This interesting old photograph, its mounting broken, but taped to a piece of cardboard, and a torn edge also taped, is titled “Isaac Hittle Tile Co. 1880” It appeared in a March 12, 1976, issue of the Informer, under the heading “A Bygone Era.” The caption (unsigned) was “One of the oldest factories in Franklin Township was located one fourth mile north of Edgewood Avenue on Hickory Road. It was known as the Isaac Hittle Drain Tile company. It was located on the Isaac Hittle property, now owned by Ed Klasing and Bob Waterman. The factory made field drain tile around the year 1880.
“The mud for the tile came from the Hittle farm and was hauled in by steam engine and four wagons. It took three days and nights to bake a kiln full of tile. The farmers would drive for miles to get the tile the day the kiln was opened. The tile were so hot they would burn rings in the wooden wagon beds.
“The day the kiln was opened was a time the men swapped stories and watched the dogs fight. The man who was watching the kiln, at times would kill a rabbit and hang it in front of the fire door to cook.”
A business card for “Isaac Hittle, Manufacturer & Shipper of Superior Drain Tile (From 2 ½ to 9 Inches), Gallaudette, Indiana. Prices per M: 2 ½ in. $10 ; 3 in.. $11; 4 in. $17.50; 5 in.. $26; 6 in. $37; 7 in. $45; Made to Order: 8 in. $60; 9 in. $85.”
The Society’s book Historic Treasures of Franklin Township, includes more about the Hittle Family. Of Isaac, the biographer says, “Isaac Hittle continued to live on the farm but had many other interests. He owned and operated a tile factory from 1875 to 1898, and also a threshing machine. He was a surveyor, and was secretary of the New Bethel Farmers’ Mutual Insurance Company until his retirement in 1924.”