Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Indiana, admitted to the Union as the 19th state on Dec. 11, 1816, was populated initially by a variety of indigenous Native American peoples. The name “Indiana” means “land of the Indians” or “Indian land” and dates back at least to the 1760s. It was applied to the region by the U.S. Congress when the Indiana Territory was incorporated effective July 4, 1800. It was signed into law by President John Adams, separating it from the Northwest Territory. The state’s northernmost tier, which includes Winona Lake, was settled primarily by migrants from New England and New York.
The territory was first governed by William Henry Harrison, who negotiated with the native inhabitants to open up large parts of the territory to settlement. In 1810 a popularly elected government was established. At the outbreak of Tecumseh's War, Harrison led a military force in the opening hostilities at the Battle of Tippecanoe, and then in the subsequent invasion of Canada during the War of 1812. In June 1816, a constitutional convention was held and a state government was formed. The territory was dissolved on Nov. 7, 1816, by an act of Congress, granting statehood to Indiana.
Kosciusko County, in which Winona Lake is located, was created from Elkhart and Cass counties in 1835 by the Indiana General Assembly. The county was formed in 1836 by John B. Chapman (not the John Chapman, known as “Johnny Appleseed,” Swedenborgian missionary who is buried in Fort Wayne). Chapman was elected to the legislature in 1834 after having served as the prosecuting attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, and he was given the task of naming the county by general consent of the state legislature.
Chapman named the county Kosciusko, even though the favorite candidate name was High Plains. Chapman had heard veterans of the Revolutionary War speaking about the noble traits of the Lithuanian/Polish general and nobleman, Tadeusz Kosciuszko. Chapman thought the Pole had been neglected by the American people, so he named the county after him.
Kosciusko served in the American Revolutionary War and then returned to Poland. He was captured by the Russian government but was released and spent the remainder of his life in Switzerland. He revisited the United States in 1797, but there is no indication that he ever visited the Indiana county named for him.
The Potawatomi Indians
The Miami were the first native Americans to settle in the area (about 1750), building their villages mainly along the Tippecanoe River. By 1760, the more numerous and stronger Potawatomi began to push the Miami from the area, taking over their village sites. In the early 19th century, major portions of Potawatomi lands were seized by the U.S. government. Many perished as they migrated to new lands in the west through Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma, following what became known as the "Trail of Death." The federal government passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, which was intended to move the Indian population from the populated east to the remote and unpopulated lands west of the Mississippi.
The Potawatomi chief whose territory included most of present-day Winona Lake, Checose (sometimes spelled Checase), was known as a shrewd land dealer. In 1826, the government had given the territory to Chief Checose and his tribe. However, the Potawatomi left the land shortly after Checose signed a treaty in 1832, giving the territory back to the government. The treaty was ratified January 21, 1833, the county boundary was established in February 1835, and the county was organized in April 1836.
Reservation life for the Indians did not work well because the reservations were not large enough to supply game or farming space for members of the tribe. Most Indians in Kosciusko County were exiled in small groups mainly from 1837 to 1840. Some were included in the mass exodus called the “Trail of Death” in the fall of 1838, including the tribe of the well-known Potawatomi chief, Menominee.
White Settlers Arrive
The first white settler in the area, Peter Warner, came in the summer of 1834. In June 1836, a township was established but did not see real development until later. Most of the land that now comprises the town of Winona Lake was originally sold to William Bashford on June 30, 1837, and it consisted of 127.42 acres. After his death, the property fell into the hands of his heirs, who sold it on December 13, 1852, to Dr. Jacob Boss. On March 13, 1872, Dr. Boss deeded the property to his son, Julius Boss, after having deeded to the Pennsylvania Railroad what is known as the Gravel Pit, from which gravel had been used in the construction of the railroad.
John Hamilton, one of the first white men to love the primitive stretch of land beside Eagle Lake (later renamed Winona Lake), was crippled and taught school during his short life here. Hamilton had come from Wayne County, Ohio, to Indiana in 1837 and bought 280 acres from Thomas and Jane Boydston, the original homesteaders. They had paid the usual price of $1.25 per acre to the government, and Hamilton gave them $850.
Hamilton’s Mound
Hamilton’s purchase included the island, the area where Camp Kosciusko stood, the Indian mound, and eastward up the hill. Hamilton liked to climb the mound, which was located by Cherry Creek at the south end of Chestnut Street, and sit with his little son, Henry, and daughter, Maria. This knoll not only served as a gravesite when Hamilton died, but for many years it was the location for an annual consecration ceremony for ministerial candidates who studied at the Winona School of Theology. Hamilton died in 1839 and was reported to have been buried on top of the Indian mound, which was known thereafter as Hamilton’s Mound.
The mound is no longer in existence. In 1944 or 1945, the mound was gradually taken down and the dirt was used to fill lowland for the development of Warsona trailer court, now extinct, but once located between the Winona Lake Dam and North Country Club Drive. No one knows what became of the Hamilton monument.
About 1877, John F. (Fred) Beyer moved to Warsaw from Goshen. According to the Beyer family history, one day Fred and his wife, Anna, were riding in a wagon along the road to Pierceton. As they came to Eagle Lake Beyer pointed to the peaceful countryside and said, “Someday that place will be a beautiful summer resort.”
In 1881 Beyer and his brothers Christian and Edward Beyer, bought the land from Julius Boss. And thus began the birth of Spring Fountain Park and the village that eventually became known as Winona Lake, located on the shores of Eagle Lake, renamed Winona Lake in 1894.
