Timeline From The Past: History Of Palestine
From the Files of the Kosciusko County Historical Society
Editor’s note: This is a retrospective article that runs a few times a month on InkFreeNews.
Aug. 16, 1977 — Regular business was overshadowed Monday night as the Warsaw Common Council voted in last minute business to annex two sections of US 30 Bypass: one, a small portion east of the Lucky Steer Restaurant and the other the high accident area from Parker Street Extension to east of the Lakeview Shopping Center intersection.
Aug. 14, 1967 — 17-year-old Tim Johnson captured the Rozella Ford Community Golf Course club championship Sunday with a 5 and 3 victory over Wayne Sebo.
1837 — Palestine, eight or nine miles southwest of Warsaw, has been a beloved community in our county for years. It was surveyed on the banks of Trumble’s creek in April 1837 by George Bumgardner. The plat of the village was filed May 3, 1837, by Islam Summy, the proprietor. The plat was notarized by G. W. A. Royse, who was a justice of the peace at that time. Mr. Royse was the father of the first citizen, Judge L. W. Royse. The creek was later known as Trimble Creek, which flowed northwestward from Palestine Lake and entered the Tippecanoe River.
The plat of Palestine originally contained 96 lots, but in 1879 some of the lots were vacated. The north and south streets were Mill Street, Miami Street and Columbus Street. The others were First, Second, etc. The location of Palestine was, of course, determined by the mill site. It was founded when steam engines were very scarce in this new country and when there was a necessity for grist mills to which the early settlers could take their grain and return home with flour and feed for stock. There were other such mills in the county at this time, in Oswego and Monoquet. The first grist mill in Palestine was built by Islam Summy, father of the late Mel Summy and grandfather of ex-surveyor Paul Summy. The name of Islam Summy appears on the old assessment rolls of 1837 compiled by Henry Felkner, the assessor.
The heyday of Palestine was before the year 1882, when the Nickel Plate railroad went through south of the village a mile or so and the town of Burket came into existence. The early 1880s marked the beginning of the decline of the village as a trading center. In the early 1890s, some of the frame store buildings were still standing on the west side of the main street. They have long since disappeared and for years only one store was located there, on the east side of the street. During the 1860s and 1870s, the village featured grocery stores, drug stores, a saloon, a blacksmith shop, a doctor’s office and a post office.
The Vandermark Road, beginning at the west edge of the village and running into Mentone, was one of the first hard-surface roads in the county. It was built when Paul Summy was county surveyor about 1917. Elmer Vandemark was sponsor of the road. He was the first man in the county to deliver mail in an automobile.
– Compiled by InkFreeNews reporter Lasca Randels