Vigo County Historical Society

Hitching posts were necessary decor

Imagine the year 1865. A young man, who could be named William Sage, is riding down the street on his chestnut bay to inspect the handsome residence being built on the corner of Sixth Street and Washington Avenue, then known as Moffat Street.

As he reaches his nearly-completed home, he alights from his horse, takes the reins in his hands, and ties them securely to the hitching post, already installed in front of his home, now the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley.

The hitching post was a necessary part of life in the horse and buggy days. The main street of a town often resembled an illustration in the iron foundry catalogs of J.W. Fiske or Mott Ironworks, who made most of the posts used throughout the country.

The earliest hitching device, which dates from the mid-19th century, was a turned wooden post or a simple piece of timber with a hitching ring. These had to be painted frequently and rotted after a few years of exposure. They were replaced by solid iron posts with a few twists, fashioned by the village blacksmith.

With the opening of the foundries and with the Industrial Revolution came the wrought-iron post, a man-produced product that quickly undersold the handiwork of the blacksmiths. These posts came in a variety of designs, invariably topped with a horse head and a ring for the reins.

Around 1870, a new field in hitching post production opened with the introduction of the human figure. Jockeys, stable boys, liverymen and the like were offered to the carriage trade. Chinese figures were produced following a wave of popular interest in the Chinese railroad workers of the West.

Hitching posts were so popular during this period that iron foundry catalogs were filled with new designs every season. A model was first carved in wood; then reproduced in metal. Some of the figures were painted. There was a time when the elaborateness of the hitching post in front of a home or a business was a status symbol in the community.

While their use has long passed, some period homes retain hitching posts for authenticity and decorativeness. A few remain in Terre Haute, particularly in the Farrington Grove district.

The hitching post that formerly stood in front of the historical museum is very plain. It is about 4 feet tall and resembles a tree trunk with a ring near the top.

One hitching post can be seen on the lower floor of the museum. It is a horse head on a simple cast iron post, and is painted light green. It stands as another example of a formerly useful device that become a memory.