KOKOMO, a city of Indiana, U.S.A., som. N. of Indianapolis, on Wildcat creek; the county seat of Howard county. It is on Federal highway 31; has an aviation field ; and is served by the Nickel Plate and the Pennsylvania railways and by inter-urban electric lines. The population was 30,067 in 1920 (93% native white) and was 32,843 in 1930 by the Federal census of that year. It is the trade centre of a fertile farming region, and is an impor tant industrial city, with over ioo factories producing some 200 different articles and an aggregate output in 1927 valued at $25, Plate glass, rubber goods, steel wire and other metal products are the outstanding manufactures. Abundant electric power is available from both hydro-electric and steam plants. There are over 2ooac. of public parks and playgrounds, and a boulevard is under construction along the banks of Wildcat creek. The assessed valuation of property in 1927 was $41,171,810.
The region around Kokomo was a hunting ground of the Miami Indians, and some of their descendants still live in the village of Miami, 9m. N. of the city. In 1842 David Foster, an Indian trader, bought several hundred acres for a few dollars from their chief, and built a cabin on the north bank of the Wildcat. In 1844 the little trading post (named after a Miami chief) was made the county seat, and in 1865 it became a city. The early years were a struggle with ague and swamp fever, as the 4oac. given by Foster for the town site were covered with water most of the year. In 186o the population was only 1,040, but it increased to 4,042 in 188o and 10,609 in 190o, and in the next 20 years it was almost multiplied by three. The first practical automobile was built here by Elwood Haynes in 1892. Here were made also the first pneumatic rubber tyres and the first aluminium castings.