Memory Bank: Main Street in Fortville in 1908

The area of Hancock County now known as Fortville was originally home to members of the Miami and Potawatomi tribes, before white settlers began arriving in the 1820s and 1830s. One of them was Francis Kincade, who divided his land into 24 lots in 1834. The roads that are now State Road 238 and Main Street ran through his property. Over time, residents built churches, schools and businesses on Main Street, as shown by this photo taken on Sept. 21, 1908, looking south from Staat Street (labeled as Statts Street in the photo). The building on the far left—now ​The Fortville Law Firm of Sorrell & Associates—still stands but without its triangular pediment on top. The bottom two floors of the building on the far right are also still standing.

Sources: Town of Fortville, Indiana Historical Society

Credit: This photo is courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society and is part of the Jay Small Postcard collection. More images are available at images.indianahistory.org.