I solved (for me anyway) a small historical enigma this summer regarding the spelling of Whitely, one of Muncie’s oldest neighborhoods. Whitely has always been spelled with one "e" and so named in honor of the district’s founder, William Whitely. In 1893, during the Indiana Gas and Oil Boom, Whitely launched the William N. Whitely Machine Company in Muncie to manufacture his Champion Reapers. He also made substantial real estate investments in Center Township, forming the Whitely Land Company in 1892 to sell his workers plots in the new Whitely suburb.
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William’s brother and fellow industrialist Amos Whiteley was also lured to Muncie during the boom. In 1894, Amos opened the Whiteley Malleable Castings Company just west of what is now McCulloch Park, north of Highland. Amos, however, spelled his surname and titled his new company with two e’s. Why the discrepancy?
The answer, as it turns out, is rather silly.
William Needhan Whiteley was born on a small farm in Harmony, Ohio in 1834. His brother Amos Nelson was born four years later. In the 1850s, the Whiteley family moved to Springfield, 6-miles west of Harmony. Their new farm had a small metal shop on the premises where William discovered his knack for mechanical engineering and metalworking. He gained additional experience during his teenage years at his uncle's Springfield machine shop.
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William revolutionized the agricultural industry in 1854 by inventing improvements for a grain and grass harvester known as a reaper. Reapers were farm implements pulled behind draft animals to cut and gather grain. Farmers loved them, as they cut down harvesting time and reduced seasonal labor costs.
He patented his invention and, with partners, formed the Whiteley, Fassler, and Kelly Company to manufacture it. The firm eventually opened a sprawling 54-acre factory in Springfield known as the East End Shops and employed thousands. At the time, their manufacturing facility was one of the world’s largest, second only to Krupp’s armament factory in Essen, Germany.
Whiteley made significant improvements to the reaper over the years, filing a new patent in 1867. For whatever reason, the U.S. Patent Office misspelled his last name on the application with only one "e." A likely clerical error, but one that caused legal difficulties for William who hoped to profit from his invention. So he just changed the spelling of his last name to match. The Muncie Star wrote many years later that William, “who patented at least 171 inventions, gladly accepted one less ‘e’ in his surname … the elision avoided legal complications and made the spelling similar for everyone, including the Whitelys.”
William Whitely became fantastically wealthy and was known internationally as the “Reaper King” by the time natural gas was discovered here in 1886. Once the extent of the Trenton Gas and Oil Field became apparent, communities across East Central Indiana competed for manufacturers who could build factories, employ thousands and develop real estate. In Muncie, boosters formed the Citizens’ Enterprise Company to offer incentives for regional industrialists to relocate. Citizens’ was successful in enticing several to Magic Muncie, including Ball Brothers, Midland Steel, Hemingway Glass, Warner Gear, Muncie Glass, Indiana Steel and Wire, Ontario Silver, Muncie Pulp and Dean Forging.
With his success record, William was much sought after by Indiana gas boom communities in the 1890s. The industrialist toured factory sites and met with boosters in Eaton, Anderson, and Hartford City, but it was Citizens’ in Muncie that offered the best deal. The Muncie Morning News reported on Aug. 6, 1892 that “Mr. William N. Whitely, known to the world as the Reaper King, has closed the negotiations that will result in his removal from Springfield, Ohio to Magic Muncie.” Citizens’ gave Whitely $50,000 in cash, several acres of land and free gas.
William also bought 1,200 acres due east of his factory to build a suburb for workers. With several family members, including Amos, William formed the Whitely Land Company to auction lots. George McCulloch, a prominent member of Citizens’ Enterprise and an industrialist himself, served as the land company’s secretary.
Whitely finished his Muncie plant in 1893. It was located between what is now the Cardinal Greenway and the beautifully redone Gainbridge Field in McCulloch Park. Whitely’s harvester factory contained an iron foundry, blade sharpening floor, a blacksmith, machine shops, paint studio, woodshop and warehousing.
The factory, however, didn’t last long. A massive fire destroyed the plant on May 6, 1894. As the inferno raged, William was on a train into Muncie and noticed the plume of smoke, but dismissed it as a barn fire. The Muncie Daily Herald reported the next day that “little did he think that his factory was being destroyed until so informed at the depot.” Whitely didn’t carry insurance for some stupid reason, resulting in a total loss. The factory was never rebuilt and the land later became part of McCulloch Park. Citizens’ later sued him for the $50,000, but the industrialist died in 1912 before the matter was settled.
William’s brother didn’t experience such misfortunes. Amos opened Whiteley Malleable Castings Company just north of his brother’s burnt-out reaper works in 1894. The successful company employed thousands of Munsonians until the mid-20th century. A fire destroyed the plant in 1916, but Amos, who had insurance, rebuilt it. He sold the firm three years later and the new owners renamed it Muncie Malleable. The factory closed in the 1960s and the site is now home to East Central Recycling.
Though the Whitel(e)y factories didn’t last, the neighborhood did. By the end of 1892, 1,000 people were living in Whitely and working on shop floors across Muncie. The neighborhood grew in the early 20th century to become a vibrant blue-collar suburb and a locus of Muncie’s Black community. Hurley Goodall and Elizabeth Campbell wrote in “The Other Side of Middletown,” that Whitely “started off primarily as a white town, but African Americans were part of the community from the start. Whitely was annexed by the city of Muncie in 1919, and became the most integrated neighborhood during the 1920s and 1930s. Many of the era recall a town that was ‘fifty-fifty,’ a place where both white and Black families lived together in relative peace.”
One hundred and thirty years after its founding, the neighborhood remains a testament to Munsonian durability and inclusivity. I’d also suggest that Whitely serves as an epicenter of Muncie’s "re-greening," given the neighborhood’s connection with the Cardinal and White River greenways, McCulloch Park, and the Craddock and Hughes nature preserves.
Whitely, like Avondale, Industry, Congerville, and Westside, came to be during the gas boom. Though the gas ran out and factories closed, these neighborhoods endured. We know not what the future may bring to our city, but we can rest assured, as Whitely demonstrates, that Muncie’s neighborhoods will stand the test of time.
Chris Flook is a board member for the Delaware County Historical Society and is the author of "Lost Towns of Delaware County, Indiana" and "Native Americans of East-Central Indiana." For more information about the Delaware County Historical Society, visit delawarecountyhistory.org.