Whitley

Formed February 7, 1835 (79^th county)

Whitley County (34,190), Columbia City (9,890)                

A classic Beaux Arts courthouse of masonry and stone was built in 1890.  The courthouse is on a square at Main, Van Buren, Market, and Chauncy streets.  United States Highway 30 Business is Main Street in town.  Whitley County was founded on February 7, 1835 from Native American Territory as the 79^th county with Columbia City as the only county seat.  The designer of the building was Brentwood S. Tolan.  The building features a working clock tower and veteran memorials on the grounds.  It is named for War of 1812 hero William Whitley.  The county seat is named for explorer Christopher Columbus.  He is also the namesake of the county seat of Bartholomew County.  Whitley County was the birthplace of 1 Indiana Governor, Ralph F. Gates. 

Whitley County government consists of a sheriff, an auditor, a clerk, a coroner, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 7 Council Members (legislative.)  A Circuit Court Judge, a Superior Court Judge, and a prosecutor serve Whitley County (judicial.) Whitley County is in northeast Indiana.  Fort Wayne, Indiana is directly to its southeast and South Bend, Indiana is northwest of the county.  The county center is in Columbia City .8 miles West-Southwest of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Noble, Allen, Huntington, Wabash, and Kosciusko counties. 

The area of the county is 336 square miles.  It is 73 out of 92 in the state.  It ranks 47 out of 92 in population in the state.  It has a density of 101.80 persons per square mile making it 40 out of 92 in the state.  Whitley County has 40.5% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 24 clips the southeast corner of the county from Allen County, east, to Huntington County, south.  United States Highway 30 travels east to west from Allen County to Kosciusko County.  United States Highway 33 cuts the northeast corner north to east from Noble County to Allen County.  The county is overall rectangular with some deletions and some additions on the west, north, and east borders.  Columbia City is near the geographical center of the county.  Columbia City is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 28.9% of the county population.  The county is pronounced WHIT-LEE.  This county is in the Fort Wayne Metropolitan Statistical Area.

South Whitley