Who is Allen
County named after?
The county was named after
John Allen, a Kentuckian who had been in the army that relieved
the siege of Fort Wayne in 1812.
Who or what
is Fort Wayne named after?
Fort Wayne was named for
the fort established by General Anthony Wayne dedicated October 22, 1794.
Where does the word
Kekionga come from; what does it mean?
Name
of the Indian village located east of confluence. According to
some its meaning is "Blackberry
Patch", blackberry meaning "ancient" or "time honored"; others
say it means "cut hair" or hair clipping place as the place
they met to prepare for war.
Where
does the term "Summit
City" come from?
When the Wabash and Erie
canal was constructed, the highest point (summit) on the canal
was at Fort Wayne.
Why is the state
named Indiana?
The nineteenth state, which
was admitted to the Union on December 11, 1816, was named for
the Indiana Territory, established in 1800. The first use of
the name Indiana was for a tract of land in Pennsylvania
ceded by Native Americans in 1768.
When were French
forts established at Kekionga; where were they located?
Site of the first French
fort built at the three rivers in 1722 (destroyed in 1747) was
at what is now Gudlin Park, just south of the Sherman Street
bridge. The second French fort was erected in 1750, surrendered
to the British in 1760. Garrison massacred by Miami Indians in
1763 located at St. Josephs Boulevard and Delaware Avenue.
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Where is
Little Turtle's Grave?
634 Lawton Place off of Spy
Run Avenue.
What is the origin
of the name Maumee River?
Maumee is a form of
the Native American word Me-ah-me, of which Miami is
another form.
When was Allen
County established?
The county was created by
an act of the Indiana General Assembly on December 17, 1823,
to go into effect in April 1824.
Was the
first night baseball game played in Fort Wayne?
On June 3, 1883, Fort Wayne
hosted the Quincy Professionals for the first lighted baseball
game involving a professional team (the very first lighted game
of any kind was played earlier that year in Lowell, Massachussetts).
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What/where was
the first railroad?
The first railway locomotive
came to Fort Wayne before there was a railway track and came,
ironically by canal boat. Unloaded at the foot of Lafayette Street
in 1854, the early locomotive assisted in laying the first track
in Fort Wayne, out Lafayette Street to the south side of town
to meet the west bound rail line coming from Ohio. The Ohio and
Indiana Railroad was opened for operation on November 1, 1854.
The road ran from Crestline, Ohio to Fort Wayne.
What/where
was the first movie theater?
The Empress Theatre, located
at the southwest corner of Wayne and Clinton Streets. Curtain
rose at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 8, 1913, complete with an
orchestra, two plays, gymnasts, songs, dances and Kinemacolor
pictures.
What/where was
the first plank road?
These roads were constructed
of huge rough-hewn planks laid crossways on a log-and-dirt base
to form a decent causeway for wagons. Of the first three plank
roads, the first pushed north, across the St. Mary's River to
LaGrange County,
and is still called Lima Road. One led to the southeast, toward
Piqua, Ohio, and was called the Piqua Plank Road (known today
as Calhoun Street). The third was constructed to the southwest,
toward Huntington, following the track of today's Bluffton Road.
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What/where
was the first baseball team?
A group of local youth formed
the Summit City Club on April 23, 1862. The Summit City boys
were such a well knit and aggressive group that Allen Hamilton
donated a piece of land at the southwest corner of Lewis and
Calhoun Streets to be used as a site for all organized baseball
games of that era. The first game of the National League of Professional
Baseball Players was played on May 4, 1871, between the Fort
Wayne Kekiongas and the Cleveland Forest Citys. The old ball
grounds was located just west of the Main Street bridge on land
to the north of Main Street running almost to the canal (presently
the tracks of the Nickel Plate Railroad).
What/where was
the first church?
The first church building
in Fort Wayne was the Presbyterian Church built on East Berry
Street in 1837. The first organized church was the Bapist in
1822, meeting in the old fort.
Who was the first
sheriff?
The first sheriff was Allen
Hamilton.
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Who was the
first commissioner?
William Rockhill, James Wyman,
and Francis Comparet were the first elected commissioners.
Who was the
first black City Councilman?
John Nuckols.
When was the Old
City Hall (now the History Center) built?
1893.
What is the
architectural style of the Old City Hall?
Richardsonian.
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