Interesting Facts

The first mayor of Jasper was George P. Wagner • The first flatboat out of Dubois County was in 1819, taken by Col. Simon Morgan and Jacob Harrison, to New Orleans. They walked back • The first train pulled into Jasper on February 14, 1879 • In 1881, the first telegraph message sent from here was by Felix Lampert ordering a newly invented grain reaper • The first telephone call was on July 13, 1883 • The first permanent telephone in Jasper was at the Jasper City Bakery in 1896 • Twice the downtown area was almost completely burned down. In December, 1895, the Water Works was established for $10,500 • The earliest recorded Pheaton type buggy was in 1881.

• The first auto that came through town was on June 27, 1902, travelling eight miles in forty minutes • In 1874 Jasper’s tax was $2.00 • December 11, 1869 Jasper was lighted the first time by electric lights • The 18-20 acre Calumet Lake was started in 1899 • In the 1900’s the Jasper Desk Company shipped big carloads of desks to Europe and some to Jamaica and South Africa. The Jasper Desk Company is the oldest desk company in the U. S. that is still in business today • March, 1913, Jasper had the worst flood in its history • In 1844, the American Eagle was the first newspaper to be published in Jasper. In 1858, the Jasper Weekly Courier was the town’s newspaper. All files of this paper are on microfilm at the Jasper Public Library. The current Dubois County Herald, then The Jasper Herald, was first published in 1895• The first public school was taught by Col. Simon Morgan • An official School Board in Jasper was established in 1873 • 1977 was the opening of the Civic Auditorium • Published material by native sons of Jasper: Prof. Norbert Kraft, author of Lines Drawn From Durer (1981) and others. The Rev. Fr. Greene M.M. recounted the

story of his imprisonment and torture while serving as a Maryknoll Missionary in China wrote Calvary in China. George R. Wilson and Prof. John Teder wrote History of Dubois County • The Indiana State Police Post was built here in 1937-38 • 1854-1857 saw the opening and closing of the Wabash River Bank. Then came the Dubois County Bank, organized in 1885. It recently was renamed Old National Bank. The Farmers and Merchant’s Bank was chartered in 1895 and closed in 1934. The German American Bank was organized in 1910. The Jasper State Bank opened in 1978. The Springs Valley Bank and Trust opened in Jasper in 1986 • Memorial Hospital was dedicated in 1951.