Timeline of Allen County History
1634
-
1614: Champlain
-
Jean Nicolet explored the rivers south of Lake Michigan, and may have been
in the area of Allen County.
-
Ottawa Indians in the Allen County area.
ca. 1670
-
Iroquois Indians gain control of the area,
pushing out the Ottawa.
-
Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle planned to use the portage route
by traveling the Maumee River south to the portage, then on to the Little
Wabash River which led to the Ohio River, and in turn to the Mississippi,
and on to the Gulf of Mexico. Plans were made to enable the use of
this route.
by 1673 -
1679
-
Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle & Louis de Baude de Frontenac,
Governor of New France, decided on plans which would enable them to gain
control of the area enabling the Maumee-Wabash trade route (via the portage
of 1670). One part involved relocating the Miami Indians to the headwaters
of the Maumee River to secure the area.
-
This Miami village, located at the site of the present city of Fort Wayne,
was known as Kekionga, or Kiskakon, and later became known as "Miamitown".
It was used as a trading post by 1686, and is reported to be "the oldest
continually occupied community in subsequent Indiana and the general area
to the south of the Great Lakes" by John Ankenbruck, in The Fort Wayne
Story, A Pictorial History, (p. 14).1
1715
-
Captain Vincennes relocated to Fort Miami, and is believed to have been
buried, in 1719, at the Miami village.
1721
1744
-
King Nicolas War (known as "King George's War" in Europe) resulted in the
British influenced Huron chief, King Nicolas, attacking the French Fort
Miami in 1747. A second French fort was built in 1749.
1752-1753
-
A smallpox plague struck the Indian population causing dramatic loss of
life.
1775-1783
1789
-
The Treaty of Fort Harmer was signed, and a war began in the summer which
would last until 1794.
1794
-
Spring 1794: John Jay obtained the signing of a Treaty with England which
provided that British should withdraw troops from posts within the boundaries
of the United States by 1 June 1796.
-
August 1794: Anthony Wayne overwhelmed the Indians at the Rapids of the
Maumee River - Battle
of Fallen Timbers in Ohio.
-
September 1794: Anthony Wayne establishes a Fort at Kekionga, and names
it "Fort Wayne".
1795 - 1812
-
Indians made concessions of all of Ohio east of Cuyahoga River.
Treaty of
Greenville: August 3, 1795 was "A
treaty of peace between the United States of America, and the tribes of
Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Ottawas, Chipewas, Pattawatimas,
Miamis, Eel Rivers, Weas,
Kickapoos,
Piankeshaws, and Kaskaskias."
-
After the Signing of the Treaty of Greenville, General
Anthony Wayne slept in this Camp Bed on display at the Old City Hall
Historical Museum in Fort Wayne, IN.
-
Americans obtained Ohio in 1795, but desired the entire Ohio Valley. In
1800, William Henry Harrison, the new governor of the Northwest Territory,
was given instructions to end native title to these lands through treaty.
The Miami, "...Potawatomi and others signed treaties at Fort
Wayne (1803), Fort Industry (1805), and Grouseland
(1805), ceding portions of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois..." See
Lee Sultzman's Potawatomi
history.
See Miami
Treaties
1812 - 1814
-
Michikinikwa (Chief Little Turtle) died in
Fort Wayne July 14, 1812.
-
The War of 1812
- read more about the War
of 1812 which ended 24 December 1814 with signing of the Treaty
of Ghent
-
July
22, 1814. "A treaty of peace and friendship between the United States
of America, and the tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanoese,
Senecas, and Miamies..."
-
September
8, 1815: Treaty between the United States of America and the Wyandot,
Delaware, Seneca, Shawanoe, Miami, Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatimie, Tribes
of Indians, residing within the limits of the State of Ohio, and the Territories
of Indiana and Michigan
1822-1861
-
In 1820, the first U.S. Census of the new State of Indiana was taken.
-
On May 8, 1822, President Monroe signed an act authorizing the sale of
the lands about the old Fort Wayne. It defined the boundary of this
land district, based upon Captain James Riley's surveys, and permitted
the sale of the unappropriated and unreserved lands within it. Sale
of the lands opened October 22, 1823, with Joseph Holman (of Wayne County)
serving as the first register of the land office, and Captain Samuel C.
Vance (of Dearborn County) serving as the receiver of public moneys.
Vance was assisted by Allen Hamilton who was to be appointed as the first
Sheriff in 1824, and became a prominent figure in Fort Wayne.
-
John T. Barr, a Baltimore, Maryland merchant, and John McCorkle (born in
1791 in Pique, Ohio) purchased the tract known as "The Original Plat".
This plat consisted 110 lots including the 4 north-south streets of Calhoun,
Court, Clinton and Barr, and the 5 east-west streets of Water (later renamed
Superior), Columbia, Main, Berry and Wayne - the heart of the downtown
district of Fort Wayne.
-
Other notable figures of this period included: William Rockhill,
Colonel Thomas W. Swinney, Paul Taber, Jean Baptists Bequette (a French
silvesmith who established a jewelry manufactory), Hugh B. McKeen (opened
a school in the old fort), General John Tipton (appointed by Pres. Monroe
to succeed Benjamin B. Kercheval as Indian agent at Fort Wayne).
April 1, 1824
-
Allen County was born: On December 17,
1823, Indiana Legislature passed "An Act for the formation of a new county
out of the counties of Randolph and Delaware, to be included within the
following limits: Beginning at a point on the line dividing this
State, and the State of Ohio, where the township line dividing townships
twenty-eight and twenty-nine, north interesects the same; thence north
with said State line twenty-four miles; thence west, to the line dividing
ten and eleven, east, thence south to the line dividing townships twenty-eight
and twenty-nine, north intersects the same; thence north with said State
line twenty-four miles; thence west, to the line dividing ten and eleven,
east; thence south to the line dividing townships twenty-eight and twenty-nine,
north; thence east to the place of beginning."3(History
of Allen County, p. 46)
On April 1, 1824, the legislative act which created Allen County took
effect. At that time, Allen County included the present Indiana counties
of Allen, Lagrange, Steuben, Noble, DeKalb, Huntington, and most of Whitley,
Wells and Adams counties.
-
"The name of Allen was suggested (1823) by General John Tipton, who was
an admirer of Colonel John Allen, the gallant Kentuckian who, after the
relief of Fort Wayne in 1812, lost his life at the battle of the River
Raisin, in Michigan, south of Detroit." (Pictorial, p. 264.)
-
Wabash and Erie
Canal: In 1822, Indiana and Illinois joined together in a plan to connect
the Maumee and Wabash Rivers. The plan grew, and through efforts
of Judge Samuel Hanna, David Burr, and Robert John who were appointed to
the board of canal commissioners in 1826, the canal became a reality, with
the first section, linking Fort Wayne with Huntington, completed in 1835.
See the reports of events on "Opening
Day" and a route
map.
The canal grew to 468 miles by the time of it's completion in 1853,
but the coming of the railroad numbered it's days, and by 1876, it was
no longer in use.
For more about the Wabash and Erie Canal (particularly through Huntington
County) visit Terry Pepper's
site for a detailed review of the canal, the boats, the people, and more.
Learn more about the canal
laborers who were predominantly Irish. See also: History
of the Erie Canal (site contact Morris
Pierce).
-
November 28, 1840 : Articles
of a treaty made and concluded at the Forks of the Wabash, in the State
of Indiana, this twenty-eight day of November in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and forty, between Samuel Milroy and allen Hamilton,
acting (unofficially) as commissioners on the part of the United States,
and the chiefs, warriors and headmen of the Miami tribe of Indians.
By 1846, many of the Miami Tribe left Indiana
for Kansas Territory by 1846.
-
Read about the Mexican-American
War
-
Indiana Mexican War Soldiers: 1846-1848,
by Jerry Morris Mounts.
-
In 1851, Indiana
adopted a state constitution that included a measure protecting the
property rights of married women. Robert Dale Owen was the chief architect
of this provision and the women of Indiana honored him with a silver pitcher.
Allen County residents contributed to the collection. Read the Proceedings
at the presentation to the Hon. Robert Dale Owen of a silver pitcher, on
behalf of the women of Indiana, on the 28th day of May, 1851
-
On Feb. 9 1857, Local
school system sprang from the Clay, in Fort Wayne, with the building
of the first school in the Public School System (by Kevin Leininger, from
the archives of The News-Sentinel).
1861 - 1865
ca. 1866-1880
ca. 1880-1910
1910-1920
-
World War I: Though the war in Europe began earlier, extending from
1914 to 1918, the U.S. began drafting soldiers for WWI in 1917. To
learn more, visit the following WWI links:
1920-1930
1930-1940
-
Residents
of the St. Vincent Orphans Asylum, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, as found in
the 1930 Census.
-
Fort Wayne's Fifty Houses,
by Lasker, Loula D., in Survey Graphic, May, 1939, reports of an
attempt to overcome the housing shortage in Fort Wayne.
-
View Old Age Pension
Plan Benefits Of Program Told Progressive Study Club, from Fort
Wayne Journal-Gazette, of Oct. 13, 1937, online by New
Deal Network.
-
The Miami Nation of Indians of the State of Indiana organized in 1937,
with tribal
offices in Peru, IN, and members primarily in the Indiana counties
of Allen, Huntington and Miami. The official Miami Tribe is located
at Miami in OK.
-
What is TELEVISION?
(Advertisement), from Survey Graphic, of February, 1939, online
by New Deal Network.
-
New Deal, New Life,
by Hutchison, Keith, from The Nation, of February 18, 1939, online
by New Deal Network.
-
New Deal Network - explore the 1930s
via subject index
to documents.
1940-1950
-
WWII: World War
II Veterans Online Information Center
Present
-
See: Fort Wayne/Allen County Visitors
Guide (Convention & Visitors Bureau)
|
