Rob Roy, Indiana Explained

Official Name:Rob Roy, Indiana
Settlement Type:Unincorporated community and Census-designated place
Mapsize:150px
Pushpin Map:USA Indiana Fountain County
Pushpin Label:Rob Roy
Pushpin Map Caption:Rob Roy's location in Fountain County
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:Indiana
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Fountain
Subdivision Type3:Township
Subdivision Name3:Shawnee
Coordinates:40.2414°N -87.2508°W
Elevation Ft:637
Named For:Rob Roy
Postal Code Type:ZIP code
Postal Code:47918
Blank Name:FIPS code
Blank Info:18-65178[1]
Blank1 Name:GNIS feature ID
Blank1 Info:2830373

Rob Roy is an unincorporated community in Shawnee Township, Fountain County, Indiana.

History

The town of Rob Roy was named after the Scottish patriot Robert Roy MacGregor[2] by local John I. Foster, a lover of literature who was especially fond of Walter Scott's novels. Foster, described as an inventor and a worker of iron, lived in Rob Roy for six or seven years and founded a Methodist church there.

The town was platted circa 1826 and contained 48 lots, with a further addition on the east side by Hiram Jones in 1829. A writer in 1833 described Rob Roy as a small interior village with few inhabitants but increasing in improvement and population; by 1836 it had "five dry goods stores and four groceries, a hotel, three physicians, and was in the center of a very active settlement." The passage of the Chicago and Block Coal Railway through the town also stimulated growth, but competition with nearby Attica (which was on the Wabash and Erie Canal) eventually led to Rob Roy's demise.[3] [4]

The post office in Rob Roy was established in 1832, and discontinued in 1906.[5]

Rob Roy was heavily damaged by a tornado in April 1953.[6] Today the town consists of a small gathering of homes.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: U.S. Census website. United States Census Bureau. 2008-01-31.
  2. Book: Baker, Ronald L.. From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History. registration. October 1995. Indiana University Press. 978-0-253-32866-3. 283. ..named for the Scottish outlaw Rob Roy....
  3. Book: Beckwith , H. W. . History of Fountain County . 1881 . H. H. Hill and N. Iddings . Chicago . 342–343 . Shawnee Township .
  4. Book: Thomas A. Clifton . Past and Present of Fountain and Warren Counties, Indiana . 1913 . B. F. Bowen & Co. . Indianapolis . 168 .
  5. Web site: Fountain County . Jim Forte Postal History . 7 September 2014.
  6. News: Midwest Tornadoes Leave Three Dead. Rome News-Tribune. Rome, Georgia. April 10, 1953.