There are a lot of ways a town is born. It could be a quirk of geography – a good harbor or the intersection of two rivers. Perhaps a landowner with his eye on the future begins selling lots. In the case of Fickle, Indiana, the railroad came through and said, “Here, right here.”
The 1865 map shows no town in southern Washington Township of Clinton County. There is no town on the 1878 map either. But Clinton County was growing and needed improved transportation. The Toledo, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad began building through the southwest corner of the county. In 1879 a railroad station was built and named Fickle after Isaac Fickle, an early settler and notable resident in the area.
The history of railroads in this period is a somewhat convoluted web of mergers. The Toledo line became the Toledo, St. Louis and Kansas City, then the Toledo, St Louis and Western and then finally, more simply, the Clover Leaf Railroad. In 1922 it became part of the New York, Chicago and St. Louis system – the Nickel Plate. Whatever its name, it brought cheaper goods, provided an outlet for farm products and extended passenger service to this part of the township.
A post office was established at Fickle in 1888. Fickle grew to have a general store, a grain elevator, a one-room school and a church named Cloverleaf Methodist. A church is often the heart of a community and by all accounts, Cloverleaf was just that. The first baby baptized there was Ruth McBride Sibbert in 1901. The church grew to over 80 members.
Changes in transportation, shopping patterns, and population brought changes to the town. The post office closed in 1928, the grain elevator shut down in 1930, the store followed in 1948. The deadliest blow to the community of Fickle was the loss of Cloverleaf Methodist. With very little input and over the protests of the congregants the United Methodist Church in 1967 decided to close and then bulldoze the church building. But even as members found other church homes, a group of ladies decided to continue to meet for social and charitable causes under the ironic name of ‘The Fickle Friends.’ They met until 2008 when declining membership and ill health ended their group.
Today the town of Fickle is still marked by road signs. Between the signs there are a few houses, mostly ranches built long after the heyday of the town. On either side of the crossroads are a few more houses, but it’s hard to determine the borders of small towns. How many cornfields do you pass, how many farmhouses do you include? There’s the old Abbot Cemetery, but no public road accesses it. There’s a Burke NHK plant that makes car seats nearby. An ADM Grain Company down the road but it’s sign says it’s a Frankfort business. And just out of town is Interstate I-65 designed to take drivers to towns bigger than Fickle.
Connection: Isaac Fickle was my 3rd great-grandfather.
Ruth McBride Sibbert was my 3rd cousin twice removed.
familyconnectionsblog - 
Hello – I came across your blog when I was delving deeper into my ancestry. My mother’s side of the family is the side I’m most familiar with so I love hearing more of Fickle as I have beautiful memories of my great-grandmother’s house when I was little. My great-grandmother was Ruth McBride Sibbett (Sibbett was her married name). She was born in the home she grew up in in Fickle and eventually came back to after taking up residence in Frankfort with her husband, Carl Sibbett D.D.S, my grandmother Barbara Sue Sibbett, and my Great-Uncle Joseph Sibbett. Great-Grandma Ruth’s father was the Minister of the church you mentioned above, Cloverleaf Methodist and my mother still has the key used to open the large doors of the church before it was razed. We have wonderful stories of my great-grandmother’s youth in Fickle as well as in Frankfort. My mother gave me a copy of a diary we found of hers from May of 1917 to September of 1920 which I cherish. Every time I’m near Route 52 I make a pitstop to Fickle to where Great-Grandma’s house used to me.
Unfortunately, her home caught fire in the early 80’s and couldn’t be saved. I still know exactly where the farm sat and drive by and think of her. Thank you for giving me some more insight into my family. – Julia Rutland, Indianapolis, Indiana
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Thank you for sharing your memories and this information. It’s great to hear from you. Have you seen the interview with Ruth McBride Sibbert in the Frankfort Times, 11 November 1972? Frankfort Library has this newspaper and lots of old photos of Fickle, IN.
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