RCHistory

Randolph County was platted in 1818 by Paul Way.

The county seat is Winchester.

Randolph County is located in eastern Indiana, bounded on the east by Ohio, and
bounded on the west by Delaware and Henry counties, Jay county is to the north and
Wayne county is to the south.

Randolph County is drained by the Mississinewa and Whitewater Rivers and the West
Fork of the White River.

Winchester was the center of government for a territory that stretched from Wayne
County on the south to the Michigan border on the north, and from the Ohio line on the
east to where Anderson is today on the west.

Winchester was the county seat for all of the area, and people from Fort Wayne and
Anderson had to journey to Winchester for marriage licences or other court matters.

By 1836, other counties , including Allen, Delaware and Jay, had been formed from the
territory, and Randolph County's present boundaries were established.

Randolph County has a population of 28,915. Winchester has a population of 5,095,
and is located on the West Fork of the White River, 20 miles east of Muncie.

It is believed that Randolph County was named after Randolph County, North Carolina,
where most of the early settlers of this county originated.

Some claim it was named after Thomas Randolph, who was killed at the Battle of
Tippecanoe.

Randolph County's economy was primarily agricultural until the Gas Boom in the
1880's, which brought industrialization. The discovery of natural gas brought the glass
industry, which remains today.