Lawrenceburg Public Library District

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Contact Information
Directions/Parking Map:

Location Map

Visitor Parking:
 * The visitor parking lot is located on the corner of Vine Street and West High Street, to the west of the library.
 * Street parking is also available on West High Street and 150 Mary Ave. (Picture above is taken from 150 Mary Ave.)
 * Accessible parking and entrance is located on the corner of Vine Street and West High Street, to the west of the library.

Email: Send email Website: https://www.lpld.lib.in.us/ Facebook:

Address: 150 Mary Street Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 Telephone: (812) 537-2775 Fax: (812) 537-2810

'''Library Hours of Operation:
 * Monday: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm


 * Tuesday: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm


 * Wednesday: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm


 * Thursday: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm


 * Friday: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm


 * Saturday: 10:00 pm - 5:00 pm

'''Genealogy and Local History Hours of Operation: Hours for the genealogy and local history room are different than library hours. Please check to see if we are open before your visit. Please contact us for an appointment outside of our normal hours.


 * Monday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm


 * Tuesday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm


 * Wednesday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm


 * Thursday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm


 * Friday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm


 * First Saturday of the Month: 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm (Genealogy Club meets at 2pm.)

CURRENT HOLIDAY CLOSINGS:
 * Closed all major holidays
 * Closed Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Saturday of the Month

Other Closings:
 * Closed when public services are closed due to inclement weather

'''Genealogy and Local History Manager: Cassie Blankenhorn

Description of Collections

 * Atlases/Landowner Plat Books for Dearborn County (1860, 1875, 1899 atlases; several plat books 1940s to present day). Early atlases of Hamilton County, OH, Ohio and Switzerland Counties, IN and Campbell and Boone Counties, KY.
 * Church and Cemetery Records for Dearborn County, Indiana.
 * Family History Files and Genealogies published and donated works. (please see the Lawrenceburg Public Library District website for a list)
 * High School Yearbooks for Lawrenceburg from 1914 to present (some years missing).
 * Histories - Church histories, city, township, and county histories for areas surrounding Dearborn County. Eastern states histories and biographies. Please see the Lawrenceburg Public Library District website for catalog listing.
 * Directories and Telephone Books of Lawrenceburg and Aurora beginning in 1859.
 * Local historical files, including businesses, churches, homes, schools, events, and floods.
 * Marriage Records - Indexes
 * Military including Revolutionary War soldiers buried in Dearborn County, Civil War Regimental Histories, Pictorial History of World War II.
 * Naturalization Records Indexes
 * Newspapers on microfilm, including
 * Obituaries online and hard copies.
 * Periodicals, including Indiana Historical Society and Family Tree Magazine.
 * Vital records for Hamilton County, OH and Boone County, KY, including marriage, death, cemetery, and church records, local histories and biographies.

Services

 * Genealogy Club - First Saturday of each month at 2:00 PM. Please refer to the library newsletter for topic of the month.
 * FamilySearch - Lawrenceburg Public Library is a FamilySearch Affiliate Library. Additional record collections are available at the library only.
 * Ancestry.com library edition is available at the library only.
 * Fold3 (military research) is available at the library only.
 * Microfilm Readers with printers
 * Computer stations

Research Assistance
Please call in advance to schedule an appointment.
 * Staff consultants are available to assist in genealogy and local history searches.


 * Inquiries are accepted through telephone, mail or e-mail.
 * Please provide as much information as possible to correctly identify the ancestor or family you wish searched.

Examples of searchable requests:
 * Please copy the obituary for John Doe who died January 17, 1956.
 * Please locate the marriage date for Alice Jones and James Campbell who were married in Dearborn County in the 1870s.
 * Please check the "History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties" volume for biographies of Tom Walton and Henry Becker.
 * Please email scanned copies of the business file about the Bauer Cooperage.

History
A Brief History of Dearborn County By Chris McHenry

Hundreds of years before white settlers approached Dearborn County, a mysterious group of Native Americans lived here, in a hilltop fortress, covering about 12 acres of land. Early explorers sailed past on the Ohio River, including Celeron, a French Canadian who reportedly buried a lead plate claiming the land for France near the mouth of the Miami River. George Rogers Clark and explorers from Virginia and Pennsylvania passed by on their way up or down the Ohio River, but none made permanent settlements. Less than ten years after the end of the Revolutionary War, new settlers began taking up land in Dearborn.

The Federal Government did not begin land sales until after 1800. When the land was put on sale, some families, like the Hayes, Guards, and Millers, were able to purchase their farms. Others, like the Morrisons, were not so lucky and lost everything. Among those first settlers were at least 50 to 75 veterans of the Revolutionary War. In 1802 Army Captain Samuel Colville Vance bought the land on which Lawrenceburg now stands and founded a town named for his wife's maiden name. At that point, Lawrenceburg wasn't even in Indiana, but was part of Hamilton County, Ohio. Settlers began pouring into Dearborn, first building their homes near the river, and then gradually working their way up the Whitewater, Tanners Creek, Hogan Creek and Laughery. Six hundred and sixteen men over 21 were counted in 1807, but a few years later, families began fleeing to Kentucky when Indians joined with the British in the War of 1812.

With the arrival of the 1830s and 1840s came several waves of German immigrants. Catholic immigrants tended to settle in the northeastern part of the county, and in Lawrenceburg and Aurora, while Lutherans gravitated toward the southwestern part of the area, along with the two biggest towns. By 1830, opposition to slavery was increasing throughout the northern United States, and anti-slavery societies were being formed. One of the earliest in Indiana was at East Fork Methodist Church, founded, and mostly attended, by hardy English immigrants. Because of its location right across the Ohio River from Kentucky, a slave state, Dearborn County was a logical place for escaping slaves to find help on their way to Canada. In 1862, young men of Dearborn County rushed to volunteer. So many of them in fact, that one whole company led by Aurora Mayor Frederick Slater, arrived in Indianapolis after the quota for that call had been filled. Not one to waste manpower, governor Morton sent them to help fill out the Kentucky ranks, and they served throughout the entire Civil War as part of the 11th Kentucky Regiment. Dearborn County men, both black and white, fought in every major battle of the war, including those along the rivers.

In the 1830's, the Whitewater Canal had been built, opening up the interior of Indiana to the possibility of shipping to Lawrenceburg and then on the Ohio River. Its usefulness was short lived. Spring floods washed out the banks over and over and eventually the Canal, and almost the State of Indiana, went bust. In the 1850's, not one but two railroads were built through Dearborn County. One went from Lawrenceburg northwest through Guilford to Indianapolis, and the other came west from Cincinnati, through Aurora, and then through Milan and on to St. Louis.

Dearborn County's young men marched off to battle in the Spanish-American War and again in World War I. When the survivors came marching home again, they found a booming economy. New industries arrived, a new power plant was built, and Dearborn County finally got together to build a hospital in the 1950's. War once again loomed on the horizon, as the United States became a "Police Action" in Korea. A few years later, Dearborn County was once again called on to send her young men and women, this time to Vietnam. Eleven of them died.

[Included by permission of the author, Chris McHenry.] https://www.lpld.lib.in.us/briefhistory

Tips for Your Visit

 * Please call our genealogy consultants ahead for information about local resources and to reserve materials for your research.
 * Please contact us for an appointment outside of our normal hours.

Additional Repositories
Lawrenceburg Public Library is conveniently located near the following repositories: Address: 165 Mary Street Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 Telephone: (812) 537-1040 Website:  https://www.dearborncounty.org/category/index.php?categoryid=7 Address: 508 West High Street Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 Telephone: (812) 537-4075 Website: https://www.dearborncountyhs.org/
 * Dearborn County Courthouse
 * Dearborn County Historical Society