Monument City is a former settlement in Huntington County, Indiana.
Located at the current site of the Salamonie Reservoir in southern Huntington County, the parking area to view the remains of Monument City is located near the coordinates 40°45’49.45″ N 85°35’31.64” W. Monument City was covered by the damming up of the Salamonie River to create Salamonie Lake in 1965. When the reservoir is low, remains are visible. [1] Former residents are now scattered throughout Huntington and the surrounding counties, although many have died since the destruction of the town.
The cemetery (Monument City Memorial Cemetery) that existed in the town was relocated to a different area of Polk township and is still in use and open to those who wish to visit it. [2] The cemetery includes the original monument that the city was named for, listing those from Polk Township who lost their lives in the Civil War. [3]
The site of the former Monument City came into view again during the severe drought of 2012, as reported in an article by Jill Disis in the Indianapolis Star for Sunday, July 22, 2012. [4] The article reported that, by late July, the Salamonie Reservoir's water level was so low that tourists and other curious visitors were able to walk among the foundations of houses and a school. Later that same day, Indiana's Department of Natural Resources announced that the site would be closed to further visits.
The town was memorialized in 1981 with the publication of poet Jared Carter’s prizewinning first book, Work, for the Night Is Coming, which contained the 28-line poem “Monument City". [5] It is the second in a series of eight poems in Carter’s “reservoir saga” and is preceded in the same volume by “The Undertaker” and followed in Carter’s second book by “Mississinewa Reservoir at Winter Pool". [6]
In such poems, Carter conflates the actual Mississinewa, Salamonie, and Wabash Rivers (and their respective reservoirs) into the imaginary Mississinewa River that flows through his equally imaginary Mississinewa County, in order to create the single reservoir located in that county.
In an interview conducted in 1995, he explains the background of the poems and discusses his visits as a journalist to the actual Monument City and other small towns that were displaced by the three dam-building projects in northeastern Indiana in the early 1960s. [7]
Huntington County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. According to the 2020 United States Census, the population was 36,662. The county seat is Huntington.
Gas City is a city in Grant County, Indiana, along the Mississinewa River. The population was 5,965 at the 2010 census.
Huntington, known as the "Lime City", is the largest city in and the county seat of Huntington County, Indiana, United States. It is in Huntington and Union townships. It is also part of Fort Wayne, Indiana's metropolitan area. The population was 17,022 at the 2020 census.
Warren is a town in Salamonie Township, Huntington County, Indiana. The population of Warren was 1,182 at the time of the 2020 census.
The Mississinewa River is a tributary of the Wabash River in eastern Indiana and a small portion of western Ohio in the United States. It is 120 miles (190 km) long and is the third largest tributary behind the White and Little Wabash Rivers, only slightly larger than the Embarras and Vermilion Rivers. Via the Wabash and Ohio rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed.
Jared Carter is an American poet and editor.
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Huntington Township is one of twelve townships in Huntington County, Indiana. As of the 2020 census, its population was 20,326, making it the most populous township in the county.
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Liberty Township is one of nine townships in Wells County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 1,086 and it contained 438 housing units.
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Frances Slocum State Forest is 516 acres of natural land managed by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Some activities at Frances Slocum State Forest include hiking, fishing, hunting and horseback riding trails.
Coordinates: 40°45′49.45″N85°35′31.64″W / 40.7637361°N 85.5921222°W