Still, one suspects it is the excitement of particular locality’s history which accounts for Dr. Poinsatte’s work. It has already taken him to England and France in search of the records and documents which explain the early history of Fort Wayne. He intends to return to Europe next year to explore still another aspect of history suggested by Fort Wayne’s story, the lives of French military officers who fought in the American Revolution. After that, he might consider a history of Fort Wayne in the railroad era, from 1855 (where Dr. Poinsatte’s work on the canal era ended) to the Progressive Era. Whatever the course of Professor Poinsatte’s future studies, Fort Wayne’s citizens will look forward to reading the results. He has already enriched our understanding of ourselves beyond measure. September 4, 1975 Fort Wayne, Indiana Mark E. Neely, Jr. Preface Early Fort Wayne played an important and definite role in the history of the old Northwest. Its unique position as a portage site between the Wabash and Maumee rivers made the Wabash route one of the natural waterways from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi river and brought Indians and fur traders to this spot at an early date. It is most likely the oldest continuous site settled by white men in Indiana. During the French, British, and American occupation of the region, forts were built here as outposts of defense in the Indian country. Its strategic importance was recognized in all the plans for military campaigns in the area between the Great Lakes and the Ohio river for almost a century. Here was located at a later date an important government Indian agency, and to the town on certain days of the year flocked hundreds of Indian traders. Fort Wayne was also situated in the heart of the rich Maumee-Wabash fur producing region. While giving a comprehensive background of the French and British occupation of the site of Fort Wayne, I have stressed its importance in the early days of American settlement. The gradual decline of the fur trade, followed by the removal of the Indian agency in 1828 and the opening of the area to white settlement by the Indian treaties of that decade, all combined to usher in a new era in the history of Fort Wayne. By the 1830’s the people of Fort Wayne were feverishly making plans for the Wabash and Erie canal. This opened a new period in Fort Wayne’s history which has been studied in my previous work.[1] Since then the development of the city has been consistent and substantial.