History
A Few Facts About Adams County
Adams County is divided into 12 Civil Townships as follows:
Decatur is the county seat. Samuel Rugg offered as an inducement to have the county seat located on his land, the sum of $3,100, 4 church lots, half an acre for a public square, 1 acre for a seminary and 2 acres for a cemetery. He further agreed to pay the expenses of the locating commissioners, and furnish a house to hold court in until suitable buildings could be erected. The county commissioners promptly accepted the offer “and proceeded to the aforesaid town site, and marked a white oak tree with blazes on 4 sides, on each of which they individually inscribed their names.”
Decatur was probably named in honor of Commodore Stephen Decatur and in 1849 it had seventy houses (3 of which were brick, twenty-1 frame and the remainder of logs) with a population of about 400. According to the Society of Indiana Pioneers, an individual was a pioneer of our county if they resided here on or before December 31, 1840. Indiana automobile License Plates issued in Adams County start with the prefix 1 because it is the 1st county in alphabetical listing.
Adams County is divided into 12 Civil Townships as follows:
- Blue Creek
- French
- Hartford
- Jefferson
- Kirkland
- Monroe
- Preble
- Root
- St. Marys
- Union
- Wabash
- Washington
Decatur is the county seat. Samuel Rugg offered as an inducement to have the county seat located on his land, the sum of $3,100, 4 church lots, half an acre for a public square, 1 acre for a seminary and 2 acres for a cemetery. He further agreed to pay the expenses of the locating commissioners, and furnish a house to hold court in until suitable buildings could be erected. The county commissioners promptly accepted the offer “and proceeded to the aforesaid town site, and marked a white oak tree with blazes on 4 sides, on each of which they individually inscribed their names.”
Decatur was probably named in honor of Commodore Stephen Decatur and in 1849 it had seventy houses (3 of which were brick, twenty-1 frame and the remainder of logs) with a population of about 400. According to the Society of Indiana Pioneers, an individual was a pioneer of our county if they resided here on or before December 31, 1840. Indiana automobile License Plates issued in Adams County start with the prefix 1 because it is the 1st county in alphabetical listing.