Photo of Isabella “Miss Bell” Irwin from “History of Gibson County” by Gil Stormont.
Isabella Irwin, mostly referred to as Miss Bell Irwin, was an immigrant from Ireland who lived in Fort Branch, Indiana with her uncle Thomas Wark. Wark owned the brick house on 100 W Locust St, which is still standing to this day. Thomas went to Ireland every few years to visit with his family, and at one point he brought his niece, Isabella, back to Fort Branch with him. She lived with him as his primary caretaker. Years later, he brought back his great niece Elizabeth Irwin (niece to Miss Bell), and years after that he brought Elizabeth’s sister Isabella. When Thomas Wark passed away, he left all of his properties in Fort Branch to Isabella “Miss Bell” Irwin. She and her two nieces lived in the brick house together.
She managed the Depot House/Hotel in downtown Fort Branch. One of the items in the Fort Branch & Haubstadt Public Library’s local history collection is a letter sent to Miss Bell regarding her Depot House.
The letter reads, “Dear Friend, as I have some thing to tell you some thing I know you don’t alowe [allow] in your house if you will watch the depot hotel you will find out that they are running a gambling house they are having poker games nearly every night. Now dear Friend I know what I am talking about as I followed my Husband thire [there] and to my sorrow they was playing poker now you just watch for your self and see I am a lady Friend and I do not care to tell my name but I know you do not alow [allow] any such things to go on in your house hoping you will only do as I have and watch .”
When Miss Bell passed away, she left the properties to her nieces Elizabeth and Isabella. One of their properties, a cow pasture across the road from their house, was purchased by the Fort Branch Library Board in 1916 and would later become the site of the Fort Branch Public Library Carnegie building.
Photo above of Depot House/Hotel in downtown Fort Branch owned by Miss Bell Irwin. Photo taken 1896. This photo is part of the Fort Branch & Haubstadt Public Library’s local history collection.