The year 1954 will mark the 100th anniversary of Warsaw's incorporation as a town. Because a number of inquiries have come to us concerning the events of the year 1854, we did a little research in the Commissioner's records and several county histories to uncover some of the facts concerning Warsaw's beginning.

The leaders in the movement to incorporate Warsaw were Andrew J. Power and John Rogers.

The law required that a survey of the area and a census of the population be taken as a preliminary to incorporation. Powers and Rogers hired S. R. Gordon to make the survey and prepare a map of the village. This map was put on display in the county recorder's office from Feb. 6 to March 7, 1954. The total area included approximately 236 acres. On February 4 a census was taken which revealed a population of 752 people in the area. On March 8 the two men appeared before the county commissioners with a petition signed by the required one-third of the citizens of Warsaw, this petition asking for the incorporation of the town. The board, satisfied that the petitioners had taken care of all the necessary preliminaries, set March 25th as the date for all qualified voters in the town to vote on the proposed incorporation. Also the Board directed the county auditor to publish a notice in the Kosciusko "Republican" and to post notices in ten of the most public places in the town.

Miss Leah Power, Warsaw librarian and a daughter of A. J. Power, has in her possession a handwritten copy of a speech which her father made favoring the incorporation. the chances are that this speech was delivered just prior to the election on March 25. Power made reference in the speech to "the grove in which we are meeting," which would seem to indicate that the occasion of the speech was an outdoor rally designed to gain votes for incorporation.

The election was held at the court house in Warsaw. Only seventy-three votes were cast -- seventy for and three against incorporation. On June 7, 1854, the county commissioners declared Warsaw to be an incorporated town.

Warsaw Times-Union Sat. Dec. 19, 1953