Project Scroll Research Note 2026-56: The railroad at Shipshewana, 1887–1906: grading at Sturgis, the receivership of March 1889, the depot assessed in June 1889, and the robbers who came by handcar

The line from Goshen, Indiana, to Sturgis, Michigan, that made the town of Shipshewana was begun with great promises. The Goshen correspondent of the Indianapolis Sentinel reported on 21 April 1887 that grading had begun at Sturgis that day and that the company promised "to have trains running by the 1st of November." The track was finished only in December 1888. On 11 March 1889 the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company of New York sued in the federal court at Detroit for unpaid interest on the construction bonds, and the court appointed W. K. Ackerman of Chicago receiver; on 10 July 1889 the circuit court at Goshen ordered the Canada and St. Louis sold. In June 1889 the State Board of Equalization assessed the company's buildings at Shipshewana, a depot at $400, a water tank at $400 and a stock pen at $50: the earliest record of the depot we have found. The railroad also served the town's robbers. In November 1897 men came in from Sturgis "on a stolen handcar," blew the vault of the Davis bank and left on the same car, and in October 1906 six masked men who dynamited the bank vault "escaped on a handcar." By 1921, when the bank was reported robbed "the ninth time ... in 20 years," the robbers came by automobile. Project Scroll Research Note 2026-56, version 1. The note sets out the record quoted, where it is held, what it changes, its limits, and what was searched before calling it new. Web version: projectscroll.com/discoveries/notes/2026-56/.