Newton County, Indiana

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

County Seat:
Year Organized:
Square Miles:
MSA:

Court House:

Put address here

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for Revolutionary War hero Sergeant John Newton.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts:

History

Newton County was last of Indiana's 92 counties to be established and began its official existence December 9, 1859. It was first organized by the act of 1838 and later joined to Jasper County and continued as a part of that county for twenty years, when the commissioners of Jasper County made the final border defining the boundaries of the new county.

The original Newton County was formed by statute on February 7, 1835, and was a roughly square area some 30 miles on a side, encompassing what is now the northern half of the county, the northern half of Jasper County, and a large sections to the north. The northern border was cut back to the Kankakee River on February 1, 1836, with all land north of the Kankakee River going to Lake and Porter counties. The county was abolished and combined with Jasper County in 1839. On December 8, 1859 the county was recreated and the borders were redrawn to essentially their current state.

Newton County is named after Sgt. John Newton, who served under Gen. Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox", in the American Revolutionary War. It is adjacent to Jasper County, which was named after Sgt. William Jasper, whose story is similar. Other states, including Texas, have adjacent Newton and Jasper Counties, as though these two were remembered as a pair.

Newton County was the last county to be organized in Indiana.

Newton County is divided into 10 Civil Townships as follows: Beaver, Colfax, Grant, Iroquois, Jackson, Jefferson, Lake, Lincoln, McClellan and Washington.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 404 square miles (1,045 km²), of which 402 square miles (1,041 km²) is land and 2 square miles (4 km²) (0.42%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Lake County
Northeast: Jasper County
South: Benton County
Southwest: Iroquois County, Ill.
Northwest: Kankakee County, Ill.

Cities and Towns:

Insert City Here

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

Custom Search