From 12:00PM to 1:00PM

The Very Rev. John Wm. Houghton, Ph.D., will present “Daniel McDonald, Al Toner and the Vandalia Railroad.” Best known for sponsoring the Chief Menominee statue and for writing two early histories of Marshall County, Daniel McDonald was a child pioneer, newspaper editor and politician. It is said that he had his finger in every pie, including a hunting and fishing club and lodge placed strategically on the north bluff of Lake Maxinkuckee. Albert Toner owned a bank, hotel, opera house, livery stable and mill in Kewanna, as well as three blocks of its downtown. Like McDonald, he served in the state legislature. Lucerne, in Cass County, was briefly named “Altoner,” in honor of Toner’s work to route the Terre Haute and Logansport Railway through the village. In 1882 and 1883, these two local “big shots” worked together to bring the Terre Haute and Logansport (later the Vandalia) Railroad through Marmont, now Culver, and on through Plymouth to South Bend.

Location: Culver Union Township Public Library

Phone: 5749362306