This site was the homestead of the Scripps family, pioneer journalists and philanthropists. John Scripps (1785-1868), a Methodist circuit-rider, settled here in 1831. In 1849 he began publishing the Prairie Telegraph, now the Rushville Times. His nephew, John Locke Scripps (1818-1868), co-founded the Chicago Tribune and wrote the first biography of Abraham Lincoln. A great-nephew, Edward Wyllis Scripps (1854-1926), founded United Press and the first newspaper chain in the United States, Scripps Howard. An older brother, James E. Scripps (1835-1906), founded the Detroit Evening News, and their sister, Ellen Browning Scripps (1836-1932), pioneered the concept of the feature article in journalism.