Jasper County Profile

Jasper County is strategically located in the northwest quadrant of the state adjacent to the Indiana portion of the Chicago metropolitan area to the north as well as halfway between Chicago and Indianapolis to the south.  Originally inhabited as long ago as 500 B.C., Jasper County was made up of woods, swamps, and vast prairie lands when the Potawatomi Indians migrated  here from  Michigan and Wisconsin in about 1725. 

Opened for settlement in 1832, the county has evolved from its rural begi nnings into a diverse community of 33,478 people.  Total population has grown 11.43 percent since 2000 and is projected to increase to 35,206 by 2020.  The City of Rensselaer (pop. 5859) is the county seat.  Other incorporated communities include the Town of DeMotte (pop. 3814), the Town of Remington (pop. 1185) and the Town of Wheatfield (pop. 853).

Today, Jasper County is the third largest county in Indiana at 560 square miles.  It consists of some of the most productive farmland in the United States primarily dedicated to the production of corn and soybeans.  Each of its communities has a unique character – from a feeling of exurbia in the DeMotte area, to a traditional farming community in Remington, to a county seat and commercial center environment in Rensselaer, to a neighborhood village in Wheatfield.

Jasper County was named to honor Sergeant William Jasper, a young Continental Army scout during the Revolutionary War - who on June 28, 1776, rescued the American Flag after it was shot down during the bombardment of Fort Moultrie in South Carolina.  While under attack, he nailed the flag to a broken staff and raised it thus signaling that the Fort had not been captured.  Sergeant Jasper later died during the Siege of Savannah in 1779.