Pogue's Run

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Pogue's Run is a creek in the southeastern portion of downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. It is named for George Pogue, who along with John Wesley McCormick founded what would become the city of Indianapolis.

[edit] History

Prior to Pogue and McCormick, Indians and wildlife would often follow what would become Pogue's Run as a pathway.^[1] George Pogue (c.1763-1821) was a blacksmith from Connersville, Indiana. In 1819 he blazed a trail that corresponds with the present-day Brookville Road. On March 2, 1819 he built a cabin for his family of seven where Michigan Street currently crosses Pogue's Run. There is some disagreement among historians about these events, as Jacob Piatt Dunn believed, as he wrote in his 1910 work Greater Indianapolis, that Pogue actually arrived on March 2, 1820 and moved into a cabin that was built in 1819 by a Ute Perkins, who left before Pogue arrived. Perkins reportedly left the area because of his loneliness, later settling in Rush County, Indiana.^[2]

The creek became known as Pogue's Run after Pogue disappeared in April 1821; it was called Perkin's Run after Ute Perkins before that time.^[3]

When Indianapolis was built on a grid pattern only Pogue's Run disturbed this orderliness. Alexander Ralston had to make contingencies due to its placement in the congressional donation lands given for the future Indianapolis. Before the state government could be moved to Indianapolis from Corydon, Indiana, fifty dollars was spent to remove swampy Pogue's Run of its mosquitoes that made it a "source of pestilence".^[4]

In the Battle of Pogue's Run on May 20, 1863, several Democrats leaving the state party convention on the railroad running parallel to Pogue's Run threw various firearms and knives into Pogue's Run, as Union troops were looking for contraband weapons.^[5] The Run flooded in 1882, killing at least ten people. A covered bridge that once crossed Pogue's Run in Indianapolis was eventually destroyed.^[6] In 1914 Pogue's Run was forced into the storm sewers of downtown Indianapolis in order to allow for a perfect grid pattern for Indianapolis' roads. On the section immediately to the northeast of where Pogue's Run enters downtown Indianapolis, Brookside Park was built to take advantage of the creek as a recreation opportunity.^[7]

[edit] Today

IndyParks established a Pogues Run Trail alongside the creek bed on the section northeast of downtown.^[8] Wildlife found on the path include ducks, geese, and red-winged blackbirds, with herons sometimes seen as well. Goose excrement is a particular problem for those who hike along Pogue's Run.^[9] A plan called "Charting Pogue's Run" intends to mark where the creek once ran in downtown Indianapolis. A blue line, made of thirty permanent steel medallions and a semi-permanent blue thermoplastic line, will "meander" across roads and parking lots.^[10]

There was also a Pogue's Run in Brazil, Indiana.