The Eller Chronicles

West Liberty: Gone But Not Forgotten

Back when Fishers was known as "Mudsock" and Ben Hur was a thriving park on the South bank of White-River, a settlement existed in Delaware Township by the name of West Liberty.

In its day West Liberty included a church, a school, a grocery store, a blacksmith's shop, a cluster of farm residences, and a race track once rumored as a likely location for Indiana's State Fair. Today only three of the original structures remain. The Marion Leatherman farm home is still standing near the Allisonville Road and 106th Street intersection as is the home of John Neiman, the area's blacksmith. Old District School No. 8 has meanwhile been converted into a private residence.

The race track with its colorful sulkies has long since been replaced by Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport, and a nursery occupies the premises near the church site, a three cornered plot where Willow Road comes north from the county line;

In its l00-year-old history the brick school building has served various roles. Stories are legion regarding this familiar landmark, particularly during the 1940s when it was a chicken dinner place operated by Paul and Virginia Brown. One anecdote concerned two Noblesville attorneys. Disappointed to find the popular eating spot had closed for the evening, the two proceeded to kick out the panels of the establishment's front door.

JOHN THOMPSON, West Liberty's grocer, is shown seated on the porch of the Marion Leatherman home in this early photograph provided by Leatherman's granddaughter, Mrs. John R. Jones, Indianapolis, nee Marian Castetter. Leatherman descendants still living in Hamilton County include Mrs. Jones' daughter, Merry Ann Dodd (Mrs. Kenneth); grandchildren, Kathryn Wyant (Mrs. Dennis F.), Debbie, Mark, Christine, John, Tom, and David Dodd; and great-grandchildren, Leigh Ann and Michael Dodd, and Jennifer Lynn Wyant. Mrs. Jones' son, John R. Jones, Jr., lives in Marion County.

"Anybody within walking distance was a part of West Liberty," recalls Mrs. John R. Jones, Indianapolis, whose grandfather, Marion Leatherman was one of the area's early settlers. The Lcaiherman's spacious yellow poplar frame home, constructed in 1877 was a show place in it's time and a convenient focus for West Liberty activities. Neighbors got together for winter sledding, school and church events, or, as was frequently the case, just dropped in. "Doors were never locked in those days," Mrs. Jones remembers.

The community's name may have derived from the Quaker church which crowned the hill, but historians think otherwise. The name preceded the church's construction, they believe. Just how or when West Liberty acquired its name is for the time being undetermined. Mrs. Jones recalls no stories as to its origin. Nor do other longtime residents.

Many American towns established during the 19th century were named Liberty, testimony perhaps to the patriotic fervor of the times. Moving West, settlers commonly applied popular or familiar names to new surroundings. Since a Liberty, Indiana already existed near the Ohio border,

The Quaker church was another matter. Founded in 1896 as a preparative meeting under the guidance of the larger monthly meeting at Carmel, it survived until World War I and no longer. The West Liberty Friends Church was discontinued or, in the more picturesque church terminology "laid down" in 1917 or soon afterwards. Willard Heiss's book, "A List Of All The Friends Meetings That Exist Or Ever Have Existed In Indiana," refers to it simply as a mission church, "1896-circa 1920, location unknown, probably Marion County"

Hamilton County records show that the church property. a rectangular section 75 by 135 feet, was deeded Carmal Monthly Meeting proviso that if religious worship or Sunday services ceased for a period of five years the property would revert to the owner or his heirs. Such quit claim was executed by the trustees at Carmel in 1923, giving credence, according to Quaker authorities, to the church's 1917 or 1918 demise.

NO LONGER standing, the out-buildings of the Leatherman farm included a smoke house and two barns, shown in the photographs The historic barn at right was given to Conner Prairie Pioneer Setiement in 1975.

West Liberty's congregation, small in numbers, was apparently large in commitment. A report to the Carmel Monthly Meeting in 1907 refers to its "18 active members and five dedicated families." Among these were many names long associated with Delaware Township history - the Leathermans, the Overbys, the Guilkeys, the Thompsons, the Whitesells, and U.F. (Union Forever) Eller, whose name, now legendary in Hamilton county, reflected his parents' political sentiments if not his own. Members also came by horse and buggy from as far away as Castleton. Marion Leatherman, as his granddaughter remembers, moved his fences back for the convenience of churchgoers coming north from Marion County along what is now Willow Road. But all their enthusiasm could not sustain the small white frame church indefinitely. With diminishing numbers,,, the church was forced to close its door.

Delaware Township in 1978 displays few traces of its once small and self-sustaining comunities. New settlements of the subdivision variety have sprung up with populations far larger than the earlier settlements such as New Britton and Fishers Station, the town's official title prior to 1915. The names as well as the houses are contemporary: Sunblest 1, 11, and 111, Lynnwood Hills, Willow Crest, Cottingham Estates, Connerwood, White Oaks, Hamilton Hills.

In the midst of these modern communities are reminders such as West Liberty, Their stories, still repeated, are the enduring legacy of earlier days.