- Starke County -

Formed by an act of legislature on February 7, 1835, and organized in 1850, this county was named for Revolutionary War General John Stark who commanded the New Hampshire troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill and, along with Col. Seth Warner, defeated the British at the Battle of Bennington in 1877. An "e" was added to the name at some point in the early history of the county with no solid explanation as to why.

The first European to visit the area of Starke County was René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1679 as he and his group traveled down the Kankakee river. The first white settler in the county was Edward Smith who settled in Oregon township. The Pottawatamie Indians were removed from the area by armed volunteer militia in 1838 and marched to reservation lands in Oklahoma in the largest Indian removal in State history. Their route, the "Trail of Death," was declared a Regional Historic Trail in 1994 and 80 markers placed along the route.

There are nine townships in Starke county which cover 312.21 square miles. It is bounded on the north by La Porte and St. Joseph counties; on the east by Marshall county; the southeast by Fulton county; on the south by Pulaski county; the west by Jasper county, and on the northwest by Porter county. The county seat is located at Knox, which is also the largest city in the county.