Herbemont

 

Herbemont

 

 The village of Herbemont also previously known as Pine City, once stood one-half mile south of State Road 142 on Herbemont Road (750 West), at the eastern jog in the road.The jog is one-half mile north of County Road 55 North. The area is northwestern corner of Section 5 and the northeast corner of Section 6, on a map of Gregg Township, Morgan County, Indiana. There are no landmarks left to place the village.

 

Blanchard's 1884, "Counties of Morgan, Monroe, Brown in Indiana," made mention of Herbemont as follows. "The township of Gregg has three spots that are called villages. Wilbur and Herbemont are of a late origin, and consist of one or two stores, a blacksmith or two, a carpenter, a sawmill, a post office, and from a half dozen to fifteen families." The third village mentioned was Hall, which the writer considered the only town of note.  Prior to the Civil War, Gregg Township was a part of Adams Township.

 

In the early settlement of Morgan County, Solomon Dunegan may have been the first permanent settler in the area of Herbemont. Dunegan was a Baptist minister from South Carolina and bought land in Ashland Township in 1826. This land was later sold to the Wilhite family, and by 1884 was part of the Thomas Wilhite Farm.

     Joshua Wilhite bought land and settled in the area around 1830. He was joined by Noah Wilhite, Russell Wilhite, Tamech Wilhite, Joel Kivett, Arron Kivett, George Brown, N.B. Brown, and John Brown, who also bought land in the 1830s.

     The Herbemont Post Office opened on July 16, 1873. The Postmasters were: Gordon, Snoddy, Fowler, McCurdy, Smith, and Murphy.

     By 1884, Elvis and L.V. Fowler are recorded as merchants in Herbemont. Elvis is listed as one of the original landowners in Brown Township. The Fowlers also ran the local sabbath school and are recorded as attending the Poplar Grove Church in the 1890s.

     Eli Kivett is also reported to have had a store and post office in Herbemont at one time.

     The post office closed on September 15, 1905 and by 1988 the village was gone.