This week in history: 1873
PLYMOUTH— The Plymouth Democrat was a weekly newspaper that ran from Nov. 15, 1855 to Jan. 3, 1910, at which point it became the Daily Democrat. It continued until it merged with the Pilot Daily News on Dec. 31, 1946. The following are a few highlights from 150 years ago, the Thursday May 8, 1873 edition. a one-year subscription back then cost $2, approximately $50.31 in today’s money.
Letters to the editor were published on the front page. In one, William Jackson speaks of the atlantic & Chicago railroad, for which the people of Maxinkuckee (it was later named Culver after the founder of the academy) had been raising funds. The letter was dated april 28 and Jackson expressed hope that the rail could be laid soon, as long as Green and Walnut townships raised the funds they were supposed to. “The engineer has run the line, and he says we have a splendid line, and a direct route,” he said.
another letter is from F. Jacoby, who moved to Warrensburg in Johnson County, MO where he established a successful farmstead. The letter details his impressive harvests from the year before, including wheat, potatoes, cherries, peaches, and apples as well as “as fine grapes as I saw even in California” and “the best crop of corn per acre I ever raised anywhere.” The letter also encourages those who are interested to move to his area since good farms often sold cheap. He gave the example of a 212-acre farm that included an orchard and frame house in a good location that sold for $2,100 ($52,821 equivalent). “The reason of this is, men here, instead of giving a mortgage, they give deeds of trust; then all a man has to do when due is to advertise in some newspaper twenty days and sell for what it will bring. This is bad, but land otherwise sells as high here as with you, and certainly the time is coming when land here will sell high.” He then praises the climate but says that the “society to an eastern man, is not what he might desire, but it is improving fast.” He ended the letter by purchasing a subscription. “We cannot do without it; we always welcome it as a friend.”
The first column on the front page has some notices from local businesses. Two in particular are from hotels. Central House in Tyner City (present day Tyner) explains that I.H. alexander has “once again” taken charge of a hotel called Central House. “This fact will be a sufficient guarantee that the House will be one of the best country hotels in Indiana.” Just below that reads another notice for the Parker House, which had recently updated its furniture and its
omnibus, the 19th century version of public transit. With the new renovations, the omnibus was scheduled to be ready to collect anyone who needed transportation from the train station. This establishment is described as “old-established and favorably-known.”
Since local streets were made of packed dirt, sprinklermen were employed to spray the streets to keep the dust down. This edition of the Plymouth Democrat said that the local sprinklist, Baker, was “again competing with the clouds in laying the dust. As a sprinklist, he is a success.”
A comment is also made about the upcoming local election: “The citizens of Plymouth have wisely concluded to ignore politics in their election next Monday, and vote for a ticket of good men, who will receive the united support of all the people. If our people will work for the interests of the city, and let party take care of itself, there is every reason to believe that a much larger degree of prosperity will attend us than if a contrary course is pursued.”