LaPorte 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 ...

located 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 ...

. As of 2020, the population was 112,417. 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 ...

is the city of La Porte, and the largest city is Michigan City. This county is part of the

Northwest Indiana Northwest Indiana, nicknamed "The Region" after the Calumet Region, is an unofficial region of Northern Indiana, northern Indiana, United States that is located at the northwestern corner of the state. Though there is no official definition of th ...

and Michiana regions of the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. ...

. The LaPorte County Courthouse is located in the county seat of La Porte and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

History

LaPorte County was formed in 1832. ''La porte'' means "the door" or "the port" in French. French travelers or explorers so named the area after discovering a natural opening in the dense forests that used to exist in this region, providing a gateway to lands further west. From 1832 to 1835 LaPorte County had its boundaries and jurisdiction of the land west of it going all the way to the east border of Chicago in Cook County, IL (land which is now Porter and Lake Counties). Before European-American settlement, all of the land that forms modern-day LaPorte County, and adjacent Starke County to the south belonged to the

Potawatomi The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...

Indian nation. These Indians were forcibly removed to Kansas by the United States government in 1838, and many died on what survivors called the Trail of Death. LaPorte County's initial European-American settlers were

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Their various meanings depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, the Northeastern United Stat ...

migrants, that is to say they were from

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

or were from

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

and had parents who were from

, and were descended from the English

Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

who settled

in the colonial era. They were part of a wave of

settlers moving west into what was then the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...

after the completion of the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigability, navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, ...

through the Mohawk Valley of New York State. These first settlers in LaPorte County specifically hailed from the

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

towns of Granville, Boston, Bridgewater, West Bridgewater, Andover, Nantucket Island, and Hampshire County; the

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

towns of Colchester, Wethersfield, Granby, and New Haven; the

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

towns of

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, Amherst and Goffstown; the Vermont villages of Dorset, Albany and Fairfax; many also came from Orange County, Vermont,

Caledonia County, Vermont Caledonia County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,233. Its shire town (county seat) is the town of St. Johnsbury. The county was created in 1792 and orga ...

and

Penobscot County, Maine Penobscot County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Maine, named for the Penobscot people in Wabanakik. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 152,199, making it the third-most-populous count ...

. They were mainly members of the

Congregational Church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

. As result of the

Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the late 18th to early 19th century in the United States. It spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching and sparked a number of reform movements. Revivals were a k ...

, many became

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

and many also converted to

Pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

and

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

. When they arrived in what is now LaPorte County, there was nothing but virgin forest and prairie. The

settlers cleared roads and brush, developed farms, constructed churches, erected government buildings, and established post routes. As a result of this migration, La Porte County was partially culturally continuous with early

culture for many years. But by 1850, the three Eastern states that had contributed the most residents to LaPorte County were New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, surpassing those migrants from New England. LaPorte County had the largest number of Southerners north of the Wabash Valley. During the Civil War, the ''Louisville Journal'' noted that the 29th Indiana Regiment (mustered out of LaPorte) "may almost be regarded as a Kentucky regiment for a large majority of its members are either natives or descendants of native Kentuckians". Three Union Camps reigned in LaPorte County helping the Union to Civil War victory. When the county was initially proposed and organized, its boundaries did not extend as far south or east as they do today. A section of land north of the

Kankakee River The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in the Corn Belt, Central Corn Belt Plains of northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time, the river drained one of the largest we ...

originally belonged to Starke County. However, residents living in that area had difficulty crossing the Grand Kankakee Marsh that surrounded the river in order to reach the rest of the county. It was necessary to travel some distance east to Lemon's bridge, before making the journey south. Effectively isolated from the rest of Starke County, these residents asked that their land be annexed to LaPorte County, which was completed on January 28, 1842. Thereafter, the Kankakee River formed the southern boundary of the county. Finally, on January 10, 1850, some twenty sections of land were annexed from St. Joseph County to the east, giving LaPorte County the boundaries that essentially exist to this day. Whether the correct spelling of the city and county is "La Porte" or "LaPorte" is disputed, although state law refers to "LaPorte County." LaPorte County is noted for being the last-known place of the Belle Gunness serial murders. Bodies of her victims were discovered after her house burned and she disappeared in 1908. Gunness lived on a farm on the outskirts of the county seat.

Geography

According to the 2010 census, the county has a total area of , of which (or 97.56%) is land and (or 2.44%) is water. The highest point, at , is in southwestern Galena Township near County Roads East 600 North and North 150 East. The lowest point, at , is along the

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

shoreline.

Adjacent counties

* Berrien County,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

(North/Eastern Time Zone Border) * St. Joseph County (East/Eastern Time Zone Border) * Starke County (South) * Jasper County (Southwest) * Porter County (West) * Cook County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

(Northwest) Boundary in Lake Michigan

National protected area

Indiana Dunes National Park Indiana Dunes National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in northwestern Indiana managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966 as the Indiana Dunes Na ...

– ''also in

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 ...

and Porter counties''

Major highways

* * *

U.S. Route 6 * US 12

U.S. Route 12 * US 20

U.S. Route 20 * US 30

U.S. Route 30 * US 35

U.S. Route 35 * US 421

U.S. Route 421 U.S. Route 421 (also U.S. Highway 421, US 421) is a diagonal northwest–southeast United States Numbered Highway System, United States Numbered Highway in the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana. The highwa ...

State Road 2 * Indiana 4

State Road 4 * Indiana 8

State Road 8 * Indiana 39

State Road 39 * Indiana 104

State Road 104 * Indiana 212

State Road 212

Railroads

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

* Chesapeake and Indiana Railroad * Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad * Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad *

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

South Shore Line The South Shore Line is an electrically powered commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago, Illinois and the South Bend Airport station in Sout ...

(commuter rail)

Municipalities

The municipalities in LaPorte County and their populations as of the 2010 Census:

Cities

Towns

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Townships

LaPorte County contains 21 townships, more than any other county in the state. The townships, with their populations as of the 2010 Census, are:

Unincorporated towns

* Lakeland

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 111,467 people, 42,331 households, and 28,228 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 48,448 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 84.1% white, 10.8% black or African American, 0.5% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 2.0% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 5.5% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 30.7% were German, 15.3% were Irish, 11.5% were Polish, 8.3% were English, and 5.9% were American. Of the 42,331 households, 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.3% were married couples living together, 12.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.3% were non-families, and 27.3% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age was 39.6 years. The median income for a household in the county was $47,697 and the median income for a family was $56,679. Males had a median income of $45,537 versus $30,774 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,599. About 9.9% of families and 13.8% 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 22.7% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

Education

K-12 schools

School districts include: * John Glenn School Corporation * La Porte Community School Corporation * Michigan City Area Schools * New Durham Township Metropolitan School District * New Prairie United School Corporation * South Central Community School Corporation * Tri-Township Consolidated School Corporation

Public libraries

The county is served by five different public library systems: * LaCrosse Public Library * LaPorte County Public Library has its main location in La Porte as well as the Coolspring, Fish Lake, Hanna, Kingsford Heights, Rolling Prairie and Union Mills branches. * Michigan City Public Library * Wanatah Public Library * Westville-New Durham Township Public Library has its main location in Westville.

Hospitals

Northwest Health - La Porte
La Porte – ''84 beds'' * Franciscan Health Michigan City, Michigan City – ''310 beds''

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in La Porte have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1977 and a record high of was recorded in June 1988. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in June.

Education

Public schools in LaPorte County are administered by seven different districts: * John Glenn School Corporation * LaPorte Community School Corporation * Metropolitan School District of New Durham Township * Michigan City Area Schools * New Prairie United School Corporation * South Central Community School Corporation * Tri-Township Consolidated School Corporation

Colleges and Universities

* Ivy Tech Community College *

Purdue University Northwest Purdue University Northwest (PNW) is a public university with two campuses in Northwest Indiana; its main campus is in Hammond with a branch campus in Westville. It is part of the Purdue University system and offers more than 70 undergradu ...

Politics

From 1992 to 2012, LaPorte County had been reliably Democratic although

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

came within 198 votes of losing the county in 2004. But in recent years it has been increasingly Republican with

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

winning the county in all 3 of his presidential runs. LaPorte County is split between Indiana's 1st and Indiana's 2nd congressional district and is represented by Rudy Yakym and Frank Mrvan in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

. It is also part of Indiana Senate districts 5 and 8 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 7, 9, 17 and 20. County elected officials:

Board of Commissioners

Source: * Steve Holifield ( R, 2nd) * Connie Gramarossa ( R, 1st) * Joe Haney ( R, 3rd)

County Council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

Source: * Adam Koronka ( R) * Justin Kiel( R) * Jimmy Pressel III ( R) * Randall Novak ( D) * Brett Kessler ( R) * Mike Mollenhauer ( D) * Mark Yagelski ( D) '' Elected Officials:'' * Assessor: Michael R. Schultz ( D) *

Audit An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon." Auditing al ...

or: Michael Rosenbaum ( R) *

Clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

: Heather Stevens ( R) *

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 ...

: Lynn Swanson ( R) *

Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

: Sean Fagen ( R) * Recorder: Elzbieta Bilderback ( R) *

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 ...

: Ronald C. Heeg ( R) *

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 ...

: John Matwyshyn ( R) *

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 ...

: Dan Barenie ( R)

Notes

References

External links

*
Access LaPorte County official community site

Greater LaPorte Chamber of Commerce

Healthy Communities of LaPorte County
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laporte County, Indiana Indiana counties 1832 establishments in Indiana Populated places established in 1832 Northwest Indiana

History

Geography

Adjacent counties

National protected area

Major highways

Railroads

Municipalities

Cities

Towns

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Townships

Unincorporated towns

Demographics

Education

K-12 schools

Public libraries

Hospitals

Climate and weather

Education

Colleges and Universities

Politics

Board of Commissioners

County Council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

See also

Notes

References

External links