Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
LARWILL - The little town south of U.S. 30, just east of Kosciusko County, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this weekend during Squawbuck Days.
Established in 1854, Larwill was a thriving town dependent upon the east-west running Pennsylvania Central "Pennsy" railroad track. Passenger cars brought hundreds of people seeking a cure at the Gutscher Sanitorium. Hundreds of Whitley County residents attended and graduated from the Larwill School on the east side of town.
Today the only school near town is the Whitko Middle School, south and west of town. The sanitorium is long gone.
Squawbuck is the name early settlers used when referring to Chief Mes-qua-buck, a Potawatomi Indian whose village and home were near Oswego. The Squawbuck trail ran from Leesburg to the island between Mud Creek and the Eel River south of Columbia City on Ind. 9.
Squawbuck Days proceeds support the community building on Ind. 5, next to the fire station.
The fire department will have a tenderloin fry beginning at 4 p.m. and the Lions Club is sponsoring bingo to support the Whitko Dollars for Scholars program.
Saturday the Oak Grove United Methodist Church will sponsor a pancake-sausage breakfast from 7 to 9 a.m. Bill Leffel will present "A Walk Through the Past of Larwill Community" in the community room at 7 a.m.
From 9 a.m. to noon is the car show registration with awards at 3 p.m.
At 10 a.m. is the kiddie tractor pull and the children's slide.
At 11 a.m. the Lions will serve a ham and bean dinner and the Oak Grove UMC will have a dinner from the kitchen.
Craft vendors, a flea market and displays will set up at noon.
At 3 p.m. is a pony pull sanctioned by the Indiana Haflinger and Draft Pony Association, with a $500 purse.
Sunday, a church service will be at 10 a.m., a hog roast and carry-in lunch is at 11:30 and a Chicken House Gospel sing featuring Vickie Barney Bruce is at 1 p.m.
