Armanis F. Knotts | |
---|---|
Member of the IndianaHouseofRepresentatives from the Lake County and Jasper County district | |
In office 1898–1901 | |
Personal details | |
Born | January 29, 1856, or February 29, 1860 Highland County, Ohio |
Died | October 3, 1937 (aged 77) Yankeetown, Florida |
Resting place | Woodlawn Cemetery, Ocala, Florida |
Nationality | American |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Mary Hennessey |
Occupation | Lawyer |
Armanis F. Knotts (c. 1860-October 3, 1937), also called A.F. Knotts, was an American politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives and was instrumental in the foundings of both Gary, Indiana and Yankeetown, Florida.
Knotts was born in Highland County, Ohio on either February 29, 1860 [1] or January 29, 1856 [2] to Frank D. and Margaret (Bell) Knotts. His father was a farmer and carpenter from Pennsylvania, and his mother, a native of Ohio, was the daughter of an early Irish settler of Ohio. [1]
In 1868, the Knotts family moved to Indiana, settling in Medaryville in Pulaski County where he grew up working on the family farm and attending first the local district schools and then Valparaiso University. In 1870, his mother died, and his father married a woman named Jennie Yates. In 1884, Knotts married Mary Hennessey. In the lates 1880s, after spending several years teaching, Knotts enrolled in a law course at Valparaiso. During his studies, he was elected to be the county surveyor of Porter County. He held the office for eighteen months, from 1887 until 1888, then resigned after graduating from the law course.
In 1888, he moved to Hammond, Indiana, where he set up a law practice. [1] He quickly became involved in local politics, and was a strong supporter of the idea of giving Hammond a harbor on Wolf Lake to connect with Lake Michigan, earning the nickname "Harbor Knotts" for his zeal. [3]
He was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1898 as the joint representative of Lake and Jasper counties. [3] As a legislator, he ensured the passage of the Circuit Court bill, which elevated the Superior Court of Hammond to the same level as the Circuit Court, and provided for the building of a new Superior Court House in Hammond. [3] [4] He served one term and then was elected mayor of Hammond from 1902 to 1904. [4] While serving as mayor, he worked on bringing new industries into Hammond. [3] [4]
Armanis and his brother, Thomas Knotts, were also heavily involved in the development of the city of Gary, Indiana. [4] In 1905, the United States Steel Corporation decided to open a new plant in the Midwest, and chose the current site of Gary for its location. They hired Armanis to act as their lawyer, and he worked to purchase the land for the mill, acting surreptitiously so as not to drive up prices. [5] [6] Soon afterwards the Gary Land Company was set up in order to lay out the town and supervise its construction, with Knotts as its manager. [7]
In 1923, Knotts moved to Florida and founded the town of Yankeetown. [4]
In 1975, Armanis's nephew Eugene Knotts opened the A. F. Knotts Library in Yankeetown, Florida in honor of his uncle. [5]
Warrick County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 63,898. The county seat is Boonville. It was organized in 1813 and was named for Captain Jacob Warrick, an Indiana militia company commander killed in the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. It is one of the ten fastest-growing counties in Indiana.
Porter County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 173,215, making it the 10th most populous county in Indiana. The county seat is Valparaiso. The county is part of Northwest Indiana, as well as the Chicago metropolitan area. Porter County is the site of much of the Indiana Dunes, an area of ecological significance. The Hour Glass Museum in Ogden Dunes documents the region's ecological significance.
Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 2020, its population was 498,700, making it Indiana's second-most populous county. The county seat is Crown Point. The county is part of Northwest Indiana and the Chicago metropolitan area, and contains a mix of urban, suburban and rural areas. It is bordered on the north by Lake Michigan and contains a portion of the Indiana Dunes. It includes Marktown, Clayton Mark's planned worker community in East Chicago.
Yankeetown is a town in Levy County, Florida, United States. Its located in North Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. It is part of both the Big Bend Coast and the Nature Coast. In the 2020 census, the population was 588, up from 502 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Calumet River is a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region between the south side of Chicago, Illinois, and the city of Gary, Indiana. Historically, the Little Calumet River and the Grand Calumet River were one, the former flowing west from Indiana into Illinois, then turning back east to its mouth at Lake Michigan at Marquette Park in Gary. Now the system is part of the Chicago Area Waterway System and through the use of locks flows away from Lake Michigan to the Cal-Sag Channel.
The South Shore Line is an electrically powered interurban commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago, Illinois and the South Bend International Airport in South Bend, Indiana, United States. The name refers to both the physical line and the service operated over that route. The line was built in 1901–1908 by predecessors of the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which continues to operate freight service. Passenger operation was assumed by the NICTD in 1989, who also purchased the track in 1990. The South Shore Line is one of the last surviving interurban trains in the United States. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 1,406,900, or about 6,300 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2024.
Richard Gordon Hatcher was an American attorney and politician who served as the first African-American mayor of Gary, Indiana, for 20 years, from 1968 to 1988. At the time of his first election on November 7, 1967, he and Carl Stokes were the first African Americans to be elected mayors of a U.S. city with more than 100,000 people. Hatcher also served as Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee in the early 1980s.
Thomas Matthew McDermott Jr. is an American attorney and politician from the state of Indiana serving as the 20th mayor of Hammond, Indiana. He took office on January 1, 2004, the first elected government office he has held. He is a member of the Democratic Party. After winning the general election in November 2015 for a fourth term, McDermott became the longest-serving mayor in Hammond's history. He was elected to a sixth term in 2023.
Northwest Indiana, nicknamed The Region after the Calumet Region, is an unofficial region of northern Indiana, United States that is located at the northwestern corner of the state. Though there is no official definition of the region, it is based on the Gary, Indiana Metropolitan Division, which comprises Jasper, Lake, Porter and Newton counties in Indiana, and the Michigan City-La Porte, IN Metropolitan Statistic Area, which comprises LaPorte, with unofficial definitions also including Starke and Pulaski counties. This region neighbors Lake Michigan and parts of it are in the Chicago metropolitan area. According to the 2020 Census, the largest definition of Northwest Indiana has a population of 866,965 and is the state's second largest urban area after the Indianapolis Metropolitan Area. It is also the home of the Indiana Dunes, parts of which have been preserved through conservation efforts. The town of Ogden Dunes houses the Hour Glass, a museum showcasing the ecological and conservation efforts of O. D. Frank.
The Diocese of Gary is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in northwest Indiana in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
Northern Indiana is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern third of the U.S. state of Indiana and borders the states of Illinois to the west, Michigan to the north, and Ohio to the east. Spanning the state's northernmost 26 counties, its main population centers include Northwest Indiana, Michiana, and the Fort Wayne metropolitan area.
Warren Armstrong Haggott was a U.S. Representative from Colorado.
North Township is one of 11 townships in Lake County, Indiana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 162,855 and it contained 67,828 housing units.
Indiana law authorizes ten land-based or riverboat casinos on Lake Michigan and the Ohio River, one land-based casino in French Lick, and racinos at the state's two horse tracks. In addition, there is one Indian casino in the state. Other forms of legal gambling are the Hoosier Lottery, parimutuel wagering on horse races, and sports betting.
Jon Ernest DeGuilio is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
Thomas Elwood Knotts (1861–1921) was the first mayor of the city of Gary, Indiana, serving from 1909 to 1913, after having previously served as head of the Gary town board from 1906 to 1909. He was also Gary's first postmaster. His business ventures included the Gary Evening Post, later merged into the Gary Post-Tribune, and the Gary Trust & Savings Bank, both of which he founded in 1909.
Lawrence Becker was an Indiana lawyer and judge who served as Solicitor of the United States Treasury.
Floyd S. Draper was a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from January 2, 1951 to January 10, 1955.
Francis E. Lambert was a politician, lawyer and educator from Indiana. He was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives from 1895 to 1898.
Armanis F. Knotts.