Tassinong, Indiana facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tassinong, Indiana
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Map of Porter County, Indiana with an inset showing the location of the community of Tassinong
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| Country | United States |
| State | Indiana |
| County | Porter |
| Township | Morgan |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.1 sq mi (0.026 km2) |
| • Land | 0.1 sq mi (0.026 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 695 ft (211.8 m) |
| Population
(2010)
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| • Total | 15 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP code |
46302
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| Area code(s) | 219 |
Tassinong is an unincorporated rural community in Porter County, Indiana, south of the city of Valparaiso. The community includes an historic marker claiming it to be a French mission and trading post in 1673, which would make it the oldest European settlement in Indiana as well as in neighboring Illinois.
History
The first use of the word Tassinong appears in 1830, referring to a village of Potawatomi Indians. The earlier existence of an Indian village and a French trading post are identified by an historic marker in Tassinong. (See Controversy below.) The earliest presence of Europeans in the Porter County area is in 1679 when Sieur de La Salle passed down the Kankakee River, 7 miles (11 km) to the south. At that time, the area south of Lake Michigan was embroiled in the Beaver Wars, which began in the Iroquois lands of New York in 1638. Iroquois war parties had destroyed the Erie Nation by 1656 and had moved west into the western Great Lakes by 1670 In 1689, the Miami, with aid from the Anishinaabe Confederacy (Odawa, Potawatomi, and Ojibwa) defeated the Iroquois near modern South Bend. That begins a return migration of Potawatomi peoples to the lands around the St. Joseph River with over 200 warriors and their families to the St. Joseph valley by 1695. The arrival of a settlement occurred in 1834, four years existence of a Potawatomi village. The village may have taken its name from the nearby woodlands, Tassinong Grove. A post office began operations at Tassinong Grove on April 10, 1838. Tassinong Grove was located 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the community of Tassinong. By 1846, the community and post office had moved north to the location where the Baum’s Bridge Road, joined the road to Valparaiso, modern State Route 49. In that year, several businesses are listed, including two stores, two blacksmiths, a carpenter, a tavern and a shoemaker. A church was built in 1855 by the Presbyterians. The decline of the village began in 1865 when the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louise Railroad was built through Kouts, 2 miles (3.2 km) to the south.
Location
The location of Tassinong first appears on a map in 1875, when the State of Indiana completes its survey of Morgan and Pleasant Townships in Porter County. A trail is shown leading from the Potawatomi Ford at modern Baum’s Bridge along the Baum’s Bridge Road to the area of Tassinong, then heading north towards Valparaiso. The oldest available Atlas of Porter County, 1876, shows the village of Tassinong in the southeast quarter of section 31, Township 34, Range 5.
Transportation
State Route 49 goes north past Valparaiso to end at the Indiana Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan and south to State Route 14 in central Jasper County.
