Jasper and Huntingburg

By Ron Flick and Jane Ammeson

Nestled in the rolling hills of Southern Indiana, Jasper and Huntingburg are quintessential American towns where hard work and dedication to cultural and ethnic preservation contribute to the beauty and prosperity of the area. The strong European roots of these Dubois County towns are evident in soaring churches and the nearby Monastery of the Immaculate Conception. German traditions passed down by immigrants from the Black Forest and Bavaria have earned Jasper the title of the Nation s Woodworking Capital, while Scotch and Irish heritage are also woven into the fabric of the region. These divergent influences have created architecturally and historically significant towns proud of their past and ready to embrace their future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Aug 24, 2005
• ISBN: 9781439615461

Ron Flick

Ron Flick is a registered architect and amateur historian. A lifelong Dubois County resident whose German Catholic ancestors have lived in the area since the 1840s, Mr. Flick is very active in redevelopment and beautification efforts in his hometown of Jasper. He recently designed a replica of the early 20th-century Jasper train depot and is currently involved in the recreation of the city�s 150-year-old flour mill.

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Ammeson

INTRODUCTION

The past fades away quickly. What was once known and very familiar to all soon disappears, often to be lost forever. But it is through old photographs and memories that we can retain the past, which is the case with Jasper and Huntingburg in Dubois County in southern Indiana. Here, there is so much history—from the Germans who immigrated with their woodworking skills and willingness to work long hours to make their towns prosperous, to the four Sisters of St. Benedict who traveled thousands of miles from their home in Germany to what was then an unknown and almost wild area of a new country. There were other settlers too, of Irish, Scottish, and French descent. There was even a Croatian priest, Father Kundek, the young pastor of a poor, small congregation of German Catholic immigrants in Jasper. While riding through an uninhabited patch of land between the Patoka and Ohio Rivers, he decided that there needed to be churches strung along the way for the faithful. Thus, he established many Catholic churches in southern Indiana, including one in a small town called Ferdinand, which was nearby. Father Kundek was the driving force behind the waves of German Catholic immigrants who swept into the county and the surrounding area. And while his vision shaped much of Dubois County, another settler, Colonel Jacob Geiger also proved instrumental. Geiger was a man of vision, but his reason for moving here was more prosaic. A devoted hunter, he had heard from his father, a Revolutionary War hero, that the hunting was good in the rolling hills and woods of an area which he named Huntingburg. Geiger, who came from Kentucky, had been a slave owner. But he freed his slaves when he moved to Indiana and those slaves formed the Freedom Settlement just south of Huntingburg.

Today, more than a century later, Dubois County remains a charming and prosperous area. Many of the buildings in towns tucked into the hilly, sylvan landscape dotted with lakes and rivers are on the National Register of Historic Places. There is a growing effort to preserve and restore this unique and colorful past, rather than allowing it to be destroyed. Huntingburg’s downtown is so quintessential 19th-century Victorian that Hollywood has even taken notice. The late 19th-century Southern Railway depot in Jasper has recently been rebuilt, and there are ambitious plans to recreate the old Eckert Mill that once stood on the Patoka River. Soon, empty warehouses will be converted into offices and retail shops, an invitation for all to enjoy the river and the way of life that makes Dubois County so wonderful.

One

RIVERS AND RAILROADS

ECKERT MILL ON THE PATOKA RIVER, JASPER, C. 1885. The history of the mill in Jasper dates back to 1817 or so, when Colonel Andrew Evans, a veteran of the War of 1812, came to Dubois County from Kentucky with a handful of slaves. They constructed a wooden dam and grist mill, with waterwheel, on the Patoka River at an ancient Indian ford and buffalo crossing. In 1820, the Joseph Enlow family purchased the land and acquired the mill. Joseph’s wife, Eleanor, was the woman who gave the fledgling community the name Jasper, after choosing it from the Bible’s Book of Revelation. Subsequent owners of the mill were Mathew Foster, John Johnson, and J. A. and W. C. Graham. In 1847, Francis Xavier Eckert, and his cousin, Alois Eckert, immigrants from Pfaffenweiler, Baden, purchased the mill and surrounding property soon after their arrival. The Eckerts operated the business until the late 1850s, at which time the mill was closed due to its deteriorating condition. In 1865, after giving careful consideration to relocating the mill elsewhere, Francis Eckert decided to construct a steam-powered mill with chimney on the same site, adjacent to the original mill. The first mill was finally disposed of in 1870, when some boys from town shoved the decrepit structure into the river. The following year, Francis’s three sons—Andrew, Jacob, and Conrad—assumed ownership, and thus began a period of rapid expansion and explosive growth. Flatboats of flour were sent down river as far south as New Orleans, and with the opening of the railroad in 1879, train shipments reached the east coast. Water power was reintroduced in 1880 with the rebuilding of the wooden dam and the construction of a new forebay, which housed a horizontal turbine wheel. In 1883, the mill was closed for four months to allow for the installation of a new system of roller machinery, which produced a finer flour than was possible with the older grindstone process. A small addition was added to the west side of the mill after the turn of the 20th century, and a stone dam was built after the flood of 1913. However, only 20 years later, in 1933, the mill fell victim to progress and milling operations ceased. The building served as a feed mill and storage warehouse until a devastating flood in the early months of 1964 weakened its foundations beyond repair. The mill was demolished a few months later, nearly 100 years after its construction. (Photograph courtesy of John Fierst.)

PATOKA RIVER DAM AND BRIDGE, JASPER, C. 1915. Schoolchildren enjoy a moment at the Patoka River dam on a chilly day. The iron bridge shown in the photograph was originally erected in 1879 and replaced an earlier wooden covered bridge. In the background is the newlyconstructed Louis Eckstein residence, which was built on the same site as the home of his wife Josephine’s parents, Andrew and Caroline Eckert. (Photograph courtesy of John Fierst.)

PATOKA RIVER BRIDGE, DECEMBER, 1945. Right before noon on Saturday, December 1, 1945, local resident Clarence Sermersheim, a state highway worker, was driving west on the road overlooking the Patoka River when the brakes on his truck failed. He swerved to miss a lumber truck driving on Highway 162 and careened into the bridge over the Patoka, knocking the iron structure off its stone foundation and into the river. Luckily no one was hurt. Residents south of the river were forced to drive eight miles to get to town