04/28/2026
Coming into Roann from the south on Chippewa Street one finds this sign, placed there, in 2016, stating Roann is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. You might take some time this summer a visit Roann. You’ll find a wonderful library with an Indiana collection focusing on the area, covered bridge you can walk through, railroad caboose, antique stores with many unique finds and a couple of good restaurants to eat in. There are plenty of buildings spread throughout the community having unique and interesting architecture. Joseph Beckner settled in the area in 1835 planting the first orchard in the area and running a saw mill and corn mill on the Eel River. In 1853, Beckner platted Roann with 39 lots. Legends says the town of Roann was named for his daughter Ann who while escaping Indians was encouraged to row across the Eel River with chants of "Row, Ann, Row!" By 1880, it was the center of the township and was known up and down the Eel River as the “Athens of the Eel River.” By 1894 Roann had 2 drugstores, livery, shoemaker, doctor, millinery shop, newspaper The Clarion, saw mill, furniture and undertaking store, 2 jewelry stores, Exchange Bank, 2 general stores, hardware store, 2 groceries, the Squire Hotel, harness shop, 2 meat markets, 2 blacksmiths, a saloon, creamery and grain elevator. In a 1918 directory Roann was listed as having a population of 450, located on the Vandalia Railroad, with 5 churches, a bank run by Dow VanBuskirk, weekly newspaper, The Clarion run by Isaac Warren, Roann Telephone Co., Western Union and Adams Express, post office run by B.E. Goltry. The community also had numerous businesses and an IOOF Shequit Lodge #365 as well as a K&M Lodge #583 and High School principal being J. Loyd Lewis. Roger Morphew adds that he “had ancestors on both sides of my family living there from around 1889 until 1959. My Great Grandmother Libbie Burger is buried in the cemetery by the south end of the covered bridge.”
