Old Plat Historic District

THE present site of the city of Huntington was known among the Indians as Wa-pe-cha-an-gan-ge, mea,ning " Flint Place," ' owing to the abundance of flint at the mouth of Flint Creek; and among the Indian traders, white men and half breeds, who traded with the Indians long before any permanent settlements were made, as "Flint Springs," from the fine springs of pure water that flowed from the flinty ground at the foot of the little hill near the mouth of the creek. The ground was white with the hard flint for many rods around the springs, and was a noted camping ground with both Indians and traders, the flint being always dry and solid and nearly clear of underbrush. There is a tradition that Gen. William H. Harrison and his army encamped here on their march from Fort Recovery to Tippecar oe, in 1811; but the late Samuel Jones, of Warren, this county, who was a soldier in Gen. Harrison's army in the campaign, could not recollect the place as a camping ground of the army, although well remembering passing through the county with the army at or near this point.

Passage source: History of Huntington County, Indiana : from the Earliest Time to the Present with Biographical Sketches, Notes, Etc. : Together with a Short History of the Northwest, the Indiana Territory, and the State of Indiana, published 1887.

The land was a portion of the grant made by the United States Government, in 1837, to the State of Indiana, to aid in the construction of the canal, afterwards known as the Wabash & Erie Canal, connecting the navigable waters of the Wabash River at Terre Haute, Indiana, with Lake Erie, at or near Toledo, Ohio. The records do not show how the the interest of the Helveys in this tract of land was transferred to Gen. John Tipton, of Logansport, but the transfer was doubtless made in a manner satisfactory to both parties. Gen. Tipton obtained the patent for the land from the state, and by his agent, Capt. Elias Murray, platted and laid out the town, in the year 1833; Capt. Murray giving the new town the , name of "Huntington," in honor of Samuel Huntington, one of the signers of the Declar- ation of Independence, and Capt. Murray's uncle.

Passage source: History of Huntington County, Indiana : from the Earliest Time to the Present with Biographical Sketches, Notes, Etc. : Together with a Short History of the Northwest, the Indiana Territory, and the State of Indiana, published 1887.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Huntington Township - 33,282 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.