HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.     459
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                      CHAPTER XV.

TOWNS - SEYMOUR, ITS FOUNDING AND EARLY HISTORY - EARLY BUILD-
  INGS - RAILROADS - EARLY BUSINESS MEN - NEWSPAPERS - PRESENT
  BUSINESS INTERESTS - SECRET SOCIETIES - CHURCHES - THE RENO
  BOYS - BROWNSTOWN SELECTED AS COUNTY SEAT - SALE OF LOTS -
  EARLY RESIDENTS AND BUSINESS INCORPORATION - CHURCHES -
  PRESS OF BROWNSTOWN - BUILDING AND LOAN - CROTHERSVILLE -
  SITUATION AND BUSlNESS - CHURCHES - SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC.-
  MEDORA - BUSINESS INTERESTS - NEWSPAPERS - MURDER OF FLINN
  AND REYNOLDS, ETC.
 
SEYMOUR* derived its name from the chief contractor and
civil engineer, Mr. Seymour, who had charge of and super-
intended the construction of the Ohio & Mississippi Railway,
from North Vernon, Ind., to St. Louis, Mo. The town was laid
out April 27, 1852, by Meedy W. and Eliza P. Shields. The original
plat embraced that part of the present city lying north of 
Cincinnati Avenue, south of Fifth Street, east of Indianapolis 
Avenue and west of Broadway. Within the boundary lines it 
was traversed east and west by Second, Third and Fourth Streets,
and north and south by Ewing and Mill Streets, the latter running 
south only to Fourth Street. The plat included ten blocks and
100 lots, and was duly registered at Brownstown, the county seat.
 
The ground on which Seymour now stands was pre-empted or 
purchased as follows: James Shields, father of M. W. Shields,
founder of the town, was granted by the Government 1,200 acres
of land at an early day, about 1812, and placed in charge of the
"block-house," a rude fortress erected and maintained for several 
years, on the ground lying just north of the city and now occu-
 
*The history of Seymour and the Reno gang was compiled by Mr. L. M. Boland.