A couple of weeks ago, a reader messaged me to ask if I had any information about the Delaware County community of New Burlington. I know as much about the hamlet as the next guy, I think, so I visited and snapped some photos. What I found was a corner with a story worth telling.
New Burlington sits on the old Muncie and Richmond Road. The route angled its way through the Delaware County wilderness on its way to becoming one of the earliest and busiest thoroughfares in the entire area1. Its path, which eventually stretched across Indiana from Chicago to Cincinnati, likely existed even before European settlers arrived in Delaware County! As early as 1831, the road’s course was traceable through the forest when pioneer Peter Dragoo came through the area2. It was improved and widened around 1834 or 18353.
George Ribble platted New Burlington along the way in 1837. A post office, general store, and tavern soon followed4. As the earliest community in Perry Township, New Burlington thrived! Among the first pioneers in town was Thomas Whitney. In 1857, he and several members of Muncie’s Delaware Lodge 46 met at the home of Dr. Samuel Jump to organize a Masonic hall. Whitney Lodge 229 was established the following year, and a new temple was dedicated in 18615.
New Burlington was also home to an early Presbyterian church. Two Methodist congregations began meeting there in 1856 and became the sole occupants of the building in short order. Eventually, they erected a frame church and held services there until 1872. That year, they built a $2,500 brick sanctuary6 that still stands today.
In 1870, the Muncie and Richmond Road got another upgrade. This time, it was transformed into a gravel toll road known as the Muncie and Burlington Pike7. Near the end of the improved route, New Burlington featured more than just a toll booth, lodge, and church. By 1881, it was also home to people like merchant George Shroyer, Dr. Samuel Jump, shoemaker Phineas Tuttle, and wagon maker Joseph Thackeray8.
New Burlington peaked with the aforementioned establishments, a cemetery, a schoolhouse, two taverns, two blacksmiths, and a photographer’s studio known as a “picture gallery9.” Businesses and homes spanned eight blocks from First to Fourth Streets10, and the place was booming. Perry Township’s first high school even opened inside the New Burlington store in 1899, but the setup didn’t last: residents of nearby Mt. Pleasant felt the institution was too far out of the way, so the high school was shut down and relocated to a more central location11.
Unfortunately, New Burlington began to decline in the early 20th century. Although the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway reached Perry Township in the late 1800s, it bypassed the town entirely, opting instead for a station two miles west at a spot called Medford. The town’s post office closed in 1901 with the introduction of rural mail delivery12, but New Burlington still held on with its church, lodge, and grocery store.
That resilience wouldn’t last. In 1957, the Muncie Water Works Company announced plans to construct an earthen dam across Prairie Creek, just east of town13. The resulting reservoir swallowed up nearby roads and prompted what was described as an “exodus of persons14.” By 1958, New Burlington’s store had closed for good. Burlington Pike -once the town’s main thoroughfare- was severed; the end of it disappearing into the rising waters of the lake.
Even so, New Burlington hasn’t vanished. It still holds on as a place where there’s some “there” there. The old grocery store and lodge hall may have been converted into private homes, but traces of the community’s spirit remain alive and well. The church continues to welcome congregants, and a new lodge hall, built in 1956 just before the reservoir reshaped the area, remains an active gathering place. It might not be the township hub it once was, but New Burlington hasn’t faded entirely into memory. There’s still a heartbeat in this quiet corner of Delaware County.
Places like New Burlington don’t make headlines anymore, but that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped mattering. Today, the hamlet reminds me that even the smallest dots on the map have layered history! I’m glad I got a chance to dig into its story. After all, it’s one thing to know a place exists, but it’s another to really see it.
Sources Cited
1 Barnes, H. (1987, September 27). A Nice Country Town. The Muncie Star. p. 32.
2 Helm, T. B. (1881). Mount Pleasant Township. In History of Delaware County, Indiana: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. book, Kingman Brothers.
3 (See footnote 2).
4 Kemper, G. W. H. (1908). A Twentieth Century History of Delaware County, Indiana, Volume 1. Book, Lewis Publishing Company.
5 Tiny New Burlington was site of the third Masonic Lodge chartered in Delaware County (1992, June 13). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 43.
6 (See footnote 2).
7 Spath, C. (2006, March 25). New Burlington experienced 19th-century heyday. The Muncie Star Press. p. 26.
8 (See footnote 2).
9 (See footnote 7).
10 Griffing, B. N. (1887). Perry Township. An atlas of Delaware County, Indiana. map, Philadelphia, PA; Griffing, Gordon, & Company.
11 (See footnote 4).
12 “Delaware County”. Jim Forte Postal History. Web. Retrieved July 26, 2025.
13 Junk, B. (1957, April 25). Detail Plans for Giant Reservoir. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
14 Burglars Get Store Safe (1958, November 14). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
You should travel to Greensboro, Henry County and write about the beautiful Masonic lodge there. I believe it was recently sold and no longer serves the masons. It was supposed built by a Greensboro resident who became rich in the California gold rush.
I’ll put it on my list! I’m in the area once a month or so.
You could look for the old spring at the bottom of the hill right before the bridge over Duck creek. Last house on the left.
I couldn’t find anything last time I was there, but I’m always up for a second examination.
It may have dissapeared. It ran from the lower side yard of the house near the creek, down to the creek. There was a small ditch, about one foot deep. The spring came out of a pipe. Lots of people used it in the 60s/70s.
Goggle Mpas syas the address is 4321 W County Rd 350S. The spring was below the driveway in the yard that runs to the creek. The House, now 1 level used to be mill many years ago with a mill wheel and water running from a small dam on the creek.