
The spot where Eagle Creek crosses Lafayette Road is a logical guess. This would have been a point where trade was most likely to occur between the fur traders and the Indians. There is considerable evidence that exactly such activity took place. The first white man known to have owned property in the area was William Conner, a well known fur trader who used his knowledge of the Indians and their culture to negotiate treaties with the Indians on behalf of William Henry Harrison, the first governor of the Indiana Territory. Conner bought a single parcel in Marion County, an 80 acre parcel that included the exact spot where Eagle Creek and Lafayette Road intersected. At that time, in 1823, Lafayette Road had not yet been platted. But by 1835 it would become the first road through the township, evidence that it may have been a familiar trail to the traders and Indians at the time of Conner’s purchase. The map above is from the 1956 quadrangle map and predates the construction of Eagle Creek Reservoir and Interstate 65. At that time Dandy Trail entered Traders Point and Lafayette Road south of a gas station now occupied by a city transportion garage.