Kosciusko County ( ) is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the U.S. state of

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

. At the

2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...

, its population was 80,240. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

(and only incorporated city) is

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

. The county was organized in 1836. It was named for the Polish general

Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko ( be, Andréj Tadévuš Banavientúra Kasciúška, en, Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish military engineer, statesman, and military leader who ...

who served in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

and then returned to Poland. The county seat is named for

, the capital of Poland.

History

The Indiana State Legislature passed an omnibus county bill on 7 February 1835 that authorized the creation of thirteen counties in northeast Indiana, including Kosciusko. The county government was organized beginning in 1836. The county's boundary lines have remained unchanged since 1835.

Geographical features

Kosciusko County terrain consists of low rolling hills dotted with bodies of water and drainages, with all available area devoted to agriculture or urban development.''Kosciusko County IN'' (Google Maps, accessed 30 July 2020)
/ref> Its highest point (1025'/312 meters ASL) is a hill NE of Dewart Lake. The Tippecanoe River flows westward through the central part of the county, while the Eel River flows southwestward through the county's SE corner. According to the 2010 census, the county has a total area of , of which (or 95.85%) is land and (or 4.15%) is water.

Adjacent counties

Elkhart County Elkhart County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. , the county's population was 207,047. The county seat is Goshen. Elkhart County is part of the Elkhart- Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the Sou ...

- north * Noble County - northeast * Whitley County - southeast * Wabash County - south * Fulton County - southwest * Marshall County - west

Major highways

* U.S. Route 30 *

Indiana State Road 10 State Road 10 (SR 10) is an east–west road in northwest Indiana. Its western terminus is at the Illinois state line west of Lake Village. Its eastern terminus is at State Road 19 (SR 19) south of Etna Green. Route description ...

* Indiana State Road 13 *

Indiana State Road 14 State Road 14 is an east–west highway route which traverses the northern portion of the U.S. State of Indiana. Its western terminus is at U.S. Route 41 in Enos, and since 1995 its eastern terminus is at Interstate 69 in Fort Wayne. Route ...

* Indiana State Road 15 *

Indiana State Road 19 State Road 19 (SR 19) is a route on the Indiana State Highway System that runs between Noblesville and Elkhart in the US state of Indiana. The of Indiana SR 19 serve as a minor highway. Some of the highway is listed on the National H ...

* Indiana State Road 25

Lakes

* Banning Lake * Beaver Dam Lake * Big Barbie Lake * Big Chapman Lake * Carr Lake * Center Lake * Dewart Lake * Diamond Lake * Fish Lake * Goose Lake * Hoffman Lake * Hill Lake * Irish Lake * James Lake * Kuhn Lake * Lake Wawasee * Little Barbee Lake * Little Chapman Lake * Loon Lake * McClures Lake * Muskellunge Lake * Palestine Lake * Papakeechie Lake * Pike Lake * Ridinger Lake * Rock Lake (part) * Sechrist Lake * Shoe Lake * Silver Lake * Stanton Lake * Syracuse Lake * Tippecanoe Lake * Waubee Lake * Winona Lake * Yellow Creek Lake

Protected areas

* Center Lake Wetland Conservation Area * Edmund and Virginia Ball Nature Preserve * Pisgah Marsh Nongame Area (part)

City and towns

* Burket * Claypool * Etna Green * Leesburg * Mentone * Milford * North Webster * Pierceton * Sidney * Silver Lake *

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

(city) * Winona Lake

Unincorporated communities

* Atwood * Barbee * Bayfield *

Beaver Dam A beaver dam or beaver impoundment is a dam built by beavers to create a pond which protects against predators such as coyotes, wolves and bears, and holds their food during winter. These structures modify the natural environment in such a way t ...

* Bell Rohr Park * Buttermilk Point *

Cedar Point Cedar Point is a amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. Opened in 1870, it is considered the second-oldest operating amusement park in the U.S. behind Lake Compounce. Cedar Point is owned and ope ...

* Clunette * DeFries Landing * Enchanted Hills * Forest Glen * Gravelton *

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

* Highbanks *

Highlands Park Highlands Park Football Club was a South African professional soccer club who played in Modderfontein, Johannesburg. They were founded in 2003 as a phoenix club to the earlier Highlands Park F.C. (1959) and Highlands Park F.C. (1990) The cl ...

* Island Park * Kalorama Park * Kanata Manayunk * Kinsey * Lakeside Park * Lakeview Spring * Lowman Corner * Marineland Gardens * Milford Junction * Mineral Springs *

Monoquet Monoquet is an unincorporated community in Plain Township, Kosciusko County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. History Monoquet uh-NUH-kwetwas laid out in 1834, later being founded in 1844 when a post office was established on January 29, 1844; clo ...

* Musquabuck Park * Oakwood Park * Osborn Landing * Oswego * Packerton * Palestine * Pickwick Park * Potawatomi Park * Redmon Park *

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

* Shady Banks *

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand ...

* Stoneburner Landing * Stony Ridge * Vawter Park * Walker Park * Wawasee * Wawasee Village * Wooster * Yellowbanks

Townships

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...

* Etna * Franklin *

Harrison Harrison may refer to: People * Harrison (name) * Harrison family of Virginia, United States Places In Australia: * Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin In Canada: * Inukjuak, Quebec, or " ...

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

* Jefferson *

Lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

* Monroe *

Plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

Prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

Scott Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sask ...

* Seward * Tippecanoe * Turkey Creek * Van Buren *

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

* Wayne

Airports

* KASW - Warsaw Municipal Airport * KC03 - Nappanee Municipal Airport

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in Warsaw have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1985 and a record high of was recorded in July 1976. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in June.

Community

Newspapers

''Times-Union''

''The Mail-Journal''

''The PAPER''

''Ink Free News''

Radio Stations

''WRSW-AM 1480/99.7 FM (News Now Warsaw)''

''WRSW-FM (Classic Hits 107.3 WRSW''

''WAWC-FM (Willie 103.5)''

Government

The county government is a constitutional body, and is granted specific powers by the

Constitution of Indiana The Constitution of Indiana is the highest body of state law in the U.S. state of Indiana. It establishes the structure and function of the state and is based on the principles of federalism and Jacksonian democracy. Indiana's constitution is su ...

, and by the

Indiana Code The Indiana Code is the code of laws for the U.S. state of Indiana. The contents are the codification of all the laws currently in effect within Indiana. With roots going all the way back to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the laws of Indiana h ...

. County Council: The legislative branch of the county government; controls spending and revenue collection in the county. Representatives, elected to four-year terms from county districts, are responsible for setting salaries, the annual budget, and special spending. The council has limited authority to impose local taxes, in the form of an income and property tax that is subject to state level approval, excise taxes, and service taxes. Board of Commissioners: The executive body of the county; commissioners are elected countywide to staggered four-year terms. One commissioner serves as president. The commissioners execute the acts legislated by the council, collect revenue, and manage the county government. Court: The county maintains a

small claims court Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and go by different names in different jurisdictions. For example, it may ...

that handles civil cases. The county also maintains a Circuit and Superior Court. The judge on each court is elected to a term of six years and must be a member of the Indiana bar. County Officials: The county has other elected offices, including

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jur ...

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and a ...

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ...

, and circuit

court clerk A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court, administer oaths to witn ...

. The officials are elected countywide to four-year terms. Members elected to county government positions are required to declare

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featu ...

affiliations and to be residents of the county. Kosciusko County is part of Indiana's 2nd and

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * H ...

congressional districts. It is also part of

Indiana Senate The Indiana Senate is the upper house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Senate is composed of 50 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. Senators serve four-year term ...

districts 9, 13, 17 and 18 and

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House me ...

districts 18, 22 and 23. Elected officials: * Kyle Dukes - Sheriff * Daniel Hampton - Prosecutor * Susan Engelberth - Assessor * Michelle Puckett - Auditor * Ann Torpy - Clerk * Joetta Mitchell - County Recorder * Sue Ann Mitchell - Treasurer * Cary P. Groninger - Middle District Commissioner * Robert M. Conley, President - Southern District Commissioner * Bradford Jackson - Northern District Commissioner * Tony Ciriello, Certified Death Investigator, Coroner Kosciusko County is a Republican stronghold in presidential elections.

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

in 1912 and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 are the only two Democratic Party candidates to win the county from 1888 to the present day. Roosevelt is the only Democrat since 1888 to win the county with a majority. The county is very Republican even by the standards of traditionally Republican Indiana. For example, Roosevelt actually lost the county by eight percentage points in 1936 even as he went on to carry 46 states. Further underlining the county's Republican bent, it rejected

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

in 1964 even in the midst of Johnson's 44-state national landslide. Johnson is the last Democrat to manage even 40 percent of the county's vote.

Education

School districts

Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation

Triton School Corporation

Warsaw Community Schools

Wawasee Community School Corporation

Whitko Community School Corporation
* Wa-Nee Community Schools

Demographics

As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...

, there were 77,358 people, 29,197 households, and 20,740 families in the county. The population density was . There were 37,038 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 93.3% white, 0.8% Asian, 0.7% black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 3.4% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 7.3% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 33.5% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, 11.5% were Irish, 10.8% were

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, and 8.2% were

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. Of the 29,197 households, 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.6% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.0% were non-families, and 23.9% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.07. The median age was 37.7 years. The median income for a household in the county was $47,697 and the median income for a family was $56,305. Males had a median income of $44,358 versus $29,320 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,019. About 7.0% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 13.5% of those under age 18 and 5.2% of those age 65 or over.

Notable residents

Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book ''The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by t ...

, Civil War veteran, author, newspaper columnist *

Chris Schenkel Christopher Eugene Schenkel (August 21, 1923 – September 11, 2005) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of five decades he called play-by-play for numerous sports on television and radio, becoming known for his smooth delivery and ...

, former Sportscaster for

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Televisi ...

. Resided in Leesburg, Indiana.(clunette.com/Schenkel)
/ref> * Rick Fox, retired NBA player. Resided in Warsaw, Indiana.

References

External links

Kosciusko County

Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce

Kosciusko County Convention and Visitors Bureau

Sources

{{Authority control Indiana counties 1836 establishments in Indiana Populated places established in 1836