Mollie, Indiana

rdf:langString Mollie, Indiana

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rdf:langString Location of Mollie

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rdf:langString Mollie

rdf:langString Indiana

rdf:langString Mollie is an extinct American village in Blackford County, Indiana, that flourished during the Indiana Gas Boom from the 1880s until the 1920s. The region around Mollie experienced an economic "boom" period because of the discovery of gas and crude oil. Mollie was a stop along the Fort Wayne, Cincinnati, and Louisville Railroad—and happened to be near the region's oil fields, a convenient location for the area's oil workers. Mollie's location on the railroad line was approximately halfway between the two largest cities in Blackford County: Hartford City and Montpelier. In addition to the oil fields, the area was also fertile farmland. Two county roads intersected at Mollie, making it well-located for area farmers as well as the oil workers. The small community had a feed mill, a grocery, a Post Office, and a livestock station. The sole manufacturing facility was a brick and tile mill. Mollie's significance, in addition to its participation in the Indiana Gas Boom and its railroad station, is that Mollie is thought to be the site of the first aircraft landing in Blackford County. Most of the small community's growth and demise is linked to the Indiana Gas Boom. Two other factors were minor contributors to Mollie's decline. First, the depletion of the raw material used in the community’s tile manufacturing factory meant that Mollie lost its only manufacturer. A second factor was the automobile. Improvements in modern highway systems, automobile reliability, and automobile availability made people less dependent on railroads for transportation—diminishing Mollie's value as a stop along a railroad line. Today (2011), none of the community’s commercial buildings remain. Two houses are located nearby—including one that was built using bricks made from the community's tile mill. Interurban lines declined in popularity in Indiana during the 20th century, and a line serving Mollie was removed in the 1940s. Although the track that was the Mollie railroad spur is gone, freight trains operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway still operate over the adjacent main line.