All Aboard ... cont. from prev. pg
with plans to extend the line as far as
Battle Creek, Michigan. The first passenger train rolled into Middlebury on
November 1st, 1888. Since the tracks
made numerous turns between Goshen
and Middlebury people quickly began
to refer to it as “the pumpkin vine”.
The nickname stuck.
The first building to be constructed
in Shipshewana was the depot in
the fall of 1888. The first train on
the Pumpkin Vine passed through
Shipshewana on December 25, 1888,
bound for Battle Creek. In 1889, the
first house was constructed for the
railroad agent whose name was Stowe.
That same year J.J. Farver, who was
in the lumber business, built a threestory building for Hezekiah Davis.
Numerous other buildings were also
constructed including a grain elevator.
According to the Town of Shipshewana’s website, it was actually built by
the railroad company who then sold it
to John Summey and S.S. Eash. With
four passenger trains and two freight
trains a day, Shipshewana began to attract residents from what was the little
town of Shore, which was located south
and east on what is now US 20.
Shipshewana’s version of the “Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s” was between
Abraham Summey and Hezekiah Davis. Fortunately their feud never ended
in violence. Summey and his wife,
Rachel, had settled in the area in the
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