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RISING SUN, INDIANA |
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| HISTORIC RISING SUN |
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In 1799, Colonel Benjamin Chambers came to the area that would become Rising Sun, in order to survey the land. While here working, he fell in love with the area and decided to purchase the land he was surveying and build his home. John James and his family moved west from Maryland, stopping in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati along the way. While staying with friends in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, he finally came to the place he would call Rising Sun and the place he would later call home. He purchased the whole survey of more than 1,000 acres, and the house built on it, from Colonel Chambers in 1811. |
| On May 30, 1814, John's son, Pinkney, surveyed the land that would later become the town of Rising Sun. How the name of Rising Sun came into being has a few possibilities. One is that there was a tavern sign at the ferry landing below First Street which read "The Rising Sun Ferry". Yet, more people seem to believe that John James enjoyed the rising sun each morning over the hills of Kentucky and therefore established the name from what he loved so much, the rising sun. |
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The people and businesses of Ohio County relied heavily on the Ohio River for business and for pleasure. Those early years, settlers came down the Ohio River on flatboats with all of their belongings to start a new life. As Rising Sun's population grew, the river became a more vital part of Rising Sun's economic survival. Manufacturers used the river to ship finished products such as the well known built chairs from J W Whitlock and Company to plows and other farm implements shipped from the Clore Plow Works. |
| The area farmers also used the river in order to ship their produce by steamboats and flatboats to their Eastern and Southern destinations. These same steamboats and flatboats brought raw materials and different finished products back into Rising Sun. Rabbit Hash, Kentucky was connected to Rising Sun via a ferry until 1962. Before the Markland Dam was built in 1962. It was possible to walk across the river when the water level was low. Kentucky families would cross the river and work in the canning factory, while their children would attend school in Rising Sun. |
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J W Whitlock was famous not only for his chairs but also for his race boat on the Ohio River during the early 1900's. In 1924 he set the speed record on the Ohio River that is still intact today. Whitlock raced round trip from Cincinnati to Louisville, 267 miles, in 267 minutes and 49 seconds. |
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At the time Rising Sun was established (1814) it was part of Dearborn County. Local citizen Colonel Abel C Pepper, who oversaw the removal of the Native Americans from Indiana in 1837, was instrumental in creating Ohio County. After years of pursing the matter it became official on January 4, 1844. The citizens of Rising Sun supported Lawrenceburg as the county seat of Dearborn County after the county seat was taken from Lawrenceburg and moved to Wilmington. By so doing, Lawrenceburg officials agreed to support the creation of Ohio County as a county. Carved out of Dearborn County it is the smallest county in the United States, measuring only 87 square miles. |
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| Ohio County Courthouse, 1920 | Ohio County treasurer's office in `1834 | Judge William D Ricketts, 1914 |
| DOWNTOWN RISING SUN |
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Indiana's oldest in continuous use. In its northeast corner was deposited the first court house cornerstone in the State laid with Masonic ceremonies. Traditional rites were held July 4, 1844, Colonel Abel C Pepper, P G M, officiating. |
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OHIO COUNTY COURT HOUSE |
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| F & AM LODGE | AMERICAN LEGION POST 59 |
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