Nathan Kirk, the first white settler in eastern Clinton County, laid out the town of Kirklin in the early 1830s, the original plat consisting a row of seven blocks on either side of the Michigan Road (Main Street). An addition filed on October 24, 1836, added blocks to the east, west and south sides of the original plat. Edward Miller established the first general store in a log building and William Wynkoop built the first hotel; other early businesses included Hiram Dougherty's cabinet shop, James Hollcraft's bar, John Heffner's blacksmith shop, Columbus Kemp's tannery and M. Z. Saylor (physician).
Passages that mention Kirklin, 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 659Read the page →
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The Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Eailroad crosses this township diagonally from the northwest to the southeast corners, with two stations within its borders. Kirklin is the principal station and Cyclone is the other. This railroad was built through this section of the county in 1883 and has proved a valuable enterprise to the citizens of Kirklin Township, giving new life and impetus to the little village of Kirklin, and affords ample means for transportation.
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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 678Read the page →
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father dying in Greene County, Ohio, in 1857. The mother is still living, making her home with our subject. He came with his mother and four sisters to Clinton County, Indiana, in 1858, when he settled in the village of Kirklin. He received a fair English education, which he completed at the academy at Thorntown, Boone County, Indiana, after which he engaged in teaching school, which he followed for seven winter seasons, teaching five winters in Boone County and two in Kirklin Township. During the late
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Kirklin, 1879 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.
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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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