Dearborn County, Indiana entries from:
The Indiana Gazetteer or Topographical Dictionary. Indianapolis : Douglass and Maguire, 1833.
Digitized copy at HathiTrust Digital Library
AURORA, a post town on the Ohio river, below the mouth of Hogan in the county of Dearborn, about four miles from Lawrenceburgh. It contains about six hundred inhabitants, three stores, one tavern, a physician, a lawyer, a preacher of the Gospel, several mechanics of different professions, a seminary, a church, a large and prosperous Sunday school.—Aurora is situated on a bend of the river, having a beautiful view for five or six miles, both above and below, and affords one of the best harbours on the river, from Pittsburgh to its mouth.
BLUE CREEK, a small stream which rises in Dearborn county, and runs in a north-easterly direction into Franklin county, and falls into Whitewater, on the west side, about a mile below Brookville.
CESAR CREEK, a south-western township in Dearborn county.
DEARBORN, a river county, in the south-east corner of the state, bounded by the north by Franklin county, on the west by Ripley, on the south by Switzerland, on the east by the Ohio river and state. It was organized in 1802. It is thirty miles in extent from north to south, and eighteen miles from east to west; containing an area of 448 square miles, or 286,720 acres. In 1830, it contained 14,573 inhabitants. Dearborn county is hilly along the river, but not too steep for cultivation. In about one fourth part of the county the land is considered first rate, one fourth second rate, and the remaining half third rate. The principal products are wheat, rye, corn, and potatoes, which, together with beef, pork, and live stock, are annually transported in large quantities to the southern market. The forest timber consist chiefly of walnut, buckeye, elm, sugartree, locust, poplar, and the several varieties of oak and ash; with an undergrowth of spice, paupaw, plumb, and hawthorn. The county abounds with excellent limestone suitable for building. On the west side of the Great Miami, about two miles from its mouth, is an extensive rich bottom containing several thousand acres, on and in the vicinity of which are several ancient mounds. North of Hardinsburgh, and about a quarter of a mile from the Miami, on the top of a hill, supposed to be about two hundred feet in height, there is an ancient fortification, enclosing ten or twelve acres; the walls are composed of earth, and are from five to ten feet high. On the east side, the wall consists in part of stone, which appear to have been thrown together without order, and covered with earth. It includes all the level ground on the summit of the hill, and does not conform to any regular feature, but is regulated by the extremities of the level on which it is constructed. There is a small circular wall adjoining the mail wall on the west side, enclosing about an acre, on each side of which a gateway leads into the enclosure. On the east side, and within the fort, there is a mound, supposed by some to have been erected for observatory purposes. There are also some other mounds in the vicinity, which from their position seem to have been originally connected, in design, with the works already described. The great numbers of human bones exposed to view by the washing of the rains on the declivities of the hills in the neighborhood, indicate the existence, at some former period, of an immense population. Many stone axes of various sizes, and stone pipes, and hammers, and silicious darts of different shapes have also been found in the vicinity of this place. The principal streams in Dearborn county, beside the Ohio river, which washes its border, are the Great Miami, Whitewater, Tanner’s creek, Hogan and Laughery. Lawrenceburgh is the seat of justice.
HARDINSBURGH, a post town, in Dearborn county, on the Great Miami river, two miles north of Lawrenceburgh. It stands on a beautiful plain above high water. It contains about two hundred and fifty inhabitants, two stores, a tavern, and a number of mechanical establishments. It is surrounded by an extensive rich bottom, occasionally overflown; which circumstance tends to maintain the fertility of the soil by deposite of loam at every freshet.
HARRISON, a post town on the line dividing between Ohio and Indiana; the eastern part in the state of Ohio, and the western part in Dearborn county, twelve miles north of Lawrenceburgh.
HARTFORD, a post town in Dearborn county, on the south bank of Laughery creek about twelve miles south-west from Lawrenceburgh. It contains about a hundred inhabitants, a tavern, two mercantile stores, and craftsmen of various trades.
JOHNSON’S FORK, a mill stream in Franklin county. It has its source in the south-east corner of the county, and runs south into Dearborn county, and falls into Whitewater two miles north of Harrison.
KELSO, a township in Dearborn county.
LAWRENCEBURGH, a post town, and the seat of justice of Dearborn county. It is situated in an extensive rich bottom, on the bank of the Ohio river, two miles below the mouth of the Great Miami river. It contains about a thousand inhabitants, nine mercantile stores, one drug store, three taverns, eight lawyers, four physicians, three schools, two brick churches, a brick court house, a stone jail, a market house, and two printing offices, each of which issues a weekly newspaper. It is distant from the city of Cincinnati, in the state of Ohio, twenty-two miles, and eighty-six miles south-east from Indianapolis. N. lat. 39 deg. 5 min. W. lon. 7 deg. 35 min.
LOGAN, a township in Dearborn.
MANCHESTER, a township in Dearborn county, lying between Tanner’s creek and Hogan, and extending to the western border of the county.
MANCHESTER, a small post town in Dearborn county.
RANDOLPH, a township in Dearborn county.
RISING SUN, a post village in Dearborn county. It is situated on the bank of the Ohio river, thirteen miles south from Lawrenceburgh. It contains about six hundred inhabitants, four stores, a tavern, a grist mill propelled by steam power, a seminary and a church; together with a number of mechanics of various trades. The surrounding land is broken and hilly, but very fertile; and the town has the advantage of a salubrious atmosphere, pure water, and an elevated pleasant situation, added to the advantages of uninterrupted steam boat navigation.
SPARTA, a township in Dearborn county.
TANNER’S CREEK, a mill stream in Dearborn county. Its source is in the north-western part of the county, whence it runs south-easterdly, and empties into the Ohio river about a mile below Lawrenceburgh.
UNION, a township in Dearborn county.
WILMINGTON, a post town in Dearborn county. It is situated on the state road leading from Lawrenceburgh to Madison, eight miles south-west from Lawrenceburgh. It has one tavern, two stores, a physician, a school house, and a church; with about a hundred inhabitants, amongst whom are a number of industrious mechanics.