Warsaw, Indiana
Warsaw,
Indiana
A Brief History of Warsaw,
Indiana
• It became part of Elkhart County, and was called Kosciusko township (named after, General George Washington's aide-de-camp and Polish national hero, Thaddeus Kosciusko).
• Kosciusko became a county and selected Warsaw as its capital.
• [1832] The United States government purchased Kosciusko from the Potawatomi Indians (principal chiefs were Flatbelly, Wawasee and his brother Musquabuck). Kosciusko county has over one-hundred lakes. Many Native Americans (several tribes of the Miami and Pottawatomi nations) were residents of the county durring early settlements.
• [1854] Warsaw had a residency of 752 inhabitants when it was incorporated.
• [1885] The orthopedic industry was pioneered by Revra DePuy. He hired Justin Zimmer in 1905, which started his own company in 1927. Warsaw, Indiana is regarded as the "Orthopedic Capitol of the World".
• [1903] Little Crow Foods, Warsaw, Indiana (maker of Coco Wheats) was passed down to the 4th generation from Wilbur E. Maish.
• [early 1900s] Ice business was one of the largest industries in Warsaw.
• [1910] An electronic trolley car system ran between Winona Lake and Warsaw, Indiana and eventually down to Peru and up to Goshen. Winona Lake and Warsaw, Indiana were popular tourist destinations.
• [1945] Theodore Dreiser, author of An American Tragedy, attended Warsaw High School. He died in 1945, seven years before A Place in the Sun, based on the novel, won an Academy Award.
• [1948] Hal Kratzsch, organized the musical group "The Four Freshmen" in Warsaw, Indiana.
• America's first coast-to-coast roadway (3,300 miles) ran through Funk Park on North Lake Street in Warsaw.
• [1954] Three Menonites from Warsaw and northern Indiana received two-year prison sentences for refusing to serve in the armed forces.
• [1955] Some talk took place between Winona Lake and Warsaw officials of merging the two towns.
• [1959] The last Prohibition Party candidates elected in the 20th Century were two members of the Winona Lake, Indiana town council. Prohibition Party History
• [1956] The Wagon Wheel Playhouse, a professional theater, opened in Warsaw
• [1960] Max Truex was one of this nation's greatest distance runner. Max (b. Warsaw, Indiana) was five'-six". "He set the record in the Indiana State Mile championship with a 4:20.4. As a sophomore at University of Southern California, he won the 10,000-meter Olympic trials for the l956 Melbourne games but was injured several weeks before the race and did not finish. Max had an outstanding running career at USC including several NCAA championships and records. He broke the NCAA cross-country record when the race was held each year at Michigan State by 20 seconds. The sports writers especially in the LA area loved writing about " the mighty mite from Warsaw, In". In 1960, Max won the 10,000 Olympic trials and was the first person again to make the track team, as it was the first final held. In Rome, he ran an outstanding race at 28:50, which was the eighth fastest in the world at that time, but unfortunately it was 6th place in a very fast race."
• [1961] The movie The Family That Changed The World was produced by Ken Anderson.
• [1964] Wagon Wheel sold out every performance for it's two week run of Sound of Music, and scheduled three extra performances.
Kosciusko County Historical Newspaper