Where is Traders Point, Indiana?

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.

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About Ross Reller

I am pleased you have expressed interest in learning more about the historic Traders Point area in Indianapolis, Indiana. From 1980 to 1982 I was employed in the PR department at Conner Prairie Museum in Hamilton County. There I learned about William Conner, an important figure in Indiana's pioneer days. A decade later I became interested in the history of the Traders Point area and was surprised to learn that William Conner had been the first land owner in the area. In 1823 he acquired, through the Federal land office in Brookville, a patent for an 80 acre tract carved by Eagle Creek and an Indian trail that was about to be named the first toll roadway through the township (Lafayette Road). Thirty years later a village took shape within this tract. A grain mill on the creek, houses, churches, stores, restaurants, and two gas stations would take shape here in the creek valley hamlet of Traders Point. By 1962 all improvements (except a farmer's co-op) had been removed by the Indianapolis Flood Control Board to make way for Interstate 65 and a new reservoir. This blog is dedicated to preserving evidence of this historic area but I will occasionally use it to discuss related topics. To activate this follow, simply click the confirm button below. If you don't want to follow, ignore this message and we'll never bother you again. I am also a member of the Old Pleasant Hill Cemetery, a non profit association still selling burial plots for those who would like to spend all eternity in Traders Point, and I am an officer in the Pike Township Historical Society and the Traders Point Association of Neighborhoods.
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