Fort Wayne

Sister cities

• Taizhou
• Gera
• Mawlamyine
• Takaoka
• Płock

History

This area here on the river confluence was occupied by successive cultures of indigenous peoples for as long as 10,000 years. The Miami tribe would eventually establish its settlement of Kekionga at this confluence of the Maumee, St. Joseph, and St. Marys rivers in the late stages of the Beaver Wars in the 1690s. It was the capital of the Miami nation and related Algonquian tribes. In 1696, Comte de Frontenac appointed Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, who began visiting Kekionga in 1702, and would later build the original Fort Miami here in the wilderness and pays d'en Haut of New France around 1706; Initially, a small trading outpost. It was part of a group of forts and trading posts built between Quebec and St. Louis. The first census in 1744 recorded a population of approximately 40 Frenchmen and 1,000 Miamians. Increasing tension between France and Great Britain developed over control of the territory. In 1760, France ceded the area to Britain after its forces in North America surrendered during the Seven Years' War, known on the North American front as the French and Indian War. Managing to hold down the fort for only a mere couple of years, the British lost control of it in 1763 when various Native American nations rebelled against British rule and retook the fort as part of Pontiac's Rebellion. From this point forward in 1763, no active fort existed at Kekionga for the next three decades until American General Anthony Wayne established Fort Wayne in 1794, following the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The fort throughout this period was described as a, "Defiant mixture of Indian warriors and lawless renegades of the frontier, such as the Girties. It was also the home of a heterogeneous population of English and French traders and their families, French…

Geography

Fort Wayne is in the East North Central region of the Midwestern United States, in northeastern Indiana, west of Ohio and south of Michigan. According to the 2010 census, Fort Wayne has a total area of , of which (or 99.81%) is land and (or 0.19%) is water. For a regional summit, the city is situated on flat land characterized by little topographical relief, a result of the Wisconsin glaciation episode. Receding glaciers eroded the land, depositing an evenly distributed layer of sediment during the last glacial period. The most distinguishable topographical feature is Cedar Creek Canyon, just north of the city proper near Huntertown. and above the national average of 27.1 percent. The canopy is decreasing, notably from development and the emerald ash borer infestation. Historically, Fort Wayne has been divided into four unofficial quadrants: northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. Calhoun Street divides the southwest and southeast, while the St. Joseph River divides the northwest and northeast quadrants. The Maumee River separates the northeast and southeast, while portions of the St. Marys River and Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad separate the northwest and southwest quadrants. Fort Wayne's early 20th century development was influenced by the City Beautiful movement and centered on a park and boulevard plan conceived by urban planner Charles Mulford Robinson in 1909 and finalized by landscape architect George Kessler in 1912. The master plan proposed a network of parkways and boulevards connecting the city's three rivers and Spy Run Creek to dozens of neighborhoods and parks. Several parks were designed by noted landscape architect Arthur Asahel Shurcliff. Much of the original plan was implemented by 1955. In 2010, the Fort Wayne Park and…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  7,299
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,183
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,196
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,997
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,872
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,490
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5,381
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4,973

Largest nearby schools

• Carroll High School
  High · Fort Wayne · 2,554 students · 19.5:1 ratio
• Homestead High School
  High · Fort Wayne · 2,470 students · 20.2:1 ratio
• Northrop High School
  High · Fort Wayne · 2,136 students · 20.7:1 ratio
• R Nelson Snider High School
  High · Fort Wayne · 1,899 students · 21.3:1 ratio
• New Haven Jr/Sr High School
  High · New Haven · 1,494 students · 18:1 ratio
• North Side High School
  High · Fort Wayne · 1,474 students · 17.1:1 ratio
• South Side High School
  High · Fort Wayne · 1,423 students · 18.5:1 ratio
• Wayne High School
  High · Fort Wayne · 1,419 students · 17.7:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2024-12-29
  1 km SSE of Hicksville, Ohio
• M 2.6 — 2015-06-12
  6 km NW of Convoy, Ohio
• M 3 — 2012-01-26
  5 km NE of Topeka, Indiana
• M 3.8 — 2010-12-30
  6 km SE of Greentown, Indiana
• M 2.5 — 2006-08-15
  3 km NE of Fort Shawnee, Ohio
• M 2.8 — 2006-05-12
  2 km E of Lima, Ohio