Home of the Rangers

Stats• Population 533

 

• Males: 237   (47.7%)Females: 260   (52.3%)

• Median resident age:   33.4 years Indiana median age:   35.2 years• Zip codes: 47980.• Estimated median household income in 2009: $31,615 (it was $40,833

in 2000)

• Reynolds:• $31,615Indiana:• $45,424Estimated per capita income in 2009: $17,200

•

Elevation: 700 feet

• Perhaps more than any other town in White County, Reynolds is the creation of the railroads which meet there, almost in the geographical center of the county—the old Louisville, Albany & Chicago, the north and south line, completed in 1854, and the Pittsburgh, Chicago & St. Louis, the east and west route, finished in 1859. The original plat was dated January 10, 1854, and was named in honor of Benjamin Reynolds, its acknowledged founder. The other proprietors were George S. Rose, Christian Cassell and William M. Kenton. The town was laid out on the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 34, township 27 north, range 4 west. Main, Sill, Kenton and Boone, north and south thoroughfares, are 66 feet wide, and First, Second, Third and Fourth, crossing them at right angles, are 60 feet in width.

• At the time Reynolds was laid out, two buildings had been erected on its site, both in l852—a hotel by Benjamin Reynolds, and a dwelling by Abraham Timmons. In the year of its platting Messrs. Johnson and Cole built a steam sawmill, the first in the township, which was continued for a time, but it was before its time and reverses and the sheriff overtook the enterprise. The Reynolds Hotel, however, in extended form, endured for many years before it was revamped into a clubhouse.

• Soon after the railroad made Reynolds a station it built a large yard for the accommodation of shippers of stock, and for several years Reynolds was the principal point in the county for the shipment of horses, cattle, hogs and sheep. Attention of outsiders was drawn to the business and commercial activity of the town, a fair-sized grain warehouse was erected, and although the hard times of 1857 gave the place a temporary setback, it revived, especially when a second railroad furnished additional transportation in 1859. It is little wonder that it aspired to win the county seat from Monticello.

School

• The Honey Creek Township School at Reynolds is one of the finest buildings outside of Monticello. It was completed in October, 1914, at an approximate cost of $24,000, by the combined support of town and township. C. F. Heimlich and Levi Reynolds were the trustees during the period of its construction. The superintendent is F. E. Young, principal of the high school, J. J. Lavin, and the course of instruction embraces manual training, domestic science and agriculture. A good gymnasium is a strong feature of the school's appliances. Besides the superintendent and the principal there are five teachers to look after the mental and physical welfare of the 195 pupils who are enrolled. Of that number, forty-five are high school scholars.

Reynolds is located at 40.75°N 86.87361°W

(40.750051, -86.873716

Biotown

• In 2005, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture began a program to make Reynolds an energy self-sufficient community, able to subsist almost entirely on locally produced alternative energy. Called "BioTown, USA", the pilot project involved converting local vehicles to run on ethanol and biodiesel fuels and converting animal waste into electricity and natural gas.4

• Reynolds was selected to become BioTown, USA because of its size, its easy accessibility by road and by rail, and its proximity to both large-scale livestock farms and to Purdue University (Purdue is located in West Lafayette, Indiana). This process has been slow but Reynolds still holds the title. .

Reynolds Depot

Old Post Office

Home of the Bison

Stats• Population 692.

Males: 323   (51.0%)Females: 310   (49.0%)

• Median resident age:   41.1 years Indiana median age:   35.2 years• Zip codes: 47925.• Estimated median household income in 2009: $37,084 (it was $29,583

in 2000)

• Buffalo:• $37,084Indiana:• $45,424Estimated per capita income in 2009: $19,147

•Buffalo is located at 40.88556°N 86.74083°W (40.885501, -86.740858

History

• Buffalo, as a town, was laid out on July 24, 1886, by John C. Karr, an Ohio man, who had come with his father (Moses Karr) and settled with other members of the family about two miles west of the present site. In 1849 he had married and located to his farm lying along the east shores of the river, a portion of which he platted as the Town of Buffalo. He died in August, 1899, the father of eleven children. Both the Karr and the Sluyter families still hold valuable farming lands south of Buffalo, in sections 15 and 22.

• Although Buffalo obtained no railroad connections, it was backed by a good country and in 1896 Mr. Karr made an addition to the original plat of thirty-four lots, by which he nearly doubled its site. Until his death he took a deep interest in the locality and passed the last years of his life there. His wife also died at Buffalo in 1896, her husband joining her three years Later.

THOMAS B. MOORE

• Across the river from Buffalo are also large holdings of land representing the wisely-directed industry and ability of another early settler in this part of the township, Thomas B. Moore. He was a native of the Buckeye State and at the age of twenty-eight, in 1852, commenced to buy property in section 10 and elsewhere adjacent to the western borders of the Tippecanoe. What was long known as Moore's ford, on his farm, was one of the best crossings in the township, but has long ago given place to a fine iron bridge at that locality. Mr. Moore became the heaviest land owner resident in the township, dealt largely in live stock, served for many years as justice of the peace, was a leader in Methodism, and altogether one of the leading citizens of northern White County. His successors do him and the family honor.

• Soon after the bridge at Moore's ford was completed, a county publication had the following description of it: "The new iron bridge across the Tippecanoe river at what is widely known as Moore's ford is one of the best in the county. The bridge is in two parts—one 165 feet long, and the other, 135 feet. It has stone abutments and was erected in 1882 at a cost of about $14,000. The Columbia Bridge Company at Dayton, Ohio, has the honor of putting up this creditable structure."

THE SLUYTER SCHOOLHOUSE

• In the old rough days, when Liberty Township included so much of northeastern White County, the people were just as busy in proportion to their numbers as they are today, in the very human occupations of teaching and learning, preaching and listening, marrying and giving in marriage, being born and dying. In the summer of 1837 Jonathan W. Sluyter, one of the expert axmen of the township, got out the logs for the first schoolhouse built in the township. It stood in the east half of section 15, on his land about three-quarters of a mile south of the Tippecanoe. He did not stop to hew the timber, as half a dozen children were impatiently(!) awaiting its opening. The cabin was 15 feet square, and David McConnahay is said to have thrown it open to the neighborhood, and in came the Funks, Conwells, Halls, Sluyters, Louders, and perhaps some other children whose names have not come down in history.

• When George Hall succeeded McConnahay, a little later, the attendance had reached fifteen pupils. In 1838 John C. V. Shields taught a term in the log schoolhouse, and Lester Smith succeeded him.

• In 1840 Mr. Sluyter built a second schoolhouse near the first, hewing the logs and otherwise improving upon his former work, and about five years afterward a still better building was erected further south in section 22.

Dotson restaurant

Round Barn

• Most common last names in Buffalo, IN among deceased individuals

• Last nameCount Lived (average)• Connell 4 69.0 years• Davis 4 71.3 years• Smith 4 66.5 years• Hinshaw 3 82.3 years • Hunt 3 80.0 years • Miller 3 86.0 years