Yorktown/Mt. Pleasant Historical Alliance and Museum

Yorktown Map 1851

This map shows the plat of Yorktown, Indiana with the river flowing north, along the edge of the town. In the 1890’s, a large flood changed the course of the river. The river moved its course north of the town, following a horseracing track that was dug, sod removed, sometime earlier in our history. Buck Creek followed the old course of the river to its new confluence of White River.

The description from A Comprehensive Look at the People and History of Delaware County, Indiana, W.P.A. 1935 locates the track on the north side of the river. White River now flows along the edge of the current Morrow’s Meadow. Becky Sears Monroe noted that some of the property descriptions along Canal Street name the edge of the property as the middle of the White River. That water course is now filled by Buck Creek.

1787 Northwest Territory Established

The Northwest Territory was established by the Northwest Ordinance on lands that that later became Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota.   The territory marked the the nation’s first post-colonial organized territory. The territory ceased to exist on March 1, 1803 when other territories were made from the land it contained.

At first, the land in the Territory was absorbed first into Indiana Territory and Ohio. Indiana territory was much larger than the state of Indiana today. Indiana Territory existed from July 4, 1800, to December 11, 1816, ending when Indiana became a state.

Map of the Northwest Territory 1787

 Book: Charles Kendall Adams, A History of the United States (Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1909) pg 189; Map Credit: Courtesy the private collection of Roy Winkelman

History of the Northwest Territory Divisions

Map Courtesy of: Indiana History Blog, (blog.history.in.gov)