The namesake for the area is supposedly a native Delaware chief named Straw or Strawbridge, however historians doubt his historicity as a person.

[3] Despite this, the Lenape did settle along the White River 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the east and north of present-day Strawtown.

Miami and Shawnee tribes invited the Delaware to settle in the White River basin after a 1795 treaty.

Rapid growth, spurred partly by the state’s plans to run the Central Canal [1] through Strawtown, caused the creation of seven additional townships.

The canal in that area never materialized and growth stagnated, thanks in part to the location of the nearest railway four miles to the west.