La Porte is located in northwest Indiana, east of Gary, and west of South Bend.

The first settler arrived in October, building a permanent cabin just north of what would become the courthouse square.

People came to this office from newly established surrounding counties to buy land from the government, including Solon Robinson, founder of Crown Point.

[8] By 1835, the settlement had grown to the extent that La Porte was incorporated as a town.

By 1852, La Porte had become a well-established settlement of considerable size for its time and vicinity, with 5,000 residents.

In that same year, it was granted a city charter by the Indiana General Assembly, and the first mayor was elected.

[9] La Porte continued to grow, attracting numerous, diverse industries, the largest of which became the Advance-Rumely Company.

[6] During the 1850s, numerous maple trees were planted along Indiana and Michigan Avenues in the city by local resident Sebastian Lay.

The structure is built of red sandstone from Lake Superior, shipped by boat to Michigan City and then by rail to La Porte.

[12] La Porte is accessible from Chicago by the South Shore train line, which begins at Millennium Station and ends in Michigan City, Indiana, with several stops in between, including Chesterton and Hudson Lake, Indiana.

[17] With eight state baseball titles, La Porte High School holds the distinction of winning the greatest number in Indiana.

La Porte has been featured in an occasional movie, including Prancer (1989), A Piece of Eden (2000), Treadmill (2006), Providence (2009), and Women's Prison (2009).

La Porte was once the home of the Parsons Horological Institute, founded in the 1890s and still extant as part of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

La Porte was the eastern terminus of the Chicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad, an ambitious early high-speed rail project.

[citation needed] La Porte has an extensive city park district.

La Porte receives television and radio broadcasts from Chicago and South Bend.