• In 1861, a troop train carrying soldiers passed through Loogootee, heading towards Washington, D.C. for guard duty. After the engine cleared the Beaver Creek Bridge, a rail gave way, causing a horrific wreck that killed 40 soldiers and wounded 105. At the time, Martin County had a large group of Knights of the Golden Circle, who were southern sympathizers, and were suspected of loosening the rail.

​

• The first veteran that died in the Civil War from Martin County was Private Amos Boyd of the 14th Indiana Volunteers. He was killed in West Virginia at Cheat Summit Fort.

​

• Because of its caves and cliffs, the region around and including Shoals was a popular hideout for bootleggers during the Prohibition.

​

• Pre-historic Indians lived in the area as far back as 11,000 BC. They hunted now extinct animals such as bison, mammoth, and mastodon.

​

• According to the Society of Indiana Pioneers, an individual was a pioneer of the county if they resided here on or before December 31, 1825.

​

• Originally a part of Daviess County, Martin was organized as a separate county February 1, 1820.

​

• The first state highway was built in 1820. It ran from New Albany to Vincennes, and went through Martin County (Hwy 150).

​

• Archer Gang: Martin County had some notorious citizens in the 1880s named Archer that were supposedly robbers and murderers. They were finally lodged in the Martin County jail in March of 1886 after years of terrorizing the region. The people of the community took the law into their own hands, and on the night of March 9, 1886, they broke into the jail, locked up the sheriff, took the prisoners onto the court house lawn, and with ropes in hand, lynched the Archer Gang. At 1:00 a.m., the court house bells rang to alert the townspeople to witness the Archers’ hanging on the court house lawn, where they remained hanging until noon of the next day.

​

• Martin County has had the most county seats of any county in Indiana, at least seven. The first county seat was at Hindostan, because it was the largest town in the county. It was also on the New Albany-Vincennes stagecoach route, which was the first stagecoach route in Indiana. After Hindostan was hit by the Yellow Fever, the county seat moved to Mount Pleasant from 1828-1844. A new community developed near Mount Pleasant in 1853, where the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad came through.  The people of Mount Pleasant moved to this new community, called Loogootee, which remains the largest (and only) city in the county.  Surprisingly, Loogootee has never been the county seat.  Trinity Springs became the new county seat, known for its natural health spas.  The last and final move was to Shoals on the White River, approximately 8 miles from Hindostan, in 1871, where approximately 1200 people reside today.

​

• Information provided by Bill Whorrall’s A Photographic History of Martin County, Robert L. Reid and Thomas E. Rodgers’ A Good Neighbor: The First Fifty Years At Crane, Harry Q. Holt’s History of Martin County Indiana, and Bob Greene.