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Conner Street Historic District

Conner Street Historic DistrictConner Street Historic District

Location: Conner Street and 17th Street, Noblesville. (Hamilton County, Indiana)

Installed: 2005 Indiana Historical Bureau and Noblesville Preservation Alliance

ID# : 29.2005.1

Text

Side one:

Hamilton County formed 1823. Noblesville platted 1823, selected county seat 1824, incorporated 1851. Located east of downtown commercial area; boundaries are Conner and Logan streets (east and west) and 10th and 17th streets (north and south). Listed in National Register of Historic Places 1999.

Side two:

Available railroad transportation after 1851 and discovery of natural gas (1887) helped town to grow. District was a significant neighborhood, including a mix of structures and styles of the middle-class and affluent citizens who were active in business, politics, and civic affairs of the town.

Keywords

Historic District, Neighborhoods, and Towns, Buildings and Architecture, Business, Industry, and Labor, Transportation

Annotated Text

Hamilton County formed 1823. Noblesville platted 1823, (1) selected county seat 1824, (2) incorporated 1851.(3) Located east of downtown commercial area; boundaries are Conner and Logan streets (east and west) and 10th and 17th streets (north and south). Listed in National Register of Historic Places 1999.(4)

Available railroad transportation after 1851 and discovery of natural gas (1887) helped town to grow.(5) District was a significant neighborhood, including a mix of structures and styles of the middle-class and affluent citizens who were active in business, politics, and civic affairs of the town.(6)

Notes:

1. George Pence and Nellie C. Armstrong, Indiana Boundaries: Territory, State , and County (Indianapolis, 1933), 408; 1823 Plat Map, "Hamilton County Commissioner's Book A, loose in front.

2. "Hamilton County Commissioner's Book A, March Special Session, " March 4, 1824, pp. 26-28 (especially p. 28); Pence and Armstrong, 408.

3. Laws of Indiana, 1851, pp. 48-49; Organization and Incorporation of the Town of Noblesville State of Indiana, Proceedings of the Town Council or Board of Trustees of said Town, March 29th 1851. John F. Haines, History of Hamilton County Indiana . . . (Indianapolis, 1915), 198, describes the results of the election by which the town was incorporated according to law.

4. Historic Indiana, Indiana Properties Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, 2003-2004 (Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation), 23. Hamilton County Interim Report (Indianapolis, 1992), pp. 67-70, has boundaries for the district that differ from the NRHP listing completed in 1999. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, March 12, 1998, National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet, Section 10, p. 21, under "Boundary Justification, " indicates that the boundaries were expanded because the additional area "contributes to the larger area" and would help to protect it.

5.In 1851, the Peru and Indianapolis Railroad was completed to Noblesville. Richard S. Simons and Francis H. Parker, Railroads of Indiana (Indianapolis, 1992), 11. In 1887, natural gas was discovered in Noblesville. The Noblesville Independent, January 28, 1887 states that "On Saturday night last, about 8:p.m., they struck a strong flow of gas, so strong it was, that the men thought it advisable to stop drilling." Maurice Thompson, Indiana Department of Geology and Natural History Sixteenth Annual Report 1888, (Indianapolis, 1888) p. 233-34, 253—two wells [Banner and Mallory] drilled in Noblesville and both "Yielded very strong flow of gas." National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet, Section 8, p. 13, indicates that "discovery of natural gas brought a major boost to an all ready prospering community." The Interurban Railroad ran through Noblesville 1903-1938. Hamilton County Ledger, November 3, 1903, Jerry Marlette, Electric Railroads of Indiana (Indianapolis, 1959), 37; Noblesville Daily Ledger, September 12, 1938.

6. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, March 12, 1998, National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet, Section 7, pp. 1-11, Section 8, pp. 12, 13, 18-19; Interim Report, pp. 67-70. Architectural styles include Queen Anne, Queen Anne Cottage, Colonial Revival Gable-front, Prairie, Bungalow, and American Four-square. Interim Report, p. 67.