A Sedalia Convention & Visitor’s Bureau Blog
By L.C. Melton
In my pilgrimage to trace all the Sedalia communities on the map, I came upon quite a quagmire when I arrived in what was supposed to be Sedalia, Indiana. Oh, it is there for sure about 60 miles north of Indianapolis in the center of the state. However it is not exactly the pride of Owen Township in Clinton County.
This unincorporated blip on the map was platted out in 1873 by James A. Campbell and Jackson B. McCune who build the first house and was the first postmaster. There is a record of William Miller’s first store, Allen Branch’s first established blacksmith forge and the village even had a physician, Dr. Keeny.1 Though it still retains a remotely managed post office under the direction of the Rossville P.O. since 2013, the last two digits of its zip code, 46041, approximate its population.2
I found an intriguing book titled “Sedalia, Indiana” 3 on the Internet in my Sedaliana pursuit and purchased it out of curiosity. The cover blurbs include, “Re-entry to I-65 possible, but you won’t want to leave”, and “If you are a Hoosier, you’ve been to Sedalia,” and “…Sedalia is on no map, but lives in the hearts of Hoosiers everywhere.” After wading through the novel I decided only a Hoosier could love it.
However, an interesting fact about Sedalia, Indiana has led me on another chase down still another mirky path. Local history has it that Sedalia, Indiana was named after the hometown of a Vandalia Railroad official. He was from Sedalia, Illinois. So, I’m off next to the land of Lincoln.
1 Sedalia, Indiana; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedalia,_Indiana.
3 Johnson, William Crow; Sedalia, Indiana; Copyright by author; 2015
