Brief History of Seymour, Indiana

The first settler on the land that is now Seymour Indiana was James Shields. He brought his family here in 1816 and built a block house on the property which is now the old city cemetery. In 1820, he received a land grant for the ground he had homesteaded in the area called Mule Crossing.

Still not satisfied with the railroad business, Captain Shields (by then a state senator) secured the passage of a bill requiring all trains to stop at all railroad intersections. Now the two railroads met at Seymour, and because they were required to stop, the trains exchanged freight and passengers as well. Seymour quickly became a major center of commercial activity. The city was incorporated in 1864 with a population of 1553.

The Reno Gang 

The railroad figures in another chapter of Seymour Indiana's history as the site of the world's first train robbery. In 1866, the Reno Gang (headed by brothers Frank, Simeon, and William) boarded the train east of town and proceeded to throw the trainmen off and rob the baggage car at their leisure as they sped through Seymour Indiana. Using the deserted town of Rockford as their hideout, the gang would maraude across five states until vigilantes brought an end to the Reno's short, but infamous, career. The secret of the gang's missing loot lies buried with Reno brothers in unmarked graves in the old Seymour Indiana Cemetery.

Covered Bridges

• There are three historic covered bridges near Seymour Indiana.

  Click to see all three bridges Seymour Indiana.

  These tangible mementos of the past are worth the short drives necessary to visit them. The longest bridge is near Medora, the most scenic near Shieldstown, and the only surviving post-truss-type bridge is near Cortland. To the unitiated, they are interesting relics; to the knowledgeable student of American history, these bridges are amazing monuments, well worth preserving and publicizing. 

• Seymour Indiana is alive with progress and prosperity. Nearly 18,000 people live in this beautiful community in South Central Indiana. Seymour Indiana is a city on the move, dedicating itself to excellence at all levels. To sum it up, Seymour Indiana has the best of both worlds... small town hospitality and a growing progressive business community.
• Located in the south-central part of Indiana, the city of Seymour Indiana is commonly referred to as the "Crossroads of Southern Indiana". It is situated in the middle of four industrial centers and at the intersection of two rail lines, and is served by Interstate 65, Highways 50 and 31, and State Highways 11 and 258. From Seymour Indiana, it's a nonstop 250 miles to Chicago; Indianapolis is 62 miles to the north. To the south, Louisville, Kentucky, is 55 miles away via Interstate 65, and Cincinnati is 90 miles to the east.

• The Jackson County Visitors Center is proud to have singer-songwriter- artist  John Mellencamp as a native. As you may know the "Small Town" that John sings about is Seymour, Indiana. Many of John's songs paint a very descriptive picture of our small towns in Midwest America.  

  A son, Captain Meedy W. Shields (Click for a larger picture), inherited his father's land holdings and developed it into a prosperous farm. During the latter 1840's, a north-south railroad connecting the Ohio River at Jeffersonville with Indianapolis was built crossing the Shields' farm. Then in 1852, an east-west railroad was being surveyed through Jackson County, and Shields persuaded the railroad company to run through his property $8000 Government Tax Creditinstead of through neighboring Rockford. In exchange for this favor, he provided the right-of-way for the new railroad and agreed to name the town after the railroad's civil engineer, J. Seymour.

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