Pennville, Indiana
Encyclopedia
Pennville is a town in Penn Township
, Jay County
, Indiana
, United States
. The population was 701 at the 2010 census.
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the town has a total area of 0.4 square miles (1 km²), all of it land.
of 2000, there were 706 people, 284 households, and 191 families residing in the town. The population density
was 1800 PD/sqmi. There were 316 housing units at an average density of 805.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 99.58% White, 0.14% from other races
, and 0.28% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.27% of the population.
There were 284 households out of which 32.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.1% were married couples
living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% were non-families. 26.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.01.
In the town the population was spread out with 27.2% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 96.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.1 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $29,688, and the median income for a family was $31,111. Males had a median income of $29,167 versus $21,875 for females. The per capita income
for the town was $14,182. About 8.5% of families and 9.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.3% of those under age 18 and 9.3% of those age 65 or over.
Grisell was a member of the Hicksite Quaker faith, mostly country Friends who perceived urban Friends as worldly, a group which split from Orthodox Friends in 1827 due the views of Elias Hicks. As early as 1841 there were Friends Monthly Meetings in Camden. A post office was established in Camden on 19 January 1839, with John D. Jones as postmaster. The change to the town name of Pennville was gradual and began when the post office was applied for at Camden. Since the new post office could not be called Camden, as that name was already being used by the post office at Camden in Carroll County, Indiana, the new post office was named Penn, allegedly by Grisell, who was a great admirer of William Penn, the famous Quaker. Since Camden no longer existed after an earlier collapse of the corporation, and the post office was named Penn, this caused confusion and more and more the town was called Pennville. Additionally, the oil and gas boom that began in the 1880s increased business to such an extent that the people felt there should be a legal name for the town. In 1905 a petition was presented to the Jay County Commissioners asking that the town be incorporated under the name of Pennville.
Pennville has had two high schools, the first being organized around 1890 and existing until 1910. The second Pennville High School was built in 1911 on Jones Hill (sometimes called Gregg Hill) and was in session until 1975, when the five smaller Jay County schools – Portland, Pennville, Bryant, Redkey and Dunkirk - consolidated into the countywide Jay County High School outside Portland, Indiana.
From 1903 until 1917, the Cincinnati, Bluffton and Chicago Railroad, sometimes referred to as the CB&C, ran through Pennville. Provident Hospital, a precursor to the Caylor-Nickel Clinic in Bluffton, Wells County, Indiana, existed in Pennville from November 1, 1907 until 1917.
. Approximately 2-1/2 miles north of Pennville on Indiana State Road 1
, near Balbec, Indiana, a marker was erected in 1923 to mark the site of the pioneer home of Jimmy and Rachel Silliven, an important “station” of the Underground Railroad. The marker memorializes the local legend that the real run-away slave, on whom the character of Eliza Harris of “Uncle Tom's Cabin
” was based, stopped at the Silliven home on her way to freedom. The marker bears the inscription:
A station on the Underground Railroad
Tradition says Eliza Harris
Of Uncle Tom’s Cabin fame
Rested here in her flight to Canada.
Penn Township, Jay County, Indiana
Penn Township is one of twelve townships in Jay County, Indiana, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 1,308.-Geography:Penn Township covers an area of ; of this, or 0.05 percent is water...
, Jay County
Jay County, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 21,806 people, 8,405 households, and 6,017 families residing in the county. The population density was 57 people per square mile . There were 9,074 housing units at an average density of 24 per square mile...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 701 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Pennville is located at 40°29′36"N 85°8′51"W (40.493323, -85.147414), along the Salamonie RiverSalamonie River
The Salamonie River is a tributary of the Wabash River, long, in eastern Indiana in the United States. Via the Wabash and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River...
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the town has a total area of 0.4 square miles (1 km²), all of it land.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 706 people, 284 households, and 191 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1800 PD/sqmi. There were 316 housing units at an average density of 805.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 99.58% White, 0.14% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.28% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.27% of the population.
There were 284 households out of which 32.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.1% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% were non-families. 26.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.01.
In the town the population was spread out with 27.2% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 96.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.1 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $29,688, and the median income for a family was $31,111. Males had a median income of $29,167 versus $21,875 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the town was $14,182. About 8.5% of families and 9.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.3% of those under age 18 and 9.3% of those age 65 or over.
History
The history of Pennville began when Samuel Grisell and Moses Hamilton left their homes in Columbiana County, Ohio in the spring of 1834 to search for government land for a permanent home. Their journey led them to Jay County, Indiana, and on 10 February 1835 Grisell received a Land Patent at the General Land Office at Fort Wayne, purchasing the land “for the North East quarter of Section thirty-five, in Township twenty-four of Range twelve,” which contained 160 acre (0.6474976 km²). Hamilton was the first to move to the new area, and Grisell came shortly thereafter. It is generally accepted, although not proven, that Grisell then platted the land into a town in August 1836, and named it New Lisbon, presumably after the Village of Lisbon in his home county of Columbiana County, Ohio. New Lisbon was short lived and the name of the town changed to Camden around 1837 because there was another town of the same name in Indiana.Grisell was a member of the Hicksite Quaker faith, mostly country Friends who perceived urban Friends as worldly, a group which split from Orthodox Friends in 1827 due the views of Elias Hicks. As early as 1841 there were Friends Monthly Meetings in Camden. A post office was established in Camden on 19 January 1839, with John D. Jones as postmaster. The change to the town name of Pennville was gradual and began when the post office was applied for at Camden. Since the new post office could not be called Camden, as that name was already being used by the post office at Camden in Carroll County, Indiana, the new post office was named Penn, allegedly by Grisell, who was a great admirer of William Penn, the famous Quaker. Since Camden no longer existed after an earlier collapse of the corporation, and the post office was named Penn, this caused confusion and more and more the town was called Pennville. Additionally, the oil and gas boom that began in the 1880s increased business to such an extent that the people felt there should be a legal name for the town. In 1905 a petition was presented to the Jay County Commissioners asking that the town be incorporated under the name of Pennville.
Pennville has had two high schools, the first being organized around 1890 and existing until 1910. The second Pennville High School was built in 1911 on Jones Hill (sometimes called Gregg Hill) and was in session until 1975, when the five smaller Jay County schools – Portland, Pennville, Bryant, Redkey and Dunkirk - consolidated into the countywide Jay County High School outside Portland, Indiana.
From 1903 until 1917, the Cincinnati, Bluffton and Chicago Railroad, sometimes referred to as the CB&C, ran through Pennville. Provident Hospital, a precursor to the Caylor-Nickel Clinic in Bluffton, Wells County, Indiana, existed in Pennville from November 1, 1907 until 1917.
Fire Department
The Pennville Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. is located at 105 North Washington Street, and is a non-profit domestic corporation created October 23, 1961, the first fire department in the town having been organized in 1919. There is one fire station and approximately 33 volunteers. In 2004, the town received a grant of almost $150,000 to be used for the purchase of a new tank.Library
The Penn Township Public Library is located at 195 Union Street. The collection of the library contains 9,872 volumes and circulates 5,200 items per year, serving a population of 1,308 area residents.Pennville Friends Church
The Pennville Friends Church is located at 130 West Maple Street in Pennville. The church was built in 1911 on a lot given to the Society of Friends by Maria Grisell Merideth, daughter of Samuel Grisell.Pennville United Methodist Church
The Pennville United Methodist Church is located at 160 West Main Street. The current church building was dedicated in 1917.Hillside Cemetery
Hillside Cemetery, also known as Quaker Cemetery, is located on a gently sloping hill at the east end of town on East Lagro Street at Grisell Avenue. Many early settlers of Pennville are interred here, including Samuel Grisell, who platted the town in 1836.Maple Lawn Cemetery
Maple Lawn Cemetery, also known as Mason Cemetery, is located on the extreme east side of the town. East Maple Street dead-ends into the cemetery. Large trees that once lined the back of the cemetery to the east were destroyed by a tornado in the 1980s.IOOF Cemetery
Located approximately 1-1/2 miles east of the town limits on County Road W400N (extended East Lagro Street), this cemetery is the largest burial ground in the Pennville area. Over 4,000 persons are buried here, including many area Civil War veterans, including Thomas J. Cartwright, Enoch B. Hartley, Aaron W. Letts, Simon P. Morrow, Albert Pugh, Stephen B. H. Shanks, Aaron L. Somers, Jacob Walker, and Morris C. Ward.Chandler-Gregg-Hedges House
Pennville has one of the oldest houses in Jay County, the Chandler-Gregg-Hedges house, built by Goldsmith Chandler sometime between 1836 and 1841. The house, which stands at 129 West Lagro Street, has also been owned by the Warren Gregg and Hubert Hedges families.Twin Hills
The Twin Hills lie approximately 2–3 miles east of Pennville. Technically "moraines," accumulations of unconsolidated glacial debris formed by early glaciers, the hills range 100–150 foot high and are made up mostly of gravel. Only one of the hills has been left intact, due to the high gravel content being used for roads and railroads.Underground Railroad and Eliza Harris Marker
Founded by Hicksite Quakers, who were early abolitionists, Pennville and the surrounding area is rich in the history of the Underground RailroadUnderground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
. Approximately 2-1/2 miles north of Pennville on Indiana State Road 1
Indiana State Road 1
State Road 1 is a north–south state highway in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Indiana. Its southern terminus is at U.S. Highway 50 in east-central Dearborn County, just east of Lawrenceburg. Its northern terminus is at U.S...
, near Balbec, Indiana, a marker was erected in 1923 to mark the site of the pioneer home of Jimmy and Rachel Silliven, an important “station” of the Underground Railroad. The marker memorializes the local legend that the real run-away slave, on whom the character of Eliza Harris of “Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman....
” was based, stopped at the Silliven home on her way to freedom. The marker bears the inscription:
A station on the Underground Railroad
Tradition says Eliza Harris
Of Uncle Tom’s Cabin fame
Rested here in her flight to Canada.
Notable residents
- Dr. Charles E. Caylor (1870–1944) Founder of the Caylor-Nickel Clinic in Bluffton, Wells County, Indiana.
- Hal H. Coffel (1875–1936, buried IOOF Cemetery) Local ornithologist and lecturer for the Indiana State Conservation Commission.
- Mariah Bowersox Farrington Mendenhall (1813–1911) Early pioneer midwife who assisted in over 980 births.
- Benjamin Franklin Talbert (1875–1959) Local blacksmith who shoed Sir BartonSir BartonSir Barton, , was a chestnut thoroughbred colt who in 1919 became the first winner of the American Triple Crown.He was sired by leading stud Star Shoot out of the Hanover mare Lady Sterling. His grandsire was the 1893 English Triple Crown champion, Isinglass.Sir Barton was bred in Kentucky by...
, the first horse to win the Triple Crown. - Isaac Underwood (1821–1904, buried Hillside Cemetery) Member of the Indiana state House of Representatives, 1861, member of the Indiana state Senate 1875-1877.