Editing Putnam County, Indiana (section)

==History==
After the [[American Revolutionary War]] established US sovereignty over the territory of the upper Midwest, the new federal government defined the [[Northwest Territory]] in 1787 which included the area of present-day Indiana. In 1800, Congress separated [[Ohio]] from the [[Northwest Territory]], designating the rest of the land as the Indiana Territory. President [[Thomas Jefferson]] chose [[William Henry Harrison]] as the governor of the territory, and [[Vincennes, Indiana|Vincennes]] was established as the future capital. After the [[Michigan Territory]] was separated and the [[Illinois Territory]] was formed, Indiana was reduced to its current size and geography. In late 1816, the Indiana Territory was admitted to the Union as a state, although much of its territory was still in dispute as to possession by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. The land containing Putnam County was brought into the possession and control of the United States by the [[Treaty of St. Mary's]] in 1818 (known as the New Purchase).

The first county to be organized (1790) in the Northwest Territory was [[Knox County, Indiana|Knox]], covering the western part of the future state, with its territory gradually reduced as pockets of settlement allowed the creation of smaller counties. After the Indiana Territory was admitted to the Union as a state on December 11, 1816, [[Sullivan County, Indiana|Sullivan]] (December 30, 1816), [[Vigo County, Indiana|Vigo]] (January 21, 1818), and [[Daviess County, Indiana|Daviess]] (February 2, 1818) counties were created, followed by [[Owen County, Indiana|Owen County]] on December 21, 1818. By 1821, the northern parts of Owen and Vigo counties were sufficiently settled to allow the creation of a new county, which was authorized on December 21, 1821, by an act of the [[Indiana General Assembly]]. The act tasked five commissioners to meet in May 1822 at the home of James Athey, a log cabin located at the forks of the [[Eel River (Wabash River tributary)|Eel River]]. The act also authorized a circuit court to meet at Athey's cabin, which was likely the first such log structure in the county (having been built by the fall of 1818 on a small section of the southwest corner of what became Putnam County, located just south of land encompassed by the 1818 Treaty of St. Mary's). Records show the court met in session at Athey's cabin in June 1822 and again that September, but the assigned commissioners failed to accomplish their task of selecting a county seat. In January 1823, a second group of commissioners was assigned by the legislature to select the county seat by that April, which they accomplished with the designation of Greencastle, located at the geographic center of the county. An incentive was 70 acres of ground donated for the county seat at Greencastle by Ephraim and Rebecca Dukes, who conveyed the corresponding deed in September 1823.{{sfn|Weik|1910|pp=20&ndash;25, 35, 52&ndash;53}}<ref name=history>{{cite web|url=http://ingenweb.org/inputnam/an-early-history.html|publisher=The USGenWeb Project|title=Welcome to Putnam County, Indiana/History|date=1910|access-date=October 4, 2020}}</ref>

The county's boundary was changed on February 12, 1825, when [[Clay County, Indiana|Clay County]] was created. It has retained its present configuration since that time.