History

William Stokes Garwood Home

Newburgh, Indiana

This house is one of the earliest houses in Newburgh. The house sets on four lots. According to Warrick County assessors the house was built in 1842; the two lots of which the house was built on was purchased by Francis Macy in 1850 for $125.

So, for those that wondered about the hems of dresses getting dirty, or why escorts helped ladies across streets….another side of “The Gilded Age”:

The Horse Manure Problem of 1894

The 15 to 30 pounds of manure produced daily by each beast multiplied by the 150,000+ horses in New York city resulted in more than three million pounds of horse manure per day that somehow needed to be disposed of. That’s not to mention the daily 40,000 gallons of horse urine.

Locating a Home

When the white men first came into the hills of Crawford County, the land was a howling wilderness over which wild animals roamed at will. Probably the entire county was covered with a heavy growth of timber. At first the settlers chose the uplands for their homes because the lowlands were so heavily wooded that they were unable to clear it readily, making it unhealthy and the water impure. Many pioneers squatted on the land which they bought later from the government at $1.25 an acre. This land was called the "Congress Land."

Photo: This poignant photograph from 1922 captures Annie Oakley at 62.

Born on August 13, 1860, in a log cabin near the village of North Star in Darke County, Ohio, Phoebe Ann Moses, better known as Annie Oakley, developed her sharpshooting skills at the tender age of eight. By turning fifteen, she emerged victorious in her first shooting competition. In 1885, Annie became part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, earning the moniker "Watanya Cicilla" (Little Sure Shot) from fellow performer Sitting Bull (1831-1890).