History of Aboite (Abort) Township
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History of Aboite (Abort) Township Karl R. LaPan Quest Club November 5, 2004 While researching the history of Aboite Township from its pioneer roots to the modern day, I was struck by a grisly realization: there's a great deal of scalping going on at both ends of the timeline! In the settlement days, these involuntary tonsures were administered by local Indians; in modern Aboite days, the tonsorial tomahawks have been wielded by the volunteers for Aboite, politicians, courts and developers. The results are much the same in both cases. The scalpees—the residents of Aboite Township—are left with painful, and potentially permanent, headaches! In the interest of full disclosure, I admit to a personal interest in Aboite Township. My family and I live here and love it. For over ten years, we've enjoyed the excellent school system, the family-oriented atmosphere, the convenience of shopping, the proximity of interstate and air travel, and the easy access to all the amenities of "big city" life at affordable Hoosier prices: convenient access to museums, libraries, theaters, recreation, and restaurants both fine and fast. Aside from the widely publicized "rust- colored, foul-smelling Aboite orange Faygo pop" water as so affably named by former Mayor Paul Helmke, Aboite is a good place to live and work. A history, according to Webster's dictionary, is "a chronological record of events, as of the life or development of a people, place or institution, often including an explanation of or commentary on those events." That is my intent here: to discuss key events in the life and development of Aboite Township, and to make commentary on those events—both in the context of history, and in relation to the challenges and imperatives of the modern era. Speaking of the Aboite area, Thomas Castaldi, Allen County historian, put it this way: It seems to me that here's this place where...you get your mental arms around it and see where we have been so we can see where we are going, but also see and appreciate what people did before we came along to make our lives what they are today.1 Consider this paper a short historical didactic of some of the pivotal events shaping Aboite. It's impossible to capture the rich and varied culture of the community and the unique character of Aboite Township in such a brief paper. Instead, I will try to provoke some thinking, some understanding, and some historical context by focusing on the early area settlers of the nineteenth century. Throughout this paper, we will rewind to the past for anchoring and grounding, and then fast forward to the present to find relevance and context. Given the recent election, it seems appropriate to overlay and juxtapose some of the development of the township in the context of state and national politics. Let me preface these comments with the following: I have no current political ambitions to run for political office; therefore my comments should not be construed as endorsing any candidate or any particular political governmental unit structure, and I am neither a right-wing Republican nor a liberal Democrat. I am an ordinary citizen trying to make sense of the political process, the means of governing, the ramifications of being governed, and our own personal accountability in the governance process. The second half of this paper will focus on the intention of Aboite to "create economic development" and on the Township's strategy for land use, its physical assets and planning infrastructure in the twenty-first century. With that being said, let's proceed. So what is a township anyway? This was really the first question I posed to myself. I wasn't sure I could distinguish the significance between a township and a city. In fact, township government is the oldest form of American government, and it continues to function in much the same way today as it did when it first began in 1636.2 By the late 1990s, there were 16,656 towns and townships spread across the nation and this form-of-government is "rooted in rural and small town traditions that spawned such ideas as the town meeting and the election of citizens to individual offices and boards."3 But how are townships organized and what functions do they perform? Townships and counties are statutory units of government, having only those powers expressly provided by state law. Cities are vested with home rule powers, meaning they can do almost anything not prohibited by law.4 Townships perform both mandated functions, which they are required to do, and permissive functions, which they may do as they choose. Mandated functions include: property assessments, elections, and tax collection. These mandated functions are performed by, respectively, township supervisors, clerks, and treasurers. In addition, townships fund fire protection, emergency services, conduct burials for the poor, provide poor relief for the impoverished and perform maintenance of parks and cemeteries. Permissive functions are narrower and include such functions as procedures for the township's financial administration, township meetings, and powers to enact and enforce ordinances. 5 6 They are the province of township trustees. (Pop quiz: Who is the current Aboite Township trustee? Most probably would not know that her name is Barbara Krisher.) Indiana became a state and framed its first constitution in 1816. The state constitution was rewritten in 1851, defining the state's current political divisions: 92 counties, 566 cities and towns and 1,008 townships. Allen County has 20 of those townships, 5 of which account for 82% of the county's population.7 This is more than any other Indiana county other than LaPorte. However, it should be recognized that "each Indiana county is divided into a number of civil townships, essentially based upon the geographic townships created under the Northwest Territory Ordinance of 1788- they were defined even before statehood in Indiana.8 Indiana is not alone in its preference for the township form of local government, tn fact, 20 states—6 in New England, 3 in the Mid-Atlantic, and 11 in the Midwest—have townships. These 20 states have, on average, 833 townships each.9 Of the 20 states with townships, only Indiana does not have a provision for the dissolution of fully incorporated townships. If we did, over 10% of the townships in Indiana would be dissolved. In 1851, Indiana was one of 31 states. The price of milk was 13 cents a gallon and bread was 9 cents a loaf.10 Today, milk and gas are both around $2 a gallon, and fresh-baked bread is a $1 a loaf. Even so, the current cost of dietary staples pales in comparison to the cost of state and focal government. To put governmental appropriations and expenditures in perspective, based on 2002 data, appropriations in the state of Indiana by level of government were as follows: $4.2 billion was disbursed: 48.2% by counties, 45.1% by municipalities, and 6.7% by townships.11 The controversial Indiana Chamber's Efficient Local Government Study concluded that local government hasn't changed much in the last 153 years or so. I think it is obvious to most that we've been tinkering and reengineering government for a long time without great success in adapting government to fit contemporary societal needs, to confront economic challenges, and seize opportunities. It feels as if we always put structural issues before strategy considerations. Good organizational design and execution necessitates that strategy always precedes structure. David Rusk, in his book Cities Without Suburbs, characterized this form of government and foreshadowed the challenge we face in Fort Wayne and Allen County today. Whatever townships' value in civilizing the 19th century frontier, for the 21st century, the overall effect is the atomization of local government. With 2,745 local general governments, for example, Minnesota has one government for every 1,800 residents...Township states contain most of the most radically and economically segregated metro areas in the nation, and local communities' ability to compete economically is constantly constrained by the absence of government structures to pull together regional resources.12 Now that we know a bit about townships and their place in the general scheme of things, let's get specific about Aboite. Modern-day Aboite Township is bounded on the north by Lake Township, east by Wayne Township, south by Pleasant Township, and west by Whitley and Huntington County. It encompasses almost 35 square miles. Aboite Township spans from County Line Road on the west side to Bass Road on the north side. There are no buildings or roads to define the east (Greenlawn Cemetery) and south boundaries (across the Wabash railroad). The community of Aboite is located in western Allen County on the Aboite and Lafayette townships line. Boundaries were set in 1836 by the Board of County Commissioners.13 Some say that Aboite gets its name from the Little Aboite River that runs from north to south through the township. In French treaties of the time, the river is referred to as "a bouette," which, in loosely-translated 18th century French, meant "Minnow River," or more literally, "bait river." As the story goes, "a bouette" was then corrupted by the Indians and trappers into the name Aboite.14 This may, however, be an early case of "urban legend." A recent article in The Journal Gazette dated September 7, 2004, states, No one seems to know where the name Aboite came from. County historian Thomas E. Castaldi, said it could've come from the French word "abattoir" meaning "slaughter house"- in recognition of an 18th century French-Indian battle that may or may not have taken place near Aboite [where the French were overwhelmingly slaughtered.] Or the name might have come from the French word "bouette", meaning bait for fishing or the French word, "boite", denoting a box or container conceivably holding fish [in fact, local residents say that Native Americans captured fish by trapping them in the low level wetlands spaces.] 15 16 Suffice it to say, I'll leave it to the Historians and history books to haggle over the details.