Address
706 E 4th St
Hobart, IN 46342
Phone
219-942-0970
Hours
Monday to Friday: By Appointment
Saturday: 10AM - 12PM
Sunday: Closed
As we are nearing the end of celebrating of the United States Semiquincentennial, we should reflect on our early settlers that were settling Hobart before the US had celebrated 50, let alone 250 years. Most of those early settlers are known, but many unknown, whose descendants still populate Hobart. George Earle may have founded the town and platted out the community, but their contributions were important to his efforts in building the community.
Most of the early settlers came from Europe, and the blood of these immigrants flow through our history. They cleared the woods to farm fields, farmed those fields with crops and animals and created dairies, all of which help feed not only themselves, but towns and cities in the Midwest. They started making homemade bricks to build their homes, which turned into a thriving industry that helped rebuild Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire. The Pennsy and Nickle Plate Railroads moved the goods into Chicago. The earlier businessmen built buildings for their businesses; many of those buildings still stand as a testament to their hard work.
Churches sprung up, starting in 1862 with Augustana Lutheran Church through the generosity of George Earle and his son, John. They sold land for churches for only $1 because they knew where a church was built a neighborhood would develop around it. Several of these church buildings are still in use over 150 years later! Two churches are still using their buildings built on dollar lots-the Unitarian and the Michigan Avenue Methodist churches.
The education of Brickies began with the one room schoolhouse on Center Street in 1845 where the Masonic Lodge is now, continued with the first high school built in 1871, and continues today in the school system’s many buildings. Hobart University is a program that is saving families money by students earning college credits, and in some cases associate degrees while still in high school.
The Masons are the oldest civic organization in Hobart, going back over 160 years, and they recently celebrated the Centennial of their building. The Hobart Ladies Reading Club started educating themselves and ended up creating the Hobart Public Library and eventually helped get the first permanent library building built with funds from the Carnegie Foundation. The Hobart Historical Society now owns that building.
Since the country’s founding, Hobart men and, then women have served in the armed services and many have died. Those who died are memorialized not just at the Doughboy, but also with the Blue Star Memorial Garden in front of the museum. The Old Settler’s Cemetery holds the remains of several veterans, including Henry Sylvester Smith, a Mexican War veteran, whose home is the oldest still standing home. He was a business partner with George Earle in the grist mill, which is where Chase Bank is now.
We need to thank the Hobart members of the Lake County Indiana State Sesquicentennial Committee, who realized that Hobart history was disappearing and formed The Hobart Historical Society in 1965 to save that history. One of the items saved was a picture of the 1876 Fourth of July parade, the country’s Centennial.
