New Pekin, IN

New Pekin is a Washington County town spread across Pierce and Polk townships, with the Blue River doing more to shape its history than the modern grid suggests. Christian Bixler laid out the original Pekin on the south side of Mutton Fork in 1831, and stagecoaches used the place as a stop between Salem, Jeffersonville, and New Albany. When the railroad arrived in 1851, the station went on the more level north side of the river and businesses followed it. Old Pekin is the name left for the first site.

ATTRChris Flook / CC BY-SA 4.0

The present town incorporated in 1903 to fund and run a school, and the post office has been operating since 1840. Locals often shorten New Pekin to Pekin, especially when talking about the Fourth of July celebration, which claims a run back to 1830. That tradition brings the old road-and-rail town back into focus every summer. On a map, think of New Pekin as two layers beside the Blue River: the older staging stop below, and the railroad town that grew on the north side.