IBC: Carroll County

Table of Contents Home

Explore County Bicentennial Activities > Carroll County Carroll County

Q&A with County Coordinator Bonnie Maxwell

What do you consider the key accomplishment(s) of your county’s Bicentennial celebration?

Beginning or completing a very large number of significant projects that will leave a lasting legacy. Involving many organizations and individual volunteers throughout the entire county. Raising almost $500,000 for these projects. In addition to the approved Legacy Projects, there were several other projects that had impact but were not submitted, such as three additional bison artistically painted, an original extensive article about a little-known Civil War tragedy, a town placing Bicentennial flags up and down its main street, several highway signage projects, planting replacement trees at historic Sycamore Row on the Michigan Road, etc.

What Legacy Project do you most like to tell people about, and why?

The AllIN Block Party on our Torch Relay day because it attracted and actively involved hundreds of residents and visitors. The preservation projects because they leave a long-term legacy (schools, West Sonora Arch, historical markers, depots, gardens, parks) plus the numerous digital and printed books and archives, which will last forever.

Describe a highlight or most memorable moment related to your county's Bicentennial celebration.

One of the most beautiful moments was the release of the paper lanterns on a perfect day at the end of the dedication of the Bicentennial Garden in Camden. The Block Party at Canal Park.

How/where are you preserving information and artifacts related to your county's celebration?

Some will be in the county's libraries and historical society and some at the Delphi Preservation Society's Gerard Archives at the Delphi Opera House. Some on the Internet.

Total number of volunteers who participated.

Several hundred

Estimated total attendance

Several thousand

Estimated dollar amount raised (if applicable)

$500,000

Estimated dollar amount spent (if applicable)

$500,000 when complete

Carroll County Legacy Projects

Photos of Carroll County's Bicentennial Activities and Events

Carroll County 1 Carroll County 2

Carroll County Facts

Carroll County was formed in 1828 and named for Charles Carroll, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, who died in 1832. Daniel Baum landed in a keelboat along the Deer Creek south of Delphi in 1825 and it was in his home that the first court sessions were held prior to the construction of the first courthouse on the square in 1838. The county seat of Delphi was established by General Samuel Milroy.

Regent Karen VanScoyoc Ward presenting the flag to Mayor Randy Strasser, Flag Day (June 14) 2014. Photo courtesy of Mark A. Smith, Carroll County Historian. For Delphi’s 2014 Flag Day Ceremony the local Charles Carroll Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution presented a new flag to the city for its pole at Riley Park.

Residents gathered on July 5, 2014 to dedicate the relocated and restored Houck Bridge, now known as Gray Bridge, in Carroll County.

Replacement of Houck Bridge (Putnam County Bridge #146) meant one less historic metal span in Putnam County. But that county’s loss has been Carroll County’s gain. Thanks to Carroll County Wabash & Erie Canal, Inc., the 1913 Houck Bridge now spans a portion of the Wabash & Erie Canal in Delphi. On July 5, residents gathered for a ceremony to dedicate the restored bridge.

On May 26th, 2014 a memorial presentation took place for Daniel Tweed Ferrier, a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient (March 30, 1898).

Visit Adams Mill, a grist mill built in 1845 by John Adams that produced assorted grades of flour for more than 100 years.The mill is a prime example of post and beam construction common among agricultural structures in Indiana in the 19th century. Hand-hewn timbers form the framework held together with shaved wooden pegs. The posts, beams, and joists are made from walnut, oak, and poplar. All of the lumber was harvested locally and cut and shaped on site. Paul Crook of Kokomo captured Adams Mill and its reflection on a millrace feeding Wildcat Creek. Commercial milling ceased in 1951, but the machinery is still intact and was operational until a 2003 flood.

Carroll County is home to Indiana’s oldest continually used bridge.

The 1837 Burnett’s Creek Stone Arch—a cut stone structure is near Lockport. Lockport also holds two National Register sites, The Burris House and Potawatomi Spring. The stone building served as an inn, while the spring was a well-known watering place for Indians and early settlers.

The Madam Carroll is the largest licensed United States Coast Guard approved vessel in Indiana, made in August of 1976! She has been up and running for 38 years! She was built from scratch by Captain Bill Luse. In 2012 the Madam Carroll was purchased by Tom Heckard of Logansport. He brought with him many new ideas and amazing renovations. He is proud to carry on this community’s tradition.

Take a ride back in history at the Wabash & Erie Canal Park in west central Indiana. Catch a unique glimpse of life in the era when our young nation’s waterways were developed to improve the transportation system and help bring Hoosiers together. At that time, canal boats carried people and goods across the country more swiftly than they’d been able to travel before.

Discover how people lived and sacrificed to forge history at our hands-on, award-winning Interpretive Museum. The Wabash and Erie Canal, built through the county in 1840 and operated until the early 1870s, is among Carroll County’s most significant historical legacies.

Notable People with Carroll County ties include Charles Gish–Crest toothpaste and orchestra leader and musician, Walter B. Rogers.

Born in Delphi, Indiana, Rogers’ total recorded musical output is difficult to gauge — the recordings he worked on as accompanist were made in the thousands, whereas the output under his own name as leader or under a generic designation such as “Victor Orchestra” is less numerous, but still considerable. Nevertheless, there are few orchestra leaders from before 1915 that count as “giants” in the recording industry, and Rogers may have been the most important of them all.

County Seat: Delphi
Year Organized: 1828
Square Miles: 372.22

Carroll County Bicentennial Committee

Bonnie Maxwell
Dan McCain
David McCain
Lynn Corson
Kevin Kologinsky
Mark Smith
Dennis Kern
Al Auffart
Julia Leahy
Kelly Currie
Melissa Bishop
Anita Force
Chris Moore
Anita Werling
Sara Daly Brosman
Janet Ayres
Anita Hartman
Lee Appleton
Pat Casserly
Pat Clawson
Dick Bradshaw
James Rich
Mary Blue
Tamara Gibbs
Rosie Wilson
Edward Schimmel
Brian Stirm
Branden Apitz
Loren Hylton
Judie Peters

Expand / Collapse

Online Services

More Online Services »

Subscriber Center »