The village above named is so called because it is the geographical
center of Liberty Township. It is also one of the central towns of
Wells County and is a leading center for the live stock and grain trade
of a large country district. The village is in the midst of a productive
section devoted to the raising of sugar beets. The practical signs of
such mentioned facts are extensive yards at Liberty Center for the
handling of hogs and cattle and a large "beet dump" for the storing
and shipping of that produce. The Studabaker Grain and Seed Com-
pany has also a good-sized elevator (capacity 20,000 bushels) at this
point. A grist mill is also in operation. These evidences of pros-
perity are reflected in the neat appearance of the town, and the addi-
tional fact that its banking facilities are fully adequate to all demands
made by business men, farmers and householders The village ad-
vances another good claim to leadership among the villages of the
villages of the county. None has more complete educational advan-
tages than Liberty Center; in fact, Superintendent Huyette has in-
stanced its high school, completed in 1913, as the most modern in the
county within his jurisdiction. Two churches and several lodges also
confirm the social and religious character of the village.
 

                              JOHN W. RINEAR

      If any one man may claim the right to the fatherhood of Liberty
Center it is Hon. John W. Rinear, and a record of his earlier services
as a farmer, a town-builder and a public man goes far toward covering
the pioneer history of Liberty Center. Mr. Rinear, now a sturdy and
typical American in comfortable circumstances, who has done so large
a share in building the community in which he has long lived and

                                                  425

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426      ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES

thrived, is an Ohio man, born near Cleveland, May 4, 1842. His
grandparents had located in that city when his father was five years
old. In Cleveland, also, his parents were married and resided there
until 1847, when they moved to Huntington County, Indiana, and in
1854 to Liberty Township. John W. Rinear was then twelve years of
age.
      The region where the Rinear family settled at that time was cov-
ered with dense woods, but Charles Rinear, its head, was a powerful
man physically, and his physique was backed by a brave spirit; so, with
the assistance of the plucky lad and a splendid wife, he promptly
commenced the task of clearing, cultivating and taming the 120-acre
tract which he had purchased for a homestead. When the father died
in 1887 and the mother in 1894, both more than seventy years of age,
they had accomplished that task and much more. They had not only
become prosperous in worldly goods, but had obtained a laudable
standing in their home community.
      To such faithful, sturdy parents John W. Rinear proudly
acknowledges his indebtedness. He received his education in the com-
mon schools of Liberty Township until he was nineteen years of age,
after which he saw fourteen months' service in the Forty-seventh In-
diana Infantry, and was invalided home with a bullet wound in his
right arm.
      On April 2, 1863, after returning from the war, Mr. Rinear was
united in marriage to Miss Sarah C. First, a native of Liberty Town-
ship born in 1843. Her father, a Pennsylvanian, entered a tract of
land in that part of Wells County in 1836 and commenced to reside
thereon five years later. During, his residence in the county he held
every office in the township with the exception of assessor. During
the last years of his patriarchal life, which advanced well toward the
century mark, he lived with his daughter, Mrs. John W. Rinear, and
had the distinction of being the only resident of Liberty Township
who had retained the ownership of the land which he had originally
secured from the Government.
      For three years after his marriage Mr. Rinear rented and lived
upon the farm of Doctor Melsheimer. In the meantime, having saved
some money, he purchased a tract of forty acres of land which now
forms a part of Liberty Center. He laid out the east half of the orig-
inal plat on his land, which was then dense woods. He then threw up
a log cabin 18 by 20 feet, and commenced life at that locality with a
wife, a team of horses, a cow, a few shoats and other minor possessions.
For the greater part of the purchase price of the land he borrowed
money, but no note was ever defaulted and payment was sometimes

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ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES         427

made before it became due. With the faithful help of his wife every-
thing prospered.
      In 1866 Mr. Rinear came into possession of his present farm, and
on the 28th of December, of that year, was born his daughter, Hannah
S., the first native child of Liberty Center. She is now the wife of
John B. Funk, druggist and postmaster. In 1874 Mr. Rinear pur-
chased twenty acres adjoining his place on the north. The railroad
reached the locality in 1878, and in the same year he platted the east
half of Liberty Center. He is now the oldest continuous resident of
the place. Mr. Rinear was justice of the peace from 1873 to 1885; was
in the mercantile business at the center in 1877-82, and during that
period served as postmaster for three years. At the same time he con-
tinued his farming operations, and has a farm of 320 acres a mile east
of Liberty Center which is not surpassed in Wells County. Both
grain and live stock are raised. Besides he owns thirty-five acres of
his old home place in town and resides in a large comfortable residence
on Lot 1 of the original plat.
      In 1894, at the session of the Democratic Joint Senatorial Conven-
tion of Wells and Huntington counties, Mr. Rinear was nominated for
the State Senate, and subsequently elected by a large majority. Dur-
ing his term of service he was placed on such important committees as
those of corporations, railroads, public health, banks, finance and
county and township business. In June, 1899, he was appointed by
the Circuit Court a member of the County Council, and has been re-
peatedly elected councilman-at-large, having served as chairman of
that body for a period of twelve years. He was appointed a trustee
of the Indiana Soldiers' Home at Lafayette by Governor Hanly in
1906, and by successive gubernatorial appointments has served con-
tinuously in that position, his present term expiring in April, 1921.
During the entire period he has held the position of treasurer of the
home. A mere enumeration of such facts indicates Mr. Rinear's high
and substantial standing.
 

             SCHOOLHOUSE, THE FIRST BUILDING

      "Resuming the thread of our discourse," as the stock phrase goes,
Liberty Center was laid out by Messrs. Rinear and John Ernst on the
12th of November, 1878-the same year the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas
City Railroad went through that part of the county. Previous to
that date there had been a schoolhouse at the Center for many years,
and for a considerable time a store and two or three dwellings; but no
collection of buildings which could be stretched to the dignity of a
settlement.

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428      ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES

              THE LIBERTY TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL

      The first log schoolhouse was erected on the site of the handsome
Liberty Township High School of today. The second, built in the fall
of 1859, was a frame building 24 by 30 feet. It was occupied both for
school purposes and public meetings of all kinds until 1881, when a
two-story brick schoolhouse was erected under the supervision of 0. H.
King. Quite early this became a leading educational center of the
county, and normal schools were repeatedly conducted therein. The
schoolhouse was improved radically as the years passed and demands
became insistent, until several years ago it became evident that the time
was ripe for erecting an edifice not only for present but future needs.
The result was the $35,000 high school described in Superintendent
Huyette's report. Henry Snyder, its principal, has 230 pupils en-
rolled under him, of whom 82 were in the high school department dur-
ing the fall of 1917.
      It would thus appear that a schoolhouse was the first thing to
appear on the site of Liberty Center; and the crude log affair has
grown into something fine, representative of progressive intelligence
and a careful outlook for the future men and women of the com-
munity.
 

                      LOCAL PIONEERING

      There are other first things, persons and events also worthy of
note.
      John W. Rinear, the longest a resident of Liberty Center, was the
first justice of the peace at this point. During his term of office, twelve
years, he married 104 couples. The next justice was Henry J. John-
son.
      The first born at Liberty was Hattie S., daughter of John W.
Rinear, and now the wife of John B. Funk. Having received a good
education, previous to marriage, she taught a number of years in the
public schools.
      The first born male was Charles W., son of Samuel J. Jackson.
      The first marriage was of X. N. Johnson to Mary E. Ernst; the first
death was that of Mrs. Clark Morgan.
      S. S. Jackson was postmaster at the Center before the town was
platted.
      J. W. Rinear, the first postmaster, afterward served until Jan-
uary 1, 1880.
      Frank W. Garrett, who succeeded Mr. Rinear, afterward studied

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ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES     429

medicine with Dr. John A. Morrison the first physician, and himself
commenced practice in 1882.
      The earliest industries to be established appeared in 1879--the tile
factory by Adams & Plank, and the sawmills built by Charles Cole and
Jacob Jones. In 1882 0. H. King & Sons erected a flour mill, which
adopted the roller system in 1887. Its successor of comparatively
late date, was the Garrett & Funk establishment.
 

                     LIBERTY CENTER DEPOSIT BANK

      The Liberty Center Deposit Bank was founded in 1907, with Frank
W. Garrett as president and Ira E. Yelton as cashier It speaks well
for its management that there has been no change whatever since the
establishment of the bank. The present capital of the institution is
$25,000; surplus and undivided profits, $19,000; average deposits (in
November 1917), $175,000.
 

    BAPTIST AND METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCHES

      The two local churches are the Baptist and the Methodist Protes-
tant. The former is the oldest. The Baptists erected their first house
of worship, a plain frame building, in 1869, and completed what was
then a handsome, brick church in 1884. The pastor now serving the
society is Rev. Jesse Mitchell.
      The Liberty Center Methodist Protestant Circuit has two classes-
the Liberty Center class in the town of that name, and the Boehmer
class three miles west and half a mile south of town. The Liberty
Center class was organized by Rev. D. S. Boswell in February, 1882,
in the high school building; the Boehmer class, by Rev. E. Robison,
in March, 1886, at the Roberts schoolhouse Liberty Center has had
two church buildings, the first dedicated in February 1888, and the
second, in March, 1909. The local class has a present membership of
165.
      The Boehmer church was dedicated in November 1888, and has
a membership of 125. Since Rev. D. S. Boswell's time (1882-83) the
following have served the Liberty Center Circuit: W. H. Fisher, W.
H. Rogers, W. O. Callahan, E. Robison, J. H. Nehers, J. C. Macklin,
A. G. Mendenhall, J. R. French, S. J. Jones, G. W. Bundy, L. Coomer,
J. L. Barclay, S. S. Stanton, M. F. Illiff, J. L. Barclay, Hillis L. Avery,
A. R. Corn, W. Smith Harper and B. M. Petty, Rev. W. S. Harper,
who Preceded the pastor now in charge of the circuit, is now a mis-
sionary, or field worker.
      The people of Liberty Center are not strong supporters of lodges,

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430      ADAMS AND WELLS COUNTIES

their school and church work occupying most of their time. The Odd
Fellows, however, have made considerable headway, and there is also
a Rebekah organization.
 

                         THE VILLAGE OF TODAY

      The village, which now numbers more than four hundred people,
enjoys good transportation facilities. It is on the steam line of the
Toledo, St. Louis & Western and is also a station on the Marion &
Bluffton Traction route. Aside from its live stock yards, elevator,
grist mill, beet dump and other interests, Liberty Center has a boiler
shop, a garage, three or four general stores, a hardware store, drug
store, and perhaps other business houses not mentioned. It is, in fact,
a desirable town in which to live.