Marion  township  celebrated  August  12  at  Mayfield  grove,


COUNTY   CELEBRATIONS  89

with  a  review  of  its  history  and  a  general  address  by  Dr.
Horace  Ellis.  The  Washington  township  began  its  observ-
ance with  a  basket  dinner  in  the  W.  C.  Smith  grove  on  the
16th.  An  excellent  program,  prepared  by  the  Sunday  schools
of  Bethel,  New  Salem  and  Mechanicsburg,  the  two  churches
of  Mechanicsburg  and  the  public  school  children,  was  given,
followed  by  an  address  by  H.  E.  Van  Nuys,  comparing  the
conditions  of  pioneer  life  with  those  of  the  present.  The
Union  celebration  occurred  at  Cutts'  grove  on  the  17th.  Talks
were  given  on  the  early  settlers,  the  Michigan  road,  and  on
local  development.  Eagle  township  celebration  and  home
coming  was  held  in  connection  with  the  Zion  Park  Assembly
at  Zionsville  on  August  18th.  The  program  emphasized  the
development  of  the  various  phases  of  community  life  since
the  coming  of  the  first  settlers.  Pioneer  life  was  re-pictured
and  re-lived  and  in  the  evening  the  pupils  of  the  Zionsville
high  school  presented  the  spectacle,  "Pocahontas."

The  Thomtown  or  Sugar  Creek  township  celebration  was
the  only  one  to  follow  that  of  the  county  at  Lebanon.  Occu-
pying two  days,  September  29  and  30,  it  was  given  on  a  big-
ger scale  than  any  of  the  other  local  celebrations,  as  was  to  be
expected  in  a  place  of  Thorntown's  size  and  enterprise,  to-
gether with  its  historic  associations,  located  in  the  limits  of
the  old  Indian  reservation.
