Hindostan, Martin Co., IN

HINDOSTAN

Martin County, INDIANA

Located on S County Road 55W, just inside the western edge of the Hoosier National Forest, along the East Fork of the White River at a short waterfall, 4.3 AIR miles southwest of Shoals, which is at the junction of US 50/150, 21 miles east of Washington in what was then Daviess County. The site of Hindostan was first settled around 1816 along the river and the Vincennes-New Albany stage road by Frederick Sholts when he established a sawmill (summer of 1818), ferry (in Sec 10) and tavern (in 1816) at “The Falls”. He placed a public notice in the Western Sun newspaper on March 8, 1816 that he intended to apply to the court for a ferry license. In March 1819, he sold three-quarters of the land to a development company who began to develop the location into a small town they dubbed HINDOSTAN, as one of the company’s officers once lived in India. The site was platted and development of some of the 355 lots began in 1819. Many of the lots were “sold” on credit, which hurt them later.

By the end of that year it had became an important town with the population reaching 500. One of the products produced was whetstone, marketed as Hindostan Oil Stone.

It also became an important keelboat and stage stopping place, as well as the county seat.

The first jail was built in 1820, and in the summer Hindostan was a prosperous city with a population reported to be as high as 1200. It also had a blacksmith, grist and saw mill, a hotel, tannery, tavern and “18 well built permanent dwellings.” Many of the residents lived aboard keelboats on the river. In the fall of that year, “a fever or pestilence” (probably either cholera or yellow fever, or possibly even smallpox) swept through the area, strongly affecting future development of the town. In addition to the disease aspect, the economy took a dump and many of the properties were foreclosed upon. By 1824 about half the settlers had left. The county seat was transferred to Mt. Pleasant (three miles northwest), and by 1829, the site of Hindostan was a true ghost town. The post office was discontinued December 29, 1830, but by then Hindostan was just a memory. Mt. Pleasant today is a tiny community (some call it a ghost town) with less than 100 residents. The county seat is currently at Shoals.

Ruins include foundation pits, a restored church and a modern park near the site. The church is located just west of the junction of S CR 55W/SH 550, and the town site a half mile south of it along the river.

“As far as Hindostan goes (the locals pronounce it Hin-dostin), I have some more info on that. The town never built the court house, and county business was held in the founder’s house until the people there filed a law suit against him for not following through with the promise of making the town the county seat. The suit involved the failure of the property value to go up because of the county seat not being established there. He took $900 intended for building the court house and left. The town was well know as far as New Orleans for (the) oil stones (sharpening stones) they quarried and sent to market. The sickness was described in my book as being similar to the Yellow Fever that had taken hold on New Orleans. Supposedly there was only one survivor of the sickness which raged from 1820-1822, and a lot of people simply left during that time, at least the ones who didn't die. Hope you enjoy the info.” Contributed by Bob Kerr, August 08, 2006

“I thought you might be interested in knowing that the ‘undetermined sickness’ that wiped out the town of Hindostan was cholera. About 90% of the town died in a very short time and the survivors moved to and settled in Mt. Pleasant a few miles away. Another telling sign of their existence in the area can be found on the flat rock just before the falls. There are still big square indentations from the posts that supported the once productive mill….” Contributed by J Thomas 12/02/2007

(GBS note: On the GNIS ESRI Map and ACME Mapper aerial photo, what appears to be lines of impressions are visible to the east of the falls. It is NOT visible on the National Map as that aerial photo was taken during a high water flow time, and the large rock is not visible.)

LOCATION:

· NW¼ Sec 9, T2N, R4W 2^nd Principal Meridian, Center Twp.

· Latitude: 38.6244957 / 38° 37’ 28” N

· Longitude: -86.8508331 / 86° 51’ 03” W

CHURCH:

· NE¼ of the SW¼ Sec 4, T2N, R4W 2^nd Principal Meridian, Center Twp.

· Latitude: 38.6325512 / 38° 37’ 57” N

· Longitude: -86.85305512 / 86° 51’ 11” W

SOURCES:

· 1, 2, 8 (Feb 1980, pgs 40-41; Feb 1994, pgs 32-33)

This was our Ghost Town of the Month for May 2008

This vignette was revised and rewritten, and reposted as Ghost Town of the Month for May 2014.