Shields High School - Patriot Yearbook (Seymour, IN)

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J L DAVIS JOHN LYMfltMBLISH- f(: - p 1 Q . '

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,r The History of Seymour EYMOUR was named for the civil engineer of the same name who superintended the construction of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, now the Baltimore and Ohio, from North Vernon, Indiana to St. Louis, Missouri. On April 27, 1852, Meedy W. and Eliza P. Shields laid out Seymour, which originally included the ground north of St. Louis Avenue, south of Fifth Street, east of Indianapolis Avenue, and west of Broadway. This was a sec- tion of ten blocks, containing one hundred lots. The ground on which Seymour now stands was acquired through a series of pur- chases and grants from the government by James Shields, Joshua Moore, and Charles Butler. A shoemaker, John Redinger, Sr., was among the first, if not the very first, of the actual settlers in the new town. Thomas McCoUum, Travis Carter, Dr. John T. Shields, Dr. Hagens, and E. Cobb were some of the pioneer settlers of our city. On November 11, 1852, Meedy Shields offered his lots for sale to the public, and bidders flocked to buy beyond his brightest hopes. In the summer of 1852, the Jeffer- son Indianapolis Railroad, now the Pennsylvania, was completed north of Rock- ford, which at that time was a thriving village of 500. An intense rivalry existed between the two new towns, and Rockford was successful in her attempt to persuade the railroad not to stop its trains at Mule Crossing , as Seymour was derisively called. This, however, did not have its desired effect, for the 0. M. laid its tracks through Seymour on June 29, 1854, and Captain Shields at the next session of the Legislature, of which he was a member, secured the passage of a bill compelling trains to stop at all railroad crossings. Thus the plans of Seymour ' s rivals were frustrated, and Seymour became the proud possessor of two railways. This marked the beginning of Seymour ' s rapid growth. In 1860 the thriving town boasted 924 inhabitants, and twenty-five years later it had grown into an enter- prising city with a population of 5,548. Today it has a population of 9,250. Seymour, from its birth, has always kept abreast of the times educationally, industrially, commercially, professionally, religiously, and socially. Mr. Shields, realizing the purport of the maxim, We must educate or we must perish, built Seymour ' s first school at the corner of Ewing and Fifth Streets in 1853. Other school rooms soon had their eager and devoted young students in different parts of the city. In 1857 the printing press made its debut in Seymour with the publication of the Times by Dr. Jasper R. Monroe. The citizens of Seymour were well aware of their spiritual needs, and liy 1870 nine churches were well established to contribute permanently to the character of its members. Since its founding in 1852, Seymour has shown a steady growth and develop- ment. From a small village surrounded by dense forests, it has changed into a city of beauty and importance. The hub of a rich agricultural community and equally prominent as a leading industrial center, Seymour merits its slogan, The City of Beautiful Homes. A

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