In 1816 Indiana became a State-Kendallville, to be-was attached to Knox County with the county seat at Vincennes, later the county seat went to Winchester, then to Fort Wayne, and still later to Lima, LaGrange county. Early in the spring of 1833, David Bundle, an original Hoosier, pitched his tent and built a wigwam within the present corporate boundaries of Kendallville. In the fall of that same year, Mrs. Frances Dingman, a widow, of Fort Wayne, came here and buying out Bundle, established the first real home in Kendallville, located near what is now the intersection of State and Gold streets.
In the latter 30's and early 40's more people came, through dense forests and swamps, by ox teams and on foot, and with them came William Mitchell. He secured land here and started
to build a town, and when enough pioneer homes were in evidence to warrant a post office, it was granted ·and given the name of "Kendallville," in honor of the then postmaster general, Amos Kendall.
The town grew and impatient citizens begged for its incorporation, and in June, 1863, the county commissioners granted a charter to "the incorporated town of Kendallville." Unfortunately
the original records have since been burned, and the historian neglected to preserve the names of the town officers.
There was small space, or period, between the time when Kendallville became an incorporated town and when it transformed itself into a city, for the original city records show these facts: That, at an election held October 6, 1866, the following officers were elected for the City of Kendallville: Mayor, Tim Baker; City Clerk, A. A. Chapin; City Treasurer, D. S. Welch; City
Marshal, James Vanness; Street Commissioner, George Sayles; for councilmen, First ward, A. B. Park and John Emerson; Second ward, K. B. Miller and Moses Jacobs; Third ward, James
Colgrove and George Aichele.
Walter L. Holcomb
