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A Short History of Early Crawford County
Leavenworth, on the Ohio River, was
established in 1814 and became a major
shipping port. Most of the county depended
on the merchants at Leavenworth for essential
goods from the outside world. Shortly thereafter,
Indiana achieved statehood in 1816.
In January of 1818, Martin Tucker presented
a bill to the General Assembly at Corydon to
admit Crawford County. The name Crawford
was selected based on the reputation of William
H. Crawford, a friend of George Washington.
The bill passed and was signed by the governor
on the 29th of January. The act was to take
effect on March 1, 1818. Crawford County
was formed from parts of Harrison, Orange,
and Perry counties.
Some of Crawford County’s early settlers
were John Peckinpaugh, Elias Tadlock, Martin
From the Aaron Atz collection.
By Richard Eastridge
Crawford County Historian
Tucker, Thomas Stroud, John Ruth, Henry
Hollowell, Nenion Haskins, Issac Kellems, Gory
Jones, the Wiseman family, Issac Eastridge, and
many more.
Seth and Zebulon Leavenworth built a
dam and mill across the Blue River at Milltown
in 1821, which contributed greatly to the
development of that part of the county. The
mill was heavily damaged by flooding and was
razed in 1959.
It was decided that Mt. Sterling would
be the county seat. A courthouse was built
along with a jail and lots were sold with the
proceeds to go to the county library. Because
of a shortage of water in the county, the county
seat was moved to Fredonia in 1822. Allan
Thom constructed a two-story brick building
that he gave to the county along with 50 acres
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