By Paula Dunn
Well, we’ve come to the last township to be highlighted during the Bicentennial celebration. It’s time to test your knowledge of Clay Township history!
1. Who was Clay Township’s first settler?
2. Carmel/Clay Township is known for its roundabouts. When was the first roundabout built?
3. When Home Place was laid out as a new addition to Indianapolis in 1914, it effectively replaced a much older Clay Township community already in that area. What was the older community’s name?
4. What is early Clay Township settler Ezekiel Clampitt’s claim to fame?
5. What was Carmel originally called?
6. True or False — the first Quaker Meeting in Hamilton County was in Clay Township.
7. What was Eldorado?
8. From 1942 to 1989, Purdue University operated an experimental agricultural farm in Clay Township. What was the farm’s name and where was it?
9. Who was the first mayor of Carmel and when was he elected?
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And the answers . . .
1. That depends. The first permanent white settler was Francis McShane. McShane erected a cabin in southeast Clay Township in 1825.
HOWEVER, the county histories note that a member of the Delaware tribe, George Ketchum, and his family were already settled on Cool Creek when McShane initially arrived in 1824. Ketchum worked a farm just like his white neighbors until he decided to leave in 1831 to join the rest of his tribe in the west.
2. 1996. It was built by Brenwick Development Inc. as part of the Prairie View subdivision and was located at the intersection of Main Street and River Road.
The first roundabout constructed by the city of Carmel opened the following year at 126th Street and Hazel Dell Road.
3. Pleasant Grove. Pleasant Grove was a small farming community that dated…