University of Evansville - LinC Yearbook (Evansville, IN)

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i..w.unv ' 3' Nffin 'Wi' W '- M may K5 - '-T tmnauillr nn this Gbhinj -- T HAS been almost 150 years since the Pianke- shaw and the Delaware Indians relinquished all claim to the land on which Evansville and Evansville College are now situated. The treaty with these tribes was signed at Vin- cennes in 1804 and opened up this land for settle- ment. Eight years later, in 1812, a colonel from Kentucky, Hugh McGary, came here, chose a spot where down-town Evansville now lies, cleared away some of the forest, and built a small, two-room log cabin. He was the first settler here. Colonel McGary soon had an increasing number of neighbors, and by 1819 the village had grown to such proportions that it was incorporated as a. town. A year before that event, the State Legislature di- vided Warrick County and named the new county thus formed in honor of Henry Vanderburgh, a territorial judge of Indiana. Attracted to this thriving town on the Ohio River was General Robert M. Evans, a noted Indian fighter who had served on the staff of General Har- rison at the Battle of Tippecanoe. General Evans ar- rived in 1828, bought a half interest in Colonel McGary's holdings, and laid out the original city of Evansville. It was for him that the city was named. just a hundred years ago, in 1847, Evansville had a population of 4,000. On january 29 of that year Ev- ansville ceased being a town and became an in- corporated city, by a special act of the State Legislature. The first mayor of the City of Evansville was James G. Jones, who took oflice on April 12, 1847. The city was three days from Louisville by river packet. There was considerable interest among the people at the time in the Wabash and Erie Canal which was to be built from the north to Evansville. But when the canal was finally completed in 1853, it proved to be a failureg and the people lost interest in it and began to talk about the possibility of build- ing a railroad to the city. A year later, in 1854, an event of historial inter- est to Evansville occurred in a village in Indiana forty miles west of Cincinnati, Ohio. This village was Moores Hill, and in that year Moores Hill College was founded there. It came into existence largely through the efforts of John C. Moore, one of the sons of Adam Moore, the original proprietor of the town. Moores Hill College was formally opened in 1856 with the Rev. Samuel R. Adams as its Hrst president. The following year an event of importance hap- pened in Evansville. The city was combined with Lamasco, previously a separate town situated be- tween Division Street and Pigeon Creek. Lamasco was founded by four men, john and William Law, Mr. Macall, and Mr. Scott. It was from the first let- ters of their names that the town got its name. Disaster came to Moores Hill College in November, 1915, when Moore Hall burned. In June, 1917, the College closed, never to reopen under that name. During the seventy years of its existence, Evansville had become a thriving city, and it was decided to move Moores Hill College here. This was done, the name was changed to Evansville College, and on September 16, 1919, the College was opened in Ev- ansville. This year is the centennial of the City of Evans- ville, and in only seven years more Evansville Col- lege can celebrate its centennial. Both have grown mightily during the past century, and for both the future holds much promise. A...............- .... .. 4...-...-........t.

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WAT va A7 E F CQWAERC O R CHAMBE , CD The official seal commemorating the hundredth year of the city of Evansville

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School of our fathers known of old Q, ,, go 2, F ', V? ,, . Qi qw Xw g 5 '5- Q K