Sullivan Landmarks
By the process of time, decay and fire and ruin, our American towns quickly cover up the past, and in Sullivan it is hardly possible to find any buildings that bear the dignified marks of old age. The court house itself is the oldest buildings of any note, having stood at the center of the square for more than a half century.
In December, 1878, fire destroyed the old National House, about which many of the early associations of visitors to Sullivan gathered. It had been inexistence since shortly after the founding of the town, and had known various proprietors. Squire Van Fossen being the last.
The Hotel McCammon, which was recently burned, was of much later date than the National. It is stated that at the formal opening of this hotel, February 14, 1882, nearly all the business men and leading citizens of town were invited to a sumptuous dinner.
The two-story building on the east side of the square, with its double balconies, was built by Dr. Coffman in 1897, an old frame building being removed from the site.
The Davis House, which is the most modern hotel of the town, was built by the Davis brothers, the plans being accepted in the summer of 1897 and construction work begun shortly afterwards. Its ground dimensions were 90 by 35 feet, and it was designed to have 48 sleeping rooms on the second and third floors. The front is of stone and pressed brick.
The business block on the south side of the square, which was subject to the ravages of the fire of January, 1909, was built more than thirty-five years before. The laying of the foundation of this block, according to an item of September, 1873 was commemorated with a salute of thirteen guns, one for each business house in the row. The salute was in charge of Colonel McBride, chief of the local artillery corps.
To those who have been familiar with the growth of buildings about the square, the following paragraph from the Democrat of May 13, 1884, will prove of some interest: The store room now occupied by T. K. Sherman & Son was the first brick business house in Sullivan. It was built by William Wilson. It has been remodeled for its present purposes, large plate glass windows put in, vestibules and side lights, and handsome walnut doors.
The passing of another landmark drew forth the following comment from Mr. Briggs in the issue of June 28, 1876: The old tavern on the corner of Section and Washington Streets is being torn down, the present proprietor, James B. Patten, intending to remodel the main building and to move off the attachments. At an early day this locality was a focus of business and trade. Mr. Gray had a store house on the opposite corner, and John Bridwell a store on the west side of Section Street, while the Bamberger Store was on the corner south. When we first knew the tavern Mr. Duffcy was proprietor, and it was then in its palmiest days. Afterwards it passed into the hands of Maguire, who opened a bar in the office, and later Squire Van Fossen conducted it semi-occasionally until within the last few years, when it failed to pay.
This corner was visited by fire in September, 1884, resulting in the destruction of the old house on the southwest corner and the warehouse of Crawley and McKinley. "If there was an older house in town than the two burned last Saturday night, we don't know where they are," remarked the Democrat. "Thirty years ago the dwelling was occupied by John S. Howard. The other was erected by the late Joseph Gray for a store house, and upstairs was located the Democrat office for the first two or three years of its existence. (Referring to the time when the Democrat was publishing in this old building, in an issue of 1890 the proprietor of the paper mentioned the use of the Washington hand press for printing, and said that copy for the paper was sometimes cut from an almanac. Mail was still carried on horseback from Merom, there were no sidewalks in town, and a polished boot or shoe was rarely seen. Except the courthouse, there were only two or three brick houses in the place.)
For over fifty years Barnett Saucerman followed the trade of gunsmith in Sullivan, and hunters came from miles around, bringing him their defective or broken firearms. With the tearing down of his old shop at the corner of broad and beech Streets, in the summer of 1901, passed a landmark that had stood for nearly forty years. A few days before the old shop was knocked to pieces the venerable gunsmith was photographed at the door of the shop, having a trusty old rifle on his knees. The proprietor of the gun shop died June 27, 1902, at the age of eighty-one. He was a native of Coshocton County, Ohio, had learned his trade as a boy, and came to Sullivan County in 1847, his first home being on a farm near Abbey Mill in Cass Township. He served in the 85th Indiana Infantry, and was with Sherman's Army in the campaign to the sea.
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 179-182.