As the home of Indiana's second oldest settlement, Perry County was carved out of the wilderness by Swiss, German and French pioneers who were attracted to this region's wealth of natural resources and its easy access to river transportation. Their rugged, enduring spirit remains today as the foundation for life in Perry County.
A Brief History of Perry County
Perry County is located in the extreme south-central part of Indiana approximately 150 miles south of Indianapolis, 80 miles west of New Albany, and 50 miles east of Evansville. It is bounded on the east and north by Crawford County, to the northwest by Dubois County, and to the west by Spencer County. The southern margin is limited by the Ohio River with 50 miles of riverfront.
The Natural Setting
Perry County is classified as Crawford Uplands and Perry County has the distinction of being the roughest county in Indiana. Perry County was totally outside the glacier area and relatively unaffected by the glacial run off in the lower part of the Ohio Valley. The county is somewhat of a refuge area. For instance, the fringed Green Briar is found only in Perry, Crawford, and Harrison Counties. The Buckthorn is found only in Perry County and the Sourwood only in Perry and Floyd. Mountain Laurel also grows in Perry County.
Prehistoric Period
It appears certain that a large portion of Perry County was inhabited by early Indian culture. The Archaic and early Woodland are well represented in archaeological material. The later cultures used Perry County as a hunting area and did not establish villages, preferring the rolling bottomlands and terraces further to the west.
Political
The landmass of Perry County was a portion of the area ceded to the United States by the Indiana Treaties made at Fort Wayne in 1803 and at Vincennes in 1804. The land then became subject to settlement by hunters and squatters. The land was surveyed in 1804 and 1805. Most of the Indians left about this time. The territorial Legislature in 1814 established Perry County and named it after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, who had defeated the British on Lake Erie in 1813, during the second war with England. Perry County at first included much of the southern portions of Dubois and Crawford and about half of Spencer Counties. By further acts of the legislators, Dubois was created in 1817, Spencer and Crawford in 1818. Since then there have been no changes in the boundaries of Perry County. It is interesting to note that when the Lincoln family migrated to Indiana in 1816, they arrived at what then was Perry County. Troy was the first county seat, 1814-1819, followed by Rome from 1819-1859, Cannelton from 1859-1994, and Tell City, 1994-present.
Early Beginnings
As early as 1795, some white settlers located near what is now Troy. Prior to 1803, native Perry Countians were the Pinkeshaws, an Indiana tribe belonging to the Miami Indiana Confederacy. The first settlement of any consequence was Troy. Although unable to document it, there was probably a small settlement there as early as 1803. Troy prospered and was a busy community engaged in manufacturing of various kinds, and thrived particularly as a port for receiving and shipping goods and produce to the interior. The Ohio River from the beginning to the present was of extreme importance to Perry County. All commerce moved on the river. It was the vital link with the rest of the world. The first railroad train did not reach Perry County until 1888 while packet service continued all the way up to 1932. In 1811 Robert Fulton’s first steamboat on the Ohio River, The New Orleans, took on coal a short distance above the present site of Tell City. His brother Abraham Fulton is buried in the Troy Cemetery. In 1818 there was mail service between Louisville, Kentucky - Troy, Evansville, and Harmonie (New Harmony).
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An accident on the river brought to Perry County a famous hero of the American Revolution. On May 9, 1825, a steamer mechanic, carrying the Marquis de Lafayette on a tour of newly formed states, struck the jagged edge of Rock Island, a mile or so above the present Cannelton Dam. While every article of baggage and clothing was lost, all passengers and crew were rescued. Lafayette spent the night in the log cabin of Perry County Pioneer, James Cavender. The next day, the Marquis de Lafayette was visited by many families, all of whom were eager for a glimpse of the noble revolutionary hero. The memory of the general’s visit is kept alive by a marker at Lafayette Spring, the spot near the Cavender cabin where the hero received his local visitors.
In 1826 a young Abraham Lincoln worked for a James Taylor, who ran a packing house and ferry on the Anderson River, just a few hundred yards below Troy. Further up the Anderson River, which borders the Perry-Spencer County line, sits a unique structure that was built around 1865. Huffman Mill Covered Bridge is the last of several covered bridges in the area. Just a short distance away is the site of the old Huffman Mill. For years it was the only mill in existence in the area. People traveled for miles to have their grain ground into flour on the banks of the Anderson River. Abraham Lincoln visited the Huffman Mill frequently. It has been said Abe’s father once traded a jug of moonshine whiskey for a day’s mill work.
Rome, first established as Washington, then Franklin, then Rome in 1819, was of importance until the county seat was removed in 1859. The old Court House still stands. It is constructed of brown, hand-made bricks, standing on a high foundation. It is a two-story square structure with octagonal cupola strongly resembling the old state capitol in Corydon.
Cannelton, established in 1838 owes its beginning to the coal deposits found there, along with the river for transportation. The Indiana Cotton Mills, organized in 1848 was an important part of Cannelton and Perry County for many years. The stone building erected in 1851 was for quite a while the largest building in Indiana. Interior walls, made of sandstone slabs five feet thick, make the building somewhat of a fortress. Back in its busiest time, some 400 employees, mostly women, tended 372 looms working 12-hour days, six days per week. The mill produced a variety of cotton cloth, including uniforms for the Union Army during the Civil War. Clay products were another early manufacturing endeavor at Cannelton.
Also located in Cannelton are St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, built in 1845, and St. Michael’s Catholic Church, built in 1859. Both are still in use today. The Court House was moved to Cannelton in 1859 and remained there until 1994. Each of these four buildings is constructed out of sandstone.
During the busy days of steamboat traffic, steamers would dock along the shores of Derby, Rono (now Magnet) and Troy. The years of 1850 - 1860 saw the heyday of steamboat travel, and it was not uncommon to sight as many as six steamboats at once from Cannelton’s shore. Travelers purchased wood for fuel and supplies from many sawmill operators in the county. The operators of the American Cannel Coal Company advertised their products, mined on Coal Haven (Cannelton), as being much superior to the commonly used wood. The sale of this coal increased slowly, though steadily, and most of the boats continued to use wood for many years. Wood was kept cut and corded to be sold for this purpose.
Tell City, established in 1858 is the youngest town in the area; a unique town in that it was planned and founded by the Swiss Colonization society. Shares were sold in the Society, land was purchased, and a town was laid out. "It was really organized for the common benefit of the poorer class of our countrymen, which consists mostly of intelligent farmers and mechanics." Tell City was intended as a manufacturing town and so it remains today.
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Although the Swiss started the town, many German people joined them. With the Germans being in the majority, the town was really more German than Swiss. Tell City soon became the largest town in Perry County. Thru its factories, employment was offered to much of the surrounding county. The river offered a means to ship and receive the articles of commerce. Its first growth was spectacular, though the civil war, the depression, and the isolation of the area, all contributed to a much slower but continuous growth through the years. Tell City retains much of the Swiss-German flavor brought by those early settlers of the city. A statue and fountain in front of City Hall commemorates the legendary Swiss hero, William Tell, for whom the city is named.
Scattered about in Perry County are numerous villages and towns; their beginnings due to location by streams, fords, or good farm land. The churches also played a part in establishing some of these communities. Represented in Perry County, besides the Germans and the Swiss were the smaller groups from France, England, and Belgium. St. Croix and Leopold were early French settlements.
Quite a few years ago the majority of Perry County’s citizens and the Federal Government agreed that a large portion of Perry County should do what it has always done best; grow trees and offer recreational facilities for the people. The National Forest Service through the years has acquired about 50,000 acres in Perry County. Here hardwood trees are growing and producing lumber. Here also are offered recreational camping, hunting, fishing, hiking and horseback trails. Four large man-made flood control lakes have been built.
The completion of the Cannelton Locks and Dam in 1975 raised the level of the Ohio River 25 feet behind the dam. This has made many small streams suitable for fishing. There are miles of beautiful driveways in Perry County. Along with smaller game, deer and wild turkeys have been reintroduced. Farmers still till the bottomlands. The 1913 and 1937 floods were major disasters for Cannelton and Tell City, so floodwalls have been built for the protection of these communities.
The three larger towns continue to offer employment through manufacturing, retailing, and services. In the beginning, Perry County’s citizens used the natural resources at hand, coal, lumber, clay and the river, and that continues today, with the added production of crushed limestone in the eastern part of the county.
Perry County still finds itself in a rather remote area, while most of its population still lives 25 miles from an interstate highway. The cultural inclinations of the early citizens are indicated by the names of the streets in Tell City such as, Pestalozzi, Mozart, Lafayette, Franklin, Guttenberg, Fulton and others.
Other Links of Interest:
Perry County Convention & Visitor’s Bureau: History & Legends
Indiana Local History & Genealogy
County Preservation Society
National Register of Historic Places
Troy, Indiana
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