St. Joseph County Biography Ref. Page

LINCOLN TOWNSHIP The territory now included in Lincoln township was formerly a part of the territory that constituted Liberty township, and owing to the great inconveniences to which the settlers in what is now Lincoln township were subjected in attending elections, they in June, 1866, presented to the Board petitions for the territory now included in the limits of Lincoln township to be detached and made an independent township, and that Walkerton should be the place of holding their elections, and. that the township be given the name of Lincoln. Their petitions were granted by the Board, and the township was detached, and W m. A. Hawe was appointed Trustee.

The first election in this township was held in April, 1867, at the Walkerton Hotel, Mr. Wm. A. Haven acting: as Inspector, Robert A. Wilson and J. O. Akin as Judges, and Paul Straub, Clerk. At this election 166 votes were cast. The following persons were elected to office, viz.: Neely Frame, Justice of the Peace; A. O. Hamilton, Trustee; and Zebedee James and Samuel Hudelmyer, Constables. At the next election Wm. J. Wolfe and John Calman were elected Justices of the Peace, and H. J. Kinney, Trustee, which office he held till 1876. The present Justices are S. J. Nichols and Amos H. Stevison; the Trustee is Silas George.

A considerable portion of the land of Lincoln township is marshy and wet, but is fast being reclaimed by draining. The leading industry of this township is farming in connection with stock-raising.

The first settlement in this township was made in the fall of 1835 by Christian Fulmer and family. The next spring Thomas H. Wiley came in, it then forming a part of Liberty township; it was slow in being settled, but about the year 1850 settlers came in more rapidly and it was not long till it was mostly occupied and owned by the residents.

The only town in Lincoln township is Walkerton. This town was laid out in March, 1857, by one Mr. Allen. "West Troy," as it was formerly called, and which now forms a part of the town of Walkerton, was a village of only a few houses situated at the junction of the I., P. & C. with the B. & O. railroad. This village was laid out in 1855. The post office was designated as West York, and was situated one-half mile south of Walkerton. It was kept by Mr. C. W. N. Stephens, who had established it in 1851, and was the first appointee. He also had a grocery store, and still holds the position of Postmaster. The mail at that time was being conveyed by the hack from LaPorte to Plymouth, there being no railroads here . In 1854 Mr. Stephens built the first house in Walkerton, and also erected a store-building, and soon after opened a store, which was the first in the place. The site of Walkerton was then covered with a dense thicket. No roads had yet been laid out. The settlers there who had stores would go out before breakfast, as they had leisure no other time of day, and chop and slash down the underbrush to make roads through which teams might pass.

In 1856 the wishes of the people were much gratified at the construction of the I., P. & C. railroad. Then the business prospects of Walkerton began to brighten. It continued to grow, and in 1873 the Baltimore & Ohio railroad was built, crossing the I., P. & C. railroad at West Troy, which now forms the western part of Walkerton. In 1876 Walkerton was incorporated. The petitions were presented in 1874, but by some mistake were not received until 1876.

The present business of Walkerton consists of four dry-goods establishments, one clothing store, two hard ware and implement stores, three drug stores, one large furniture store, two hotels, one a very fine house, of which Mr. J. M. B. Giberson is proprietor, also groceries and restaurants, and two railroad depots, one grain depot, two millinery stores, two printing-offices; at one the St. Joseph County Republican is published, and edited by J. F. & W. O. Endly, and at the other the Walkerton Visitor is published and edited by Henry S. Mintle. There are also two meat shops, two saloons, one town hall, owned by Jacob Bender, one school-house and three churches. In all there are about 50 business men engaged here.

The first church in the township was the Methodist Episcopal at Walkerton, and was erected in 1859, during the pastorate of Rev. J. E. Newhouse and the administration of Presiding Elder James Johnson. The following named persons were the establishers of this church: H: Haskins, exhorter and leader; Emery Otwell, exhorter and steward; J. A. Lambert, exhorter and leader, and several others whose names could not be obtained. This society was long known as the West York Mission Church, but some years since was changed to the name of Walkerton Church. Rev. R. H. Sanders is the present pastor.

In 1870 the Baptist church was erected, and in 1876 the Roman Catholics put up a church building.

The first school building in Lincoln tp. was erected in 1858 in Walkerton, and in 1876 it was removed to the present situation. The same year an additional apartment was added for the purpose of holding a graded school. They now have three grades of schools, a high school, of which Prof. J. A. Jones is principal; the intermediate, taught by Mrs. C. M. Poffenberger; and the primary, by Miss A. Millard.

Walkerton is a little town of much business, and being situated at the junction of two very prominent railroads, commands a wonderful amount of trade, especially grain. During the season of 1880 about 200,000 bushels of wheat were purchased at this point . Thus the outlook for the prosperity of Walkerton is good, and the place will, perhaps, in time become a populous town.