Allen County, Indiana Genealogy

See also Roads in Allen County, Indiana

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - The Story of Clinton Street - Through Trafficway - Chapter 1

Article from May 5, 1923 The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1923, Clinton street, Building fort wayne

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - The Story of Clinton Street - Through Trafficway - Chapter 1 The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Satuday, May 5, 1923, Page 18.

BUILDING FORT WAYNE THE STORY OF CLINTON STREET

"Visionary Narrative" Holds Many Suggestions for Improving Thoroughfare.

THROUGH TRAFFICWAY

CHAPTER I.

While motoring down from Michigan, during the summer of 19-- they caught a glimpse of many beautiful lakes they traveled, from hill top to hill top, through Steuben county-- for indeed is Steuben a county of lakes. On south through Dekalb county and into Allen county, over well paved highway and past fine farms and through attractive, little cities and towns, the travelers sped their way. They did not realize that they were coming into a great city, for they were strangers to these parts, until they reached the intersection of Leo road and Clinton street.

Here, contended the strangers, is an entranceway to a great city. For, here is a trianguarly shaped public park, bounded by three avenues, and in it stands a community house. The building to which the strangers referred had originally been used as a dwelling house, and, naturally, it was well adapted to community house purposes; and, being "an old timer," was, like antique furniture, well built and of good design. There was also another house standing in the park, which was being used as a dwelling place for one of the park superintendents of the city: in fact, whole arrangement, while intensely practical, was unmistakably that of a beautiful gateway to a great city-which always lend dignity to cities and attractiveness to the districts in which they are situated.

The driver stopped the car and the touring party alighted and went into the community house; where, while sipping a cup of tea, they learned much from the caretaker about the little triangular park and the great highways that border it. He told about the "Old Penn House" being converted into this comfortable community house; and, after inviting the touring party out the south veranda where they all found comfortable seats, he began to tell the story of the transformation of Clinton street. But he told it not in the simple manner of a caretaker but rather after the fashion of an orator, for these were his words:

Leo Road to Spy Run Avenue.

"Ladies and Gentlemen: Behold Fort Wayne's greatest trafficway. Its name is Clinton street. It runs from the Leo road on the north, through the very heart of Fort Wayne, to the Decatur road on the south, a distance of five miles. But first of all, my friends, let me here now relate the transformation of only so much of this wonderful highway as you and I can survey from this veranda.

"Only a few years ago the northern section of Clinton street, and, in the main, this residential district, was one of the ugly spots in Fort Wayne. The highway itself was only 50 feet wide it was burdened with double track, and the automobile traffic or it, particularly during the season of the year when Fort Wayne folk motor to and from the lakes in Steuben county, was greatly congested: here and there was a short atretch of sidewalks but for long distances, on this section of Clinton streets there was no sidewalks at all. On the west of the street stood a huge billboard, which not only contributed to the ugliness of the street but hid from view a beautiful landscape. Then, too this residential district, while only a mile and a half from the court house, might as well have been outside the city limits. so far as complete municipal improvements were concerned.

"But, my friends." continued the orator, "amid these ugly surroundings stood Oak Knoll, one of the nicest little neighborhood districts in all Fort Wayne; and, then as now, just to the east flowed the beautiful Saint Joseph river, and just to the west ran the picturesque Spy Run creek. In fact, few territories in Fort Wayne offered greater possibilities for utilitarian and esthetic improvement, with resulting increases in real estate values, than did the residential district of this neighborhood.

"But, back in 1923, a branch of the Clinton street association took up work of improving this territory, with the result that we now here behold a magnificent highway and a high-class residential district. At this point, Clinton street now has a roadway 52 feet wide, from curb to curb, with a grass plot on either side of it seven feet wide and a sidewalk inside of the grass plot five feet wide, making the total width of the high way, from property line to property line, 76 feet. The superior character of the houses once peculiar to Oak Knoll, are now found throughout this entire territory, and real estate in this neighborhood is now worth four times as much as it was before this part of Clinton street was widened and the improvements made which naturally followed the widening of the street.

"Thus, my friends, was this part of Fort Wayne's greatest trafficway secured; and that, too, free and without cost to the general taxpayer, and with resulting profit to those who donated the land needed for the widening of this section of Clinton street."

Spy Run Avenue at Spy Run Creek.

The care-taker then suggested that the touring party, with himself as

*********************

CLINTON STREET

Dotted areas indicate land to be acquired for little parka.

Dotted lines indicate where building lines should be established to bring about ultimate widening of Clinton street.

Heavy lines indicate where Clinton street should be widened immediately.

*********************

guide, sight-seeing trip along Clinton street; and, allagreeing, the crowd was soon on its way.

When the party reached the intersection of Spy Run avenue and Clinton street, guide explained that at this point the west line of Clinton street had been straightened: also he explained that while Clinton street, from the Leo road south to this intersection, had been actually widened at one stroke, the widening of the street on south to Spy Run had been brought about, gradually, by the establishment of a building line; and he gave the reasons, which were many and substantial, why it was considered back in 1923, imperative to actually widen those stretches of Clinton street which were only sparsely built up while only providing by means of a building line, for the ultimate widening of those stretches of Clinton street, in residential districts, which were solidly built up.

At the little bridge that crosses Spy Run creek, where the driver stopped the car, the members of the party fairly marveled at the beauty of "Spy Run parkway." The guide explained that the twin driven, one on each aldo of the creek, followed the general course of the stream, in, long graceful curves, for a distance of about three miles, linking together Lawton park and Vesey park, and Franke park, and connecting Clinton street with the Lincoln highway. He brought the fact that this parkway was acquired by the city without the cost to the general taxpayer, and that benefits to the land abutting theron exceeded the parkway assesaments made against this land by at least tenfold. He pointed to the homes along this stretch of the parkway and assured his auditors that similarly nice homes lined the parkway, from park to public park, throughout its entire course.

From Creek to River.

The guide then, while pointing to the southeast, related how ugly the banks of the creek, from bridge that crosses it at Clinton street to the bridge that crosses it at Elizabeth street, were in 1923, and how his stretch of Spy Run creek frontage had been transformed into the beauty spot that lay before their eyes; and, as they started on, he described to the members of his party the transformation which had been brought about in the appearance of the city waterworks station; he said that that dignifled looking station, which they were just then passing, had been, only, as late as 1923, as ugly as a coal-dock. The long stretch from this water-works station south to the Clinton street bridge across the Saint Mary's river, with Lawton park on east aide, and the right-of-way of the New York Central railroad company on the west side, was an interesting part of the Clinton street sight-seeing trip, for here was brought forcefully to the attention the tourists two of Fort Wayne's most distinctive features--railroads and parks.

Also, the strangers found interest in the fact that that long strip of Clinton street had been widened, from 50 feet to 76 feet, by simply taking 26 feet off of Lawton park.

As the tourists approached the Saint Mary's river, the scene that was unfolded to their eyes was marvelously beautiful; and yet all so democratic, all so unpretentious. Here was a dignified bridge, as broad as the great trafficway itself, but of simple designs, for the engineer and the architect who collaborated in planning it knew the art of economic, as well as the art of esthetic bridge designing. Here, on either side of the river was a walk and a bicycle path and a roadway; trees and shrubbery, with here and there a settee, provided shade and beauty and comfort for those who had come to the city's down park to rest and refresh themselves; canoes and launches and rowboats played up and down the stream; bathers were sporting in the waters of the river, for the draining of the city's sewage into this stream had long since been stopped; and, at this game and that game, hundreds of Fort Wayne people, young and old, were at play up and down "Saint Mary's parkway."

While the members of the touring party were standing in the east look-out of the Clinton street bridge, watching Spy Run creek flow into the Saint Mary's river, they overheard two little girls vieing with one another in reciting this stanza from Tennyson's poem, entitled,

"The Brook:" "I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever."

"That tells the story," said the guide, and continuing he said: "It was, only after the people of Fort Wayne came to realize that measures and not men are the important considerations in municipal government that Fort Wayne's civic problems - river improvement, flood prevention, track elevation, street traffic congestion, and the like were solved. Men come and men go but Fort Wayne will be here hundreds of years from now, and her civic betterments, to a reasonable degree, should be planned and constructed with that thought in mind, rather than in the manner best calculated to serve the political interests of those who happen to be temporarily in control of the municipal government."

The guide then told the members of the touring party that as late as 1923, the Saint Mary's river, throughout the entire city of Fort Wayne, was a dirty, nasty, foul, sewage polluted stream; and that, in the downtown business district, Clinton street was then nothing more nor less than one of the back streets of the city, burdened with an unnecessary street car line and blocked with railroad tracks and congested with automobile traffic.

"But my friends," said the "it is getting late and therefore I guide, suggest that we postpone our trip over the remaining part of Clinton street, which I promise you will be interesting until next Wednesday." The membera of the touring party agreed, the driver stepped on the gas, and they all started back to the community house.

(To -Be Continued.).

Still need to transcribe text at a later date.

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - The Chronicle of Clinton St. - Chapter II

Article from May 10, 1923 The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1923, Clinton street, Building fort wayne

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - The Chronicle of Clinton St. - Chapter II The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Thursday, May 10, 1923, Page 13.

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - The Story of Clinton Street - Chapter 3 - Rail Crossings Block Traffic

Article from May 12, 1923 The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1923, Building fort wayne, Clinton street, Rail crossings

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - The Story of Clinton Street - Chapter 3 - Rail Crossings Block Traffic The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Saturday, May 12, 1923, Page 15.

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - Clinton Street Tour Continues - Widening Accomplished - Chapter IV

Article from May 16, 1923 The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1923, Building fort wayne, Clinton street

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - Clinton Street Tour Continues - Widening Accomplished - Chapter IV The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Wednesday, May 16, 1923, Page 11.

1923 - Building Fort Wayne -The Story of Clinton Street - Chapter V

Article from May 19, 1923 The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1923, Building fort wayne, Clinton street

1923 - Building Fort Wayne -The Story of Clinton Street - Chapter V The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Saturday, May 19, 1923, Page 13.

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - Where Clinton Might Be Widened - Roads City Interdependent - Chap VI

Article from May 23, 1923 The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1923, Clinton street, Building fort wayne

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - Where Clinton Might Be Widened - Roads City Interdependent - Chap VI The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Wednesday, May 23, 1923, Page 13.

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - How Clinton Was Widened - An Invitation for Track Elevation - Chapt VII

Article from May 26, 1923 The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1923, Building fort wayne, Tract elevation, Clinton street

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - How Clinton Was Widened - An Invitation for Track Elevation - Chapt VII The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Saturday, May 26, 1923, Page 17

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - Clinton Street Narrative Ends - Chapter VIII

Article from May 30, 1923 The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 1923, Building fort wayne, Clinton street

1923 - Building Fort Wayne - Clinton Street Narrative Ends - Chapter VIII The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Wednesday, May 30, 1923, Page 9.

Back to top