In 1783, the Paris Peace Treaty officially ended the Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the newly recognized United States of America. In a major concession of that treaty, Great Britain awarded lands south of the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi River to the victorious United States. Residents of the fledgling nation were eager to occupy this newly acquired land. Their hard-earned independence had been recognized and now the young nation was ready to grow westward.

However, this land between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River, given by Great Britain and accepted by the United States, was not an uninhabited wilderness awaiting settlement. This land was already occupied by farmers, traders, trappers, and hunters. These people, predominantly Native Americans, had already settled in the area with their own families, communities, laws, traditions, religions, businesses and cultures.  They did not participate in the Paris Peace Treaty negotiations and did not invite the rising tide of foreigners that came flooding over the Allegany's. The Forks of the Wabash marks one spot where these divergent cultures met and interacted.

By 1829 the policy of the United States Government supported the removal of Native Americans from the land east of the Mississippi to locations in western territories. To achieve this removal, the United States Government negotiated treaties with representatives of the various tribes to purchase the land and transport the tribal members west.

The Forks of the Wabash was the site of important treaty negotiations between the Government of the United States and the Miami Indians.   Three treaties were signed here on October 23,1834, November 6,1838, and November 28,1840.