INDIANA GHOST TOWNS

[Charles B]

BEAN BLOSSOM CREEK, Brown County, Indiana

Village of Bean Blossom is on Bean Blossom creek, at the junction of SH 135/45, five miles north of Nashville (south of Indianapolis). Placer gold mining took place along this creek from the 1870s-early 1900s. Whether or not any small mining camps developed is not determined.

 

[Charles B]

BELLEAIRE, Clay County, Indiana

On Wabash & Erie Canal, three miles south of Bowling Green.

 

[Charles B]

BLACKFORD, Posey County, Indiana

1815-1818 boomtown whose location is not determined

 

[Charles B]

CONRAD, Newton County, Indiana

Along SH 41 and the railroad, just south of Lake Village, approximately 40 miles south of Gary. Founded in 1908, the small town of 200 people included a church, concrete block factory, hotel, post office, railroad depot, and a school. The streets were named after various members of the founding Conrad family. A major fire swept through the town, and it never recovered. It is now just a rubble-strewn site.

 

[Charles B]

DUNCAN SETTLEMENT, Clay County, Indiana

In the southeast corner of county. Exact location not determined.

 

[Charles B]

ENTERPRISE, Spencer County, Indiana

Six miles southeast of Hatfield on the Ohio River, south of SH 66, west of US 231. This once thriving Ohio River port was founded in 1862. Evansville, down river eventually drew the steamer traffic away and Enterprise died. In the 1980s four people lived here.

 

[Charles B]

FORT OUIATENON, Tippecanoe County, Indiana

Located on South River Road along the Wabash River, four miles southwest of Lafayette, this reconstructed trading post/village was originally built by the French in 1719 to help protect their fur traders from the British. In 1761, the British took over, and in 1791, the fort and surrounding community was destroyed by American troops.

 

[Charles B]

GOLD CREEK, Morgan County, Indiana

Between SH 39 and SH 67, 25 miles southwest of Indianapolis. In the early 1900s gold was found in streamside glacial gravels southwest of Indianapolis. A small mining camp popped up along the creek, but the low pay of the deposits ($0.25 to 1.50 a day) didn't encourage many people, and the camp folded. Other Morgan County mining camps were located on HIGHLAND CREEK, LAMB'S CREEK and SYCAMORE CREEK. Sycamore and Lamb's Creeks were first mined during the 1850s by California Gold Rush returnees, but the poor pay from the glacial gravels frustrated them, and they moved on. All three creeks were reworked in the early 1900s.

 

[Charles B]

Hindostan, Martin County, Indiana

Located along the East Fork of the White River, several miles southwest of Shoals, which is at the junction of US 50/150, 21 miles east of Washington. Hindostan was established around 1814 by Frederick Sholts. It became an important stage stopping place, as well as the county seat. It contained a grist mill, saw mill and a tavern. In June 1828 a plague of some kind, probably cholera, swept through town, killing many of the citizens, and sending the rest on a panic to get out of town. The county seat was transferred to Mt. Pleasant, and the site of Hindostan became a true ghost town. Ruins include foundation pits, a restored church and a modern park near the site.

 

[Charles B]

TACOMA, Carroll County, Indiana

There is a ghost town in Northwestern Carroll County that was once an Indian Village known as Tacoma. White settlers named it Woodville. At one time there was a large Catholic Church, saw mill, store, Universalist Church, brick school house, and many other businesses. Today the brick school building is a private residence. The cemetery is the only other property marker that still exists.

The town was also known as Woodville.