Pioneers came from North Carolina in 1818 and settled in Jefferson Township on the Greene County and Owen County border.  Colonel John Stokley located where Johnstown would eventually be established.  He is remembered for the field glasses with which he hunted bees.  In 1830, a log grist mill was built on the Eel River.  After 1836, John Allison built a store when he learned that the Wabash & Erie Canal would pass through the area and named the place John’s Town or Johnstown after himself.  The Cross-Cut Canal of the Wabash & Erie Canal System entered Greene County at Johnstown.  There was bad blood between the people of Johnstown and Point Commerce about the river dam at Point Commerce, which back water up to Johnstown.  For about ten years, during the mid-1800’s, there were prosperous times for the canal until the railroad came through and ended the use of the canal and thus, of Johnstown.

Provided by Mildred “Milly” (Coleman) Uland