Osgood, IN

Osgood is a Ripley County town whose whole first chapter was laid out by the railroad. The Ohio and Mississippi Railroad reached the county in 1854, and George W. Cochran platted Osgood two years later between Napoleon and Versailles. The town took its name from A. L. Osgood, the railroad engineer who led the survey crew. A depot, freight house, engine house, turntable, stock pens, and sidings made Osgood a transport center for the county, and the town incorporated in 1878. The remaining brick streets and Osgood Public Library are smaller details, but the railroad is still the cleanest way to understand why the town is there.