Templeton is an unincorporated town in Bolivar Township

Bolivar Township, Benton County, Indiana

Bolivar Township is one of eleven townships in Benton County, Indiana. As of the 2000 census, its population was 1,310. Bolivar Township was organized in March 1860 and named for South American liberator Simón Bolivar.-Adjacent townships:* Center...

, Benton County

Benton County, Indiana

Benton County is located along in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Indiana, along the border with Illinois. As of 2010, the county's population was 8,854. It contains six incorporated towns as well as several small unincorporated settlements; it is also divided into 11 townships which...

, 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...

. It is part of the Lafayette, Indiana

Lafayette, Indiana

Lafayette is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 67,140. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, which has a large impact on...

 Metropolitan Statistical Area

Lafayette, Indiana metropolitan area

The Lafayette, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of three counties in Indiana, anchored by the city of Lafayette...

.

History

Templeton was laid out by Col. William J. Templeton and his wife Melissa on December 23, 1873, and contained 225 lots. Two railways, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis (the "Big Four") and the Lafayette, Muncie and Bloomington

Lafayette, Muncie and Bloomington Railroad

The LaFayette, Muncie and Bloomington Railroad was a railroad company incorporated in Indiana on July 13, 1869. It operated in Indiana and eastern Illinois until its sale on April 28, 1879, to the Lake Erie and Western Railroad. The LM&B line was so named because it ran from the city of Muncie...

 (the "Nickle Plate"), intersected at the site. Its first building was a shanty occupied by John Cosgrove, and was soon followed by the dwellings of Col. Templeton and others. The town gained it first grain elevator in 1874 and a tile factory in 1881 which operated two large, steam-powered kilns. By 1883 the town's businesses included David Lanham & Co. and Finch & Son (both purveyors of dry goods and groceries), Joseph Dehart's notions and butcher shop, John Rosa's grocery, Dr. C. W. Fall (physician and pharmacist), Jasper Bristow (physician) and the Railroad House.

Templeton's population numbered around 150 in the 1920s, at which time it also had a grain elevator, grade school and three or four stores.

Geography

Templeton is located at 40°30′46"N 87°12′27"W in Bolivar Township. It's surrounded by open farmland, with Big Pine Creek

Big Pine Creek (Indiana)

Big Pine Creek is a creek in northwestern Indiana, USA. It begins in Round Grove Township in southwestern White County and flows generally southward through Benton and Warren counties before meeting the Wabash River near the town of Attica...

 less than a mile to the southeast. U.S. Route 52

U.S. Route 52

U.S. Route 52 is a United States highway that runs across the northern, eastern and southeastern regions of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S...

 passes along the town's northeast side, and the Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad

Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad

The Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad Company is a Class III railroad serving agricultural communities in east-central Illinois and west-central Indiana.-History:...

, which comes in from the east, splits into two lines that head west and northwest.