Octagon is a former unincorporated rural settlement in Wabash Township,

Tippecanoe County Tippecanoe ( ) may refer to several places or things in the United States: * The 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe in Indiana * A nickname for William Henry Harrison (U.S. President March 1841–April 1841) from his role in the battle ** Tippecanoe and Tyl ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. As part of Tippecanoe County, the community is part of the

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( ) is a city in and is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Lafayette ...

Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

Octagon lies at the junction of local roads 750N and 450W, both gravel roads. It is from La Fayette, Indiana, the county seat.

History

A post office was established at Octagon in 1866, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1900. Mail was subsequently routed through Lafayette. Octagon was the site of a

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

established in 1874, as well as several churches and schools over the years. The site apparently took its name from an

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

-shaped schoolhouse on the site at one time. Octagon's population was 488 in 1900. The original Octagon Schoolhouse, also known as Number 2, was named for the shape of the building, which was sometimes described as round. It was razed around 1872. The second Octagon School was an eight-sided building constructed in 1914, at a cost of $2,900. The Indiana State Superintendent called the eight-sided, one-room open design an "ideal plan" for a school. The stucco building was heated with coal, and there were no indoor restrooms. Octagon's population was listed as 5 in 1940. By 1975, Octagon had only "a few houses" and the Masonic temple, and was described as a "ghost town". The Masonic lodge had 107 members in 1954, and was still active at least as recently as 2002.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Tippecanoe County, Indiana Unincorporated communities in Indiana Lafayette metropolitan area, Indiana

Geography

History

See also

References