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Kokomo, Indiana

Kokomo is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States. Its population was 59,604 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Kokomo metropolitan area, which includes all of Howard County, and it is the largest city and regional center for the North Central Indiana region consisting of ~225,000 people across six counties anchored by the city of Kokomo. The city is located approximately 60 mi north of Indianapolis and 85 mi south of South Bend, Indiana.

Named for the Miami Ma-Ko-Ko-Mo who was called "Chief Kokomo", Kokomo first benefited from the legal business associated with being the county seat. Before the Civil War, it was connected with Indianapolis and then the Eastern cities by railroad, which resulted in sustained growth. Substantial growth came after the discovery of large natural gas reserves, which produced an economic boom in the mid-1880s. Among the businesses which the boom attracted was the fledgling automobile industry. A significant number of technical and engineering innovations were developed in Kokomo, particularly in automobile production, and, as a result, Kokomo became known as the "City of Firsts." A substantial portion of Kokomo's employment still depends on the automobile industry.

Early history and incorporation
The city of Kokomo was named after the Miami man Ma-Ko-Ko-Mo, said to have been one of the four sons of Chief Richardville, last of the chiefs of the Miami people. Tradition holds that David Foster, the "Father of Kokomo," named the town Kokomo after the "ornriest Indian on earth" because Kokomo was "the ornriest town on earth." Kokomo is thought to have been born in 1775 and died in 1838. The only documentary proof of his existence is a trading post record of a purchase of a barrel of flour for $12 for his "squaw." His remains (with those of others) were reportedly discovered during the construction of a saw mill in 1848 and re-interred in the "north-east corner" of the Pioneer Cemetery. The tradition of the Peru Miami is that the town was named after a Thorntown Miami named Ko-kah-mah, whose name is rendered Co-come-wah in the Treaty at the Forks of the Wabash in 1834. That name was translated as "the diver" (an animal that could swim under water).

As a result of various removals, by 1840 the Miami population in Howard County (until 1846 known as Richardville County) was reduced to about 200. The principal settlement was the Village of Kokomo, on the south side of Wildcat Creek. Indian paths connected Kokomo with Frankfort and Thorntown (along the Wildcat) and led to Peru by way of Cassville, and to Meshingomesia by way of Greentown. At the time David Foster had a trading post in Howard County, near the intersection of the reservation boundary line and Wildcat pike, where he engaged in both legitimate trade and illegal sale of alcohol to the Miamis on government property.

Shortly after Richardville County was organized in 1844 the commissioners appointed to establish the county seat approached Foster for a donation from his substantial holdings. (In 1846 tax records show that he owned 552 acre of farmland and as well as 67 divided lots in the business district. ) At the time of the request the only improvements in what is now Kokomo were Foster's log house and log barn and several Miami huts. The commissioners sought a donation of the more fertile lands south of Wildcat Creek, but Foster refused, donating instead 40 acre north of the creek—land which was thickly forested and "swampy." The terms of the donation required that Foster build a courthouse on the land, but he was later excused and Rufus L. Blowers was promised $28 to build it. He was penalized $2 for construction delays. The log courthouse was completed in 1845.

In June 1855, Henry A. Brouse petitioned the board of Howard county commissioners to incorporate the town of Kokomo. The original election was not held (for unspecified reasons), but another took place on October 1, 1855. After a vote of 62–3 in favor of incorporation, the board so ordered it.

On March 31, 1865, an election was held for Kokomo to assume a city government. The resolution was passed, and Nelson Purdum was elected the first mayor.

Early growth
In anticipation of business that the court would bring, Kokomo began a fairly quick growth from the time that lots were first sold on October 18, 1844. David Foster was granted the first license to sell merchandise in Kokomo at the December 1844 commissioners meeting. Two more merchants were licensed in March 1845. John Bohan, who would become a major shop owner, merchant, justice of the peace and investor, moved to Kokomo in December 1844, and erected the first two-story frame house, not only in Kokomo, but in all the county.

After the enactment of the 1846 pre-emption law, settlers rapidly attempted to secure homesteads in the surrounding lands.

In 1848 Stonebreaker's Mill, 10 mi west of Kokomo, began operations. By 1850 Kokomo had a newspaper, when James Beard purchased the printing equipment of the New London Pioneer and set up the Howard Tribune. By 1851 county business was so brisk that the county ordered the construction of two more court buildings, both one story brick affairs, 18 by. The county auditor and treasurer occupied one building, and the clerk and recorder occupied the other.

On April 1, 1854, Kokomo's first bank, the Indian Reserve Bank, was organized with David Foster, John Bohan and Harless Ashly the principal shareholders. (It only lasted a few years until a robbery impaired its capital. The loss substantially injured Foster's fortune.)

Railroads
1854 saw the first railroad stop at Kokomo. The New London Pioneer had long advocated for a rail line to connect Kokomo with Indianapolis. Colonel C.D. Murray was the agent at Kokomo for stock subscriptions in support of the railroad. In 1852 the construction of the Peru and Indianapolis Railroad commenced. In Kokomo Samuel C. Mills and Dr. Corydon Richmond, commercial competitors of David Foster, donated several lots to the railroad in order to secure the location of the rail depot near their commercial property. The route was laid along Buckeye Street at the insistence of the merchants who hoped to reduced drayage expenses. Samuel Mills built a large frame structure at the Howard flouring mills, which served as a warehouse for the company's freight and a passenger depot. For some time after 1854 Kokomo was the terminus of the line, but eventually the line was extended to Peru and then to Michigan City.

A short time after the construction of the Peru and Indianapolis Railroad began, the Pennsylvania Railroad announced that one of its lines would pass through Kokomo. By 1853 a line was commenced between Kokomo and Logansport (which was intended to become the hub of a network of lines for the company). Railroad service was inaugurated on that line on July 4, 1855.

The most important rail line for Kokomo became the standard-gauge Clover Leaf line. This railroad would eventually link Kokomo with both the West Coast and the Eastern Seaboard. It began as a short line linking Frankfort and Kokomo, the Frankfort and Kokomo Railroad. Henry Y. Morrison of Frankfort was the principal promoter, and A.Y. Comstock acted for him in Kokomo. A failure of the proposed subsidy caused the promoters to turn all assets over to the contractors, who promised to complete the line. Construction began in 1873 and was completed the following year. Limited freight between the two cities made the line unprofitable. After a series of acquisitions by other railroads, the line became part of the Toledo, St. Louis and Kansas City Railroad. A line connecting it to the east reached Kokomo on January 1, 1881.

Mayor Cole
In 1881, one of the most remarkable and controversial events in Kokomo's history took place. Mayor Henry C. Cole was shot to death by a sheriff's posse. Dr. Cole had a curious history and had stirred up a great deal of passion in the previous fifteen years. He was reputed to have been a gifted surgeon, who served in the Union Army during the Civil War and when afterwards he settled in Kokomo, he became a prominent physician. In Kokomo he married a woman, Natalie Cole, of whom he became intensely jealous. He became suspicious of one Allen, whom he warned away from Kokomo. When he discovered Allen leaving the post office one day in October 1866, he shot him dead. The fact that the killing both took place in broad daylight and showed cold-blooded rage (Cole continued shooting after Allen was down) caused the crime to receive national attention. Cole's case was venued to Tipton County, where he retained Daniel W. Voorhees of Terre Haute to represent him. Voorhees obtained a not guilty verdict on a plea of emotional insanity. Cole divorced his wife thereafter.

Cole's reputation for violent instability, and the cowardice in the way he killed Allen, created many enemies for him, but his generosity toward poor patients and a promise to "clean up" the town won him enough support to win a bitter election for Mayor in 1881. Shortly thereafter, on September 19, 1881, he was shot dead by a sheriff's posse at Old Spring Mills at West Jefferson Street. According to the coroner's inquest, he died from shotgun wounds inflicted by Deputy George Bennett (father of New York stage idol Richard Bennett). The sheriff claimed that an informant had advised him that Cole was planning to rob a flour mill, possibly to incriminate his enemies. The posse was forced to fire on Cole in self-defense (the sheriff claimed he had two revolvers) and to prevent his escape, although his injuries seemed inconsistent with that version. Cole's supporter's argued that no revolvers or burglary tools were produced and that the motive was implausible. Nevertheless, no action was taken against Bennett or the other members of the posse.

Natural gas boom
Natural gas had been developed in Pennsylvania and Canada for some time, and had most recently been developed around Findlay, Ohio. In March 1886, a group of citizens, led principally by A.Y. Comstock (who had promoted the Frankfort and Kokomo Railroad) and D.C. Spraker (later President of Kokomo Rubber Company), circulated a memorandum seeking subscribers (at $100 each) for the purpose of boring for gas at a distance of at least 2000 ft below ground. It took until September to obtain the necessary 22 subscribers. The first rig was built south of Wildcat Creek. and on October 6, 1886, natural gas erupted forth and the well was capped.

Together with the well in Eaton, which began producing slightly before Kokomo's, the discovery led to the Indiana Gas Boom. This discovery was directly responsible for Elwood Haynes' move to Kokomo, as a superintendent with a gas company with interests in Kokomo and Howard County. The Diamond Plate Glass Company (now part of PPG Industries) began in Kokomo in 1887, lured by the cheap and plentiful natural gas. The Kokomo Opalescent Glass Works started making stained glass in Kokomo in 1888 and has been in continuous operation ever since.

"City of Firsts"

As a result of the natural gas boom, Kokomo attracted an increasing number of industries, which resulted in significant technological innovations. For these industrial and technical achievements, Kokomo is officially known as the "City of Firsts." Among other achievements, Kokomo was a pioneer of the United States automobile manufacturing, with Elwood Haynes test-driving his early internal combustion engine auto there on July 4, 1894. Haynes and his associates built a number of other autos over the next few years; the Haynes-Apperson Automobile Company for mass-production of commercial autos was established in Kokomo in 1898. Haynes went on to invent Stainless Steel flatware in 1912 to give his wife tarnish-free dinnerware. In 1938, the Delco Radio Division of General Motors (now Aptiv) developed the first push button car radio.

Kokomo serves as the "City of Firsts" in the food industry as well. In 1928 Walter Kemp, Kemp Brothers Canning Co. developed the first canned tomato juice because of a request by a physician in search for baby food for his clinic. Kokomo is also home to the first mechanical corn picker which was developed by John Powell in the early 1920s. Kokomo was home to the first Ponderosa Steakhouse, which opened in 1965. Kokomo opened the first McDonald's with a diner inside, locally called "McDiner." This McDonald's theme failed nationally. Eventually, the "McDiner" closed and was converted back to a regular McDonald's restaurant.

The following inventions are associated with Kokomo:
 * 1894 – Elwood Haynes makes the first successful trial run of his "horseless carriage" on Pumpkinvine Pike, which is now Boulevard east of Indiana 931 (formerly U.S.31.)
 * 1894 – The first pneumatic rubber tire in the US was created by D.C. Spraker at the Kokomo Rubber Tire Company.
 * 1895 – The first aluminum casting was developed by William "Billy" Johnson from the Ford and Donnelly Foundry.
 * 1902 – Kingston carburetor developed by George Kingston.
 * 1906 – The first Stellite cobalt-base alloy was discovered by Elwood Haynes.
 * 1912 – Stainless steel tableware was invented by Elwood Haynes as a response to his wife's desire for tableware that wouldn't tarnish.
 * 1918 – The Howitzer shell, used in World War I, was created by the Superior Machine Tool Company.
 * 1918 – The first aerial bomb with fins was produced by the Liberty Pressed Metal Company.
 * 1920 – The mechanical corn picker was created by John Powell.
 * 1923 – William Swern Sr. developed the first tire-building machine for mass production of auto tires
 * 1928 – The first canned tomato juice was created by Walter Kemp from Kemp Brothers Canning Company in response to a physician's need for baby food.
 * 1938 – The first push-button car radio was created at Delco Radio Division of General Motors Corporation.
 * 1941 – Globe American Stove Company manufactured the first all-metal life boats and rafts, known as Kokomo Kids in the US Navy.
 * 1947 – The first signal-seeking car radio was created by the Delco Radio Division of General Motors.
 * 1956 – Delco Radio Division of General Motors produced a transistorized signal-seeking car (hybrid) radio, which used both vacuum tubes and transistors in its radio's circuitry. This transistorized car radio was available as an option on the 1956 Chevrolet Corvette car models.
 * 1957 – Delco Radio Division of General Motors produced an all-transistor car radio, as standard equipment for the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham car model.

1913 Flood
On March 21–26, 1913 Kokomo suffered severe flooding when 6.59 in of rainfall occurred. The Kokomo Tribune reported at the time that the Wildcat Creek over-topped its levee to reach nearly 1 mi wide after rising at a rate of 3 in per hour. Damage was widespread, including loss of electrical power due to the power plant being flooded. On March 26, flooding was declared over after the water level dropped 42 in in a 24-hour period.

Continental Steel Corporation
From 1914 through 1986, the Continental Steel Corporation facility produced nails, wire and wire fence from scrap steel on a 183 acre facility in Kokomo. Manufacturing operations in the steel plant and on other portions of the property included the use, handling, storage and disposal of hazardous materials. Steel-making operations had included reheating, casting rolling, drawing, pickling, galvanizing, tinning and tempering.

After the company filed for bankruptcy in 1986, EPA and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management investigated the plant and property and found soil, sediments, surface water and ground water contaminated with volatile organic compounds (PCBs) and several metals, including lead, arsenic, cadmium, and chromium. Lead contamination was also detected in soils on nearby residential properties.

The site was proposed to the National Priorities List as a Superfund site in 1988 and formally added in 1989.

In April 2009, EPA received almost $6 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to complete needed cleanup at two problems at the Continental Steel Superfund site: the former Slag Processing Area and the site's contaminated ground water. The ARRA funding helped accelerate the cleanup of hazardous waste on the site. In the process, total of 15 Indiana contractors or subcontractors were involved in the ARRA-funded work, creating at least 45 temporary jobs.

In August 2010, using the ARRA funds, EPA completed the cleanup of the former slag processing area of the Superfund Site. Approximately 86000 short ton of slag were moved to the site's acid lagoon area for use as fill on that portion of the site. 2 ft of clean soil were used to cap the former slag processing area, leaving it suitable for potential redevelopment. ARRA funds were also used to address contaminated groundwater at the site. This work included extensive groundwater sampling to determine the contaminated plume area and installation of groundwater extraction and monitoring wells. Three wind turbines will be used to generate much of the power needed to operate the groundwater extraction system.

Site cleanup was completed in August 2011.

In 2016 the former site was approved as the location of a Solar farm with installation of panels beginning in August 2016. The estimated cost of the project is $10M. The solar energy park began operating on December 29, 2016.

Ku Klux Klan
In the summer of 1923, record numbers attended rallies of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana. On June 16, 1923, a crowd of 75,000 attended a Klan rally in Terre Haute. On June 21 Argos held the largest rally it had ever seen. On June 26 a large Klan rally was held in Alexandria. All of this was merely a prelude to the rally planned for Kokomo. Conceived as a "monster tristate conclave," it was intended to charter 93 Indiana klans representing more than 300,000 members. Some doubted the prospect of 200,000 attendees, claiming it would be "without parallel in history"; others predicted attendance of 300,000. Extensive preparations for that number were made, including the scheduling of 1,000 interurban cars from around Indiana to Kokomo. The Union Traction Company, in addition to supplying 50 cars, transported three cars of white horses to Kokomo for the parade. The Kokomo Klan rented the fields surrounding its own large lot for parking, and electric amplifiers were obtained to allow the large crowd to hear the speeches.

According to historian Robert Coughlan, "literally half" of Kokomo residents were members of the Ku Klux Klan during its height in the 1920s and 1930s. On July 4, 1923, Kokomo achieved national notoriety when it hosted the largest Ku Klux Klan gathering in history. An estimated 200,000 Klan members and supporters gathered in Malfalfa Park for a massive Konklave in which D. C. Stephenson was elevated to the position of Grand Dragon of the Indiana Klan. Other estimates say the crowd was only 10,000. A huge flag was used that day to collect a reported $50,000 for construction of a local "Klan hospital" so that Klan members would not have to be treated at the only local hospital, which was Catholic. Both men's and women's Klans held weekly rallies and initiations in Malfalfa Park, and Kokomo's Klanswomen held meetings at the armory, the local headquarters of the Women of the Ku Klux Klan, and churches. A speech at a Baptist church was attended by 1,000 Klanswomen.

The Kokomo rally sent shockwaves through the national GOP, which had come to believe that the re-election of President Warren G. Harding depended on the vote of Indiana. According to the Washington correspondent of the New York World, Republicans feared that the Klan had "obliterated party lines" and "virtually swallowed" the Indiana Republican Party. Since the Republicans held only a 25,000 vote plurality in the state, any serious defection of African-Americans would tip the state to the Democrats. In the event, Harding died within a month and Republican Calvin Coolidge succeeded him with a substantial electoral majority (including Indiana) against a divided opposition. The Klan, however, continued to dominate state politics especially after the election of Edward L. Jackson as governor.

Ryan White

Kokomo served to symbolize the nation's early misunderstanding and ignorance of AIDS in the mid-to-late 1980s when Ryan White was expelled from school due to his illness. White was a teenage hemophiliac who had been infected with HIV through contaminated blood products (Factor 8). At the time blood products were often collected through state prison systems. Factor 8 was made from pooled plasma of thousands of donors. Later the plasma was screened for HIV and Hepatitis and heat treated to inactive HIV and Hepatitis. The teen had been attending Western Middle School (which is actually in Russiaville) but was ostracized by his classmates, and forced to eat lunch alone and use a separate restroom. Many parents and teachers in Kokomo rallied in support of banning White from attending the school. A lengthy administrative appeal process with the school system ensued, followed by death threats and violence against White and his family, including a bullet being fired through the window of their Kokomo home. Media coverage of the case made White into a national celebrity and spokesman for AIDS research and public education. In 1987, the White family left Kokomo for Cicero, Indiana. Ryan attended Hamilton Heights High School in nearby Arcadia, where he was welcomed by faculty and students.

Gas tower
The Kokomo Gas Tower had been a symbol of Kokomo since it was constructed in 1954. The tower was 378 ft tall and had a capacity of 12000000 cuft. Due to high maintenance costs of $75,000 a year, and up to $1,000,000 to paint it, the gas company decided to demolish it in 2003. Other ideas were reviewed before settling on this decision, including a plan to turn the tower into a giant Coca-Cola advertisement. On September 7, 2003, at approximately 7:30 a.m., the Gas Tower was demolished by Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI). Pieces of the tower were sold to the public for $20–$30, and proceeds went to a planned Kokomo technology incubation center and Bona Vista.

Geography
According to the 2010 census, Kokomo has a total area of 18.559 sqmi, of which 18.5 sqmi (or 99.68%) is land and 0.059 sqmi (or 0.32%) is water.

Climate
Kokomo has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa).

1965 tornado
On April 11, 1965, the southern part of Kokomo was struck by one of the 47 tornadoes that erupted over six Midwestern states, an event now known as the Palm Sunday outbreak. The F4 tornado that swept through Kokomo was 800 yd wide and killed 25 people in the surrounding area. Significant damage was done to the Chrysler transmission plant. Windows were broken and the framework cracked throughout, and sections of the west wall were leveled. The Maple Crest elementary and junior high schools suffered extensive damage. The roof collapsed on the junior high school, and the framework of both schools was substantially wrecked. The Maple Crest Shell Station at the intersection of Lincoln and Washington was torn from its foundation and scattered about. Mills Drug Store at the same intersection was demolished. A house on Holly Lane was uprooted, and one on James Drive was demolished. The Maple Crest Shopping Center was extensively damaged, with Woolworth's suffering the most damage. The front and back of the one-story structure were caved in and merchandise was strewn about. Numerous homes in the Maple Crest area were flattened, and the top floor of the Maple Crest apartments was blown off. The only thing left standing on the nearby Church of the Brethren was the steeple. The force of the wind on the flat earth near Kokomo was so great that Ted Fujita was able to make aerial photographs of the spiral scouring on the ground.

2016 tornado
On August 24, 2016, a strong EF3 tornado caused major damage in the southern part of Kokomo. 1,000 homes were damaged, 170 of which sustained major damage. 80 of these homes were destroyed, some sustaining loss of roofs and exterior walls. Many large trees and power poles were snapped along the path, and the Park Place Apartments were heavily damaged as well. Vehicles were also damaged, including a large truck that was moved 10 feet from the driveway of a house and flipped over. A Starbucks was completely destroyed, and several people were left trapped inside the still standing bathroom and had to be rescued. Many sheds and detached garages were destroyed as well, and a receipt from Kokomo was found 30 miles away in Marion. The storm followed a path very close to that of another tornado which hit on November 17, 2013. Scientists have noticed that nearly every tornado in Kokomo has struck the southern part of the city.

Other notable tornadoes
Kokomo has been struck by 18 tornadoes between 1950 and 2015, some of which were strong enough to claim lives.

On March 6, 1961, two F3 tornadoes struck the southern part of Kokomo, killing one person and injuring three others.

On April 11, 1965, an F4 tornado tore through portions of Russiaville, Alto, southern Kokomo, and Greentown killing 25 people and injuring hundreds more.

On April 20, 2004, two tornadoes struck the northern part of Kokomo. The first tornado was rated F0 and caused little damage to homes and trees. The second tornado was rated F1 and caused a roof to collapse at the skating rink, and damaged three other homes and a truck stop. Both tornadoes caused 1 injury but no fatalities. This was the first time a tornado struck the northern part of Kokomo.

On November 17, 2013, two EF2 tornadoes tore through the southern part of Kokomo. The first tornado damaged over 300 homes and businesses. The second tornado touched down briefly and caused damage to the golf course and other businesses. The two tornadoes caused no fatalities and only five injuries.

On August 24, 2016, an EF3 tornado caused significant damage to the southern part of Kokomo, damaging over 1,000 homes and businesses. 80 of these homes were destroyed, 176 had walls blown in and roofs torn off, and over 700 were damaged badly. No fatal injuries were recorded during this tornado.

Neighborhoods
These are neighborhoods in Kokomo according to the city transportation map: • Berkley Meadows

• Bon Air

• Cedar Crest

• Country Club Hills

• Cricket Hill

• Darrough Chapel

• Doral Park

• Downtown Kokomo

• Emerald Lake

• Fairlawn

• Forest Park

• Forest Park Estates

• Fredrick Farms

• Greentree

• Highland Springs

• Holiday Hills

• Holiday Park

• Indian Heights

• Ivy Hills

• Maple Crest

• Markland Heights

• Mayfield

• Old Silk Stocking

• Orleans Southwest

• Pittsburgh Plate Glass

• Stonybrook

• Sycamore Village

• Terrace Gardens

• Terrace Meadows

• The Preserves at Bridgewater

• Urbandale

• Vinton Woods

• Water's Edge

• Old Westbrook

• New Westbrook

• Western Woods

• Willowridge

• Webster Estates

• Wynterbrook

Kokomo metropolitan area
Kokomo is the principal city of the Kokomo metropolitan area and the largest city of the North Central Indiana region, which has approximately 225,000 people. The Kokomo MSA joins the larger Indianapolis metropolitan statistical area (MSA) along with the Muncie MSA, Columbus MSA, and six other micropolitan areas to form a vast Combined Statistical Area covering 20 counties. In 2022 the CSA's population estimate was 2,631,863, ranking it as the 27th largest in the U.S.

As of 2000 the median income for households in the city was $36,258, and the median income for a family was $45,353. Males had a median income of $38,420 versus $24,868 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,083. About 9.6% of families and 13.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.5% of those under age 18 and 9.3% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 45,468 people, 19,848 households, and 11,667 families residing in the city. The population density was 2457.7 PD/sqmi. There were 23,010 housing units at an average density of 1243.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 83.5% White, 10.7% African American, 0.4% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 1.1% from other races, and 3.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.3% of the population.

There were 19,848 households, of which 30.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.4% were married couples living together, 16.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41.2% were non-families. 35.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.90.

The median age in the city was 38.2 years. 24% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.2% were from 25 to 44; 26.2% were from 45 to 64; and 15.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.8% male and 53.2% female.

Economy
Kokomo's employment, largely based in manufacturing, was hard hit by the economic downturn which led to the recession beginning in December 2007. In December 2008, Kokomo was ranked third by Forbes in its list of America's fastest dying towns, mainly as a result of the financial difficulties of the automotive industry.

In May 2011, Forbes magazine listed Kokomo as one of the "Best Cities for Jobs" after the city ascended 177 places in the rankings. The same article described Kokomo's success in the past few years as "inspirational" and attributed the turnaround to "a revival in manufacturing." In June 2011, Conexus released a report touting Kokomo's "rapid bounce" after the recession, and predicted a rise in income of more than 2%, assuming increased automobile production.

By May 2013 Kokomo's unemployment rate was 9%, representing a 1.4% decrease in non-farm employment, it was higher than the national rate of 7.6%. The May 2013 statistics reported a 6.9% decline in manufacturing jobs over the previous 12 months. Government employment was 18.7% below the previous year.

Major employers are
 * Chrysler Division of Stellantis
 * Kokomo Transmission Plant (3,583 employees)
 * Kokomo Casting Plant (1,281 employees)
 * Indiana Transmission Plant I and II (2,439 employees)
 * Kokomo Engine Plant started production in 2022.
 * BorgWarner
 * GM Components Holdings LLC
 * Haynes International
 * Holder Mattress
 * Syndicate Sales, Inc.
 * Coca-Cola bottling plant
 * Bona Vista (charity)

Howard County Historical Society
The Howard County Historical Society occupies the Seiberling Mansion and the Elliot House, and their carriage houses. The Seiberling Mansion was built as the residence of Monroe Seiberling, one of Kokomo's richest citizens. Because of its architectural significance, the building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972. The Elliot House was also built as a residence; it was later adapted for use as office space. These buildings are in the Old Silk Stocking Neighborhood, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, the only neighborhood in the county to be so recognized.

Historic Buildings in Kokomo, Indiana
The following is a list of all the buildings in Kokomo, Indiana, that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places:
 * Elwood Haynes House
 * Kokomo City Building
 * Kokomo Country Club Golf Course
 * Kokomo Courthouse Square Historic District
 * Kokomo High School and Memorial Gymnasium
 * Lake Erie and Western Depot Historic District
 * Learner Building
 * Old Silk Stocking Historic District
 * Seiberling Mansion

Festivals

 * Haynes-Apperson Festival, Independence Day weekend
 * WeberFest, Foster Park
 * Kokomo Con, October, Kokomo Event Center.

Sports teams
Other current teams include the City of First Roller Girls (Founded 2010) who compete in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). Indiana University of Kokomo Cougars compete in 12 sports within the NAIA in the River States Conference (RSC).

Former teams

 * Indiana Mustangs, Mid Continental Football League (1991–2009), Mid States Football League (2010-2013)
 * Kokomo Dodgers, Midwest League (1955–1961)
 * Kokomo CFD Saints, semi-pro baseball (1989–2002)
 * Kokomo CFD Knights, semi-pro baseball (2006–2007)
 * Kokomo Mantis FC, soccer team (2016)

Sports venues

 * Highland Park Stadium (CFD Investments Stadium)
 * Kokomo Speedway
 * Memorial Gymnasium
 * Kokomo Municipal Stadium
 * Wildcat Creek Soccer Complex
 * Student Activities and Events Center

Parks and recreation

 * Chief Ma-Ko-Ko-Mo Burial and Monument, east of downtown Kokomo
 * Elwood Haynes Museum, located next to Highland Park
 * Foster Park
 * Kokomo Country Club, golf club

Trails and paths

 * Wildcat Creek Walk of Excellence – The Wildcat Walk of Excellence consists of over 3 mi of paved trail that roughly follows the Wildcat Creek. The trail connects several of Kokomo's parks including Foster, Future, Waterworks, Miller-Highland and Mehlig Parks with a pedestrian bridge connecting Foster Park and the Kokomo Beach Family Aquatic Center.
 * Industrial Heritage Trail – The Industrial Heritage Trail spans 5.7 mi from SR931 on the city's south side and connects with the Nickel Plate Trail on the city's north side.
 * Nickel Plate Trail – Currently connecting Rochester through Peru, to Kokomo and connecting with the Industrial Heritage Trail.
 * The Cloverleaf Trail – This trail was added in 2018. It starts downtown and travels southwest along what was once part of the Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad.

Government

Kokomo's current mayor is Republican Tyler Moore, elected in November 2019. The previous mayor was Democrat Greg Goodnight (2008–2019) The two previous mayors before Goodnight were Matt McKillip (2004–2008) and Jim Trobaugh, both Republicans. The mayor is elected in a citywide vote. The city council is known as the Common Council. It consists of nine members. Six members are elected from individual districts. The other three are elected at-large.

Colleges and universities

 * Howard College – 1863-1872
 * Indiana University Kokomo (IUK)
 * Indiana Wesleyan University – Kokomo Campus
 * Ivy Tech Community College
 * Purdue Polytechnic Institute Kokomo

Public school districts

 * Kokomo-Center Township Consolidated School Corporation (K-12, most neighborhoods inside city limits) Kokomo High School (NCC)
 * Northwestern School Corporation (K–12, northern part of the town) (HC)
 * Taylor Community School Corporation (K-12, Indian Heights neighborhood) (HHC)
 * Western School Corporation (K-12, Pine Valley/Jackson Morrow Park area) (HC)

Private schools

 * Acacia Academy (K-8)
 * Agape Garden Montessori School
 * Children's Christian Academy
 * Christian Heritage Academy
 * F.D. Reese Christian Academy (K-3)
 * Redeemer Lutheran School (K-8)
 * Sts. Joan of Arc and St. Patrick Catholic School (K-8)
 * Temple Christian School (K-12)
 * Victory Christian Academy (K-12)

Public library
The city has a lending library, the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library.

Newspapers

 * Kokomo Tribune, daily morning newspaper owned by Community Newspaper Holdings
 * Kokomo Perspective, a locally owned weekly newspaper delivered every Tuesday or Wednesday that ceased publication in late 2021
 * The Correspondent, student newspaper of Indiana University Kokomo and Purdue College of Technology at Kokomo
 * The Kokomo Post, an online media publication owned by the Larison Company LLC

Television

 * WTTK, CBS affiliate, channel 29 (satellite of Bloomington-licensed WTTV); transmits from Indianapolis's north side
 * KGOV, Kokomo government access channel, channel 2

Radio

 * WFIU-FM, Jazz, Classical, NPR – 106.1 FM
 * WFRN-FM, Christian Radio – 93.7 FM
 * WIOU-AM, Talk, News and Sports – 1350 AM
 * WIWC-FM, Christian Radio – 91.7 FM
 * WMYK-FM, Rock – 98.5 FM
 * WSHW-FM, Contemporary Christian – 99.7 FM
 * WTSX-FM, Hip-Hop, Gospel, Soul, Rock-n-Roll, EDM & Top 40 – 104.9 FM
 * WWKI-FM, Hit Country – 100.5 FM
 * WZWZ-FM, Bright Adult Contemporary – 92.5 FM

Airports

 * Kokomo Municipal Airport

Highways

 * US 31.svg US-31 to South Bend (North) and Indianapolis (South)
 * US 35.svg US-35 to Logansport (North) and Muncie (South)
 * Indiana 931.svg IN-931 (former US 31 through Kokomo)
 * Indiana 19.svg IN-19 to Kokomo Reservoir (North) and Tipton (South)
 * Indiana 22.svg IN-22 to Burlington (West) and Hartford City (East)
 * Indiana 26.svg IN-26 to Lafayette (West) and Hartford City (East)

A major roadway traversing through Kokomo, nicknamed "stop light city", US 31 had become one of the state's most congested roadways. In Howard County, there were 15 traffic signals on US 31. As part of the state of Indiana's Major Moves Project, US 31 was updated to bypass the city of Kokomo to the east. It has interchanges at SR 26, Boulevard, Markland Avenue, and Touby Pike, as well as where the current SR 931 meets the new US 31. There was a similar change near South Bend and there will be one near Indianapolis. The construction in Howard County cost roughly $340 million. Construction started on the County Road 200 South bridge on November 1, 2008. The new US 31 was opened November 27, 2013, at which time the existing roadway was renamed SR 931.

Railroads

 * Central Railroad of Indianapolis
 * Winamac Southern Railway (formerly part of the Columbus to Chicago Main Line)

The town for many years was a stop on the Pennsylvania Railroad's division running on a Chicago-Logansport-Richmond-Hamilton-Cincinnati itinerary. The last named train on the route was the overnight Buckeye, whose unnamed successor ended service in 1969. A day train counterpart on the route lingered on at least another year.

Bus service

 * Miller Transportation provides bus service to Indianapolis and South Bend.
 * Kokomo City-Line Trolley A fixed-route transportation system, five bus routes run past a total of exactly 275 stops, passing each stop once every hour, from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. The buses also have wireless internet for riders, which like the buses, is free to riders.

Groundwater contamination
In 1995 the Indiana American Water treatment facility found groundwater beneath the city contaminated with trace amounts of vinyl chloride. In 2007, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management found groundwater at four municipal wells containing vinyl chloride at levels exceeding the EPA maximum contaminant level in raw water.

In 2011, it found one of the monitoring wells, not owned or used by Indiana American Water, had amounts of vinyl chloride that were more than 2,500 times the maximum level for drinking water. IDEM has identified fourteen facilities that handle chlorinated solvents and could be sources to the contamination plume. Some of these potential sources are currently being managed under other authorities but there is no cleanup approach focusing on the ground water plume. Water from several well fields in Kokomo are blended and treated prior to distribution. A water treatment system has been successfully removing the vinyl chloride from the finished drinking water, but this is not a permanent solution to address the contaminated ground water plume.

The site was proposed to the National Priorities List and added to the Superfund in March 2015. No cleanup plan is yet in effect.

Health care

 * Ascension St. Vincent Kokomo, opened in 1913  part of Ascension (healthcare system).
 * Community Howard Regional Health, incorporated in 1958

Entertainment
Kokomo has a 12-screen movie theater, called AMC Showplace Kokomo 12, located on 1530 East Boulevard. In addition to AMC, Kokomo also has several forms of live entertainment, including choirs, a Park Band Association, and three live theatres.

Shopping
The city's major mall is Markland Mall, which features Target. The Kokomo Town Center, the former Kokomo Mall, underwent a major renovation in 2011 when it became an outdoor mall.

Notable people

 * Brandon Beachy, MLB pitcher Los Angeles Dodgers, Northwestern High School (Indiana) graduate
 * Alicia Berneche, operatic soprano
 * Rupert Boneham, Libertarian candidate for Indiana Governor in 2012
 * Norman Bridwell, author of the Clifford the Big Red Dog children's books
 * Quautico (Tico) Brown, former Continental Basketball Association player
 * Steve Butler, six-time Sprint Car National Champion
 * Kaitlyn Christopher, Miss Indiana USA 2005
 * Dave Darland, auto racer
 * Rowdy Elliott, baseball player
 * Shawn Fain, president of United Auto Workers
 * Elwood Haynes, inventor, automotive pioneer
 * Bud Hillis, U.S. Representative
 * Margaret Hillis, pianist, founder of Chicago Symphony Chorus
 * Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author
 * Don Johnson, professional bowler, PBA Hall of Fame member
 * Opha May Johnson, USMC first female Marine
 * Nellie Keeler, child circus performer
 * Steve Kroft, 60 Minutes correspondent
 * Jim "Goose" Ligon, former ABA basketball player
 * Strother Martin, actor
 * Clay Myers, photographer, animal welfare advocate
 * Kent C. Nelson, past CEO of United Parcel Service
 * John O'Banion, singer
 * Ray Porter, actor, portrayed Darkseid in Zack Snyder’s Justice League
 * Jack Purvis, jazz musician
 * Jane Randolph, actress, grew up in Kokomo
 * Jimmy Rayl, "Splendid Splinter," Indiana Pacers 1967–1969, Indiana University
 * Robert S. Richardson, astronomer
 * Tod Sloan, jockey
 * Tavis Smiley, PBS presenter
 * "Sylvia" (Sylvia Jane Kirby), country music singer
 * Joe Thatcher, pitcher for MLB Chicago Cubs
 * Pat Underwood, former MLB pitcher, Detroit Tigers
 * Tom Underwood, former MLB pitcher
 * William N. Vaile, Congressman
 * Gertrude Vaile (1878–1954), social worker
 * Ryan White, AIDS activist
 * Anna Mae Winburn, African American vocalist and jazz bandleader

In popular culture

 * The Man from Home (1908), a play by Booth Tarkington and Harry Leon Wilson, involves a lawyer from Kokomo who travels to Europe but returns to the city in the end.
 * A Romance of Kokomo was a silent film made in 1917, which was also filmed in Kokomo, and made its opening premiere at the Isis Theater on South Main Street.
 * The Kid from Kokomo (1939; also sometimes called Broadway Cavalier) is a comedy film about an orphan from Kokomo who refuses to box until his mother is found. The film was based on a story by Dalton Trumbo.
 * In the 1947 film Mother Wore Tights, Betty Grable and Dan Dailey sing a song entitled "Kokomo, Indiana".
 * Kokomo is the setting of Allan Dwan's nostalgic 1953 musical Sweethearts on Parade.
 * "First Snow in Kokomo" is a track on Aretha Franklin's album Young, Gifted and Black. Franklin's domestic partner Ken Cunningham was born and raised in Kokomo and they still have family there.
 * In the 1980 film Blues Brothers, the roadhouse "Bob's Country Bunker" is identified by Elwood Blues as being located in Kokomo.
 * In craps, rolling a four is sometimes referred to as "Little Joe from Kokomo", after "little" Joe Fohn, a famous bowler in the 1920s who apparently had a four step delivery.
 * The city is the title of a song from Japanese Breakfast's 2021 album, Jubilee.

title: Kokomo, Indiana


text:
Russiaville, Indiana

Russiaville is a town in Honey Creek Township, Howard County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,094 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Kokomo Metropolitan Statistical Area. Russiaville was incorporated sometime between the 1860 and 1870 US Census.

Etymology
The town was named for Jean Baptiste de Richardville (whose father's surname was Richerville), a Miami chief of French-Miami descent who had relations with the United States government in treaty making in the early nineteenth century. Through the French pronunciation of "Ri-shar-ville," the name was gradually corrupted and changed to the current spelling; it has been pronounced "Roo-sha-ville" through much of its history.

The apparent association with Russia led to the town high school's naming its athletic teams the “Cossacks” until 1949], when county consolidation changed Russiaville High School to Western High School. Some theorize an alternate history, that during the Cold War, residents consciously changed the pronunciation of Russiaville's name in order to disassociate their town from Russia, the leading state of the Soviet Union, however, the pronunciation, Roo-sha-ville precedes the Cold War by many, many years. A map from the 1840s to the 1850s in the Quaker Collection of Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, clearly shows a county named Richardville, and a town Richardville, at the site of present-day Russiaville. Some local history has suggested "Rouchardville" as the earlier spelling, but Richardville is correct.

History
Russiaville was laid out in 1845.

Russiaville became a Quaker settlement in the years before the Civil War. They created a stop on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves in the antebellum years in nearby New London, then the site of the Friends Meeting serving the entire area. A local legend tells that the stop included a tunnel under New London from a safe house to a cave in the hollow of Honey Creek, near the location of the Friends Meetinghouse.

Russiaville is the birthplace of Jonathan Dixon Maxwell (September 3, 1864), builder of the Maxwell automobile. He is buried there.

Almost all of the town was destroyed on April 11, 1965, by an F4 tornado, which was part of the Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak. With rebuilding, the town had a population of 1,094 at the 2010 census.

In 1985, Ryan White was an American teenager going to the Western School District's Middle School, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States after being denied re-admittance to school following an AIDS diagnosis. The school district faced pressure from many parents and faculty to ban student Ryan White from the campus after his diagnosis of HIV became widely known. The case, and local families' treatment of the White family, became a focal point in the public debate around funding for HIV treatment and public perception, eventually leading to the Ryan White CARE Act. The act provides funding to improve availability of care for low-income, uninsured and under-insured victims of AIDS and their families.

Geography
According to the 2010 census, Russiaville has a total area of 0.81 sqmi, all land.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 1,094 people, 434 households, and 307 families residing in the town. The population density was 1350.6 PD/sqmi. There were 486 housing units at an average density of 600.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 98.6% White, 0.2% African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 0.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.3% of the population.

There were 434 households, of which 39.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.1% were married couples living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 29.3% were non-families. 27.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.06.

The median age in the town was 37.1 years. 27.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.8% were from 25 to 44; 25.1% were from 45 to 64; and 12.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 49.1% male and 50.9% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,092 people, 425 households, and 317 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,361.4 PD/sqmi. There were 446 housing units at an average density of 556.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 99.08% White, 0.09% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.27% from other races, and 0.37% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.28% of the population.

There were 425 households, out of which 39.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.0% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.2% were non-families. 24.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.3% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 31.6% from 25 to 44, 19.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $40,875, and the median income for a family was $46,094. Males had a median income of $38,833 versus $25,875 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,804. About 4.4% of families and 5.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.6% of those under age 18 and 4.4% of those age 65 or over.

Highway

 * [[Image:Indiana 26.svg|25px]] IN-26 to Lafayette (West) and Hartford City (East)

School districts
Western High School competes in the Mid-Indiana Conference (MIC) for athletics.
 * Western School Corporation (K-12)

Public library
Russiaville has a public library, a branch of the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library.

Movies filmed in Russiaville

 * The Ryan White Story (1988), starring Judith Light and Lukas Haas

Government
Town Council Members include: Jeff Lipinski, President Don Parvin, Vice President Pat Reel, Council Member Greg Landrum, Council Member Myrna Claar, Council Member Karen Smith

Corbin King, Town Attorney Megan Reel, Town Clerk/Treasurer

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Russiaville, Indiana


text:
Andrews, Indiana

Andrews is a town in Dallas Township, Huntington County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,048 at the 2020 census.

History
Andrews was originally called Antioch, and under the latter name was platted in 1853. It was renamed Andrews in the 1880s, in honor of a railroad official, at the time when the railroad was built through the community.

Geography
According to the 2010 census, Andrews has a total area of 0.66 sqmi, of which 0.65 sqmi (or 98.48%) is land and 0.01 sqmi (or 1.52%) is water.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 1,149 people, 435 households, and 302 families living in the town. The population density was 1767.7 PD/sqmi. There were 512 housing units at an average density of 787.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 96.3% White, 0.3% African American, 1.0% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.9% of the population.

There were 435 households, of which 38.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.3% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 30.6% were non-families. 24.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.10.

The median age in the town was 36.4 years. 27.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.7% were from 25 to 44; 26.2% were from 45 to 64; and 12.3% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 51.1% male and 48.9% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,290 people, 470 households, and 351 families living in the town. The population density was 2,602.2 PD/sqmi. There were 534 housing units at an average density of 1,077.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 97.05% White, 0.08% African American, 1.09% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 0.08% from other races, and 1.55% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.17% of the population.

There were 470 households, out of which 37.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.7% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.3% were non-families. 20.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.16.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 31.0% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $35,125, and the median income for a family was $36,150. Males had a median income of $30,580 versus $19,891 for females. The per capita income for the town was $15,198. About 6.2% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.0% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over.

Education
The town has a lending library, the Andrews-Dallas Township Public Library.

title: Andrews, Indiana


text:
Huntington, Indiana

Huntington, known as the "Lime City", is the largest city in and the county seat of Huntington County, Indiana, United States. It is in Huntington and Union townships. It is also part of Fort Wayne, Indiana's metropolitan area. The population was 17,022 at the 2020 United States census, down from 17,391 in the 2010 United States census.

Name
Huntington was named by Captain Elias Murray, a member of the legislature. The name Huntington is derived from Samuel Huntington, a judge, politician, and patriot in the American Revolution. Samuel Huntington is also known for being the third governor of Connecticut and the seventh president of the Continental Congress. Being a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Huntington took part in voting for and signing the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.

Early settlement
The county of Huntington was formally organized on December 2, 1834. The city of Huntington was first established by a group of pioneers, most notably Captain Elias Murray. By 1849, Huntington contained 150 houses and a population of 700.

Historical literature
A small number of books have been published about the history of Huntington County, the first being History of Huntington County, Indiana originally published by Brant & Fuller. Two other books about Huntington include History of Huntington County, IN by Frank Sumner Bash in 1914 (describing its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests) and Huntington County, IN: Histories and Families by Turner Publishing Company in 1993 as a result of the Huntington County Historical Society officers and board of directors meeting in summer 1992 to discuss the family history of Huntington, the glue that has held together the city and county of Huntington in the heartland of the Midwest for more than 175 years.

Wabash and Erie Canal
The Wabash and Erie Canal was constructed through Huntington County in 1834 and added a major economic benefit to the area. In addition to the Wabash River cutting through Huntington (see Forks of the Wabash), this newly opened trade route accelerated the population and economic growth in Huntington.

Geography
Huntington is located on the Wabash River. According to the 2010 census, Huntington has a total area of 8.844 sqmi, of which 8.71 sqmi (or 98.48%) is land and 0.134 sqmi (or 1.52%) is water.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 17,391 people, 6,566 households, and 4,197 families living in the city. The population density was 1996.7 PD/sqmi. There were 7,487 housing units at an average density of 859.6 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 96.4% White, 0.6% African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.6% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.4% of the population.

There were 6,566 households, of which 34.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples living together, 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.1% were non-families. Of all households 30.4% were made up of individuals, and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.06.

The median age in the city was 33.4 years. 24.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 13.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.5% were from 25 to 44; 22.5% were from 45 to 64; and 13.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.7% male and 52.3% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 17,450 people, 6,717 households, and 4,419 families living in the city. The population density was 2,091.0 PD/sqmi. There were 7,262 housing units at an average density of 870.2 /sqmi. The main religion is Roman Catholic, with around 42% of the city attending masses. The racial makeup of the city was 97.83% White, 0.21% African American, 0.45% Native American, 0.45% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.30% from other races, and 0.73% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.12% of the population.

There were 6,717 households, out of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.9% were married couples living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.2% were non-families. Of all households 29.0% were made up of individuals, and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.2% under the age of 18, 12.9% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, and 13.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $45,600, and the median income for a family was $56,454. Males had a median income of $35,830 versus $26,921 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,242. About 5.2% of families and 7.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.

Schools
The Huntington County Community School Corporation serves the city of Huntington and all of Huntington County. The corporation's lone high school, Huntington North High School, is located in Huntington. The two corporation middle schools, Crestview Middle School, Riverview Middle School, and three of the five elementary schools lie just outside the city limits. The elementary schools include Flint Springs, Horace Mann, Lincoln, Roanoke, and Salamonie. Private schools include Huntington Catholic School operated by the Roman Catholic Church.

The town has a lending library, the Huntington City-Township Public Library.

Economy
Catholic publisher Our Sunday Visitor is based in Huntington.

Local radio stations

 * WJCI FM 102.9
 * WBZQ AM 1300 La Jefa Radio (Spanish)
 * WVSH FM 91.9 The Edge, high school station (Huntington North High School)
 * WQHU FM 105.5 FUSE FM, Huntington University

Transportation
Huntington Municipal Airport, a small airport for general aviation, lies southeast of the city.

Several highways serve the city:

Sports

 * Gary Dilley, swimmer, Olympic silver medalist
 * Dusty Fahrnow, Indy Car driver
 * Josh Hart, NHRA race car driver
 * Lauren Johnson, professional runner
 * Harry Mehre, football player
 * E. J. Tackett, professional bowler
 * Addison Wiley, American middle-distance runner

Politics

 * U. S. Lesh, 24th Indiana Attorney General
 * Lambdin P. Milligan, Civil War-era insurrectionist
 * Dan Quayle, former vice president of the United States, U.S. senator, U.S. representative
 * J. Edward Roush, U.S. representative, father of "911 Emergency System"
 * James R. Slack, state senator and Civil War general
 * Andy Zay, member of the Indiana Senate

Other

 * Dan Butler, Actor
 * Elizebeth (Smith) Friedman (1892–1980), author and pioneer in cryptology
 * Jennifer Lancaster, author
 * Mick Mars, guitarist of Mötley Crüe
 * John F. Noll, archbishop and newspaper founder
 * Brian Peck, sex offender, former actor, dialogue coach, director and producer
 * Carrie M. Shoaff (1849–1939), artist, author, potter, playwright, correspondent
 * Richard Leroy Walters, homeless philanthropist

Points of interest

 * Church of the United Brethren in Christ National Headquarters
 * David Alonzo and Elizabeth Purviance House
 * Drover Town Historic District
 * Forks of the Wabash
 * Hawley Heights Historic District
 * Hotel LaFontaine
 * Huntington County Historical Museum
 * Huntington Courthouse Square Historic District
 * Huntington University Arboretum and Botanical Garden
 * Huntington University
 * J. Edward Roush Lake
 * Merillat Centre for the Arts
 * Moore/Carlew Building
 * North Jefferson Street Historic District
 * Old Plat Historic District
 * Our Sunday Visitor
 * Quayle Vice Presidential Learning Center
 * Samuel Purviance House
 * St. Peter's First Community Church
 * Sheets Wildlife Museum and Learning Center
 * Sunken Gardens
 * Taylor-Zent House
 * The Indiana Room Genealogy Center
 * Victory Noll-St. Felix Friary Historic District
 * William Street School

title: Huntington, Indiana


text:
Markle, Indiana

Markle is a town in Huntington and Wells counties, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 1,071 at the 2020 census. It lies along Interstate 69, U.S. Route 224, State Road 116 and State Road 3.

History
Markle was laid out in 1836, but did not prosper until the railroad was extended to that point some time later.

The Markle post office has been in operation since 1852.

Geography
Markle is located at 40.82639°N, -85.33806°W (40.826477, -85.338076). The Wabash River flows through the south edge of the town.

According to the 2010 census, Markle has a total area of 1.27 sqmi, of which 1.22 sqmi (or 96.06%) is land and 0.05 sqmi (or 3.94%) is water.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 1,095 people, 433 households, and 282 families living in the town. The population density was 897.5 PD/sqmi. There were 470 housing units at an average density of 385.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 98.3% White, 0.8% African American, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 0.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.2% of the population.

There were 433 households, of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.7% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 34.9% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.94.

The median age in the town was 43 years. 23.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.3% were from 25 to 44; 27.7% were from 45 to 64; and 20.3% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 47.9% male and 52.1% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,102 people, 434 households, and 289 families living in the town. The population density was 1,116.3 PD/sqmi. There were 471 housing units at an average density of 477.1 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 99.27% White, 0.36% African American, and 0.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.64% of the population.

There were 434 households, out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.7% were married couples living together, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.4% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.3% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 18.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $37,039, and the median income for a family was $48,654. Males had a median income of $35,163 versus $20,813 for females. The per capita income for the town was $18,504. About 3.6% of families and 6.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.4% of those under age 18 and 3.1% of those age 65 or over.

Education
Markle residents may obtain a free library card from the Huntington City-Township Public Library in Downtown Huntington.

title: Markle, Indiana


text:
Mount Etna, Indiana

Mount Etna is a town in Huntington County, Indiana, United States. The population was 94 at the 2010 census. It lies at the intersection of four townships: Jefferson, Lancaster, Polk and Wayne.

History
Mount Etna was platted in 1839. It was an important trading point in the 19th century until the building of the railroad through neighboring rival towns diverted much of its business.

Geography
Mount Etna is located on State Route 124 about 20 mi west of Bluffton. According to the 2010 census, Mount Etna has a total area of 0.08 sqmi, all land.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 94 people, 42 households, and 27 families living in the town. The population density was 1175.0 PD/sqmi. There were 51 housing units at an average density of 637.5 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 96.8% White, 2.1% Pacific Islander, and 1.1% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.1% of the population.

There were 42 households, of which 26.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.8% were married couples living together, 2.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 7.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 35.7% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.70.

The median age in the town was 45.2 years. 17% of residents were under the age of 18; 4.3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.6% were from 25 to 44; 35.1% were from 45 to 64; and 16% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 53.2% male and 46.8% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 110 people, 42 households, and 34 families living in the town. The population density was 1,343.1 PD/sqmi. There were 46 housing units at an average density of 561.6 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 100.00% White.

There were 42 households, out of which 33.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.7% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.0% were non-families. 19.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.5% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 28.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $37,500, and the median income for a family was $42,500. Males had a median income of $29,167 versus $22,500 for females. The per capita income for the town was $13,421. There were 6.3% of families and 10.7% of the population living below the poverty line, including 25.0% of under eighteens and none of those over 64.

title: Mount Etna, Indiana


text:
Roanoke, Indiana

Roanoke is a town in Jackson Township, Huntington County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,762 at the 2020 census. Roanoke is governed by a town council. Town offices include the clerk treasurer, utilities department, police department, and volunteer fire department. The town has a public elementary school. WOWO and WRNP have transmitter towers in Roanoke, along U.S. Highway 24. For many years, television station WPTA was licensed to Roanoke, though that station's studios and transmitter have always been located in nearby Fort Wayne.

History
Once the hunting and fishing grounds of the Miami Indians, Roanoke became a prosperous commercial center in the mid-19th century. Kiilhsoohkwa (meaning "sun-woman"), the granddaughter of Chief Little Turtle, lived in Roanoke and was known by locals as “the last of the Miami tribe.”

Roanoke had its start in about 1848, soon after the building of the Wabash and Erie Canal through that territory. The completion of the canal through Jackson Township enticed European-American settlers to the area. In the wake of the canal's completion, the town became an important shipping point in the region and a source of supplies for neighboring towns in Allen, Huntington, and Whitley counties. One of the earliest settlers in the area was Jarred Darrow who arrived in 1837. Between 1840 and 1847 the area's population swelled and included a large number of persons belonging to the United Brethren Church, the Methodist Church, and the Lutheran Church. Roanoke was incorporated as a town in 1874. The town was named after Roanoke, Virginia.

Geography
According to the 2010 census, Roanoke has a total area of 1.206 sqmi, of which 1.2 sqmi (or 99.5%) is land and 0.006 sqmi (or 0.5%) is water.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 1,722 people, 680 households, and 487 families living in the town. The population density was 1435.0 PD/sqmi. There were 756 housing units at an average density of 630.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 97.1% White, 0.2% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.7% of the population.

There were 680 households, of which 35.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.2% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 28.4% were non-families. 23.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.01.

The median age in the town was 36.8 years. 26.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29.5% were from 25 to 44; 26.1% were from 45 to 64; and 11.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 48.6% male and 51.4% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,495 people, 589 households, and 411 families living in the town. The population density was 2,400.5 PD/sqmi. There were 630 housing units at an average density of 1,011.6 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 98.66% White, 0.27% African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.20% from other races, and 0.54% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.94% of the population.

There were 589 households, out of which 35.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.2% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.2% were non-families. 26.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.07.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.4% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 31.9% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 9.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $47,250, and the median income for a family was $54,306. Males had a median income of $39,375 versus $23,750 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,373. About 2.7% of families and 5.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.9% of those under age 18 and 4.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education
Roanoke is home to the Roanoke Elementary School, a primary school which covers kindergarten through fifth grade. It is part of the Huntington County School Corporation The town also has a lending library, the Roanoke Public Library.

Notable people

 * Gene Hartley, Indy Car Driver
 * Kiilhsoohkwa, Granddaughter of Myaamia Chief Mihšihkinaahkwa (var. Little Turtle)

title: Roanoke, Indiana


text:
Warren, Indiana

Warren is a town in Salamonie Township, Huntington County, Indiana. The population of Warren was 1,182 at the time of the 2020 census.

History
Warren, originally known as "Jonesboro," was platted in 1833 near the Indianapolis & Ft. Wayne Road. In 1837, founder Samuel Jones sold his first lot. The name was later changed due to there being another town of Jonesboro nearby, south of Marion. The town experienced growth in 1878 when a new railroad line was built through the neighborhood.

Geography
Warren is located along the Salamonie River. The town lies just southeast of Interstate 69 between exits 273 and 278.

According to the 2010 census, Warren has a total area of 1.145 sqmi, of which 1.14 sqmi (or 99.56%) is land and 0.005 sqmi (or 0.44%) is water.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 1,239 people, 515 households, and 341 families living in the town. The population density was 1086.8 PD/sqmi. There were 600 housing units at an average density of 526.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 98.8% White, 0.1% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.4% of the population.

There were 515 households, of which 29.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.2% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 33.8% were non-families. 29.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.96.

The median age in the town was 40.1 years. 24.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.6% were from 25 to 44; 25.5% were from 45 to 64; and 19% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 49.4% male and 50.6% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,272 people, 507 households, and 354 families living in the town. The population density was 1,395.1 PD/sqmi. There were 558 housing units at an average density of 612.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 98.82% White, 0.31% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.08% Asian, 0.39% from other races, and 0.24% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.79% of the population.

There were 507 households, out of which 36.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.6% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.0% were non-families. 25.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 28.4% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $38,550, and the median income for a family was $41,917. Males had a median income of $33,229 versus $21,821 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,145. About 2.0% of families and 3.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.3% of those under age 18 and 8.1% of those age 65 or over.

Education
The Huntington County Community School Corporation operates Salamonie School, a K-5 school which is the only remaining school in Warren. The former Salamonie Township High School was consolidated into Huntington County Community High School, now known as Huntington North High School, in 1966. Warren Elementary School operated in the old high school building for many years, its basketball team having adopted the old high school's nickname; "Lightning 5." However, the school was eventually closed and the nickname retired. The building served as the Knight Civic Center until the name was changed to its current name the "Knight Bergman Center".

The town has a lending library, the Warren Public Library.

Notable people

 * Phyllis Pond, American educator and politician was born in Warren.
 * John C. Rule, American educator and historian was born in Warren.

Transportation
Important highways in Warren:
 * [[Image:Indiana 5.svg|25px]] State Road 5
 * [[Image:Indiana 218.svg|25px]] State Road 218

Points of interest

 * Heritage Pointe
 * Pulse Opera House
 * Knight Civic Center
 * USS Salamonie Museum
 * Salamonie Valley Museum

title: Warren, Indiana


text:
Brownstown, Indiana

Brownstown is a town within Brownstown Township and the county seat of Jackson County, Indiana, United States. The population was 2,947 at the 2010 census. It was named for Jacob Brown, a general of the War of 1812.

History

The town of Brownstown was platted on April 8, 1816, notably prior to the statehood of Indiana itself. Brownstown became the county seat of Jackson County in November 1816, replacing Fort Vallonia, which had only been the county seat since June of that year. The land for the Jackson County Court House, which rests in the heart of Brownstown on the square, was donated by Col. John Ketcham (1782–1865) for this specific function.

The Jackson County Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

Geography
According to the 2010 census, Brownstown has a total area of 1.6 sqmi, of which 1.59 sqmi (or 99.38%) is land and 0.01 sqmi (or 0.63%) is water.

Brownstown lies on the East Fork of the White River, bordered by the Jackson-Washington State Forest and near the Hoosier National Forest.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 2,947 people, 1,175 households, and 792 families living in the town. The population density was 1853.5 PD/sqmi. There were 1,282 housing units at an average density of 806.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 98.3% White, 0.1% African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.3% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.0% of the population.

There were 1,175 households, of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.3% were married couples living together, 15.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 32.6% were non-families. 29.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.97.

The median age in the town was 38.7 years. 25.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.2% were from 25 to 44; 23.5% were from 45 to 64; and 18.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 48.2% male and 51.8% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,000 people, 1,168 households, and 805 families living in the town. The population density was 2,080.6 PD/sqmi. There were 1,242 housing units at an average density of 867.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 98.76% White, 0.10% African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 0.07% from other races, and 0.50% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.60% of the population.

There were 1,168 households, out of which 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.7% were married couples living together, 16.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.0% were non-families. 28.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.8% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 27.8% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $35,000, and the median income for a family was $39,044. Males had a median income of $27,984 versus $21,503 for females. The per capita income for the town was $15,525. About 8.9% of families and 11.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.0% of those under age 18 and 6.2% of those age 65 or over.

Education
The town has a lending library, the Brownstown Public Library, along with three main public schools: an elementary, middle, and high school. The town also has a private Lutheran elementary and middle school.

title: Brownstown, Indiana


text:
Crothersville, Indiana

Crothersville is a town in Vernon Township, Jackson County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,591 at the 2010 census. It was laid out in 1835 and named after Dr. Andrew S. Crothers, a railroad superintendent.

Geography
According to the 2010 census, Crothersville has a total area of 1.14 sqmi, all land.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 1,591 people, 625 households, and 438 families residing in the town. The population density was 1395.6 PD/sqmi. There were 722 housing units at an average density of 633.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 96.2% White, 0.2% African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 1.3% from other races, and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.1% of the population.

There were 625 households, of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.3% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 29.9% were non-families. 25.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.00.

The median age in the town was 37.9 years. 24.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27% were from 25 to 44; 25.3% were from 45 to 64; and 15.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 48.6% male and 51.4% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,570 people, 648 households, and 458 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,372.2 PD/sqmi. There were 720 housing units at an average density of 629.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 98.41% White, 0.19% Native American, 0.38% Asian, 0.38% from other races, and 0.64% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.53% of the population.

There were 648 households, out of which 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.2% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.86.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.5% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $32,768, and the median income for a family was $36,776. Males had a median income of $29,856 versus $21,486 for females. The per capita income for the town was $18,182. About 7.3% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.5% of those under age 18 and 7.3% of those age 65 or over.

Adult store controversy
Lion's Den, a store selling adult sexual products and pornography, opened in Crothersville near the Interstate 65 exit in 2005. From the day the store opened, Christian protestors photographed persons entering the store parking lot day and night from a surveillance structure on frontage property. According to a protest organizer, Pastor Jon Pearce of First Baptist Church of Crothersville, people in the community were motivated by rumors, never substantiated, that Lion's Den was "gonna have videos and stuff on bestiality and just all kinds of terrible things about chasing down young girls and raping them."

The protestors, who called themselves the Uniontown Watchdogs, also wrote down license plates and notified trucking companies that their drivers were allegedly patronizing the store. Photographs of alleged patrons were posted to a web site. Reportedly, "a parole officer from another county ran the plate numbers recorded by the Watchdogs." The protestors placed signs at the store's parking lot entrance which read, "Warning! All license plates are recorded!" and "Over 2 million will see you on war-line.net." They sometimes yelled comments at persons who entered the property and offered free Bibles.

The protests were not without controversy however. In addition to building a platform to look over a fence constructed by the business to maintain their practice of photographing people walking in and out of the store, several complaints were also issued over the shining of a floodlight in the faces of drivers passing by, in preparation to take a photograph if they entered the property, leading to several near misses with protesters and other autos.

On July 30, 2010, in response to a lawsuit filed by Jackson County, special Bartholomew Circuit Court judge Stephen R. Heimann, a Democrat, ruled that the store violated a county licensing ordinance and must be closed. He ruled that the county could constitutionally bar the business from operating at the location as part of its intent to protect the health, safety, and welfare of county residents, and that the ordinance was content neutral since it did not seek to ban adult businesses. Lion's Den violated the ordinance because it was operating within 1,000 feet of a residence. Jackson County commissioners adopted the ordinance three days before Lion's Den opened, after they discovered it was going to be an adult business. The store closed within days after the ruling while Lion's Den appealed the case. On June 7, 2011, the Court of Appeals of Indiana unanimously affirmed Judge Heimann's ruling. Lion's Den is an Ohio-based company with about 30 stores across the United States at the time of the Crothersville conflict.

In 2008, Melvin Ray Owen, a spokesman and organizer for the anti-pornography protesters was arrested for sexual battery on a girl of 16. Reverend Roger Smith, who testified on behalf of Owen, told the court, that Owen was "touchy-feely. He hugs everybody in church. It is out of character for him be anything but someone who wants to do good.” Owen claimed that he was the victim of an aggressive girl who had been propositioning him: “I touched her breast, I did. I also blowed on her hair and punched her ribs. It wasn’t an accident and I’ll tell you why. I touched her to try to get her off my lap and she wouldn’t get off it." After changing his plea to guilty, Owen was sentenced to 90 days in jail and 90 days home incarceration.

Drug bootlegging and a homicide
On February 10, 2005, Crothersville was featured in a New York Times article about the town's alleged "scourge of methamphetamine." The Times' narrative was that a town "where everyone seems somehow related," is "seemingly transformed" by the death of a 10-year-old, Katlyn Collman, who "police say...stumbled on (sic) someone with methamphetamine..." The story highlights a Crothersville stricken with fear after the death and the discovery of two facilities for making bootleg methamphetamine. Without explaining who they are or where they have gone, the article claims that "Shady characters no longer stalk the streets of the one-stoplight town, where ribbons of blue, Katie's favorite color, hang from utility poles and porches. Gone, too, are the bike-riding and dog-walking youngsters, now let outside to play only with their parents, or in groups." One father "said he checks what his 10-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter are wearing each morning, for fear of having to describe them to the police." The article claims that in "Jackson County, which includes Crothersville, meth-related arrests skyrocketed to 116 in 2004 from 29 in 2002." Pastor Jon Pearce, who helped to organize the protest against Lion's Den, is quoted regarding the purported illegal drug problem: "If we had a brothel move into town, people would close it down instantly. If we had an X-rated movie house come, it'd be gone within a week. But this has been here. It is a monster. We didn't know what kind of monster it was." The Times article includes no crime statistics for Crothersville that might affirm the implication that the town was dangerous.

On May 25, 2005, the Times reported that, "Tossing aside their original theory that a 10-year-old Indiana girl was murdered because she saw people making methamphetamine, prosecutors on Friday dropped charges against the man whose statements led them to that belief, charging instead another man connected by DNA and other physical evidence to the crime." The Times quoted a local merchant claiming to have "sold 2,000 T-shirts with Katie's photograph to people in four states, [who] said that even if the methamphetamine theory had no merit, the murder 'shined a light on the drug problem' in town." The Times reported, "Steven Drizin, legal director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, said the case had the hallmark of a false, coerced confession.." The Times did not refer to or retract its own inaccurate reporting in the February article. CBS did its part to promote hysteria with a report titled, "Girl's Murder Amplifies Drug War."

Anthony Ray Stockelman, pleaded guilty to abducting, molesting, and murdering the child and received a sentence of life in prison. He had no prior criminal record, and no cited connection to methamphetamine. A cousin of the victim, serving a burglary sentence in the same facility where Stockelman was held, was charged for tattooing "Katie's Revenge" on the forehead of her killer.

Education
Crothersville has a public library, a branch of the Jackson County Public Library.

title: Crothersville, Indiana


text:
Medora, Indiana

Medora is a town in Carr Township, Jackson County, Indiana, United States. The population was 693 at the 2010 census.

History
Medora was laid out in 1853 by West Lee Wright in the southeast corner of a square mile of land which he owned. Wright named the town Medora (pronounced Me Doe Rae) for the musical notes & dubbed it "The Town of Harmony", though it is commonly mispronounced in the most unharmonious way today. It consisted of 10 blocks and 209 lots.

Medora is the setting of John Mellencamp's "Hurts So Good" music video.

Geography
According to the 2010 census, Medora has a total area of 0.33 sqmi, all land.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 693 people, 279 households, and 188 families living in the town. The population density was 2100.0 PD/sqmi. There were 315 housing units at an average density of 954.5 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 97.3% White, 0.1% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.4% Pacific Islander, and 2.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.0% of the population.

There were 279 households, of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.9% were married couples living together, 15.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 32.6% were non-families. 26.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.03.

The median age in the town was 38.6 years. 26.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.1% were from 25 to 44; 24.6% were from 45 to 64; and 17% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 49.8% male and 50.2% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 565 people, 239 households, and 163 families living in the town. The population density was 1,773.5 PD/sqmi. There were 257 housing units at an average density of 806.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 99.65% White, and 0.35% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.88% of the population.

There were 239 households, out of which 29.7% had children who were under the age of 18 living with them, 45.6% were married couples living together, 18.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.4% were non-families. 27.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.85.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.5% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $27,813, and the median income for a family was $31,111. Males had a median income of $23,646 versus $20,288 for females. The per capita income for the town was $13,262. About 7.2% of families and 10.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.7% of those under age 18 and 13.2% of those age 65 or over.

Education
Medora has a public library, a branch of the Jackson County Public Library.

title: Medora, Indiana