A production of:
© Copyright 2003 EPICS TCHA Team at Purdue University, All Rights Reserved.
Three persons suffered injuries when a locomotive boiler exploded in the Wabash roundhouse.
Charles M. Robinson started Union Business College in the 100 block of Main St. By 1887 attendance in commercial, normal, shorthand, typewriting and telegraphic skills reached 200.
As courthouse construction struggled forward, argument erupted between Elias Max and contractors Farnham & Charles Pearce over specifications of the stone work.
A brief smallpox panic gripped Lafayette after the death and secret burial of a farmhand named Gillespie, who battled the disease for about a week after it had been diagnosed, in the home of a Dr. Ellsworth.
Famed actor Edwin Booth starred in a performance of Hamlet in the Grand Opera House.
The Wabash River steamboat captain "Lark" Conners [O'Connor] began running a sawmill aboard his boat to cut hardwood logs. [The mode of power, not specified, probably was steam.]
The original Lahr House which dated to the early 1830s was razed at the southeast corner of Fifth and Main streets to make room for a larger hotel.
The Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad, becoming popularly known as the "Monon," was looking for a site in central Indiana to move its machine and maintenance shops from New Albany for its 482 miles of track. Lafayette and the town of Monon were early bidders, with Lafayette interests offering 15 acres and $20,000 by way of inducement. In August the Monon indicated it favored Lafayette if the promises were kept. On Oct. 9 the City Council voted 9-2 to raise $29,500 or more in city taxes to add to the package. Mayor McGinley and Thomas Ward met with Monon directors in New York on April 10, 1883, where a decision for Lafayette took place. But the Monon put the project on hold.
BACKGROUND: The Courier contained two reports of historical value. It provided a business boom update, describing the manufacture of hominy, grits, paper, boots and shoes, and said the Lafayette Car Works now employed 600. It also contained a long profile to former U.S. Sen. Albert S. White, who had died in 1864.
Electric lights atop Ford School were first turned on at 7:45 p.m., followed by a mixed reaction. One obviously exaggerated report held that the lights, intended to illuminate Lafayette streets and replace 125 gas lamps, could be seen as far away as Fowler.
Proprietors named Goodman and Hembeth opened a short-lived "museum" exhibiting more than 2,000 objects of art and nature at Sixth and Main streets.
Joseph Mulhaupt, locksmith and proprietor of a brief magazine he called The Frog died. BACKGROUND: The Courier published a brief obituary.
Courthouse construction stopped because of the death of contractor Farnham [Farman in some historical sources], and partner Charles Pearce's desire to get out of their $208,000 contract because he would lose money on the job. With only part of the first floor built, county commissioners soon released Pearce in return for his payment of a $23,000 penalty. For a while that summer work continued without a contractor, but a court injunction stopped that.
Samuel Born's huge grain warehouse near First and Columbia streets collapsed, spilling 25,000 bushels of wheat.
In litigation related to courthouse work, Elias Max and Joshua Chew were named co-superintendents of contruction. But the high-strung Max soon quit as disputes continued.
Eleven inches of rain fell during June, ending with a three-inch fall. Rainfall measured at Fowler's Bank, possibly by the amateur weather-watcher Martin L. Peirce, amounted to 53 inches between Oct. 1, 1881 and July 2, 1882. Normal for a full year is about 40 inches.
William R. Ellis, early Lafayette newspaperman and long-time Tippecanoe County Clerk, died at 62.
The Courier reported that the Lafayette Car Works now built 13 railroad cars a day, or 4,000 a year, selling for an average of $500.
After a court ruled that new bids had to be awarded for courthouse construction, the winning bidder turned out to be Charles Pearce for $241,000. County commissioners gave him the job again, and on the 28th hired architect James Alexander as building superintendent. Some of Elias Max's critics had contended all along that Max had used plans drawn by Alexander. The structure was being built of Indiana limestone from the Dark Hollow Quarry near Bedford.
Lafayette's first public library opened in the former home at Sixth and Columbia streets with Mrs. B.J. Hyde the librarian.
With courthouse construction back on track, Tippecanoe County's oldest Masonic lodge arranged the cornerstone ceremony. The orator of the day, attorney William C. Wilson, spoke for an hour on a broad statistical summary of conditions on county farms, in schools, etc.
A monthly newspaper devoted to Purdue University news, edited by J.M. Waugh and printed in a Lafayette job shop, debuted as The Purdue. It existed until about June, 1888.
Democrats scored rare wins in county elections, winning the jobs of coroner, treasurer, prosecutor, state senator, and two seats on the board of commissioners. Thomas Ward defeated long-time Congressman Godlove S. Orth, now in failing health, by 239 in Tippecanoe and by 875 in the 9th District.
Helen Gougar, temperance and women's rights advocate, lecturer and wife of Lafayette attorney John Gougar, filed suit for slander against Henry Mandler, handsome, German-accented, 35-year-old police chief. Mandler circulated talk of a love tryst involving Mrs. Gougar and attorney DeWitt Wallace, Republican candidate for state senator, during and after the recent county election campaign. Mrs. Gougar denied it. Judge David Vinton began hearing the case in Circuit Court, moved into temporary rooms over the post office at 4th and Ferry because of courthouse construction.
Residents using smoked glass could see the planet Venus in transit across the disc of the sun starting about 9 a.m. It had happened in 1874, but would not recur until 2004.
Godlove S. Orth died. Pallbearers from his home to Trinity Methodist Church included a governor, former governor and Army general. He was buried in Greenbush Cemetery. Republicans chose a Tippecanoe County native, Charles T. Doxey, a Civil War hero and Army major in business in Anderson, Ind., to take Orth's place in Congress; and although Thomas Ward defeated Orth, it was decided that a special election would be needed.