French fur traders came to northwest Indiana in the 1600s and used a natural opening through the forest as a gateway to the prairies beyond, calling it La Porte, meaning “the door,” from which the county took its name. La Porte County, organized in 1832, became Indiana’s second largest county in geographic area at 608 square miles. Native Americans who lived in and traveled through the area created the Sauk Trail, which fur traders and early settlers later used and which became part of the Lincoln Highway in places. Along that route, La Porte County developed a landscape of travel, commerce, and community life that included roadside restaurants, hotels, interurban and railroad connections, early automobile production, churches, courthouses, ball teams, and towns such as La Porte, Rolling Prairie, Westville, Wanatah, and Hanna tied to the history of the Lincoln Highway.