Byron K. Elliott

(Sept. 4, 1835-Apr. 19, 1913). Born in Ohio, Elliott moved to Indianapolis with his father in 1850 and was elected city attorney in May 1859. After serving as an adjutant general during the Civil War, he was again elected city attorney in 1865, 1867, and 1869, and judge of the Marion County Criminal Court in 1870 (see Courts In Marion County). Two years later, Elliott resigned to accept the new post of city solicitor. When that office was discontinued in 1873, he returned to the position of city attorney. Elliott was elected judge of the Marion County Superior Court in 1876 and judge of the Indiana Supreme Court, serving from 1881 to 1893. Although nominated in 1892, he was not reelected. He retired to private practice with his son, William F. Elliott, and coauthored several volumes on law.

A frequent contributor to law journals, Elliott served on the law faculty at North Western Christian University (later Butler University) from 1871 to the mid-1870s. He helped establish the independent Central Indiana Law School in 1879, which closed shortly after his election to the Supreme Court.

Following his retirement from the bench in 1893, Elliott, John R. Wilson, Addison C. Harris, Charles W. Fairbanks, and William P. Fishback opened the Indiana Law School on October 2, 1894. It merged in 1896 with the Medical College of Indiana, the Indiana Dental College, and Butler College to form the University of Indianapolis (which never fully developed). Elliott remained head of the school until 1899 and lecturer until 1903. Following a stroke, he retired from public life.

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