Alto was an

unincorporated town An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

which is now a neighborhood of Kokomo in Harrison Township, Howard County,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is part of the

Kokomo, Indiana Kokomo ( ) is a city in Indiana and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Howard County, the Kokomo-Peru CSA, which includ ...

Metropolitan Statistical Area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...

. Alto (along with nearby subdivision, Holiday Park and CDP, Indian Heights) was annexed into the city of Kokomo January 1, 2012.

History

Alto was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...

ted in 1848. Originally named Olinda, it was named in commemoration of the

Battle of Palo Alto The Battle of Palo Alto ( es, Batalla de Palo Alto) was the first major battle of the Mexican–American War and was fought on May 8, 1846, on disputed ground five miles (8 km) from the modern-day city of Brownsville, Texas. A force of so ...

, in the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

. Alto was almost completely destroyed by an F4

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

on the evening of April 11, 1965. Despite years of rebuilding, the population of Alto has never risen to the levels of nearby towns.

Notable people

John Worth Kern John Worth Kern (December 20, 1849 – August 17, 1917) was a Democratic United States Senator from Indiana. While the title was not official, he is considered to be the first Senate majority leader (and in turn, the first Senate Democratic Lead ...

, prominent leader in the U. S. Senate during the Wilson Administration, was born in Alto on December 20, 1849.

References

Unincorporated communities in Howard County, Indiana Kokomo, Indiana metropolitan area Unincorporated communities in Indiana {{HowardCountyIN-geo-stub