March 2026
William L. Taylor was born in a Wolcottville log cabin and rose to lead Indiana's legal office. Almost no one here knows his name.
There is a park on the south side of Wolcottville called Taylor Park. Most people who use it know it by name but not by origin. The name belongs to William Lamborn Taylor, who was born in a log cabin in Wolcottville on July 16, 1850, grew up to become the seventeenth Attorney General of Indiana, ran for Governor, practiced law in Indianapolis for decades, and in 1908 donated the land that became that park to the town where he was born. He died in 1940 at the age of 89. He is not widely remembered here. He probably should be.
Taylor was the son of Venorris Raymond Taylor and Mary Rowe Taylor, and grew up attending the common schools of Wolcottville before leaving for Hillsdale College in Michigan. He graduated from Indiana University in 1877 and then from the Indianapolis Law School three years later, joining the office of Stanton J. Peelle, an attorney who would later serve on the United States Circuit Court of Appeals. It was a serious legal education for a boy from a small Indiana town, and Taylor made the most of it.
He became city attorney of Indianapolis in 1885 and served three terms. In 1898, after receiving the unanimous nomination of 1,500 Republican delegates at the party's convention, he was elected Indiana Attorney General. He was re-elected in a landslide and served until January 1, 1903. During his tenure he served under two governors, both Republicans, and left a record that was more substantive than most people who held the office.
Two achievements stand out. Taylor successfully collected a Civil War claim that Indiana had filed against the federal government back in 1868, recovering $636,000 for the state. Indiana was the only Union state to collect the full amount of its Civil War claim. He also worked with Indiana University biologist Carl H. Eigenmann to introduce legislation establishing a state nature reserve in Lawrence County, protecting land with unique flora and fauna that researchers had identified as worth saving. A lawyer and a scientist, working together on conservation, in 1900. It was ahead of its time.
In 1904, Taylor ran for Governor of Indiana on the Republican ticket. He lost. History does not always reward the people who deserve it, and the governor's race is where Taylor's political career effectively ended. He returned to private practice in Indianapolis, where his law firm went through several iterations and his office in the State Life building remained for forty years. His law library was noted as one of the best in the city.
In 1908, Taylor gave the town of Wolcottville a tract of land for a park and playground. He continued to make gifts for the park's maintenance over the years. The park still bears his name. Most people who take their kids there on a summer evening do not know the story behind the name on the sign. Now you do.
Taylor Park is located off S.R. 9 on the south side of Wolcottville. It has a ball diamond, basketball courts, a pavilion, and a playground. William L. Taylor is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.