Adams County (pop. 34,387) is south of Allen County, on the border with Ohio.
It was named for President John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) of Massachusetts.
The county seat of Adams County is Decatur (pop. 9,405).
Adams County Courthouse (1873)
David Anspaugh, the director of the movies “Rudy” and “Hoosiers,” was born in Decatur in 1946.
The city of Berne (pop. 3,999) was settled by Swiss and German immigrants and was named for the capital of Switzerland. In 2010, the city built a 160-foot replica of the clock tower in Berne, Switzerland.
The one in Switzerland is 500 years old.
The tower has daily glockenspiel performances at 12 noon, 3, 6, and 9 p.m.
Berne also hosts entertainment at the base of the tower.
The town of Geneva (pop. 1,293), named for the city in Switzerland, was the longtime home of author Gene Stratton-Porter (1863-1924), author of “A Girl of the Limberlost.” Her home is now Limberlost State Historic Site.
Allen County (pop. 355,329) is Indiana’s largest county in square miles and third-largest county in population. It’s one of five Allen counties in the U.S.
The county was named for Col. John Allen (1771-1813), an Army officer from Kentucky who was killed in the War of 1812.
Died at the Battle of Frenchtown
The county seat of Allen County is Fort Wayne (pop. 253,691), second-largest city in Indiana.
Allen County Courthouse (1903)
The U.S. Army built the original Fort Wayne (named for General “Mad Anthony” Wayne) in 1794 near the Miami Indian settlement of Kekionga, at the confluence of the Maumee, St. Joseph, and St. Marys rivers.
Fort Wayne skyline
Fort Wayne’s industrial history includes the first gas pump (1885) and the first domestic refrigerator (1913).
Fort Wayne’s former Pennsylvania Railroad Station (1914) is now a banquet hall and community events space called the Baker Street Station.
Fort Wayne is not currently served by Amtrak.
The Karpeles Manuscript Library, which has the world’s largest private collection of original manuscripts and documents, spread around 11 U.S. cities, has two Fort Wayne museums – both in old churches.
Former First Church of God (1917)
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne dates from 1860.
Spires are 192 feet tall.
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) is Indiana’s fifth-largest public university, with about 13,000 students.
The mascot is Don the Mastadon.
The NBA Detroit Pistons originated in 1941 as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons. Owner Fred Zollner owned a foundry that made pistons for auto engines. The team moved to Detroit in 1957.
The Fort Wayne TinCaps, Class-A Midwest League affiliate of the San Diego Padres, play at Parkview Field (2009). The name refers to the cooking pot allegedly worn as a hat by Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman).
John Chapman (1774-1845) died in Fort Wayne and may be buried in Johnny Appleseed Memorial Park.
Actors who were born in Fort Wayne include Carole Lombard (Jane Alice Peters), Shelley Long, Jenna Fischer, and Dick York.
Whitley County (pop. 33,292) is north of Huntington County. The only other Whitley County is in Kentucky. Both were named for William Whitley (1749-1813), a hero of the War of 1812.
The county is last, alphabetically, among Indiana’s counties. It has the highest number (92) on Indiana’s license plates.
The county seat is Columbia City (pop. 8,750). Columbia City and Whitley County, located just west of Fort Wayne and Allen County, have been growing consistently for many years.
Whitley County Courthouse (1888)
Thomas R. Marshall (1854-1925), Indiana governor and U.S. vice president under Woodrow Wilson, practiced law in Columbia City for many years.
Marshall on right
The Whitley County Historical Museum is located in Marshall’s Columbia City home.
Open Tuesday-Friday
The town of South Whitley (pop. 1,751) was the birthplace, in 1947, of country singer Janie Frickie.
South Whitley was formerly known for its annual Fall Festival, featuring bed races.
The town of Churubusco (pop. 1,796), named for an 1847 battle in the Mexican-American War, is known as “Turtle Town, U.S.A.” because of the mythical giant snapping turtle called the Beast of Busco that lived in a local pond.
Huntington County (pop. 37,124) is east of Wabash County. It’s the only Huntington County in the U.S.
The county was named for Samuel Huntington (1731-1796), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later governor of Connecticut.
The county seat of Huntington County is the city of Huntington (pop. 17,391).
Huntington County Courthouse (1904)
Huntington has long been known as “The Lime City” because of its limestone quarries and kilns.
Dan Quayle, vice president under George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, graduated from Huntington High School and later practiced law in Huntington (with his wife, Marilyn) before his election to the House of Representatives.
Class of ’65
The Quayle Vice Presidential Learning Center, in the former First Church of Christ, Scientist, has displays about all the vice presidents, focusing on the five from Indiana.
Spiro Agnew memorabilia
Huntington is the home of Huntington University, affiliated with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. It has about 1,200 students.
Founded in 1897
The Tel-Hy Nature Preserve, south of Huntington, has a collection of historic outhouses.
The unincorporated community of Bippus is the hometown of broadcaster Chris Schenkel (1923-2005). He studied at Purdue University, and died in Fort Wayne.
The village of Markle (pop. 1,095), in both Huntington and Wells counties, has a smiley-face water tower.
Wabash County (pop. 32,888) is east of Miami County. The only other Wabash County is in Illinois.
The county was named for the Wabash River, Indiana’s longest river. The word is an English spelling of a French version (“Ouabache”) of the Indian name for the river – “Wabashike,” meaning the “pure white” of the limestone river bottom.
Wabash River catfish
The county seat of Wabash County is the city of Wabash (pop. 10,666). Wabash reached its peak population of 13,379 in 1970.
Wabash County Courthouse (1879)
In 1880, Wabash became “The First Electrically Lighted City in the World,” when four huge carbon-arc lights were placed on top of the courthouse and lit the entire block.
Industrialist Mark C. Honeywell (1874-1964) founded Honeywell, Inc., in Wabash and was its first president and CEO. Honeywell International, Inc., is now based in New Jersey.
Famous for thermostats
The Honeywell Center (1952) in Wabash, operated by the Honeywell Foundation, has a theater, restaurant, art gallery, and meeting rooms.
Rebuilt in 1994
The Eagles Theatre in Wabash dates from 1906. It was purchased and restored by the Honeywell Foundation in 2010.
Still showing first-run movies
Wabash also has a drive-in movie theater – the 13-24 Drive-In, named for two highways that intersect nearby.
It opened in 1950.
Country singer Crystal Gayle (younger sister of Loretta Lynn) grew up in Wabash and graduated from Wabash High School.
The town of North Manchester (pop. 6,112), north of Wabash, is the home of Manchester University – a liberal arts school affiliated with the Church of the Brethren.
It has about 1,500 students.
The 110-foot Peabody Memorial Tower (1937) is on the grounds of the Peabody Retirement Community in North Manchester.
Renovated in 2010
Wabash County has two historic covered bridges, both dating from 1872.
Miami County (pop. 36,903) is east of Cass County. It’s one of three Miami counties – the others are in Kansas and Ohio.
Miami County in 1895
The county seat of Miami County is the city of Peru (pop. 11,417), on the Wabash River. Peru reached its peak population of 14,453 in 1960.
Miami County Courthouse (1910)
Peru was the hometown of Cole Porter (1891-1964), composer of Broadway shows such as “Anything Goes” and “Kiss Me Kate.” He is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Peru.
Peru has an annual Cole Porter Festival.
Porter’s childhood home is now both a museum and the Cole Porter Inn, with guest rooms called the Cole Porter Suite, the Anything Goes Suite, and the Night and Day Suite.
He lived there for his first 10 years.
The Miami County Museum has exhibits on Cole Porter, early pioneers, and Native Americans, as well as a large military collection.
Porter’s 1955 Fleetwood Cadillac
For many years (ending in 1941), Peru was the winter home of several circuses, including the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Today, the former winter quarters is the home of the International Circus Hall of Fame.
Peru, and much of Indiana, suffered devastating damage in the Wabash River flood of March 1913.
This circus elephant was one of the fatalities.
Grissom Air Reserve Base, southwest of Peru, is the home of the Grissom Air Museum, with a collection of 28 aircraft.
Established in 1982
The 37-mile Nickel Plate Trail is a bike trail on the former right-of-way of the New York, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road). It runs through Miami County, going from Fulton County in the north to Howard County in the south.
Cass County (pop. 38,966) is south of Fulton County, on the Wabash River.
It’s one of nine Cass counties in the U.S., and one of the eight named for Lewis Cass (1782-1866), whose many job titles included U.S. senator from Michigan, U.S. ambassador to France, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State.
The county seat of Cass County is the city of Logansport (pop. 18,396), located at the intersection of the Wabash and Eel rivers.
Logansport was named for James Renick-Logan (“Captain Logan”), a half-Shawnee soldier who was a scout for U.S. forces in the area during the War of 1812.
c. 1774-1812
The State Theatre in Logansport (1940) now hosts concerts and other events.
Actor Greg Kinnear was born in Logansport in 1963.
Logansport is known for the historic Spencer Park Dentzel Carousel, built in 1900.
43 horses
Logansport High School’s mascot, Felix the Cat, is the oldest recognized mascot in Indiana.
France Park, just west of Logansport, has hiking, cross-country skiing, swimming, and scuba diving – in an abandoned stone quarry.
Pulaski County (pop. 13,402) is north of White County.
Pulaski County in 1908
It’s one of seven Pulaski counties, all named for Kazimierz Michal Wladislaw Wiktor Pulaski (1745-1779), Polish nobleman and “Father of the American Cavalary.”
The county seat of Pulaski County is the town of Winamac (pop. 2,490).
Pulaski County Courthouse (1894)
The town’s name was taken from the Potawatomi word for “catfish.”
The Isis Theatre has been showing movies in the same location since 1936.
The Vurpillat Opera House in Winamac is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Second Empire style
Tippecanoe River State Park is popular for canoeing, hiking, and horseback riding. The 182-mile Tippecanoe River is a tributary of the Wabash River, which forms the Indiana-Illinois River before joining the Ohio River.
White County (pop. 24,643) is east of Benton County. It’s one of five White counties in the U.S. – all named for different men named White.
This White County was named for Isaac White (1776-1811), who died in the Battle of Tippecanoe – between U.S. forces and Native Americans led by Tecumseh – near present-day Lafayette, Indiana.
The 182-mile Tippecanoe River flows south through White County. It joins the Wabash River in Tippecanoe County.
Dams on the river form Lake Freeman and Lake Shafer.
The county seat of White County is the city of Monticello (pop. 5,378). The Lafayette Bank & Trust building in Monticello was built to resemble Thomas Jefferson’s home in Virginia.
Monticello has a drive-in movie theater, the Lake Shore, that dates from 1949.
Now closed for the winter
The Monticello Tornado on April 3, 1974, destroyed much of the city’s central business district, killing eight persons and injuring more than 350. The tornado did more than $100 million damage in the Monticello area.
The 1894 courthouse was destroyed.
The Whyte Horse Winery in Monticello has a tasting room in a renovated 1886 farmhouse.
Indiana Beach Amusement Resort, on Lake Shafer (just north of Monticello), dates from 1926. It now has six roller-coasters.
Reopening in May
The Madam Carroll (1976) is an excursion boat on Lake Freeman, just south of Monticello. The boat has a capacity of 500 passengers.
“The biggest boat in Indiana”
The nearby town of Brookston (pop. 1,554), whose motto is “The Star of the Prairie,” has an annual Apple Popcorn Festival.
The Monon Railroad, which operated mainly in Indiana, was named for the town of Monon (pop. 1,777). Monon is now the home of the Monon Connection Museum and Whistle Stop Restaurant.
Many railroad artifacts
The town of Wolcott (pop. 1,001) was the starting point for Bobbie the Wonder Dog’s legendary 2,500-mile walk to his home in Oregon in 1923, after being separated from his family.
Benton County (pop. 8,854) is south of Newton County, along the border with Illinois. Indiana’s fourth-least-populous county, it reached its peak population of 13,123 in 1900.
Benton County in 1908
It is one of nine Benton counties, and one of the seven named for Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858), five-term senator from Missouri.
The painter was his great-great-nephew.
Benton County has long been one of Indiana’s leaders in corn and soybean production. It’s now also known as the leader in wind-energy production in Indiana.
Fowler Ridge Wind Farm
The county seat of Benton County is the town of Fowler (pop. 2,317).
Benton County Courthouse (1874)
The 196-seat Fowler Theatre, in Streamline Moderne style, dates from 1940. It’s still showing movies.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights
The town of Oxford (pop. 1,162) was the birthplace of Dan Patch (1896-1916), the fastest harness-racing horse of its era and a nationwide celebrity. Dan Patch lived in Minnesota from 1902 until his death.
Oxford has an annual Dan Patch Days festival
The town of Boswell (pop. 778) has long been known as “The Hub of the Universe” – as has Boston, Massachusetts.
The town of Earl Park (pop. 348) is distinguished by its cemetery and the 22-foot monument to early settler Edward C. Sumner and his wife, Abigail.
Newton County (pop. 14,244) is west of Jasper County, on the border with Illinois. It’s one of six Newton counties in the U.S.
The county seat of Newton County is the town of Kentland (pop. 1,748).
Kentland was the hometown of author George Ade (1866-1944). Ade and David E. Ross were the principal benefactors for the new football stadium at Purdue University in 1924.
Ross-Ade Stadium has been expanded many times.
The Newton County Courthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places.
A few miles east of Kentland, the town of Goodland (pop. 1,043) was the birthplace of jazz musician Eddie Condon (1905-1973).
He played guitar and banjo.
The Kentland crater, in the area of Kentland and Goodland, is a 5-mile-wide impact crater, dating from many millions of years ago. Because of erosion, few signs of the crater are visible on the surface.
Limestone quarry at the center
The nearby town of Morocco (pop. 1,129) is the home of the Antique Snowmobile Museum of Indiana.
Indiana’s only one
The community of Roselawn, partly in Jasper County, is known for its two nudist resorts, which date from the 1930s.
World’s largest sundial, Sun Aura Resort
Fair Oaks Farms has a variety of agriculture-related experiences for visitors, including the “Dairy Adventure” and the “Pig Adventure,” plus a restaurant and gift shop.
Jasper County (pop. 33,478) is west of Starke County. It is Indiana’s third-largest county in square miles.
It’s one of eight Jasper counties in the U.S., all named for Revolutionary War hero William Jasper (1750-1779), whose exploits were popularized by author Parson Weems.
Raising the flag at Fort Moultrie
Weems’s stories also made Sgt. John Newton famous. As a result, Jasper and Newton were often paired in the American mind in the early 1800s, when counties were being named. Five Jasper counties (including Indiana’s) are adjacent to Newton counties.
Texas
The county seat of Jasper County is the city of Rensselaer (pop. 5,859), which was originally named Newton. Rensselaer (ren-sa-LEER) was named for James Van Rensselaer, a merchant who came to the area from Utica, N.Y.
Jasper County Courthouse
The Ritz Cinema in Rensselaer opened in 1928 as the Palace Theatre. It reopened in 2006.
Admission: $5.00
Tom Harmon (1919-1990), University of Michigan football star and sports broadcaster, was born in Rensselaer. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1940. His children included actor Mark Harmon and actress Kristin Harmon, who married singer Ricky Nelson.
Tom’s grandsons Gunnar and Matthew
The adjacent community of Collegeville is the home of Saint Joseph’s College, a Catholic liberal-arts school with about 1,000 students.
St. Joseph’s Chapel
The Chicago Bears held their annual training camp at St. Joseph’s College from 1944 to 1974. Parts of the TV movie “Brian’s Song” were filmed on campus.
The town of Remington (pop. 1,185) has a water tower built in 1897, with a wooden tank above a brick tower.
140 feet tall
South of Rensselaer, the Fountain Park Chautauqua, dating from 1895, still has a two-week summer Chautauqua season with guest speakers, art classes, and family-oriented entertainment.
Starke County (pop. 23,363) is west of Marshall County. It’s the only Starke County in the U.S. Its northwestern border is the Kankakee River, which flows west to the Illinois River in Illinois.
Shaped like New York state
The county was named for Gen. John Stark (1728-1822), whose militiamen defeated the British in the Battle of Bennington (Vermont) in 1777. An “e” was mistakenly added to the county’s name sometime in the 19th century.
The county seat of Starke County is the city of Knox (pop. 3,704).
Melody Drive-In (1949)
The Starke County Courthouse in Knox was built in 1897 in Richardsonian Romanesque style. Tours to the clock tower are available by appointment.
Indiana limestone
The Starke County Visitor Center is in the old Knox railroad depot.
South of Knox is Bass Lake, the third-largest natural lake located entirely within the borders of Indiana.
The town of Hamlet (pop. 800) was not named for Shakespeare’s Prince of Denmark; it was named for John Hamlet, who established the town in 1863.
Sir Laurence Olivier and friend
The unincorporated community of Toto, west of Knox, is known for its giant Indian, which was once located at the entrance to Porter County’s now-defunct Enchanted Forest amusement park.
The park closed in 1991.
The town of North Judson (pop. 1,772) has an annual Mint Festival, to celebrate the history of mint farming in the area. North Judson is also the home of the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum.
Marshall County (pop. 47,051) is west of Kosciusko County. It is one of 12 Marshall counties in the U.S.
The county was named for U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall (1755-1835).
The county seat of Marshall County is the city of Plymouth (pop. 10,033).
Marshall County Courthouse (1872)
The 100-foot East LaPorte Street Footbridge (1898) connects downtown Plymouth with a residential neighborhood to the east. The footbridge is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Over the Yellow River
Plymouth has a restored, vintage Mobil gas station.
Montgomery Ward, formerly a mail-order business only, opened its first retail store in Plymouth, in 1926. By 1929, Wards had 531 stores.
It was in this building.
The annual Marshall County Blueberry Festival is held on Labor Day weekend in Plymouth.
Since 1967
The four-screen Tri-Way Drive-In in Plymouth has been open since 1953. It’s one of Indiana’s few remaining drive-in theaters.
Open April to September
West of Plymouth, the unincorporated community of Donaldson is the home of Ancilla College, a two-year, private liberal arts college. It was founded in 1937 by the Poor Handmaids of Jesus.
In the town of Bremen (pop. 4,588), the Bremen Theatre (1934) is still showing first-run movies.
The town of Culver (pop. 1,353) is the home of the Culver Academies, a college preparatory boarding school. The school began as the Culver Military School in 1894.
Indiana’s first indoor rowing tank
Culver alumni include George Foreman III, Hal Holbrook, Michael Huffington, Walter O’Malley, Gene Siskel, George Steinbrenner, Hal Steinbrenner, Jonathan Winters, and Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia.
Kosciusko County (pop. 77,358) is west of Noble County. The only Kosciusko County in the U.S., it has about 75 lakes within its borders.
The county was named for Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kosciuszko (1746-1817), a Polish-Lithuanian military leader who fought on the American side in the Revolutionary War.
The county seat of Kosciusko County is the city of Warsaw (pop. 13,559), named for the capital of Poland.
Old Courthouse (1884)
Warsaw has long been known as the “Orthopedic Capital of the World” because of its cluster of industries and services related to orthopedic (or orthopaedic) devices.
Authors Ambrose Bierce (1842-circa 1914) and Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) and former NBA basketball player Rick Fox all lived in Warsaw and attended Warsaw High School.
The Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts in Warsaw hosts the Symphony of the Lakes and a variety of other concerts and plays.
Theater in the round
The 2008 documentary film “American Teen” was filmed at Warsaw High School and featured actual Warsaw students.
Just east of Warsaw, the town of Winona Lake (pop. 4,908) is the home of Grace College and Theological Seminary. Evangelist Billy Sunday (1862-1935) lived in Winona Lake for many years.
Northeast of Warsaw, Webster Lake has summer excursions on the Dixie, built in 1929, “Indiana’s oldest sternwheel excursion boat.”
The town of Mentone (pop. 1,001) calls itself the “Egg Basket of the Midwest” because of its large commercial egg enterprises. Mentone has an annual Egg Festival.
Giant egg, Mentone
Mentone is also the home of the Bell Aircraft Museum, named for Lawrence D. Bell (1894-1956) – the Mentone native who founded the Bell Aircraft Corporation. The Bell X-1 was the first supersonic aircraft.
Noble County (pop. 47,536) is west of DeKalb County. The only other Noble counties are in Ohio and Oklahoma.
The county was named for James Noble (1785-1831), first senator from the state of Indiana.
Served 1831-37
The county seat of Noble County is the town of Albion (pop. 2,349). The courthouse was built in 1887.
Richardsonian Romanesque style
Earl Butz (1909-2008), Secretary of Agriculture under Presidents Nixon and Ford, was born in Albion and grew up on a Noble County dairy farm. He was one of seven students in his high school graduating class.
Also Dean of Agriculture at Purdue
The largest city in Noble County is Kendallsville (pop. 9,862), home of the Mid-America Windmill Museum,
52 windmills on display
The Strand Theatre in Kendallsville opened in 1890 as the Spencer Opera House. It’s still showing first-run movies.
Twinned in 1980
Every October, the city of Ligonier (pop. 4,405) is the site of Pumpkin Fantasyland, with a variety of pumpkin displays and activities.
Pumpkins as presidents
Ford C. Frick (1894-1978), Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1951 to 1965, grew up in Noble County and went to high school in the town of Rome City (pop. 1,361).
1961 baseball card
Chain O’Lakes State Park, popular with boaters, has nine connecting lakes and 13 lakes total. Illinois also has a Chain O’Lakes State Park.
DeKalb County (pop. 42,223) is south of Steuben County and just west of Ohio.
It’s one of six DeKalb counties in the U.S., all named for Johann von Robais, Baron de Kalb (1721-1780), a French military officer who served as a major general in the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War.
He died in the Battle of Camden.
The county seat of DeKalb County is the city of Auburn (pop. 13,086).
DeKalb County Courthouse (1905)
Auburn is known as the “Home of the Classics” because of its history of producing luxury automobiles. The Auburn Automobile Company was founded in Auburn and went out of business in 1937.
The Auburn Automobile Company made Duesenberg cars from 1926 until Duesenberg folded in 1937.
1931 Duesenberg Torpedo Phaeton
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum, located in the company’s former buildings, has a collection of about 125 vehicles.
The former showroom
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival is held annually on Labor Day weekend.
The Parade of Classics
Auburn is also the home of the Early Ford V-8 Foundation and Museum, “preserving 1932-1953 Ford history.”
Founded in 1991
Auburn is one of four communities in DeKalb County (along with Butler, Garrett, and Waterloo) with community mausoleums, built between 1914 and 1922. All are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Roselawn Cemetery, Auburn
The city of Garrett (pop. 6,286) was the hometown of silent film star John Bowers (born John Bowersox in 1885), whose career collapsed with the beginning of “talkies” and who apparently committed suicide in 1936 in the Pacific Ocean near Malibu.
On the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Amtrak’s “Capitol Limited” (between Washington, D.C., and Chicago) and “Lake Shore Limited” (between New York City and Chicago) stop in the town of Waterloo (pop. 2,242) – each one daily, in both directions.
Steuben County (pop. 34,185) is in the northeastern corner of Indiana, adjacent to Michigan and Ohio. The only other Steuben County is in New York.
The county was named for Prussian-born Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand Steuben (1730-1794), better known as Baron von Steuben. He was an American military officer during the Revolutionary War.
Gen. Washington’s chief of staff
With more than 100 lakes, the county has long been a popular area for visitors.
Clear Lake’s population goes from 300 in winter to 2,000 in summer.
The county seat of Steuben County is the city of Angola (pop. 8,612).
Steuben County Courthouse (1868)
Downtown Angola is centered on a traffic circle that has a monument in the middle, dedicated to the local men who fought in the Civil War.
Built in 1917
Angola is the home of Trine University, a private university founded in 1884. Its name was changed from Tri-State University in 2008, in honor of Ralph and Sheri Trine, owners of Angola-based Vestil Manufacturing Corp.
About 1,700 students on the Angola campus
From 1956 to 2008, Angola had a small amusement park called the Fun Spot. It had 30 rides, including three roller coasters.
In 2007
Notorious 19th-century criminal Sile Doty (1800-1876) was based in Angola for some years, and he once broke out of the Angola jail.
Horse thief, counterfeiter, robber, gang leader
In the nearby town of Hudson (pop. 518), the Gangsters Grille restaurant is located in the former Farmers State Bank – allegedly robbed by John Dillinger and gang in 1933.
“Food this good should be criminal”
Pokagon State Park, north of Angola, was named for Potawatomi Indian chief Leopold Pokagon (1775-1841) and his son Simon Pokagon (1830-1899).
Potawatomi Inn (1927)
In winter, the park is popular for its quarter-mile, refrigerated toboggan run, with a vertical drop of 90 feet. Top speed is about 40 mph. The original slide opened in 1935.
LaGrange County (pop. 37,128)Â is east of Elkhart County. It’s the only LaGrange County in the U.S.
The county was named for the Chateau de la Grange-Bleneau in France, east of Paris. The chateau was the home of the Marquis de Lafayette from 1802 to 1834.
The towers date from the 15th century.
The 126-mile Indiana Toll Road (part of Interstate 90) runs across the northern part of the county. The Toll Road connects the Chicago Skyway with the Ohio Turnpike.
Along with Elkhart County, LaGrange County is considered part of “Northern Indiana Amish Country.”
The county seat of LaGrange County is the town of LaGrange (pop. 2,625).
Downtown mural
The LaGrange County Courthouse was built in 1878 of red brick and Indiana limestone.
Famous for its bell tower
West of LaGrange is the town of Shipshewana (pop. 658), well-known for its manufacturers of hand-crafted Amish furniture.
Information center in Shipshewana
The Shipshewana Quilt Festival is a major annual event for quilters.
June 22-25, 2016
The Shipshewana Auction and Flea Market has antique auctions all year. The Flea Market (May to October) is the Midwest’s largest flea market.
Dating from the 1920s
The Howe Military Academy is in the unincorporated community of Howe. The academy, which dates from 1884, is a coeducational, college-preparatory boarding school for grades 7-12.
Elkhart County (pop. 197,559) is east of St. Joseph County, along the border with Michigan.
The origin of the name “Elkhart” is uncertain. One theory is that the island on the Elkhart River in downtown Elkhart is shaped like an elk’s heart, as viewed from above.
Aerial views were not available when it was named.
The county’s population has grown consistently over the years (it was 84,000 in 1950), mainly because of the recreational vehicle industry. More than half of American RVs are made in Elkhart County.
Elkhart (pop. 50,949) is the county’s largest city. The RV/MH Hall of Fame is just northeast of the city.
Interior of the RV museum
Elkhart is also the home of the National New York Central Railroad Museum, established in 1987 to honor the now-defunct railroad line that ran through Elkhart between New York City and Chicago.
The railroad had 11,000 miles of tracks.
The Robert Young Yard in Elkhart is the largest railroad classification yard (where freight cars are sorted) east of the Mississippi.
View from the air
Elkhart has also been known as “The Band Instrument Capital of the World” because of the many factories making instruments – down from about 60, years ago, to just a few today.
The Lerner Theatre in Elkhart dates from 1924. It now has a variety of concerts and theatrical events.
A movie theater until 1987
At the corner of Lexington Avenue and Riverside Drive in Elkhart, dentist Joseph Stamp embedded many of the teeth that he’d pulled into a concrete block in front of his office.
There’s no charge to view it.
The Hall of Heroes Museum in Elkhart is “the only Super Hero and Comic Book Museum in the world.” It has more than 60,000 comic books, plus more than 10,000 toys, figures, and props.
Built in 2006
The county seat of Elkhart County is the city of Goshen (pop. 31,719), home of the Elkhart County 4-H Fair and Goshen College, a liberal-arts school affiliated with the Mennonite Church.
Elkhart County Courthouse (1870, renovated 1908)
Film director Howard Hawks (1896-1977) was born in Goshen, where his family owned the Goshen Milling Company. The family later moved to Pasadena, California.
Elkhart County has a significant Amish population. In Nappanee (the longest city name in the U.S. containing each letter in its name twice) is Amish Acres, an Amish tourist attraction.
St. Joseph County (pop. 266,931) is Indiana’s fifth-largest county in population. The only other St. Joseph County is in Michigan, just a few miles to the northeast.
The county was named for the 206-mile St. Joseph River, which flows through Michigan and Indiana into Lake Michigan. It flows through downtown South Bend.
The bend in the river gave the city its name.
The county seat of St. Joseph County is South Bend (pop. 101,168). The city reached its peak population of 132,445 in 1960.
Old Courthouse (1855)
The Studebaker Corporation was founded and headquartered in South Bend. Its South Bend automobile plant closed in 1963, and the company went out of business in 1967.
Studebaker National Museum, South Bend
A former Studebaker test track – now a park – has a group of trees that were planted in 1937 to spell “Studebaker’ (as seen from above).
Bendix Woods County Park
The restored Palace Theatre (1921), now the Morris Performing Arts Center, hosts the South Bend Symphony Orchestra and touring Broadway shows.
Saved from demolition in the 1960s
Tippecanoe Place, built in 1889 as a home for the Studebaker family, is now a restaurant.
Richardsonian Romanesque style
The South Bend Cubs, single-A Midwest League affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, play at Four Winds Field at Covelski Stadium (1987). The gift shop is a former synagogue, adjacent to the stadium.
Sons of Israel Synagogue (1901)
South Bend’s Union Station (1929) is now used as a data center for Global Access Point, a telecommunications company. Amtrak uses a small, newer station, located two miles west of downtown.
It was across the street from the Studebaker factory.
The former East Race Canal in South Band was converted in 1984 to the East Race Waterway – the first artificial whitewater waterway in North America. It is open June-August.
1,900 feet long
South Bend is most famous for the University of Notre Dame – which is not actually in South Bend, but in the census-designated place of Notre Dame, just north of South Bend.
The city of Mishawaka (pop. 48,252), just east of South Bend, has an AM General assembly plant that built Hummer H2s until 2010. It’s now building Mercedes-Benz SUVs for export to China.
LaPorte County (pop. 111,467), east of Porter County, is Indiana’s second-largest county in square miles.
The county is considered part of Michiana, a seven-county area in northwestern Indiana and southwestern Michigan. The name dates from 1934, when it was the winner of a contest held by South Bend merchants.
The county seat of LaPorte County is the city of LaPorte (pop. 22,053). The Courthouse dates from 1894.
Richardsonian Romanesque style
In the late 19th century, LaPorte was the home of the Parsons Horological Institute – the first watchmaking school in the country. After a few years, the school was moved to Peoria, Illinois.
It became part of Bradley Polytechnic Institute.
The LaPorte County Historical Society Museum has a display on Belle Gunness (born 1858), a local Norwegian immigrant and serial killer who reportedly murdered 25-40 people (including her suitors, husbands, and children) before disappearing from the area.
6 feet tall, 200 pounds
The largest city in LaPorte County is Michigan City (pop. 31,479), on Lake Michigan. Michigan City reached its peak population of 39,369 in 1970.
Barker Mansion (1855)
The 90-mile South Shore Line, one of America’s few remaining interurban railroads, runs down the middle of 11th Street in Michigan City.
It runs from downtown Chicago to the South Bend airport.
Pitcher Don Larsen, who threw the only perfect game in World Series history (for the Yankees in 1956), was born in Michigan City in 1929.
Celebrating with catcher Yogi Berra
The Michigan City East Lighthouse was built in 1904. One of Indiana’s few lighthouses, it has an unusual iron walkway (no longer in use) above the pier.
Now a museum
The Washington Park Zoo in Michigan City has a 70-foot observation tower, open to the public.
A WPA project from 1937
Purdue University North Central is south of Michigan City, near the town of Westville (pop. 5,857). It has about 4,000 students.
Porter County (pop. 164,343) is east of Lake County, on the shores of Lake Michigan. Its southern border is the 133-mile Kankakee River, a tributary of the Illinois River.
The only Porter County in the U.S.
The county was named for naval officer David Porter (1780-1843), who served in the War of 1812.
Portrayed by Jeff Chandler in this 1952 movie
The 15,000-acre Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore has 15 disconnected pieces of land along a 25-mile stretch of Lake Michigan. Indiana Dunes State Park is within the national lakeshore.
Indiana Dunes in the 1960s
The county seat of Porter County is the city of Valparaiso (pop. 31,730).
Porter County Courthouse (1883)
The city was originally named Portersville, but it was changed in 1837 to Valparaiso after Valparaiso, Chile, where David Porter captained U.S. ships against the English in the War of 1812 Battle of Valparaiso.
Valparaiso is the home of Valparaiso University, founded in 1859 as one of the first coeducational colleges in the U.S. It has about 4,500 students. It is now affiliated with the Lutheran church.
Chapel of the Resurrection (1959)
The old Porter County Jail and Sheriff’s House (1871) now contains the Porter County Museum of History.
The jail moved out in 1974.
Indiana-born businessman Orville Redenbacher had his popcorn business in Valparaiso. The city has had an annual Popcorn Festival since 1979.
Orvillle statue
The largest city in Porter County is Portage (pop. 36,828), along Lake Michigan.
Chicago skyline is visible across the lake.
Farther east, in the town of Beverly Shores (pop. 613), are five buildings that were moved from the “Homes of Tomorrow” exhibition at the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago.
We begin our virtual tour of Indiana’s 92 counties in Lake County (pop. 496,005), along Lake Michigan in the northwestern corner of the state. Lake County is Indiana’s second-most-populous county.
This is the route that we’ll be taking around the state. We will end in Posey County, in the southwestern corner, sometime next fall.
The county seat of Lake County is the city of Crown Point (pop. 27,317). The old Lake County Courthouse now has shops, offices, and the Lake County Historical Museum.
Built in 1880
In the Courthouse basement is the John Dillinger Museum, dedicated to the notorious Indiana-born gangster (1903-34), who once broke out of the local jail. Dillinger’s “death pants” are on display.
Replica of Chicago theater where Dillinger died
In the early 20th century, Crown Point was known as the “Marriage Mill,” because marriage licenses could be obtained so quickly. Actor Rudolph Valentino was married there in 1923 and boxer Muhammad Ali in 1964.
“The Shiek” (1921)
The largest city in Lake County is Hammond (pop. 80,830). Hammond was the hometown of humorist Jean Shepherd (1921-99), who wrote and narrated the 1983 film “A Christmas Story – full of memories of his childhood there.
Pole-licker statue, Hammond
Thanks to Meredith Willson’s 1957 musical “The Music Man” and the 1962 movie, Gary (pop. 80,294) is easily the best-known city in Lake County.
Gary’s population is less than half of what it was in 1960 (178,320). Its fortunes have declined with the shrinking of employment in the local steel mills.
The Jackson 5, and all of the Jackson family of their generation, were born in Gary. The family moved to California in 1968, when they started recording for Motown.
The city of East Chicago (pop. 29,698), just west of Gary, was the site of Marktown, a planned community for industrial workers, established in 1917. The sidewalks were for cars, and the streets were for pedestrians.
Homes are still standing, but surrounded by an industrial area.
ArcelorMittal’s Indiana Harbor complex in East Chicago is the largest steel mill in the U.S. The mill complex was formerly operated by Inland Steel and Youngstown Sheet and Tube.
Indiana Harbor Works
Greg Popovich, coach of the NBA San Antonio Spurs, was born in East Chicago and grew up in the area.
He played basketball at the Air Force Academy.
At a four-way stop in Hanover Township, south of Hammond, drivers have been throwing their old shoes at the side of the road for many years. The shoes are collected each week and donated to charity.
Every County 