Ligonier (Images of America)

Isaac Cavin, of Ligonier, Pennsylvania, traveled to Indiana in 1830. He returned home and married Elizabeth Marker in 1834, and they traveled together to northern Indiana.

In May 1835, he planned a new town and named it Ligonier. He built his home a few miles north of town and lived there for 52 years. The next big players were two German Jewish peddlers, Solomon Mier and Frederick William Straus, who traveled to the United States and settled in Indiana. After training with their uncle, they moved to Ligonier around 1854 because they were told the railroad would be coming to Ligonier and that it might be a good place to start up a business. The suggestion led to some wonderful times for Ligonier. Straus developed one of his businesses into the largest farm brokerage firm in the United States, and Mier developed one of his businesses into one of the largest farmland dealers in the Midwest. Images of America: Ligonier explores one of the most unusual small towns in the United States.

Daniel L. Replogle is a member of the Ligonier Historical Society, which has its museum in the town's Jewish temple. Members of the Ligonier Historical Society assisted in the formation of this book.