It was laid out "on the east fraction of the southwest quarter of Section 31, Township 22 north, Range 7 west,"[1] which today is in the extreme southwestern corner of Warren Township, a little over two miles (3 km) northeast of the current county seat of Williamsport.

[2] The site overlooks the confluence of Big Pine Creek with the Wabash River.

The town was surveyed by Perrin Kent and platted by County Agent Luther Tillotson on July 8, 1828, on a tract of land which had been donated to the county by a local landowner named Hollingsworth.

An act approved on January 22, 1829, ordered a relocation of the county seat, and in June 1829 it was moved to nearby Williamsport.

Not all the reasons for the move are clear, but an 1883 history cites concerns that "donations" to the county from Warrenton landowners were less than expected, and that much better sums had been received from William Harrison (founder of Williamsport) and Thomas Gilbert.