1840-1856

Ballot Box

The Indiana General Assembly passed an act establishing Allen County in December 1823, and formally recognized the new county the following April. Governance requires the active participation of local citizens and several put their names up for the first election of county officers on 22 May 1824. Samuel Hanna and Benjamin Cushman were elected as associate judges, Anthony Davis as county clerk, and William Rockhill, James Wyman and Frances Comparet became the first county commissioners. At the first meeting of the commission on 26 May, Allen Hamilton's appointment as sheriff was affirmed, Charles W. Ewing was appointed prosecuting attorney and Joseph Holman country treasurer.

On 7 September 1829, the majority of local citizens voted to establish the city of Fort Wayne. Eleven years later, skyrocketing population led to the incorporation of the city, approved by the Indiana Legislature in February 1840. A month later the city charter was approved by the citizenry in a vote of 116 to 53. George W. Wood was elected Fort Wayne's first mayor in March of 1840, alongside a city council of six members.

Ballot Boxes came into use in the 1800s in an attempt to provide fair elections. Secret ballots were printed at government expense and contained the names of all candidates. They were distributed only at polling places where they were marked in secret.

This ballot box was used from 1840 to 1856. It held ballots cast during the elections of the first nine mayors of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Though the paper ballots are seldom used today, secret balloting is still used ensure fair elections in our democratic society.