Glass Works. In 1847 the city was connected to the port at Michigan City, Indiana on Lake Michigan via the Monon railroad. In 1853 the New Albany High School opened, the first public high school in the state. The original school was built at the corner of West First Street and Spring Street. New Albany would also be the first in the state to create a consolidated school district several years later. Ashbel P. Willard, governor of the state of Indiana, dedicated the Floyd County Fairgrounds in 1859. That year, the Indiana State Fair was held in New Albany. During the Civil War, the fairgrounds were converted to become Camp Noble and used as a muster point for the area's regiments. Civil War During the Civil War New Albany served as both a supply center for Union troops and as a medical care center for wounded soldiers. Up to 1,500 wounded soldiers were treated in New Albany during the war, many non-medical buildings were converted into makeshift hospitals. In 1862, Abraham Lincoln established one of the first seven national cemeteries in New Albany for burying the many war dead. Despite the ongoing war, a new courthouse was built in 1865 which was used until the 1960s when the current City-County courthouse was constructed, also the first in Indiana. The Town Clock Church, now the Second Baptist Church, was used as the New Albany stop in the Underground Railroad. The original steeple was destroyed by a lightning strike in 1915 and a new replica steeple wasn't completed until 101 years later in 2016. During the American Civil War the trade with the South dwindled, as New Albany was boycotted by both sides, by Confederates because it was in a Union state and by the North because it was considered as too friendly to the South. Indianapolis overtook New Albany as Indiana's largest city in 1860 and across the river Louisville's population grew much faster, New Albany never regained its original stature. The once robust steamboat industry ended by 1870, with the last steamboat built in New Albany named, appropriately, the Robert E. Lee. During the second half of the 19th century, New Albany experienced an industrial boom despite the collapse of the steamboat industry. The advent of the railroad created economic opportunity for the city as a pork packing and locomotive repair center. A bridge was built across the Ohio River