The Movers and Shakers of the 1900’s

This page is dedicated to the people of the last century who affected the development and growth of the Syracuse -Wawasee area; civil servants, industrialists, storekeepers, laborers, business owners – year-round residents, seasonal residents, vacationers – regardless of their position in life or their education…

…these people all had these things in common

Whether a year-round resident or someone that vacationed here, working class or industrialist, man or woman, these people all shared some of the same attributes:

Love For The Area

Regardless of what their goals were, they loved this area greatly. They loved the lakes and the environment around them.

Love for the People

They enjoyed being around people who shared their love for this wonderful oasis in the midwest and wanted to share it with them.

Love for Community

This area that we call Syracuse -Wawasee is about people. It is about working with others. It is about enjoying the natural beauty and protecting it along side your neighbor, and these people got it.

One of the greatest boom events in the history of Syracuse was when the Sandusky Portland Cement plant located there around 1900. Marl was dredged from the lakes and hauled to the large facility near the railroad tracks capable of producing 170 tons of cement daily. In January 1902 the cement company provided the town with its first electric street lights located on Front Street. The first public library was established in 1909 in the schoolhouse, and its own building was completed on Main Street in 1921, still in use today. In 1915, Main Street became the first paved concrete street in Indiana. The cement plant closed around 1920 due to depletion of local deposits and a state law prohibiting the removal of marl from lakes applicable only to Lake Wawasee.