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Fort Wayne has been known by many names and nicknames throughout history. Some of them are...Gateway to the West...(Originally a portage, later a canal, railway and the Lincoln Highway)...  Summit
City...(The high spot on the canal and the portage between different
river systems)... City of Churches...(Many denominations and
church buildings)...The Happiest City...(So dubbed my Look
Magazine)...The City That Saved Itself...(The result of the
citizen sandbag brigades in the Flood of 1982 in which Fort Wayne
was a forerunner of what is now the norm in flood fighting)... The
All American City...(A winner more than once in this category)
and just plain home to many.  Fort
Wayne throughout the centuries ACPL Digital Library ARCH:
A non-profit organization for historic preservation and community
heritage.17th Century Some of the earliest recorded history deals with the Miami Indians and the French traders. 18th Century When George Washington was President he declared war on the Miamis and Fort Wayne was the focal point of several bloody battles. The Indians were able to carry the day until Washington sent General “Mad” Anthony Wayne into the territory and Wayne did what General St. Clair and others had not. He defeated the Indians. Captain John Hamtramck had a new fort erected and called it Fort Wayne in honor of the victorious general. It was located approximately at the corner of what is now Berry and Clay. 19th Century The frontier Fort Wayne suffered through the Siege of 1812 (during the war of the same name) and felt the wrath of Tecumseh. General Harrison was one of the deliverers. Fort Wayne at this time was considered a barbaric and wild and woolly frontier town. Murder, mayhem and lawlessness were the order of the day.When Samuel Hanna arrived in 1819 he was one harbinger of a town’s beginning. Isaac McCoy started the first school with 25 students --10 spoke English, 6 spoke French, 5 used their Indian dialect and 1 was a Negro and probably also spoke English. A microcosm of Fort Wayne of the time...a place that some soldiers and travelers considered Babel-like in its language makeup. The Wabash and Erie canal construction opened up the waterways saloons and churches vied for souls while the advent of the Civil War vied for men’s bodies. Even though Stephen A. Douglas carried the county over Abraham Lincoln and southern sentiment was quite prevalent, Allen County sent 6,000 men to fight in the war between the states. Fort Wayne prospered and grew, gamblers publicly reformed, civilization took hold, and the present Allen County Public Library had its beginning in the 1890s. 20th Century The city was inundated when all three rivers flooded in 1913. The city with a predominately German heritage had its problems during World War I, as it did later in World War II. The crash of 1929 hit the town hard, but did not stop the groundbreaking for the then tallest building in Indiana, the Lincoln Tower. The thirties brought hard times that were eventually alleviated in the wartime economy of the forties. Theater, vaudeville, radio and television shrunk the world and Fort Wayne became known for its diversified industry. The downtown’s magic with the famed Wolf and Dessauer Department store lost out to the state’s largest mall and the industrial base changed its format. Fort Wayne’s park system includes a world class children’s zoo, a botanical garden and a showplace park that is the direct result of planning after the devastating flood of 1982. The Three Rivers Festival and the Johnny Appleseed Festival annually celebrate the history of the city, its people, its arts, and its environs. The annual Germanfest, Greek Festival, Highland Days, Irish Fest and Black Expo as well as Native American Powwows and gatherings celebrate the ethnic heritage. Thanks to Laura McCaffery |
