Westchester Township (part 2 of 2)

Some difficultj was eneounterrd in flic in of the town of Porter. A petition was first filed wiili tin' couuty commissioners on Au^ist 7, 1!)U7, liut when it cauic fi)r li.ai'iny,- on Septendier 2nd, a number of citizens appeared and asked lor the exclusion of certani territory. The board dismissed the pelilion, chiefly on the grounds that the petitioners had filed no bond. On Octol)cr 7th a new petition, accmnpanied by a satisfactory bond, was lilcd willi the board, but again the renionstrators appeared and su'eciied in defeating the project to incorporate. The petitioners then ajipealed to tlie circuit court, which tribunal ordered an amended plat, occluding the territory in question, a'ld the matter M'a-s then referred back to (lie eonnnissioners, who ordered an election to be held on the la.st day of Kehruavy, 1908, when the people might vote on the question of iii.-orporation. At that election eighty-three votes were cast in favor of the jn-opcisition, and only eighteen in the negative. Porter has one ('ongiegational and three Lutheran churches, a connnereial club, a large department store and several other mercantile establishments, and in 1910 reported a population of 524.

Westchester township is well supplied with railroads. The Michigan Central, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Elgin, Joliet & EasteriL and the Pere Marquette all center at Chesterton and Porter, the Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend electric line passes through the northern part, and another electric line connects Chesterton v^ith Valparaiso. AVest of Chesterton there is a place marked "Cilliertville" on some of the maps, but no ofificial plat of the town was ever liled in the office of the county recorder. There are about thirty mihs of macadamized road in the township.

In 1890 the population of the towiiship was 2,669. During the next ten years it decreased to 2,455, but since IfinO ilicrc has been a marked increase, anfl in 1910 it was 2,953, a gain rjf almost 50(1 during the decade.