, 1828, to the commissioners named in the Act
of January 7, 1828, by the General Assembly, for a county seat. On the 24th of
May, 1828, the county commissioners met, having been elected as such on the 28th
of April, 1828, and received the report of the state commissioners, and accepted
the same, and formally established the county seat and designated the name
"Delphi." County officers were elected on the 28th of April, 1828. The county
being organized pursuant to law, the county seat established, the survey and
platting the land into lots, laying out the streets, establishing the public,
square, and the selling of lots as required by law was the work of officials.

   The board of county commissioners, in 1829, ordered the county agent to
contract for the building a county jail and for an office for clerk and
recorder. A public well was ordered to be dug fifty feet south of the center of
the public square. The jail building was erected on lot No. 101, which was in
the block north of the public square. In 1840 this building was enlarged to
furnish a jailor's residence. The courts were held in a school house situated in
the block cornering at Monroe and Union streets. The first court house was
started in 1831 and completed in 1836. The present court house was built in 1856
and 1857. The present sheriff's residence and jail was built in 1871 and 1872.

   Delphi was incorporated as a city in 1838. It was reorganized as a city
corporation in 1852, under the new Constitution. William Crooks, Sr., was the
first mayor. The Delphi public school building, situated at the corner of Monroe
and Wilson streets, has been noted for the high educational privileges enjoyed,
and the able instructors employed. The capacity of the building being
insufficient to accommodate the increasing numbers of students, a large annex is
being built at a cost of $25,000, which will have few equals in the state. A
fine library building on the south side of East Main street, built in 1905 and
1906, is a substantial structure and of great benefit to the scholars of the
public school. The waterworks system has been in operation over twenty years and
is owned by the city. Under the meter system it is furnishing an abundance of
water for all purposes, and yields a handsome revenue to the city. Electric
light is furnished the city by the Ft. Wayne and Northern Indiana Traction
Company under contract.

   Various additions have been added to the original town plat as follow: Five
Grimes; Jones; Butler; McGilliard; North; South; Manary; Williams; Two; Bowen;
Ellwood; Case; Spears, Case & Company; Clauser; Martin; Evans and Martin; Graham
and Whistler.

   The city has a well-equipped fire department. Two newspapers, the
Citizen-Times and the Delphi Journal, are both equipped with the latest modern
machinery and appliances and enjoy a large circulation. There are four
substantial banks, namely: A. T. Bowen & Company, Citizens National Bank, the
State Bank, and the Carroll County Loan and Trust Company; carrying deposits of
nearly three millions of dollars. The present population of Delphi is estimated
at three thousand.

WATERWORKS AND LIGHTING SYSTEM.

   Twenty-five years ago the necessity for pure water for dometic purposes and
for fire protection became so obvious to the citizens of Delphi that the city
council was induced to submit to the voters of the city the question of imposing
a tax to install a waterworks plant. An election was held and the question was
decided by a large majority in favor of water works. The bonded indebtedness of
the city was too great to permit the city to construct a plant, so a corporation
was formed which assumed the work by letting a contract to build the waterworks
plant; the corporation to take the rentals of water users and a water tax levy.
Bonds were issued running twenty years. George Morgan, of Illinois, had the
contract and put in the system now in operation. In twenty years sufficient
revenue had accumulated to pay off the bonds and the city thus became the owner
of the plant.

   After a large expenditure of money in building two large reservoirs and
adding new machinery at the pumping station, the proceeds arising from the
revenue have been ample to pay all expenses and leave a good balance in the city
treasury, which has been with great regularity covered into the city treasury as
general revenue.

   The water is obtained from springs four miles east of Delphi and is
pronounced the best in the state.

   The lighting system is operated by the Ft. Wayne and Northern Indiana
Traction Company under a contract made in 1910 with the city. The same traction
company furnishes light for Flora and Camden.

TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

The Walker telephone system has connections with the various private telephone
companies in the county and in connection with the long distance telephone lines
makes it possible to have communication to every locality in the county and to
the outside world.

FACTORIES.

   The factories are the Great Western canning factory, machine and repair
shops, the Delphi Lumber Company, the strawboard mill, the lime manufacturing
companies, the school wagon manufacturing company and the Delphi flouring-milll
[sic].


SEWERAGE SYSTEM.

   A platted sewerage system, showing all the sewerage mains traversing the
principal streets and connections, is on file, enabling the city engineer to
detect breaks if any occur. Many of the chief sewers are imbedded under the
paved streets and are reached by "man-holes" to flush. There are also tile
drains to carry the surface water.

STREET IMPROVEMENTS.

   Fourteen years ago the city council inaugurated a movement to make a "Greater
Delphi," and the streets around the public square were laid with bitulithic
material, at a great cost, and time has shown the improvement to be the best
extant and promises to last for ages. Other streets are paved with cement, brick
and crushed stone with tar dressing; which in time will show which is the best
to finally adopt.

DELPHI PUBLIC SCHOOL.

   The first school house in Delphi was built in' 1829. It was used for seven
years to hold the sessions of the courts. In 1838 a building .for school
purposes was erected on the site where the present building now stands, and was
of an octagonal shape. It was burned down in 1848. In 1850 a two-story brick
building with four rooms was built on the same site. Capt. G. W. Bowman and J.
A. Cartwright taught in this building. The grade system now prevailing did not
exist until 1872. The steady increase of school children made it necessary to
provide a larger and more convenient building and in 1872 the city school board
decided to erect such a building.

   The present building was the result of their efforts. It contains thirteen
class, rooms; one assembly room, thirty by seventy feet; a manual training room
with eighteen benches; a kitchen for twenty students at a time; and a
superintendent's office. A basement extends under the building. The entire
building is heated by the "plenum indirect system."

   In 1900 the enrollment was 96. The enrollment in 1906 was 162. The enrollment
in 1914 was 224 in the high school. The transfer fees received from students
from the outside townships in 1906 was $1,700. In 1914 the fees received were
$4,636.72.. The percentage of pupils in the high school for 1914 was sixty-five.
In 1915 the percentage was sixty-three. The number of high school students from
the outside townships, for 1915 is 136. The enrollment in the grades for 1915 is
325, and in the high school, 224; making a total enrollment of 549. This is a
fraction over forty-two scholars to the room. The school has a good library. The
students have free access to the city library. A fire drill is frequently
practiced and the building has been vacated in one minute.

   It has been apparent for several years that the present building was
insufficient to accommodate the rapid increase of students seeking the
privileges of this school and that an additional building, constructed in
accordance with the most improved methods and in conformity to the laws
regulating the building of school houses, was a public necessity. The school
board without delay or hesitation proceeded to obtain plans and specifications
of a competent architect, which met its approval, and a contract was let to
construct the annex building now in course of completion. The contract was let
at the price of $25,000, which does not include the furniture.

   The new building is two story, of deep red brick laid in chocolate mortar,
and fully trimmed with Bedford limestone. The building is one hundred and ten
feet in length and sixty feet in width. It has a basement under the entire
building. The study hall is forty-five by sixty feet, and is on the second
floor. A gymnasium and auditorium room is fifty-seven by sixty feet. A stage
fourteen feet in depth and twenty-four feet in width is flanked by adequate wing
spaces for dressing rooms. There are four new recitation rooms, one new
laboratory, two shower-baths and toilet rooms, a cloak and wardrobe room,
corridors and office of principal and faculty.

   An overhead entrance from the annex to the old building will connect the old
with the new, and the entire building is heated by the same furnace and heating
appliances. The contractors are under bond to have the building completed for
acceptance by the board, by December 20, 1915. This admirable building is worth
the while of the friends of education to call and see it. The towns are few in
this state of the size of Delphi, that can boast of a similar building.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY INDIANA

ITS PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS
BY
JOHN C ODELL
With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and
Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families

ILLUSTRATED
1916
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc.
Indianapolis, Indiana


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