Shepardsville

Shepardsville is located on land homesteaded by William Shepard. Active in county and township politics, he managed to get the proposed railroad to pass through his farm instead of a mile south where the right of way had already been surveyed and the track cleared.

Shepard had a village laid out and on Oct. 16, 1866 he deeded the land to be called Shepardsville. Lots were sold and stores and houses began to be built. Methodist and Baptist churches and a school were built.

The first school house stood on the northeast corner of M-21 and Shepardsville Road. Another school built in 1896 north on Shepardsville Road still stands today and is used as an Amish School.

In its heyday, the unincorporated village included an inn, saloon, stockyards, grain elevator, Frank Cleveland's store with a Post Office, grocery stores, saddle/livery, blacksmith shop, and the cheese factory of Bill Graham.

Unfortunately, a series of fires spelled the demise of Shepardsville - the stave-mill burned in 1871; a business block of three stores and several shops was destroyed by fire in 1872-73; and the cheese-factory burned in 1880.

In 1895, Leo Grove came home from college where he had learned to play football. He organized a team and the first professional football game in the United States was played on July 4. A monument and plaque marks the spot today near the southeast corner of M-21 and Shepardsville Road, just north of where the game was played.

The Shepardsville United Methodist Church is landmark building that remains to this day. It was rebuilt from the original Methodist Church in 1920, covered with split fieldstones that were cleared from the area when Shepardsville was founded.

Historical information taken from the 1980 History of Clinton County; compiled by Esther Baker Dietrich.