Paxton
The railroad station between Carlisle and Sullivan, established a few years after the building of the railroad, was given its name in honor of an early merchant and physician of Carlisle. The town was platted in 1868 by W. P. Walter. A newspaper item on July, 1870, stated that the village contained one store, one cooper shop, a blacksmith, wagon and shoe shop, and some eighteen or twenty dwellings. Also a graded school was to be opened in the fall. A mission branch of the Sullivan Baptist Church was organized at Paxton, June 27, 1886, by Rev. D. E. Miller, with A. R. Angle moderator and W. S. Smith clerk. The Church of Christ was built at Paxton in 1896, this being a branch of the Providence Church south of town. The brick schoolhouse, which is a central school accommodating several districts, was erected in 1906. In June of that year, just before the commencement exercise of the schools of the township were held in the Providence Church, the former schoolhouse was burned. This building was in bad condition, and for some years had been a fruitful source of contention in the neighborhood.
Source: A History of Sullivan County, Indiana. Closing of the first century’s history of the county and showing the growth of its people, institutions, industries and wealth. Thomas J. Wolfe, Editor. The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909, page 211-12