Suburbs of Crawfordsville, Really?

     When you think of the growth of Crawfordsville from the beginning, you think about it growing from the center out. However, an examination of plat maps of Union Township will show you that several small settlements grew toward, or were absorbed by the town of Crawfordsville. Longview, for instance, was platted in 1873 and incorporated in 1881. It consisted of 27 lots between Wabash Avenue, Market Street, Dry Branch, and the old Warren Davis property on the east. Family names involved in its development were George Paul, Warren Davis, Joseph Alexander, E. Noland, and Robert and Charley Davis. Longview appears as a separate town in the 1878 plat map. 

     Englewood, from the far eastern side of Crawfordsville existed between Wabash Avenue, the eastern and northern corporation lines, and “Lovers’ Lane.”

     Highland was located between Grant Avenue on the west and Mill Street on the east.  Danville Avenue runs through the middle of Highland, which was also home to a brick factory. Annexation into Crawfordsville depended on if the Highland residents would get fire protection, along with water and light service.

     Fiskville shows up in the 1898 plat, along with the previously mentioned small burgs. Fiskville, unlike the other towns, never incorporated.

It operated on the Cleveland cooperative system, whereby home occupants paid on a rent-to-own system. After a certain amount of time of rent payment, they owned their homes. Driving down Whitlock Avenue, you can imagine the generations of children who spent their summer days playing in the “Hollow.” A niece of Ambrose Whitlock, Janie Jones, remembered learning about nature by observing birds, and various forest mammals, such as opossums, raccoons, mink, and chipmunks. There was even a bicycle trail. Some patrons of CDPL have talked before about the natural spring there on the hillside, called Whitlock Springs. It had a fountain, and I’m sure scads of children cooled off there on a sunny day.   
(Information from "Montgomery County Legend and Lore," compiled and edited by Pat Cline, 1988. Available at CDPL)