McCormick's Creek State Park

Established 1916 — 1,961 acres 250 McCormick's Creek Park Road Spencer, IN 47460 (812) 829-2235 39.294444, -86.727778

The region was at one time settled by Miami, Delaware, Potawatomi, and Eel River Indians who are thought to have hunted and made camps along the White River and McCormick's Creek. During the era of European settlement, the land was first acquired by John McCormick on September 20, 1816. McCormick never visited the land, but his two sons Thomas and Hudson operated mills on the creek, and his daughter Nancy, with her husband Jesse Peden, raised livestock and chickens, had a vegetable garden, and farmed hundreds of acres of wheat. In order to keep milk, butter, and eggs from spoiling, a springhouse was constructed, using old-fashioned ingenuity and the local geology to keep the building cold. Using the cold water from a spring, milk cans were placed in a trough to keep cool while butter and eggs were placed on shelves around the building.

When Jesse and Nancy's son Tom took over the farm, he constructed a large barn after the farm's original log barn burned down in 1857. The new barn, of massive proportion, was set on top of gigantic limestone pillars assembled by a stonemason from England. Large hickory timbers, 64 feet long, stretched the length of the pillars. As years passed, the land became a patchwork of smaller farms and properties, leaving barns and a schoolhouse to decay. Artemus Pratt's five-room home once stood where the Beech Grove Shelter currently resides. Sidney Henrick lived in a home just above McCormick's Creek Falls on the ridge, while his brother James owned a home where the Canyon Inn now stands. Near the McCormick's Creek Falls parking area, the Laymon family owned a five-room home with a log barn just west of the house. Fredrick Denkewalter continued to add to the structure, creating a hodge podge building known as the Denkewalter Sanitarium. Near the park superintendent's house, an original settler to the area named Dunn had a home, and Harrison Bean built a two-room home near the campgrounds near Trail 7. The one-room schoolhouse was located near the old stone bridge and at one time had 96 students enrolled at the school. With so many pupils, there was not enough room for desks, so benches were built around the interior walls.

QUARRY

When the Great Chicago fire devastated that city in 1871, the demands for limestone increased. In 1878 the Statehouse Quarry, a limestone quarry built on a bluff of solid stone along McCormick's Creek, began operating on what is now park property. Stone cut from the land was used for the foundation and basement of the capitol building in Indianapolis. The limestone boom hit as railroads capable of hauling the heavy stone were built across the state, and the newly invented channeling machine was used to cut the stone vertically with ease. Workdays were 10 hours long, and the quarry once employed 50 to 75 men at one time. A village of 13 buildings was located at the quarry site providing the workers a close place to live. Married men were provided private huts for their families, and single men were given a space in dormitory housing. Once considered one of the finest of its time, the quarry operated for two years before the operation was abandoned due to the constant washing out of the train trestle over the White River. Remains from the operation are still visible, including the old railroad trestle across the White River, which was used to ship the heavy stone, as well as a bridge foundation at the creek near the quarry.

During the late 1800s many towns began promoting the naturally occurring mineral waters for their rejuvenating nature. While recovering from sunstroke, an Indianapolis physician and minister named Fredrick Denkewalter visited the countryside seeking fresh air and a peaceful setting. Taken by the area, he later returned in 1880 and purchased 90 acres of McCormick's old property. His land purchase also included an old farmhouse located not far from McCormick's Creek Falls. With the intention of building a place of solace, he converted the old farmhouse into a sanitarium designed to offer others a place to rest, relax, and recuperate within the peaceful setting of nature. Due to demand by the public, Denkewalter had to enlarge the structure twice, eventually purchasing a total of 374 acres and selling his medical practice to operate the health resort full time. During the boom of the mineral water craze, health spas and sanitariums also opened in the nearby towns of Spencer, Gosport, and Martinsville, promoting the therapeutic benefits of the area's natural settings. With the death of Denkewalter in 1914, his children decided to sell the property at a public auction. With debate from the citizens of Owen County about converting the land into a public park, Richard Lieber was approached to work with the people of Owen County and the state of Indiana to raise the funds necessary to purchase the sanitarium and the property surrounding the canyon. With the influence of Richard Lieber, McCormick's Creek State Park was purchased by the state by combining state funds with money from Owen County. Officially established on July 4, 1916, McCormick's Creek became Indiana's first state park, setting a standard of distinction that remains to present day. Colonel Richard Lieber, being an advocate of protecting natural areas for their therapeutic benefits, relished the idea of McCormick's Creek being used as a quiet place to revitalize people. Returning multiple times throughout his life, he died in one of the rooms of the Canyon Inn in 1944. Over the years the park continued to increase in size, with the last large land purchase of the Deer Run area occurring in 1951. Today the park stands at 1,961 acres.

The park's premiere lodging, Canyon Inn, once served not only as a farmhouse but also as an orphanage for a short time before being purchased by Fredrick Denkewalter. After being taken over by the state of Indiana for a park, the inn underwent many changes and renovations. First remodeled by the park in 1922, a brick wing and entryway was later added in 1932. The original wooden structure of the inn was torn down in 1941 and replaced with a matching brick addition. Today the beautiful structure has stood the test of time for over 100 years, offering visitors six different types of rooms with 76 guest rooms and two conference...