Until the early 1800s, the original inhabitants of the Goshen area were the Potawatomi Indians. A little more than a decade after Indiana became a state in 1816, pioneers began settling the area known as the Elkhart Prairie. Around 1829 there were enough settlers to create a county, and on April 1, 1830, Elkhart County was officially established; Goshen was platted in 1831. In 1913, Goshen was named as part of the route of the Lincoln Highway, and its population was 10,000. Like many communities along the route, Goshen had a Control Station where travelers could check in, ask questions, or reset their odometers to match guidebooks published by the Lincoln Highway Association. Cities and towns along the route also had a Consul to provide local information on supplies, meals, lodging, and road conditions ahead; in Goshen around 1914, that role was filled by Charles E. Gorham, who actively promoted the highway from the beginning. Five ornamental Lincoln Highway signs were placed in Goshen in 1914 to guide auto tourists. The route through Goshen and on to Elkhart changed several times before U.S. 33 was constructed, and at one time a detour was required because the double-span iron truss bridge over the Elkhart River on Pike Street could not handle the weight and increased traffic and needed replacement. That detour followed North 1st Street to River Avenue to Indiana Avenue to Chicago Avenue. Better roads and greater freedom to travel helped tourism boom by the 1920s, increasing the demand for overnight lodging. Tourist camps appeared in communities along the road, bringing economic benefits and discouraging travelers from squatting on private property; in Goshen, Rogers Park at Pike and Chicago Avenue was used as a tourist camp, while downtown hotel rooms cost $2 and $3 per night, with meals for 75 cents. In 1916, Albert A. Rieth established Rieth-Riley Construction Company in Goshen, and George Riley joined him two years later. In 1919, Rieth-Riley bid $249,000 for a 6.35-mile concrete section of the Lincoln Highway in Elkhart County, the Indiana State Highway Commission's first federal-aid road-building contract.