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Home  Porter County History
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Northwestern Indiana, including what would become Porter County, was home to Potawatomi Indiana until 1832, when their land was ceded to white settlers. Since the first contact with local natives around 1650, French traders had set up trading posts in the county. The land passed from French to British control in 1763 after the French and Indiana War, then to the new United States in 1783.
Best known of the early traders was Joseph Bailey, founder of Baileytown, who settled here with his half-Ottawa Indiana wife in 1822. Baileytown has since been called Old Porter, Hageman, and is now the town of Porter . The original Bailey homestead is now part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Settlers used two trails created by Sac Indiana (who traveled across the land) to establish settlements in Washington Township and along Lake Michigan.
In the spring of 1833, the first white settlers arrived in Porter County, in what is now Washington Township. Jesse and Jane Morgan were first, followed by Rezin Bell, George Cline, and Adam S. Campbell. The Morgans and Bell hailed from Ohio, while Cline had moved from Indiana's Union County and Campbell had come from New York State. The following year the county was surveyed, and in 1835 land was sold, opening the floodgates for an influx of settlers. The first blacksmith, Stephen Brayton, set up shop in the area first settled by Morgan, which was called Morgan's Prairie. This site was also home to the first school, a simple log cabin built in 1836.
By the time the county was organized in 1836, Porter County already had a considerable population. Many families were from Ohio and southern Indiana, though some had from the South and New England. The first flour mill was erected the same year, and several saw mills were already in production.
April 12, 1836, at the first meeting of the Porter County Commissioners, the county was divided into nine townships: Boone, Jackson, Lake, Liberty, Pleasant, Portage, Washington, Waverly, and Union. Years later, some townships were realigned and new names were added to (or replaced) the original townships.
A two-store frame courthouse was built on the square in 1837, and was later used as a saloon. A new courthouse and several other county buildings were completed in 1852. The first jail was a secure log cabin, but it was replaced in 1871 with a jail built on the corner of Mechanic and Franklin Streets. Now known as the Old Jail Museum, this structure is maintained and exhibited by the Porter County Historical Society.
Under the direction of Alexis Coquillard, the Potawatomis were relocated to Western reservations in 1840, in a treaty that gave Coquillard large parcels of valuable land.
Railroads played a prominent role in county development. In 1853, the Lake Shore and Michigan Central lines were the first completed, running east and west. The Baltimore line was the last to enter Porter County, in 1874. Growth in commerce and population followed the railroads, and the manufacturing sector took root along these expanding transportation links.
The first Porter County Fair took place on the courthouse square in 1855, where it continued to be held until, in 1858, land southwest of town was purchased and developed into 36 acres with walks, shade trees, permanent halls, dining rooms, and barns.
Valparaiso , originally named Portersville, was the first town to be platted, on October 31, 1836. It was first incorporated as a town in 1850 and later as a city in 1866.
The Thomas family, who immigrated to the county in 1834, founded the town of Chesterton. Originially called Coffee Creek (for a nearby stream), it was platted in 1852 and renamed Calumet. With the introduction of railroads the name was changed to Chesterton . The thriving rail system and new factories brought immigrants from Europe and fueled growth of towns like Porter Station and Furnessville.
Judge Jessie Johnson and family were the first to settle in Boone Township, in 1835. Other families soon followed, and by 1838, a school and several churches had been established, one of which gave the new town of Hebron its name.
Kouts , named for settler Barnhardt Kouts, became a community in 1865, but wasn't incorporated until 1921, the year that electricity came to the town.
Porter was incorporated in 1908. The Indiana Dunes State Park was opened in the 1920s. Dune Acres was incorporated in 1923, and Burns Harbor , the location of much of the county's important heavy industry, in 1967.
Portage was incorporated as a town in 1958 and soon became the hub of important industry in Porter County. Quick growth, driven by new factories, allowed the town to become a city in 1969.
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was created in 1966, and draws visitors from all over North America.
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