Warsaw, Indiana

 city, county seat

www.warsawcity.net/

Warsaw is the county seat of Kosciusko County (558 square miles) located along the historic Lincoln Highway, Warsaw was twice named as one of the "Top 100 Small Towns in America." With a population of over 12,000, our motto is "Live, Work, and Play."

Known as the "Orthopedic Manufacturing Capital of the World," Warsaw has the best of both worlds---the values of rural mid-America with a commitment to real growth in business and industry. In addition to orthopedics, Warsaw: 1) is the home of the largest printing presses in the world, 2) home to the world's largest manufacturer of projection screens, and 3) home of the famous CoCo Wheat's breakfast cereal. Yet despite its industrial diversity and manufacturing excellence, Warsaw is surrounded by one of the strongest agricultural economies in the state of Indiana.

History

Kosciusko County was formally organized in 1836. It is the fourth largest of the State's 92 counties, containing 558 square miles. The County contains more than 100 lakes, which are directly responsible for the tourist and recreational economy of the County. Kosciusko County today continues to be one of the leading agricultural producing counties in the State.

Warsaw, named for the capital of Poland, was platted October 21, 1836 and was incorporated March 8, 1854 with 752 inhabitants. Warsaw was a village for about 18 years. Early Warsaw contained traders, trappers, and merchants supplying manufactured goods to the area's farmers. Because of its central location in the County's lake region, tourists soon began visiting Warsaw and eventually made permanent residences in the City. Industry soon followed. The abundant water supply, growing labor force, close proximity to markets and energy sources provided industry with the basic needs for successful operations.

The first plat of Warsaw was filed by W. H. Knott, proprietor, on October 21, 1836. Matthew D. Springer built the first house in Warsaw. It was a tamarack pole cabin on the north edge of the tamarack swamp, which included all the land immediately east and south of the Big 4 RR passenger depot. It was also used as a tavern. The Warsaw Post Office was established February 11, 1837, and Jacob Baker was its first postmaster. The first industries to arise in Warsaw were the blacksmith shop on South Buffalo Street of Phillip Lash and the chair shop of John Giselman on the northwest corner of Detroit and Main Streets, which were both opened in 1836. H. Higby started the first furniture shop in 1837.

The first election for officials of Kosciusko County was held on Monday, April 4, 1836. A sheriff, three commissioners, two associate judges, clerk-auditor, recorder, surveyor and coroner were elected. Between 1837 and 1839, the County built two courthouses. When the County Commissioners advertised for bids, William Cosgrove and his brother were successful in acquiring the contract to construct the courthouse. The first, at the northeast corner of Center and Indiana Streets, burned down before it was used. The second was on the west edge of where the first was located, and was used until 1848 when the present courthouse in the center of the Courthouse Square was completed.

The first school house was a frame building at Fort Wayne Street and Fort Wayne Avenue in the 1840s. The first brick building was built in 1858 by the town at the southwest corner of Detroit and Market Streets. It was called the Union School and was used until 1872, when the Center Ward building was built. The first high school commencement was held in the spring of 1878 in the Opera House.In August of 1845, the Kosciusko Republican was the first newspaper published in the county, by Charles L. Murray in the town of Monoquet. It was soon followed by the Warsaw Democrat in 1848, operated by T. L. Graves. The Kosciusko Republican was then taken over by Reub Williams and G.W. Fairbrother, and they started The Northern Indianian in January of 1856 (weekly, every Thursday).

Through the years, it became the Daily Times. During 1938, the corporation purchased the Warsaw Union, publishing all three editions daily. Because of scarcity of help during WW II, publication of the Warsaw Union, as well as the Daily Times morning editions, were dropped in 1942. The Times and Union were then consolidated into the evening Times-Union. The Times-Union began publication of its Saturday edition as a morning newspaper in 1980.

By the Fall of 1858, the town had quite an array of frame structures, and several of them had already been scorched or more seriously damaged and others had gone up completely in flames. The Volunteer Bucket Brigade had been outgrown and quite a collection of the real wide-awake citizens gathered at the courthouse to discuss ways and means of organizing a regular fire department. The capacity of the town treasury was stretched to the utmost and no funds were available for that purpose.

The outcome was a joint stock company which issued shares of $5 each and shortly raised enough money to purchase a second-hand fire engine. Although this was the nucleus of a fire department, this initial organization was not, strictly speaking, a public institution. A permanent organization of the department was effected in February of 1859. Chief of the first Warsaw Fire Department was Joseph A. Funk.

The public library was formed by 1885 and for many years was conducted by the City School Board, until the Warsaw Library Board was organized in 1915. A.G. Wood was a member of the first Library Board. The library was first housed in the basement of the Center Ward School. Planning to erect a more suitable building, the Board appealed to the Carnegie Corporation for financial assistance, to which they were granted $15,000. Property was purchased at the corner of Detroit and Center Streets, and the new library was ready for occupancy in 1917, with a collection of less than 5,000 volumes. An addition was made to the initial structure in 1966, and the Warsaw Community Public Library completed an extensive expansion program in 1998.