Westwood, IN

Westwood is an unincorporated Henry County community in Henry Township near New Castle, founded in 1923. It does not have a separate city hall or a traditional downtown; the name is most useful as a local marker on the south side of New Castle. The place's main landmark is Westwood Park, which opened in 1974 after the Big Blue River Conservancy District built an earthen dam and lake. That origin gives Westwood a practical local identity: a neighborhood-sized place attached to a much larger county recreation project.

The park covers about 800 acres around a 180-acre lake, which was built for sediment storage, flood control, municipal or industrial water supply, and recreation. Fishing, camping, picnicking, hiking, mountain biking, horse trails, and a play field fill out the visitor map. The lake is also the reason the Westwood name shows up in Henry County directions, even though the CDP is not an incorporated municipality. In everyday terms, Westwood is the New Castle-area place where a 1923 community name meets a 1974 lake, a dam, and a big stretch of county parkland.