Kosciusko County ( ) is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. At the 2020 United States census, its population was 80,240. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

(and only incorporated city) is

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. The county was organized in 1836. It was named after the Polish general

Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko (; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish Military engineering, military engineer, statesman, and military leader who then became a national hero in Poland, the United States, Lithuania, and ...

who served in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

and then returned to Poland. The county seat is named after

, the capital of Poland.

History

The Indiana State Legislature passed an omnibus county bill on February 7, 1835, that authorized the creation of thirteen counties in northeast Indiana, including Kosciusko. The county government was organized beginning in 1836. The county's boundary lines have remained unchanged since 1835.

Geographical features

Kosciusko County terrain consists of low rolling hills dotted with bodies of water and drainages, with all available area devoted to agriculture or urban development.''Kosciusko County IN'' (Google Maps, accessed 30 July 2020)
/ref> Its highest point (1025'/312 meters ASL) is a hill NE of Dewart Lake. The Tippecanoe River flows westward through the central part of the county, while the Eel River flows southwestward through the county's SE corner. According to the 2010 census, the county has a total area of , of which (or 95.85%) is land and (or 4.15%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Elkhart County - north * Noble County - northeast * Whitley County - southeast * Wabash County - south * Fulton County - southwest * Marshall County - west

Major highways

* U.S. Route 30 * Indiana State Road 10 * Indiana State Road 13 * Indiana State Road 14 * Indiana State Road 15 * Indiana State Road 19 * Indiana State Road 25

Lakes

* Banning Lake * Beaver Dam Lake * Big Barbee Lake * Big Chapman Lake * Carr Lake * Center Lake * Dewart Lake * Diamond Lake * Fish Lake * Goose Lake * Hoffman Lake * Hill Lake * Irish Lake * James Lake * Kuhn Lake * Lake Wawasee * Little Barbee Lake * Little Chapman Lake * Loon Lake * McClures Lake * Muskellunge Lake * Palestine Lake * Papakeechie Lake * Pike Lake * Ridinger Lake * Rock Lake (part) * Sechrist Lake * Shoe Lake * Silver Lake * Stanton Lake * Syracuse Lake * Tippecanoe Lake * Waubee Lake * Winona Lake * Yellow Creek Lake

Protected areas

* Center Lake Wetland Conservation Area * Edmund and Virginia Ball Nature Preserve * Pisgah Marsh Nongame Area (part)

City and towns

* Burket * Claypool * Etna Green * Leesburg * Mentone * Milford * North Webster * Pierceton * Sidney * Silver Lake * Syracuse *

(city) * Winona Lake

Unincorporated communities

* Atwood * Barbee * Bayfield *

Beaver Dam A beaver dam or beaver impoundment is a dam built by beavers; it creates a pond which protects against predators such as coyotes, alligators, cougars, foxes, eagles, wolves and bears, and holds their food during winter. These structures modify th ...

* Bell Rohr Park * Buttermilk Point *

Cedar Point Cedar Point is a amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio, United States, owned and operated by Six Flags. It opened in 1870 and is considered the second-oldest operating amusement park in the US behind Lake Compounc ...

* Clunette * DeFries Landing * Enchanted Hills * Forest Glen * Gravelton *

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

* Highbanks * Highlands Park * Island Park * Kalorama Park * Kanata Manayunk * Kinsey * Lakeside Park * Lakeview Spring * Lowman Corner * Marineland Gardens * Milford Junction * Mineral Springs * Monoquet * Musquabuck Park * Oakwood Park * Osborn Landing * Oswego * Packerton *

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

* Pickwick Park * Potawatomi Park * Redmon Park *

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

* Shady Banks *

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

* Stoneburner Landing * Stony Ridge * Vawter Park * Walker Park * Wawasee * Wawasee Village * Wooster * Yellowbanks

Townships

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

* Etna * Franklin * Harrison * Jackson * Jefferson *

Lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

* Monroe *

Plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...

Prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

* Scott * Seward * Tippecanoe * Turkey Creek * Van Buren * Washington * Wayne

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in Warsaw have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1985 and a record high of was recorded in July 1976. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in June.

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 77,358 people, 29,197 households, and 20,740 families in the county. The population density was . There were 37,038 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 93.3% white, 0.8% Asian, 0.7% black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 3.4% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 7.3% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 33.5% were German, 11.5% were Irish, 10.8% were English, and 8.2% were American. Of the 29,197 households, 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.6% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.0% were non-families, and 23.9% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.07. The median age was 37.7 years. The median income for a household in the county was $47,697 and the median income for a family was $56,305. Males had a median income of $44,358 versus $29,320 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,019. About 7.0% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 13.5% of those under age 18 and 5.2% of those age 65 or over.

Community

Newspapers

''Times-Union''

''The Mail-Journal''

''The PAPER''

''Ink Free News''

Radio Stations

''WRSW-AM 1480/99.7 FM (News Now Warsaw)''

''WRSW-FM (Classic Hits 107.3 WRSW''

''WAWC-FM (Willie 103.5)''

Government

The county government is a constitutional body, and is granted specific powers by the Constitution of Indiana, and by the Indiana Code. County Council: The legislative branch of the county government; controls spending and revenue collection in the county. Representatives, elected to four-year terms from county districts, are responsible for setting salaries, the annual budget, and special spending. The council has limited authority to impose local taxes, in the form of an income and property tax that is subject to state level approval, excise taxes, and service taxes. Board of Commissioners: The executive body of the county; commissioners are elected countywide to staggered four-year terms. One commissioner serves as president. The commissioners execute the acts legislated by the council, collect revenue, and manage the county government. Court: The county maintains a

small claims court Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and go by different names in different jurisdictions. For example, it ma ...

that handles civil cases. The county also maintains a Circuit and Superior Court. The judge on each court is elected to a term of six years and must be a member of the Indiana bar. County Officials: The county has other elected offices, including

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

, recorder,

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

, and circuit

court clerk A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court and administering oaths ...

. The officials are elected countywide to four-year terms. Members elected to county government positions are required to declare

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

affiliations and to be residents of the county. Kosciusko County is part of Indiana's 2nd and 3rd congressional districts. It is also part of Indiana Senate districts 9, 13, 17 and 18 and

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House mem ...

districts 18, 22 and 23. Elected officials: * Jim Smith - Sheriff * Brad Voelz - Prosecutor * Gail Chapman - Assessor * Alyssa Schmucker - Auditor * Melissa Boggs - Clerk * Deb Wright - County Recorder * Michelle Puckett - Treasurer * Cary P. Groninger - Middle District Commissioner * Robert M. Conley, President - Southern District Commissioner * Sue Ann Mitchell - Northern District Commissioner * Tyler Huffer, Coroner * Jim Moyer, Surveyor Kosciusko County is a Republican stronghold in presidential elections.

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

in 1912 and

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

in 1932 are the only two Democratic Party candidates to win the county from 1888 to the present day. Roosevelt is the only Democrat since 1888 to win the county with a majority. The county is very Republican even by the standards of traditionally Republican Indiana. For example, Roosevelt actually lost the county by eight percentage points in 1936 even as he went on to carry 46 states. Further underlining the county's Republican bent, it rejected

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

in 1964 even in the midst of Johnson's 44-state national landslide. Johnson is the last Democrat to manage even 40 percent of the county's vote.

Airports

* KASW - Warsaw Municipal Airport * KC03 - Nappanee Municipal Airport

Education

School districts

Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation

Triton School Corporation

Warsaw Community Schools

Wawasee Community School Corporation

Whitko Community School Corporation

Wa-Nee Community Schools

Notable residents

Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book '' The Devil's Dictionary'' was named one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the ...

, Civil War veteran, author, newspaper columnist * Chris Schenkel, former Sportscaster for

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial America ...

. Resided in Leesburg, Indiana.(clunette.com/Schenkel)
/ref> * Rick Fox, retired

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player. Resided in

Warsaw, Indiana Warsaw is a city in and the county seat of Kosciusko County, Indiana, United States. Warsaw has a population of 15,804 as of the 2020 U.S. Census. Warsaw also borders a smaller town, Winona Lake. Etymology Warsaw, named after the capital of ...

References

External links

Kosciusko County

Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce

Kosciusko County Convention and Visitors Bureau

Sources

{{Authority control Indiana counties 1836 establishments in Indiana Populated places established in 1836