New Carlisle has received a lot of attention lately. The town on the northwest side of St. Joseph County is on the edge of technology while trying to maintain the charm of family farms and small businesses.
It has 2,000 residents and a lively main street with many Victorian-era homes. And in the center of the Michigan Street block, there is a museum that is working to maintain the character of the community.
Another small town? What sets it off? Through its history, New Carlisle has had a racetrack, a hotel, an opera house and several interesting persons — a future vice president and a circus performer who gave the town its name.
Back a few years before AI, a delay in traffic near the town was a combine or corn picker. Now, it is heavy construction equipment along Indiana 2 for all the Amazon data center buildings.
Data centers aside, let’s hear about another project. A smaller and quieter project was completed recently.
New Carlisle put the finishing touches on a park named for Schuyler Colfax. He lived there as a child and helped in his stepfather’s store. Later, he moved to South Bend. He later became a newspaperman and politician. He served as speaker of the House and later as vice president for Ulysses S. Grant.
He was very popular and was a staunch anti-slavery advocate. Things came unglued when he was linked to a railroad kickback scheme when he was in the House. He denied everything, but there was some evidence. Colfax left public service. He moved to South Bend and became a popular speaker, often talking about his friendship with Abraham Lincoln.
He died of a heart attack at the age of 61 in 1885.
Back to the park. New Carlisle’s Colfax Park is a small lot on Cherry and Front streets. It is the site of the former First United Methodist Church, which was demolished in 2024.
The demolished building was 165 years old and a hazard. A new church was built on Timothy Road in 1964. Another congregation had taken over but could not maintain it. The old church had to come down.
Now there is a park with a gazebo, the church bell, benches and an educational kiosk on the life of Colfax.
Dana Groves, director of Historic New Carlisle, said the bell from the first church was salvaged and is on the site. A stained glass window also was saved and is now in the museum.
History and artifacts need to be cared for.
Dana said the park and the Historic New Carlisle museum are examples of maintaining the spirit of the small town with business, school, Hudson Lake ballroom and church photos. There are memorabilia items such as New Carlisle’s tiger mascot from the 1950s, a school sweater, and a new display on the Black Cat bowling alley’s anniversary.
An educational exhibit explains the life of Richard Risley Carlisle, who purchased the land in 1835 from Lazarus Bourissa, a Potawatomi trader. The streets were plotted and Carlisle named them after streets in Philadelphia, a city he called home for a few years.
The success of New Carlisle was determined by the railroad coming through in 1852.
“We didn’t know much about him (Carlisle) until John Kovach, archivist at Saint Mary’s College, began to dig,” Dana said. “We think he deserves a movie. We think Johnny Depp would make a good Richard Carlisle.”
Carlisle was a circus performer, acrobat, world traveler, bounty hunter and entrepreneur. According to a cemetery website in Philadelphia, where he is buried, he lived in Indiana for three years.
Johnny Depp — nice idea.
As for the museum, it is 112 E. Michigan St. It is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 10 am. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. The building was formerly Miller’s Home Café.
The museum offers monthly talks and events such as “Hoosier Inventors” presented by LaPorte historian Bruce Johnson at 7 p.m. July 16, and “New Carlisle, Mich?” by Aaron Helman at 7 p.m. Aug. 20.
Back to the museum info. This is the third location, beginning with another town building and later at the Old Republic. The Jeremiah Service House (Old Republic) is an 1860 Italianate-style home. It served as a museum and community event space.
The Old Republic was put on Indiana’s endangered buildings list and was restored. It is now in private hands.
Back to 1989, the O.R. was known as the house that was featured in the movie “Prancer” as Cloris Leachman’s home.
Dana is a full-fledged New Carlisle resident — born and raised. She has been with Historic New Carlisle since 2004.
To her, the town is special for the way the many historic aspects mesh together and is worth a visit. “Who would think that Carlisle and Colfax would be here? The connections to Lincoln — all are interesting.”
Dana has another interesting story about Elias “Lucky” Baldwin. Lucky was believed to be a friend of the young Colfax. “Lucky left for California and made his fortune as a businessman and a builder. He was the founder of Santa Anita Racetrack. The Baldwin home [in California] was the site of the opening of ‘Fantasy Island.’”
The question is, who will play Lucky in the movie?
Contact Kathy at kfborlik@yahoo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: New Carlisle dedicates park to Schuyler Colfax, Grant’s vice president
Reporting by Kathy Borlik, Columnist / South Bend Tribune
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By Kathy Borlik, Columnist | USA TODAY Network
