Pickard is an unincorporated town in Sugar Creek Township

Sugar Creek Township, Clinton County, Indiana

Sugar Creek Township is one of fourteen townships in Clinton County, Indiana. As of the 2000 census, its population was 486. The township is named for the stream that flows southwest through it.-History:...

, Clinton County

Clinton County, Indiana

As of the census of 2000, there were 33,866 people, 12,545 households, and 9,057 families residing in the county. The population density was 84 people per square mile . There were 13,267 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

. The town is named for Jacob Pickard who operated a sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 at the site.

History

Jacob Pickard ran a sawmill at Pickard's Mills. It was originally operated at Jefferson

Jefferson, Indiana

Jefferson is an unincorporated town in Washington Township, Clinton County, Indiana. The town is named for U.S. President Thomas Jefferson.-History:...

 in the western part of the county, but James M. Ward, Jack Hill, and Frank McMannis moved it to the new site at a town then called Hillsborough. Jacob Pickard took over the mill and the town then came to be known as Pickard's Mill. In 1851, the old mill was replaced with a more advanced steam saw mill which was also equipped with millstones for grinding wheat and corn.

James Ward laid out Pickard's Mill in 1844 (but never officially platted

Plat

A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....

 it) and opened the town's first store. Robert Boyer was its first blacksmith, Doctors Cooper and Williams its first physicians, and Thomas Puckit the first postmaster.

The town was known by some of the early locals as "Tailholt", and this was the name that residents requested when the post office was to be established there, but the postal authorities kept the name as Pickard's Mill. A 1913 history states that many in the area believed the town to be the inspiration for James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley

James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the Hoosier Poet and Children's Poet for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively...

's poem "The Little Town o' Tailholt", though the true source was the town of Tailholt (later Carrollton

Carrollton, Hancock County, Indiana

Carrollton is an unincorporated town in Brandywine Township, Hancock County, Indiana....

) in Hancock County

Hancock County, Indiana

Hancock County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 70,002. The county seat is Greenfield.-Geography:...

.