ALLEN County was named, at the suggestion of General Tipton, in honor of Colonel John Allen, of Kentucky, a distinguished lawyer, who met his death at the
Massacre of the River Raisin. The county has an area of 654.35 square miles, embracing 413,607.08 acres, and a population of about 56,000, with a taxable
valuation of over $20,000,000. In 1830, the population of the whole county was only 996, and the taxable valuation of real and personal property scarcely $100,000.
These statistics give some idea of the immense growth of the county in both population and wealth. The following table shows the from 1850 growth of the different to 1876:

means of inland navigation, attracted much attention in the early days of this country, and it is due to them, in a great measure, that our country has been settled and cities founded.
In 1820 an act was passed by the Ohio legislature, appointing three commissioners to locate a route for a canal between lake Erie and the Ohio river, but it was not until 1824 that a
survey was made of what is now the Wabash and Erie Canal. The members of Congress from Indiana then procured a survey of the canal by a corps of United States topographical
engineers. This survey was commenced at Fort Wayne, about June, 1826, and at its completion, Congress passed an act, granting to the State of Indiana one half of fire miles in
width of the public lands on each side of the proposed canal, from Lake Erie to the navigable waters of the Wabash river. This grant amounted to three thousand two hundred acres
per mile. It was accepted by the State legislature, during its session of 182728, and Samuel Hanna, David Barr, and Robert Johns, were appointed a Board of Commissioners.
This grant was the first of any importance made by Congress for the furtherance of any public works, and may be considered the inception of the policy afterwards adopted, of
granting so much of the public domain for public improvements. In 1828 the State granted to Ohio all the land which had been granted for canal purposes in that State, upon the
condition that they would, in. consideration therefor, construct the works through their territory. In 1843 the canal was opened for navigation, and two years afterwards the Miami
extension was completed, thus perfecting a continuous line of canal between Maumee Bay and the Ohio river at Cincinnati. The Mahon Brothers commenced running two small
packets between Toledo and Fort Wayne, in 1843, but not with any regularity, and it was not until the summer of 1844 that a line making regular trips was established. Samuel Doyle
and William Dickey of Dayton, Ohio, were the pioneers in this enterprise, running ten boats and one steam propeller between Toledo and Lafayette, and Toledo and Cincinnati. In 1846 the act known as the "Butler Bill was passed by the legislature, by which the canal was transferred to three trustees, two of whom wereappointed by the bondholders, the remaining one by the State.

Public Buildings. The County Court House and County Jail,
both located at Fort Wayne, are substantial buildings, well adapted to the purposes sought. There is yet no commodious city hail, nor is any needed at the present day,
that would impose a heavy tax upon the city. The building in which the headquarters of the fire department are located, is well suited to that branch of the municipality. Further
remarks on the present condition and future prospects of Fort Wayne, financially and commercially, are noticed in another part of this work, under the department of the
Great Industries of Indiana. See the Biographies to find interesting biographical sketches of pioneers and prominent men of Allen county.
    The leading newspapers published in Fort Wayne are the Gazette and Sentinel, both well conducted and influential journals.

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