Curator Helps Solve Mystery Of Bixler Memorial Park
July 16, 2021 at 11:00 p.m.
Curator Helps Solve Mystery Of Bixler Memorial Park
By David [email protected]
The memorial doesn’t say when it was built or who Bixler was.
Current Warsaw Parks and Recreation Superintendent Larry Plummer didn’t have any information on it when asked about it and said it was there long before he joined the parks. Former Superintendent Jon Garber said the same thing. No one on the Warsaw Common Council had any information.
At the May 21 dedication ceremony for the Buffalo Street Plaza, Old Jail Museum Curator Sally Hogan was asked about the Bixler memorial. This week, she provided the answer with an article from “1836-1986 Kosciusko County History,” page 74, written by Paul Bixler, of Saginaw, Mich.
The article states Bixler Park was established in 1929 by the Common Council of Warsaw, using funds from the estates of William and Sarah Bixler. The Bixlers were longtime citizens and farmers in Kosciusko County.
William was born May 1, 1839, in Stark County, Ohio, to Jacob and Susan Mock Bixler, who had both been born in Pennsylvania, the article states. William became a Kosciusko County resident in 1867. On May 27, 1878, he married Sarah Boyer, daughter of Benjamin and Anne Boyer. She was born Oct. 10, 1847, in Etna Township, Whitley County.
The Bixlers lived on farms near Etna Green and Dutchtown. Around 1911, according to the article, they moved to a house on the southeast corner of Center and Detroit streets in Warsaw. They had no children.
William died July 7, 1920, at 81. He was “well-known in the city and vicinity,” the article states. In his will, he provided that should Sarah not survive him, he bequeathed his estate to the city of Warsaw for “the purpose of building and maintaining a hospital to be known as the William Bixler Hospital.” Sarah, however, did survive him until Dec. 12, 1926. Her will included the same bequest as Will. The article states her estate, after expenses, was over $38,000.
On Jan. 29, 1929, the Warsaw Common Council met in a special meeting to consider a resolution in reference to Sarah Bixler’s will. Part of the resolution stated, “Whereas the said Common Council of the city of Warsaw does not deem it adviseable or expedient to construct or maintain a hospital, be it hereby resolved that the said Common Council ... hereby rejects and declines said bequest.” The resolution was passed by unanimous vote of the five Council members present.
At that time, there were two private hospitals in the city being operated by doctors, and “the political sentiments of the community were opposed to public ownership of hospitals,” the article states.
Seven of Sarah’s nieces and nephews were declared next of kin and sole heirs. The article lists them as Ira, Albert, Benjamin and George Boyer; Leola King; Mary (Mrs. H.A.) Long and James B. Mark. Other survivors of Sarah’s were a grandniece, Mrs. John Rowe, Winona Lake; and John Hindbaugh, Etna, a grandnephew.
The article references a March 1, 1929, newspaper that states the heirs and the city reached an agreement for the city to receive 60% of the bequest, which came to about $23,000. In late February 1929, the Warsaw Common Council passed a resolution allocating $10,000 of this fund for the purchase of land for a park to be named Bixler Park, and the balance to be set aside as the nucleus for a city hall building fund. The Warsaw Common Council had meetings at the Warsaw Hardware Company Store.
The land purchased for the park, known as the Cook Mill site, was on Ind. 15 on the east side of Center Lake, the article states.
Ken Locke, Salvation Army envoy, mentioned that he had heard there was a time capsule connected to the Bixler memorial at the park, but didn’t know if that was true or not or where. A mystery for another day!
The memorial doesn’t say when it was built or who Bixler was.
Current Warsaw Parks and Recreation Superintendent Larry Plummer didn’t have any information on it when asked about it and said it was there long before he joined the parks. Former Superintendent Jon Garber said the same thing. No one on the Warsaw Common Council had any information.
At the May 21 dedication ceremony for the Buffalo Street Plaza, Old Jail Museum Curator Sally Hogan was asked about the Bixler memorial. This week, she provided the answer with an article from “1836-1986 Kosciusko County History,” page 74, written by Paul Bixler, of Saginaw, Mich.
The article states Bixler Park was established in 1929 by the Common Council of Warsaw, using funds from the estates of William and Sarah Bixler. The Bixlers were longtime citizens and farmers in Kosciusko County.
William was born May 1, 1839, in Stark County, Ohio, to Jacob and Susan Mock Bixler, who had both been born in Pennsylvania, the article states. William became a Kosciusko County resident in 1867. On May 27, 1878, he married Sarah Boyer, daughter of Benjamin and Anne Boyer. She was born Oct. 10, 1847, in Etna Township, Whitley County.
The Bixlers lived on farms near Etna Green and Dutchtown. Around 1911, according to the article, they moved to a house on the southeast corner of Center and Detroit streets in Warsaw. They had no children.
William died July 7, 1920, at 81. He was “well-known in the city and vicinity,” the article states. In his will, he provided that should Sarah not survive him, he bequeathed his estate to the city of Warsaw for “the purpose of building and maintaining a hospital to be known as the William Bixler Hospital.” Sarah, however, did survive him until Dec. 12, 1926. Her will included the same bequest as Will. The article states her estate, after expenses, was over $38,000.
On Jan. 29, 1929, the Warsaw Common Council met in a special meeting to consider a resolution in reference to Sarah Bixler’s will. Part of the resolution stated, “Whereas the said Common Council of the city of Warsaw does not deem it adviseable or expedient to construct or maintain a hospital, be it hereby resolved that the said Common Council ... hereby rejects and declines said bequest.” The resolution was passed by unanimous vote of the five Council members present.
At that time, there were two private hospitals in the city being operated by doctors, and “the political sentiments of the community were opposed to public ownership of hospitals,” the article states.
Seven of Sarah’s nieces and nephews were declared next of kin and sole heirs. The article lists them as Ira, Albert, Benjamin and George Boyer; Leola King; Mary (Mrs. H.A.) Long and James B. Mark. Other survivors of Sarah’s were a grandniece, Mrs. John Rowe, Winona Lake; and John Hindbaugh, Etna, a grandnephew.
The article references a March 1, 1929, newspaper that states the heirs and the city reached an agreement for the city to receive 60% of the bequest, which came to about $23,000. In late February 1929, the Warsaw Common Council passed a resolution allocating $10,000 of this fund for the purchase of land for a park to be named Bixler Park, and the balance to be set aside as the nucleus for a city hall building fund. The Warsaw Common Council had meetings at the Warsaw Hardware Company Store.
The land purchased for the park, known as the Cook Mill site, was on Ind. 15 on the east side of Center Lake, the article states.
Ken Locke, Salvation Army envoy, mentioned that he had heard there was a time capsule connected to the Bixler memorial at the park, but didn’t know if that was true or not or where. A mystery for another day!
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