-
Whitley County is divided into 9 Civil Townships as follows: Cleveland, Columbia,
Etna-Troy, Jefferson, Richland, Smith, Thorn Creek, Union and Washington;
originally Etna-Troy was divided into individual townships named Etna and
Troy.
-
Whitley County was organized by an act of the Legislature on January 29,
1839, which became effective April 1, 1839.
-
Whitley County was formed out of what was originally Cleveland Township of
Huntington County.
-
Columbia City wasn't the original location for the County Seat.
-
The site for the first County Seat, which was selected by sate commissioners,
did not prove satisfactory and the Legislature passed an act February 18,
1839, naming five new commissioners to relocate the County Seat.
-
On October 19, 1839, the commissioners met and decided to place the County
Seat on centrally located fractional Section 11, Township 31 North, Range
9 East. This land was owned by Elihu Chauncey, of Philadelphia and he agreed
to donate 222 1/2 acres and build a sawmill on the land.
-
There was not a family of settlers living within one and a half miles of
the County Seat, called Columbia and afterward changed to Columbia City,
when it was established. By 1849 it contained seventy houses, two were brick
the others being frame, and a brick Courthouse had been commenced; the population
was 350.
-
According to the Society of Indiana Pioneers, an individual was a pioneer
of our county if they resided here on or before December 31, 1840.
-
Columbia City was home to: Lloyd C. Douglas - Author of "The Robe"; Ralph
F. Gates - Governor of Indiana from 1945-49; and Thomas R. Marshal - Vice
President of United States under President Woodrow Wilson. Thanks
to Nathan Gates Lefever!
-
Indiana automobile License Plates issued in Whitley County start with the
prefix 92 because it is the ninety-second county in alphabetical listing.
|
