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Putnam County, Indiana

Putnam Co., IN

Putnam County, IN


History

By 1821, the northern parts of Owen and Vigo counties were sufficiently settled to allow creation of a new county, which was authorized on December 21, 1821, by an act of the Indiana General Assembly. The act tasked five commissioners to meet in May 1822 at the home of James Athey, a log cabin located at the forks of the Eel River. The act also authorized a circuit court to meet at Athey's cabin, which was likely the first such log structure in the county (having been built by the fall of 1818 on a small section of the southwest corner of what became Putnam County, located just south of land encompassed by the 1818 Treaty of St. Mary's). Records show the court met in session at Athey's cabin in June 1822 and again that September, but the assigned commissioners failed to accomplish their task of selecting a county seat. In January 1823, a second group of commissioners was assigned by the legislature to select the county seat by that April, which they accomplished with the designation of Greencastle, located at the geographic center of the county. An incentive was 70 acres of ground donated for the county seat at Greencastle by Ephraim and Rebecca Dukes, who conveyed the corresponding deed in September 1823.

The county's boundary was changed on February 12, 1825, when Clay County was created. It has retained its present configuration since that time.
Source: Wikipedia

Modern Day Adjacent Counties

Montgomery County - north
Hendricks County - east
Morgan County - southeast
Owen County - south
Clay County - southwest
Parke County - west

Gleanings from