Springboro

Springboro was the first stop on a ride from Prophetstown State Park last Saturday. (The park is practically next door to the Tippecanoe battlefield. It’s a place we like to stay at every now and then.)

There was a small convenience store at the place, and a sign that said “Historic Gathering Site.” It got my hopes up that this was the Black Hawk war scare site I was looking for.

The 1883 history of White County (Indiana) says that during the 1832 scare, settlers went to John Barr’s place on Spring Creek:

The Tippecanoe Indians at one time roamed at will through the forests of Big Creek Township, but in no case did they ever become hostile toward the first settlers of the township. During the Black Hawk rage in Illinois in 1832, the settlers in the township imagined that they (the Indians) were preparing to move against them, and a general massacre seemed imminent; the excitement ran high, and in a few hours every member of the settlement was warned of the approaching foe. No time was lost, and soon all the early settlers were collected, and as one body they made all possible haste to John Barr’s, on Spring Creek, in Prairie Township. Here a rude fort was hastily built of logs and such things as could be obtained. Sentinels stood guard by night and day. In this fort, the twelve or thirteen families remained for several days and nights, with scarcely anything to eat or drink. The bloody-eyed wretches did not come, and the settlers returned to their homes, and concluded that it was only a scare. (pages 182-183)

Never mind that the Indians of the area probably did no more “roaming” than the settlers who had displaced them had “roamed” into the area from Ohio and other parts of the U.S. That wording follows a familiar formula found in most of the county histories of the era. I suppose it helped people to ignore the fact that their forefathers had been complicit in driving out a group of agriculturists who had had a home settled enough to practice agriculture.

And never mind that the Indians who had lived along the Tippecanoe had other group names by which more knowledgeable settlers would have known them. Well, I guess I do mind it a little, because it gives me information as to the level of the writer’s knowledge.

But I was concentrating on the fort location. I wondered if it could have been at this place known as Springboro. It’s on Spring Creek, close to where it empties into the Tippecanoe River. From the maps it looked like it may have been a mill site at one time. Places like that were prime real estate for the first settlers, and could very well have been a place of safety. Another such site further upstream was also a place where settlers forted up. And I thought one of the old plat maps from a couple of generations later than the 1832 scare showed a “Barr” as the owner of property on one side of the bridge. But now that I look at it more closely, the name looks like Karr, not Barr. Both surnames were present in the county in the early days.

There is a Barr cemetery elsewhere in the township. The 1896 plat map show Barrs as nearby landowners. But those places are not on Spring Creek. They are near a creek, though.

I was far from certain that Springboro was the right place, but it seemed like a good ride destination anyway. And like I said, that sign that said “Historic Gathering Site” got my hopes up.

I went inside to see what I could find out. There were no customers so I was able to ask questions without interrupting anything. The woman in charge was friendly and interested in talking about it, but wasn’t sure of any details. She said something about the significance of the bridge site — I think she talked about mills having been located there. I brought up the name of John Barr and told how the county histories said he was on Spring Brook at the time of the Black Hawk war. (I should have said Creek, not Brook.) But the name Barr didn’t mean anything to her. She said that was a series of interconnected ponds, not a brook, and she reminded me that the name of the place was Springboro, not Spring Brook.

I didn’t see why Springboro couldn’t be located along Spring Brook, but I didn’t argue. I went back to the bridge and took a look. It sure looked like there was running water down there, as well as pools.

View larger map

Google Map shows both pools and a creek. And I’ve now double-checked and see that yes, that creek is Spring Creek.

But nothing I’ve found online about Springboro says that a Barr was ever located here.

John Barr was very prominent in the early days of the county — and was much involved in picking the site for the eventual county seat at Monticello. So maybe there is more I can find out about him next time we stay in the area. For now I’ll just have to say this was part of a bike ride.

Total mileage for this ride: 31.5 The next two rides were of 52 miles each. YTD: 1568.0