Millgrove, Indiana
Encyclopedia
Millgrove is an unincorporated American town in Jackson Township
, Blackford County
, Indiana
. Nearly all of the community's businesses have been closed for many years. Although the Blackford County Historical Society lists this community as a ghost town
, home
s are still maintained in the area.
Like several other communities in the county, Millgrove originally thrived as a stop on a railroad line. Millgrove also participated in the Indiana Gas Boom
, and the Millgrove Natural Gas Company was one of Blackford County's many gas companies that existed during the 1890s. The Gas Boom gradually ended during the beginning of the 20th century, and many small communities never recovered. During the next few decades, the quality of automobiles and roads improved—indirectly contributing to the decline of many small communities as consumers drove to larger cities, and railroads declined in importance.
in 1867 when Blackford County’s first railroad came through the southern portion of the county. The community’s post office opened February 25, 1868, and continued until March 31, 1955. An 1882 gazetteer
, which listed the community as "Mill Grove", called the town "a place of 50 inhabitants". The gazetteer also listed a physician
, justice
, and railroad agent. During the 1880s, Millgrove had three general stores, a blacksmith shop, a sawmill, and a tile factory. During the next decade, a glass
factory was built.
Millgrove’s glass factory was one of 15 glass factories that have existed in Blackford County, and most of these factories existed during the Indiana Gas Boom. (There were numerous glass and gas companies in the county at that time.) Eleven more glass factories have existed in nearby Dunkirk, Indiana
. The Millgrove Glass Company was incorporated in 1898, and made glass containers. Originally, the company took advantage of the abundant supply of natural gas
for a source of fuel. By 1905, the supply of natural gas in the region was diminishing, and the Millgrove Glass Company used gas made from coal
in addition to natural gas. The factory closed in 1911, and this was thought to be “a severe blow to Millgrove”. A Blackford County directory from that time lists over 150 people living in Millgrove.
line that ran through Millgrove was named Union and Logansport Railroad Company by the time it entered Blackford County, and it was the county’s first railroad. This line was proposed in 1862, and completed to Hartford City in 1867 — running through the Blackford County communities of Dunkirk
, Converse, Millgrove, Hartford City
, and Renner
(See railroad map — Millgrove is located in the southeast quadrant of Blackford County. The railroad was eventually named Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad. Other names for the railroad since that time include the Panhandle division of the Pennsylvania Railroad
, Penn Central Railroad Company, Conrail
, and Norfolk Southern Railway
. The line is now abandoned between the Blackford County communities of Converse and Hartford City, including the track that ran by Millgrove.
portion of Blackford County, Indiana
, Millgrove is situated on former railroad line. The community is located 60 miles (96.6 km) south of Fort Wayne, Indiana
, and 80 miles (128.7 km) northeast of Indianapolis
.
Millgrove is part of East Central Indiana
and Northern Indiana
. Future Northern Indiana
, including what became Jackson Township and Millgrove, was flattened by two glacier
s millions of years ago. These glaciers are also responsible for the rich Blackford County farmland, which includes the land surrounding Millgrove.
humid continental
seasonal climate. There are four distinct seasons, with winters being cold with moderate snow
fall, while summers can be warm and humid. The highest average temperature is in July at 84 °F (29 °C), while the lowest average temperature is in January at 15 °F (−9 °C). However, summer temperatures can top 90 °F (32 °C), and winter temperatures can drop below 0 °F (−17 °C). Average monthly precipitation ranges from about 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm), with the heaviest occurring during May, June, and July. The highest recorded temperature was 110.0 °F (43.3 °C) on July 14, 1936, and the lowest recorded temperature was −25.0 °F (−31.7 °C) on January 21, 1985.
Jackson Township, Blackford County, Indiana
Jackson Township is one of four townships in Blackford County, Indiana. At the 2000 census, its population was 1,424. The township was named after Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans and the seventh President of the United States.-Geography:...
, Blackford County
Blackford County, Indiana
Blackford County is located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Indiana. The county is named for Judge Isaac Blackford, who was the first speaker of the Indiana General Assembly and a long-time chief justice of the Indiana Supreme Court. Created in 1838, Blackford County is divided...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. Nearly all of the community's businesses have been closed for many years. Although the Blackford County Historical Society lists this community as a ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
, home
Home
A home is a place of residence or refuge. When it refers to a building, it is usually a place in which an individual or a family can rest and store personal property. Most modern-day households contain sanitary facilities and a means of preparing food. Animals have their own homes as well, either...
s are still maintained in the area.
Like several other communities in the county, Millgrove originally thrived as a stop on a railroad line. Millgrove also participated in the Indiana Gas Boom
Indiana Gas Boom
The Indiana Gas Boom was a period of active drilling and production of natural gas in the Trenton Gas Field, in the US state of Indiana and the adjacent northwest part of Ohio The boom began in the early 1880s and lasted into the early twentieth century....
, and the Millgrove Natural Gas Company was one of Blackford County's many gas companies that existed during the 1890s. The Gas Boom gradually ended during the beginning of the 20th century, and many small communities never recovered. During the next few decades, the quality of automobiles and roads improved—indirectly contributing to the decline of many small communities as consumers drove to larger cities, and railroads declined in importance.
History
Millgrove was laid outPlat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....
in 1867 when Blackford County’s first railroad came through the southern portion of the county. The community’s post office opened February 25, 1868, and continued until March 31, 1955. An 1882 gazetteer
Gazetteer
A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or directory, an important reference for information about places and place names , used in conjunction with a map or a full atlas. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup of a country, region, or continent as well as the social...
, which listed the community as "Mill Grove", called the town "a place of 50 inhabitants". The gazetteer also listed a physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, justice
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
, and railroad agent. During the 1880s, Millgrove had three general stores, a blacksmith shop, a sawmill, and a tile factory. During the next decade, a glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
factory was built.
Millgrove’s glass factory was one of 15 glass factories that have existed in Blackford County, and most of these factories existed during the Indiana Gas Boom. (There were numerous glass and gas companies in the county at that time.) Eleven more glass factories have existed in nearby Dunkirk, Indiana
Dunkirk, Indiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 2,646 people, 1,093 households, and 746 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,351.4 people per square mile . There were 1,214 housing units at an average density of 1,078.8 per square mile...
. The Millgrove Glass Company was incorporated in 1898, and made glass containers. Originally, the company took advantage of the abundant supply of natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
for a source of fuel. By 1905, the supply of natural gas in the region was diminishing, and the Millgrove Glass Company used gas made from coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
in addition to natural gas. The factory closed in 1911, and this was thought to be “a severe blow to Millgrove”. A Blackford County directory from that time lists over 150 people living in Millgrove.
Railroad
The railroadRail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
line that ran through Millgrove was named Union and Logansport Railroad Company by the time it entered Blackford County, and it was the county’s first railroad. This line was proposed in 1862, and completed to Hartford City in 1867 — running through the Blackford County communities of Dunkirk
Dunkirk, Indiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 2,646 people, 1,093 households, and 746 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,351.4 people per square mile . There were 1,214 housing units at an average density of 1,078.8 per square mile...
, Converse, Millgrove, Hartford City
Hartford City, Indiana
Hartford City is a city in the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Blackford County. Located in the northeast central portion of the state, the small farming community experienced a 15-year “boom” beginning in the late 1880s...
, and Renner
Renner, Indiana
Renner is an extinct American village in Indiana's Blackford County. Although Renner has been listed as a “populated place” by the U.S. Geological Survey, this description is misleading. Renner was a railroad stop on the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad...
(See railroad map — Millgrove is located in the southeast quadrant of Blackford County. The railroad was eventually named Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad. Other names for the railroad since that time include the Panhandle division of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
, Penn Central Railroad Company, Conrail
Consolidated Rail Corporation
The Consolidated Rail Corporation, commonly known as Conrail , was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeast U.S. between 1976 and 1999. The federal government created it to take over the potentially profitable lines of bankrupt carriers, including the Penn Central Transportation Company and...
, and Norfolk Southern Railway
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...
. The line is now abandoned between the Blackford County communities of Converse and Hartford City, including the track that ran by Millgrove.
Geography
Located in the Jackson TownshipJackson Township, Blackford County, Indiana
Jackson Township is one of four townships in Blackford County, Indiana. At the 2000 census, its population was 1,424. The township was named after Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans and the seventh President of the United States.-Geography:...
portion of Blackford County, Indiana
Blackford County, Indiana
Blackford County is located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Indiana. The county is named for Judge Isaac Blackford, who was the first speaker of the Indiana General Assembly and a long-time chief justice of the Indiana Supreme Court. Created in 1838, Blackford County is divided...
, Millgrove is situated on former railroad line. The community is located 60 miles (96.6 km) south of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...
, and 80 miles (128.7 km) northeast of Indianapolis
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
.
Millgrove is part of East Central Indiana
East Central Indiana
East Central Indiana is a region in Indiana east of Indianapolis, Indiana, and borders the Ohio state line.- Counties :*Blackford*Delaware*Hancock*Henry*Jay*Madison*Randolph*Wayne- County seats :*Anderson, Indiana-Madison...
and Northern Indiana
Northern Indiana
Northern Indiana is the region of Indiana including 26 counties bordering parts of Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. The area is generally sub-classified into other regions. The northwest is economically and culturally intertwined with Chicago, and is considered part of the Chicago metropolitan area...
. Future Northern Indiana
Northern Indiana
Northern Indiana is the region of Indiana including 26 counties bordering parts of Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. The area is generally sub-classified into other regions. The northwest is economically and culturally intertwined with Chicago, and is considered part of the Chicago metropolitan area...
, including what became Jackson Township and Millgrove, was flattened by two glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s millions of years ago. These glaciers are also responsible for the rich Blackford County farmland, which includes the land surrounding Millgrove.
Nearby cities
- DunkirkDunkirk, Indiana-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 2,646 people, 1,093 households, and 746 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,351.4 people per square mile . There were 1,214 housing units at an average density of 1,078.8 per square mile...
(about 6 highway miles southeast) - Hartford CityHartford City, IndianaHartford City is a city in the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Blackford County. Located in the northeast central portion of the state, the small farming community experienced a 15-year “boom” beginning in the late 1880s...
(about 8 highway miles northwest) - EatonEaton, IndianaEaton is a town in Union Township, Delaware County, Indiana, along the Mississinewa River. The population was 1,805 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Muncie, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
(about 8 highway miles southwest) - PortlandPortland, Indiana-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 6,437 people, 2,739 households, and 1,750 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,566.8 people per square mile . There were 2,928 housing units at an average density of 712.7 per square mile...
(about 20 highway miles west) - UplandUpland, IndianaUpland is a town in Jefferson Township, Grant County, Indiana, United States. The population was 3,845 at the 2010 census. It is most notable for being the home of Taylor University, a Christian college with 1,920 students, as of 2011.-History:...
(about 16 highway miles northwest)
Climate
Millgrove has a typical MidwesternMidwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
humid continental
Humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....
seasonal climate. There are four distinct seasons, with winters being cold with moderate snow
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...
fall, while summers can be warm and humid. The highest average temperature is in July at 84 °F (29 °C), while the lowest average temperature is in January at 15 °F (−9 °C). However, summer temperatures can top 90 °F (32 °C), and winter temperatures can drop below 0 °F (−17 °C). Average monthly precipitation ranges from about 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm), with the heaviest occurring during May, June, and July. The highest recorded temperature was 110.0 °F (43.3 °C) on July 14, 1936, and the lowest recorded temperature was −25.0 °F (−31.7 °C) on January 21, 1985.