The part of Indiana now known as Howard County was once a part of The Northwest Territory or, as it was later called, The New Purchase.

The Ordinance of 1787 outlined the transition from wilderness to states within the region and eventually Indiana was granted statehood (1816). Beginning in 1795, a series of treaties with various Indian tribes effected Indiana until 1840 when the Miami ceded the last of their Indiana land and agreed to move to land west of the Mississippi River.

Maps
• The Northwest Territory (1787)
  
• The United States In 1800
  
• The United States After The Louisiana Purchase (1803)
  
• The United States in 1812
  

In the fall of 1818 at St. Marys, Ohio, several tribes including the Delawares, Wea, Kickapoos, Miamis and Potawatomis, gave up their claim to a very large area of central Indiana. From this area the Miami Indians reserved about 760,000 acres of land south of the Wabash River as their homeland. This land or reservation, known as the Big Miami Reserve, included all the land now known as Howard County.

The first house in Howard County was built by David Landrum, a Quaker from Tennessee, in 1837 in the "Seven Mile Strip" which encompasses Monroe Township in the southwestern part of the county. This area was bought from the Miami Indians by the United States Government and transferred to the Indiana Government. Not far from this site is Miller Cemetery where Landrum's wife is buried. (The cemetery is a short distance from the Sycamore Street Pike in Monroe Township.)

During this period, Miami Chief Jean Baptiste Richardville was a leader of The Big Miami Reserve. When he died in 1841, Francis Lafountaine succeeded him as Head Chief. He was given a section of land at the Rapids of the Wildcat as a reservation. This is the land bought by David Foster on which Kokomo now stands.

Howard County was formed from the Miami Indian Reserve in 1844 as Richardsville County. The county was originally named after the Miami chief, Jean Baptiste Richardville, but the legislature changed the name to Howard County in 1846.

Once the county was formed and the government was organized, lots were sold in the area now known as Kokomo and settlement began in earnest. No one really knows where the name Kokomo comes from, but common belief or legend holds that David Foster named our fair town after an Indian chief. You will want to be sure to read the Legend of Chief Kokomo and learn more about David Foster: