History:

Township trustees have been an instrumental part of Indiana government since the 1852 Constitution. Trustees of the 1016 townships (currently 1008) were responsible in the late 1800's and early 1900's for operating the schools; maintaining roads and bridges and cutting noxious weeds; overseeing and assisting the poor; supervising elections and enumerating voters (males over age 21); collecting the dog tax and paying claims for livestock kills and rabies treatment; burying civil war veterans and maintaining abandoned cemeteries; maintaining and erecting partition fences between properties; serving as fire chief in unincorporated areas; maintaining libraries; and operating the Justice of the Peace courts.