Westville Travel Guide

   A town of about 2000 people, Westville was settled in 1836, contains a few old buildings in its tiny 'downtown' and is the location for Purdue University's North Central campus.
   Lincoln sites are a dime a dozen in the Midwest. This marker, on Westville's main street reads:
   'On Monday May 1, 1865, shortly before 8:00 AM, the train bearing the body of President Lincoln stopped briefly at this site. This marker, erected by the Westville Women's Club, honors the centennial anniversary of this event.'

   'La Porte,' county, French for 'The Door' derives its name from French explorers and fur traders who discovered a passable opening through the vast forest and swamps of the area. Fearing an invasion by Black Hawk and his band of Sac Indians, pioneers of the 1830 constructed a stockade. The invasion never occured, but the site of the stockade is memorialized (on private property) on a stone dedicated by the La Porte Historical Society in 1909.
   The historical marker reads:
'On this spot a fort stockade was built to defend the lives of the pioneers of La Porte prairie from a threatended invasion by Black Hawk and his braves in the spring of 1832. Warning of the danger was brought by John Coleman who rode his indian pony Musqvoe from Fort Dearborn* to this place in six hours.'
On the west side of the stone are the names of the men who constructed the fort, under the leadship of Commander A.P. Andrew Jr and Captain Peter White.
* Fort Dearborn was located on the site of present day Chicago.