Bartholomew County, Indiana

Bartholomew County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Columbus
Year Organized: 1821
Square Miles: 407

Court House:

440 3rd Street
County Courthouse
Columbus, IN 47201-6798

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Bartholomew County was formed February 12, 1821 and was named for Lt. Col. Joseph Bartholomew, wounded at the Battle of Tippecanoe.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Bartholomew County was organized by legislative act January 8, 1821, which became effective February 12, 1821. The county at this time embraced also the territory afterward given to Wells, Adams, Huntington and Whitley counties.

Johnny Appleseed is buried in David Archer's graveyard two and one half miles north of Ft. Wayne.

Bartholomew County is divided into 12 Civil Townships as follows: Clay, Clifty, Columbus, Flat Rock, German, Harrison, Haw Creek, Jackson, Ohio, Rock Creek, Sand Creek and Wayne.

John Tipton, later United States Senator from Indiana, was connected in an interesting way with the founding of the County Seat at Columbus. He donated thirty acres for the site, and the commissioners, grateful for the donation, named the County Seat Tiptona, in honor of General Tipton. This was done February 15, 1821, however, on March 20, the commissioners rescinded their action, on account of Tipton's political views, it is supposed, and changed the name of the County Seat to Columbus.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 409 square miles (1,060 km²), of which 407 square miles (1,054 km²) is land and 3 square miles (7 km²) (0.62%) is water. Camp Atterbury occupies the northwestern corner of the county.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Shelby County; Decatur County
Southeast: Jennings County
Southwest: Jackson County
West: Brown County
Northwest: Johnson County

Cities and Towns:

- Camp Atterbury	UT
- Clay	township
- Clifford	town	Incorporated Area
- Clifty	township
- Columbus (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Elizabethtown	town	Incorporated Area
- German	township
- Harrison	township
- Hartsville	town	Incorporated Area
- Haw Creek	township
- Hope	town	Incorporated Area
- Jackson	township
- Jonesville	town	Incorporated Area
- Ohio	township
- Rock Creek	township
- Sand Creek	township
- Wayne	township

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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