, a convenient location for the area's oil workers.
Mollie's location on the
Post Office, and a livestock station. The sole manufacturing facility was a brick and tile mill. Mollie's significance, in addition to its participation in the Indiana Gas Boom and its railroad station, is that Mollie is thought to be the site of the first aircraft landing in Blackford County.[2]
Most of the small community's growth and demise is linked to the Indiana Gas Boom. Two other factors were minor contributors to Mollie's decline. First, the depletion of the raw material used in the community’s tile manufacturing factory meant that Mollie lost its only manufacturer. A second factor was the
, automobile reliability, and automobile availability made people less dependent on railroads for transportation—diminishing Mollie's value as a stop along a railroad line.
Today (2011), none of the community’s
commercial buildings remain. Two houses are located nearby—including one that was built using bricks made from the community's tile mill. Interurban lines declined in popularity in Indiana during the 20th century, and a line serving Mollie was removed in the 1940s. Although the track that was the Mollie railroad spur is gone, freight trains operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway
still operate over the adjacent main line.
History
The small East Central Indiana village named Mollie was located in the Harrison Township section of Blackford County, at the intersection of county roads 400 North and 300 East.[3] A railroad line passes very close to the intersection. A former resident, interviewed in 1972, believes the community was named after an early resident named Mollie, but she cannot recall Mollie's surname.[4] The community was essentially a small informal cluster of houses around a train station, and it was never officially platted.[4]
Gas boom
In 1887, natural gas was discovered in nearby Hartford City, and Blackford County began its participation in the Indiana Gas Boom.[5] More importantly for Mollie, oil was discovered north of Hartford City in Harrison Township. Blackford County's first oil well began producing during 1890 in Harrison Township south of Montpelier, Indiana (which is north of Mollie).[6] By the mid-1890s, about two thirds of Harrison Township (25 square miles) was considered part of an oil-producing region.[6] Nearby Montpelier was thought to be "the very heart of the greatest natural gas and oil field in the world".[7] Mollie's location along Blackford County's north-south railroad line is about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) from Hartford City and 3.6 miles (5.8 km) from Montpelier.[8] During the Indiana Gas Boom, Mollie's location was ideal for men working in nearby oil fields.[9] Thus, Mollie had the fortune during the 1890s of being located between two boomtowns, having an oil field nearby, and having railroad service.
Post office
Mollie's Post Office was established October 19, 1888. Henry H. Dean was the first postmaster, and this Post Office lasted for about one year before it was discontinued.[10] The Post Office restarted on February 6, 1890, with Anderson Hatfield as the postmaster. It was housed in the front of Jacob Burnworth's grocery store. This Post Office became especially useful for workers in the nearby oil fields because mail could be easily sent and retrieved using the railroad. Although the grocery building burnt to the ground in 1891, the facility was rebuilt.[4] The United States Official Postal Guide lists the Mollie Post Office as one of seven Post Offices in Blackford County during 1895.[11] In addition to the Post Office, the grocery building had a small waiting room for railroad passengers.
Mollie's Post Office was discontinued in February 1907, and area mail began being handled by nearby Hartford City's Post Office.[12] Although the Mollie Post Office was busy during the earlier years when the Blackford County oil field operations were significant, Postmaster Jacob Burnworth felt that decreased business made it a "waste of time" to continue. Despite the closing of the Mollie Post Office, the grocery housed in the same building continued, as did the waiting station for the interurban that was also located in the building. In 1914, burning soot caused the grocery store building to burn to the ground.[13]
Aircraft landing
Near the end of World War I, an armybiplane was forced to land near Mollie because of engine failure. This was exciting news in Blackford County, and people paid to ride the trolley (interurban line) to Mollie to see the aircraft. A county historian believes this was one of the first, if not the first, aircraft to land in Blackford County.[2]
Geography
Mollie is considered part of East Central Indiana and
Beneath the soil of Mollie lies the Trenton Oil and Gas Field responsible for the Indiana Gas Boom.[15] Oil production from the Trenton Field, which affected Mollie more than the production of natural gas, peaked around 1904.
Future Northern Indiana, including what became Harrison Township and Mollie, was flattened by two glaciers millions of years ago.[16] These glaciers are also responsible for the rich Blackford County farmland, which includes the land surrounding Mollie.[17] "Standard cereals, wool and live stock" were the products of the area farms during Mollie's more prosperous years in the 1890s.[6] One hundred years later, the region is still agriculture-oriented. Soybeans and corn are the most popular crops grown in Blackford County, and over 65,000 acres (260 km2) (60%) are devoted to these two crops according to a survey from the 1990s.[18] Additional crops and livestock are also grown in Blackford County.
Demographics
Milestone years in Mollie's history are 1870, when the railroad line was completed; 1878, when leading-citizen Jacob Burnworth moved to Blackford County; 1888, when the Mollie Post Office opened; 1890, when the first oil well was successfully drilled between Montpelier and Mollie; and 1907, when the Mollie Post Office closed because of the end of the Gas (and oil) Boom. These events outline the rise, and the beginning of the decline, of the community. Population patterns can be expected to follow this outline.
Census information is not directly available for Mollie. Residents of Mollie were counted as part of Blackford County's Harrison Township, and the "Name of incorporated city, town, or village, within the above named division" heading on the census page was left blank. The population in 1890 for the entire Harrison Township less the city of Montpelier was 1,900. This would include farms, Mollie, and other small villages similar to Mollie. For the year 1900, the census lists the population for Harrison Township less the city of Montpelier as 1,867.[19] Based on entries in a county directory, Mollie was populated by at least 15 households in 1902.[20] Using the Mollie households listed in the county directory, and census counts for each matching Harrison Township household, Mollie's unofficial population must have exceeded 55 in 1900.[21] The 1900 Census is probably the census that is closest to Mollie's peak year for population. The oil part of the Indiana Gas Boom was just beginning in 1890, and the boom was already over by 1910—as evidenced by the closing of the Mollie Post Office in 1907. Mollie's population has been estimated to have a peaked around 25 during the 1920s, less than half of the probable population in 1900.[4] Over the next 50 years the population continued to decline, and by the 1970s, Mollie consisted of just two houses. Mollie's population in 1972 was 4—increasing to 5 people in 1980.[3][4]