Van Buren Township

The story

Welcome to Van Buren Township

Van Buren Township, on the Elkhart County line in northern Kosciusko County, was settled on Little Turkey Creek Prairie in 1833. Its town, Milford, was laid out in 1836, and two railroads met a mile north of it.

Van Buren Township was organized on June 29, 1836, and was named by William Felkner, its first member of the county board. It covers 23,040 acres crossed by Turkey Creek, which spreads into the two lakes known for years as Wauwus (Wawa’s) Lake, once part of the chief Waw-wa-esse’s reservation, and Lingle Lake, whose eastern shore reaches into Turkey Creek Township. Much of it was once thought too marshy to be worth anything, but by 1919 ditching and drainage had made it one of the most productive parts of the county.

Early in March 1833 Oliver Wright and his son Moses settled on section 28, and on March 20 William Felkner and his wife came to section 21. Later that year Elijah Miller and Richard Gawthrop settled on section 32, A. C. Cory on section 1, Samuel Street on section 29, and Mrs. Sarah DeVault with five children on section 32. They planted corn on the open prairie in 1833 and fenced it the same year. Rachel Felkner, born May 15, 1833, was the first white child born in the township; the first marriage, of Fred Summey and Adeline Trimble, was in October 1834; and the first schoolhouse was built on section 29 in the fall of 1835, with John G. Woods as teacher. William Felkner built the first frame barn in the county in 1836 and the first brick house in the county, on section 21, in 1846.