The town of Forest was platted on September 1, 1874, by Henry Y. Morrison to serve as a station along the Frankfort and Kokomo Railroad (later the Clover Leaf Railroad). The town's name was given because the site was forested, and the first railroad tickets sold there were issued from an oak stump used as a ticket counter. The town gained a post office in 1877 with C. G. R. Sims as the first postmaster.
The residents of Forest supported the Temperance movement, as a county history describes:
A reckless man undertook to establish a saloon here in the spring of 1886, despite the protests of the citizens, but after his building had been blown up with dynamite he decided to seek another location.
Passages that mention Forest Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Clinton County, Indiana. Together with sketches of its cities, villages and towns, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens. Also a condensed hist1886 · page 613Read the page →
Read the text
FOEEST VILLAGE was laid out and platted September 1, 1874, on section 8, near the center of Forest Township. This was done by H. T. Morrison. The village took its name from the fact that its site was a dense forest when it was laid out. It is located on the line of the Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad. The first railroad tickets were sold on an oak stump, the spur roots of which can be seen in the center of Main street at the present writing (1886). The first
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Forest Township, 1874 to 1961
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Forest Township.
1961Russiaville sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Forest Township.
Famous people
Famous people close to Forest Township
Nobody well known was born in Forest Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2007
