Editing Crawfordsville, Indiana (section)

===Early 19th century===
[[File:Crawfordsville Train Station Indiana P6280063.jpg|thumb|left|Amtrak Station located behind the historic station, now a meeting facility.]] 
In 1813, Williamson Dunn, Henry Ristine, and Major Ambrose Whitlock, U.S. Army, noted that the site of present-day Crawfordsville was ideal for settlement, surrounded by [[deciduous forest]] and potentially arable land, with water provided by a nearby creek, later named Sugar Creek, that was a southern tributary of the Wabash River. They returned a decade later to find at least one cabin had been built in the area. In 1821, [[William Offield|William and Jennie Offield]] had built a cabin on a little creek, later to be known as Offield Creek, {{Convert|4|mi||abbr=|spell=in}} southwest of the future site of Crawfordsville.

Whitlock, a Virginian who had served under Gen. "Mad" [[Anthony Wayne]] in the [[Northwest Indian War]], laid out the town in March 1823. Crawfordsville was named in honor of [[William H. Crawford]], a fellow Virginian who was [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] under Presidents [[James Madison|Madison]] and [[James Monroe|Monroe]] at that time and who had issued Whitlock's commission as Receiver of Public Lands.<ref name="Gronert">Gronert, Theodore G., ''Sugar Creek Saga: A History and Development of Montgomery County'', Wabash College, 1958.</ref><ref name="B&C">Ronald L. Baker and Marvin Carmony: ''Indiana Place Names'', Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Ind., 1975, p. 35.</ref> Whitlock was the first settler in the town.

According to a diary of Sanford C. Cox, who in 1824 was one of the first schoolmasters in the area, "Crawfordsville is the only town between Terre Haute and Fort Wayne... Maj. Ristine keeps tavern in a two-story log house and Jonathan Powers has a little grocery. There are two stores, Smith's near the land office, and Issac C. Elston's, near the tavern... David Vance [is the] sheriff."<ref name=HOMC>History of Montgomery County, together with historic notes on the Wabash Valley, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic ... sources.
Author: Beckwith, Hiram Williams, 1833-1903.
Published: Chicago: H.H. Hill and N. Iddings, 1881. pg. 117</ref>

It was successfully incorporated as a town in 1834, following a failed attempt three years earlier. 
 
In November 1832, [[Wabash College]] was founded in Crawfordsville as "The Wabash Teachers Seminary and Manual Labor College". It was created by [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] missionaries but later became non-sectarian.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Crawfordsville|volume=7|page=387}}</ref> On December 18, 1833, the ''Crawfordsville Record'' carried a paid announcement of the opening of this school.<ref name="Gronert"/> The school is one of only three remaining all-male liberal arts colleges in the country and has a student body of around 900.

In 1842, 9-year-old Horace Hovey discovered remarkably well-preserved [[Pentacrinites]] or [[Crinoid]]s along the banks of Sugar Creek, which drew researchers and fossil enthusiasts to the area.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tribstar.com/community/wabash-valley-fossils-crinoids/article_65ea0dd4-7046-5487-a406-54a7b16dd4e6.html|title=Wabash Valley fossils: Crinoids|first=Marsha Ladd Vigo County Historical|last=Society|website=Terre Haute Tribune-Star|date=11 March 2018 }}</ref>

Crawfordsville grew in size and amenities, adding such necessities as a bank and fire department. It gained status as a city in 1865 when the state of Indiana granted its charters.