Welcome to the Cass County Visitors Bureau’s “Pop-Up Art & History Trail!
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The Confluence – 1st and Melbourne
(Note: As of 2019, extensive construction is currently underway along Melbourne Avenue from 1st through 5th Streets and is anticipated to continue through 2020. The work is part of a multi-million dollar stormwater project being done by Logansport Municipal Utilities.)
Welcome to the Cass County Visitors Bureau’s Pop Up Art and History Trail.
Logansport is situated in the valleys of the Wabash and Eel Rivers, occupying ground between them, and on both sides of the two rivers. According to Powell’s History of Cass County, published in 1913, 8 wagon bridges and 8 railroad and interurban bridges spanned the rivers. The canal also ran through the town and was crossed by 8 or 10 bridges, leading to the nickname “City of Bridges.”
The United States acquired the title to the lands in and around Logansport in 1826 from the Miami and Pottawatomie Indians. Alexander Chamberlain was the first permanent settler in the county. That year, he built a small round log cabin on the south bank of the Wabash, opposite the mouth of the Eel River. In March of 1828, General John Tipton, who has previously been appointed Indian agent at Fort Wayne, moved to Logansport and established his headquarters at the Chamberlain Tavern.
The winter of 1828 brought a number of settlers and on April 10, Chauncey Carter surveyed and laid out the town’s original plat. Soon after, Carter and several others met in the shade of a big elm tree on the north bank of the Wabash, near Second St. and began to consult as to a name for the new town. Numerous suggestions were made. Hugh B. McKeen, an Indian trader and the first merchant to locate in the town, proposed that the town be named in honor of Captain Logan, a Shawnee chief. As the town was located at the “confluence” of the two rivers, “Port” was added.
The town of Logansport was incorporated as a city on February 17, 1838. A documentary of its history was produced for the city’s 175th anniversary in 2013 and is available at the Cass County Historical Society.
The Pop Up Art and History Trail is presented by the Cass County Visitors Bureau in partnership with Logan’s Landing, the Cass County Historical Society, the City of Logansport and Cass County Communication Network (published by Existential Media LLC) as a way to encourage residents and visitors to learn more about our community’s history and local attractions.
The Pop Up Art and History trail was funded through a Quick-Impact Placebased Grant from the Indiana Office of Tourism Development and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.
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