Needmore, Vermillion County, Indiana

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Needmore
Map of Indiana highlighting Vermillion County.svg
Vermillion County's location in Indiana
Locator map of Vermillion County, Indiana.svg
Red pog.svg
Needmore
Needmore's location in Vermillion County
Coordinates: 39°37′08″N87°24′37″W / 39.61889°N 87.41028°W / 39.61889; -87.41028
Country United States
State Indiana
County Vermillion
Township Clinton
Elevation
[1]
505 ft (154 m)
Time zone UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
47842
Area code 765
GNIS feature ID 439975

Needmore is an unincorporated community in Clinton Township, Vermillion County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. [2]

Contents

History

Map of Clinton, Needmore and Rhodes, Indiana, in 1909 Clinton needmore and rhodes indiana.jpg
Map of Clinton, Needmore and Rhodes, Indiana, in 1909

Needmore was platted in 1904. [3] The community began as a mining camp. [4] The first mention of "Needmore" in the local Clinton newspaper was in October 1902, noting "the first child born in 'Needmore', the new town built just south of Clinton by moving the Geneva houses down there. Quite a number of families have moved in during the past week." [5] A grocery store opened in Needmore by November 1903. [6] By mid-1904, the place had three saloons, and the locals were complaining that they were open on Sundays. [7] The Dering Coal Company owned 31 houses in Needmore as of 1905. [8]

The mining camp atmosphere could be rowdy, and the local paper would run stories of the criminal mischief of its residents. [9] In October 1907, four saloons in Needmore had their liquor licenses revoked, following liquor violations. [10]

The Smith School south of Clinton was enlarged after Needmore was founded, and was used for a time before other area schools were enlarged. [11]

Officials from the state of Indiana estimated Needmore's population as 50 in 1913, with Edward Barrett stating that "very few counties have shown so great an increase in the number of its people within the last three or four years as the county of Vermillion, especially the southern townships of Clinton." He credited the rapid development of mines in the region, as well as an influx of capital from Chicago, as leading to the rapid increase in population. [12]

By the 1960s, Needmore's glory days were behind it, with one source noting that Needmore was "a coal town whose glory [...] lies in the past." [13] A 2003 article in the Bloomington Herald Times discussed the multiple "Needmore"s in Indiana, and described this one as follows: "not far from the Wabash River, tucked between cornfields and a gravel pit is an enclave of about five homes, with not so much as a sign to indicate that this is one of the state's three Needmores." Local residents admitted the community was by then "near to NoMore" than Needmore. [14]

Geography

Needmore is located at 39°37′08″N87°24′37″W / 39.61889°N 87.41028°W / 39.61889; -87.41028 , with the community platted in Section 34 of Clinton Township. [15]

See also

References

  1. "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Archived from the original on February 2, 2001. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  2. "Needmore, Vermillion County, Indiana". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior . Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  3. Baker, Ronald L. (October 1995). From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History . Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. p.  234. ISBN   978-0-253-32866-3 . Retrieved 2025-07-05. This village was platted in 1904.
  4. "Note". The Weekly Clintonian. Clinton, IN. 18 May 1906. Retrieved 2025-07-06. John Clinton, who conducted a saloon at the mining camp known as 'Needmore,' three miles south of the city ...
  5. "Some Small Ones". The Weekly Clintonian. Clinton, IN. 10 October 1902. p. 8.
  6. "Some Little Ones". The Weekly Clintonian. Clinton, IN. 6 November 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  7. "Voice from the Farmers". The Weekly Clintonian. Clinton, IN. 24 June 1904. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  8. "Breezy Brieflets". The Weekly Clintonian. Clinton, IN. 30 June 1905. Retrieved 2025-07-06. The Dering Coal Co. has added a room to their 31 houses at Needmore.
  9. "Hardin Tries to Use Knife But Gets "His"". The Weekly Clintonian. Clinton, IN. 31 October 1913. Retrieved 2025-07-06. Jim Hardin, fearful that the hilarious mining camp of Needmore would be forgotten and perhaps scratched off the county's geography...
  10. "Four Saloons Knocked Out". Newport Hoosier State. Newport, IN. Oct 23, 1907. p. 4. Retrieved 5 July 2025. Four saloon keepers, In the town of Needmore. a mining hamlet three miles south of Clinton, plead guilty before Justice Bob Quinn of Clinton last Wednesday to charges of liquor law violations. After fining them on these charges, the Justice revoked the license of each of them, all having been previously fined for law violations.[ permanent dead link ]
  11. Vermillion County Historical Society (1990). Vermillion County, Indiana History and Families. Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Company. p. 84. ISBN   0-938021-34-6 . Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  12. Barrett, Edward (1914). Annual Report of the State Geologist. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana Geological Survey, Department of Natural Resources. p. 73. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  13. Indiana Folklore. Vol. 2 and 3. Indiana University Research Center for the Language Sciences. 1969. p. 74. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  14. Ricketts, Mike (26 October 2003). "Do we need more Needmores?". The Herald-Times . Bloomington, IN. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  15. Standard Atlas of Vermillion County, Indiana. Chicago, IL: Geo. A. Ogle & Co. 1909. p. 33. Retrieved 2025-07-06.