Wingate, Indiana
Wingate, located in Coal Creek Township in northwestern Montgomery County , was laid out as Pleasant Hill around 1831. John Wingate helped bring a railroad to the town in 1881, and its name was changed to Wingate the following year. The name change was disputed for a time during the 1880s, with the town being called Whitlock.
The town had a population of 457 in 1900 and 446 in 1910. By 2000, the population had dropped to 299. Wingate gained some distinction when its 12-man high school basketball team won the state tournaments in 1913 and 1914. Wingate High School was absorbed by Coal Creek Central High School in 1954. The building was demolished soon after and houses built on the site.
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| The business street of Wingate from a 1910 postcard, Cording Hall is on right and the Drug Store is at left | The Farmers' Bank and Opera House (Cording Hall), Wingate, Indiana, 1918 |
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| Drug Store, Wingate, Indiana, c.1910-1920, in the Odd Fellows Building (1898-1901), demolished 1990s | Wingate High School, 1907, from a rendering by George W. VanCleave & W. K. Richards, architects |
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| The 2-story building once housed Shobe's Restaurant and Duncan's Jewelry Store with the Telephone Co. switchboard office upstairs | The Wingate Jail is a curiosity of the town, apparently used mostly to sober up drunks and unruly tramps who wandered into town |
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| The Mitchell House, once occupied by Grace McBeth, principal of Wingate High School during the 1930s-1940s | The John C. Wingate House at the southeast corner Main Cross and Main Streets |
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| The famous Wingate Pagoda [ Click on image for more information ] |
A postcard view of the pagoda, c.1910s. |
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| The John Mason Hightower farm in Coal Creek Township, Montgomery County, Indiana, c.1900. The girl in the white dress is Bertha (Hightower) Zeigler |
