Prior to European settlement, Native Americans lived in Northwest Indiana.

[4] Potawatomi chief, Leopold Pokagon, encouraged his tribe to sell tribal lands to European settlers.

In 1834, Joseph Wolf squatted on land currently near the modern-day community of South Haven[4] and operated dairy and beef farms there.

[6] Other early settlers included Berret Door, Reuben Hurlburt, Wilford Parrott, the Spurloch brothers, William McCool, Benjamin James (and his son, Allen James), and William Holmes.

[6] Portage Township was primarily a farming community until railroad development began in the 1850s and 1860s.

This enabled local farmers to easily ship livestock, dairy and crops to Chicago and any other stop along the way.

It was a boon to the farmers of the area at the time and enabled them to buy more land for farming.

This railroad crossed the Michigan Central at Willow Creek, near the village of Crisman.

The Willow Creek Confrontation occurred in 1874, when the Michigan Central refused to allow the Baltimore and Ohio to cross its track.

[6][8] Sand was also an industry in Portage due to demand in the growing city of Chicago.

This is despite the growth of towns to the west such as Gary, Hammond and East Chicago due to the industrialization of steel mills.

Due to the steel mills being in economic trouble, the farmers of Portage did not have demand to produce their products.

Like with many communities in the country, World Wars I and II affected the economy of Portage in a big way.

National Steel opened a plant along the shore of Lake Michigan in Portage in 1959.

The Port of Indiana was also built in 1961 to accommodate trade with the world via Lake Michigan.

In 1963, Bethlehem Steel began construction of a plant which was located partly in Portage.

Ogden Dunes and South Haven were excluded because the residents of these areas did not wish to be included in the town.

Due to the surge of population after the war, many farmers were selling land to be subdivided into lots for families to build homes.

Portage saw an influx of white residents from Gary seeking to escape racial integration.

[6] Portage has seen many new green technology industries locate to the community since the early 2000s including Fronius USA.

Coach USA ceased all operations of its Indiana Airport SuperSaver service effective January 1, 2020.