Mexico

Three communities in Miami County share their monikers with countries. Last post: Chili. This post: Mexico. Next post: Peru.

John and Simeon Wilkinson laid out Mexico in August 1834 along the Eel River. The community developed around a trading post. Robert L. Baker in Needmore to Prosperity offers two stories for why the community is called Mexico. The community is likely named for the country, "apparently because of sympathy for the Mexican struggle for independence." An alternate story (which is more of a legend) is the community was named Mexico because “many Mexicans made it their trading point when the town was just a trading post.”

For more than 75 years, a major part of the community was the Mexico Home, an orphanage and home for seniors. A plaque marks the site of the Mexico Home and provides a brief history:

A Home for Old Folks and Orphans was established on a fifteen acre plot north of this marker in 1889 by the Middle Indiana District of the Church of the Brethren. Levi Miller, of Mexico, was the founder and chief benefactor. 600 older adults and 1500 orphans were cared for in this Home. The orphanage closed in 1943. The Home for adults continued at this site until 1968 when it moved to North Manchester and become Timbercrest. This plaque commemorates 100 years of service by the Church of the Brethren, Inc. through the Mexico Home and Timbercrest. 1889 – 1989 

A complete history of the Mexico Home can be found here. Timbercrest is still owned by the churches of the Brethren in Indiana.