La Porte, Indiana
city in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States of America
La Porte (from French 'the door') is a city in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States, of which it is the county seat. Its population was estimated to be 21,341 in 2022. It is one of the two principal cities of the Michigan City-La Porte, Indiana metropolitan statistical area, which is included in the Chicago–Naperville–Michigan City, Illinois–Indiana–Wisconsin combined statistical area.
La Porte is located in northwest Indiana, east of Gary, and west of South Bend. It was first settled by European Americans in 1832. The city is twinned with Grangemouth in Scotland.
History
The settlement of La Porte was established in July 1832. Abraham P. Andrew, one of the purchasers of the site, constructed the first sawmill in that year. The first settler arrived in October, building a permanent cabin just north of what would become the courthouse square.
After the US extinguished land claims by the Potowatomi and other historic tribes of the area by treaty and removal to Indian Territory, in 1833, a federal land office was established in La Porte.
“La Porte, Indiana” enters the record as city in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States of America. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Porte, Indiana and city can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“La Porte, Indiana” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Porte, Indiana and city provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2018808. VIAF identifies the subject as 136902025. The Library of Congress control number is n82028096. Authority coordinates are 41.609, -86.718. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2022, 1832 and 1833.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “La Porte, Indiana”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow La Porte, Indiana primary sources, La Porte, Indiana archive and Porte research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “La Porte, Indiana”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “La Porte, Indiana” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.