history industry and a 21st
Century Economy
Evansville is the largest city and the
commercial, medical, and cultural hub of Southwestern Indiana and
the Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky tri-state area. Located along the banks of
the Ohio River, it is often referred to as the Crescent Valley or River City.
Early History the
area has been inhabited by various indigenous cultures; archaeologists
have identified several archaic and ancient sites in and near Evansville, with
the most complex at Angel Mounds,
built and occupied from about 900 A.D. to about 1600 A.D., just before the
arrival of Europeans to North America. The European-American city was founded
in 1812. French hunters and trappers
were among the first Europeans to come to the area, using Vincennes as a base of
operations for fur trading. The land encompassing Evansville was formally
relinquished by the Delaware in
1805 to General William Henry Harrison,
then governor of the Indiana
Territory.
Evansville
became a thriving commercial town with a river trade, and the town began to
expand outside of its original footprint. The economy received a boost in the
early 1830s when Indiana unveiled plans to build the longest canal in the world,
a 400-mile ditch to connect the Great Lakes at Toledo, Ohio with
the inland rivers at Evansville. The project was intended to open Indiana to
commerce and improve transportation from New Orleans to New York City.
The main ethnic groups consisted of Protestant Scotch-Irish from the South, Catholic Irish coming
for canal or railroad work, New England businessmen, Germans fleeing Europe
after the 1848 revolutions, and freedmen from
Western Kentucky.
The era of greatest growth occurred in the second half of the 19th century as a major
stop for steamboats along the Ohio River, and the home port for companies
engaged in the river trade. Railroads eventually became more important and in
1887 the L&N Railroad constructed
a bridge across the Ohio River along with a major rail yard southwest of Evansville.
Automobile and Refrigeration Manufacturing
Became Important Early in the 20th Century
In 1916, seeing
the need for a dependable truck, the Graham brothers entered the truck chassis
business. In 1921, after the death of both Dodge brothers, Graham Brothers started
selling 1.5-ton pickups through Dodge dealers. These vehicles had Graham
chassis and some Dodge parts. Dodge Brothers bought a controlling interest in
Graham Brothers in 1925, picking up the rest in 1926.
The city saw exponential
growth in the early twentieth century with the production of lumber and the
manufacturing of furniture. By 1920, Evansville had more than two dozen
furniture companies. In the decades of the 1920s and 1930s, city leaders
attempted to improve Evansville's transportation position and successfully
lobbied to be on the Chicago-to-Miami Dixie Bee Highway - U.S. Highway 41.
During World War II, Evansville was a major center of industrial
production which helped revive the regional economy after the Great Depression. A huge, 45-acre
shipyard complex was constructed on the riverfront east of St. Joseph Avenue
for the production of oceangoing LSTs (Landing Ship-Tanks). After the war, Evansville's
manufacturing base of automobiles, household appliances, and farm equipment
benefited from growing post-war demand.
Tourism the
business district and riverfront feature riverboat gambling, restaurants, bars,
and shops that attract tens of thousands of visitors each year and the city's
downtown district retains its early twentieth-century architectural style.
Evansville Has Thirteen Neighborhoods that
Qualify as Historic Districts
A 21st Century Economy Evansville is the regional center for a large trade area in Indiana, Kentucky,
and Illinois. The largest industry sectors in size
in Evansville are healthcare, finance, education, and manufacturing. Other
major industries by employment are energy, warehousing, distribution, and
retail.
Evansville's strategic
location on the Ohio River,
strong rail and highway infrastructure, and its designation as a U.S. Customs Port of Entry,
make it an ideal location for the transfer of cargo.
Tourism and Entertainment the business district
and riverfront feature riverboat gambling, restaurants, bars, and shops that
attract tens of thousands of visitors each year and the city's downtown district retains
its early twentieth-century architectural style.
Bosse Field Baseball Stadium built in 1915
is the third-oldest Operating Ballpark in the United States
The Victory Theatre is a vintage 1,950-seat venue that is home to the Evansville
Philharmonic Orchestra. Each year, the orchestra presents a seven-concert
classics series and special event concerts, as well as numerous educational and
outreach performances. The theater also hosts local ballet and modern dance
companies, theater companies, and touring productions.
The Evansville Civic Theatre is Southern Indiana's longest-running community theater, dating from
the 1920s when the community theater movement swept across the country.
Museums
Angel Mounds State
Historic Site is nationally recognized as one of the best preserved
prehistoric Native American sites in the country. The Evansville
African American Museum was established to continually develop a resource and
cultural center to collect, preserve, and educate the public on the history and
traditions of African American families, organizations, and communities.
The Evansville Museum Transportation Center features transportation in southern
Indiana from the latter part of the nineteenth century through the
mid-twentieth century.
The Reitz Home Museum is
Evansville's only Victorian House Museum
Transportation the
city boasts road, rail, water, and air transportation systems. Public transit
includes the Metropolitan Evansville Transit System – METS - which
provides bus transportation to all sections of the city. Evansville has several
multi-use trails for bikes and pedestrians as well as on-road bike paths that
help cyclists get around the city by bicycle.
Public and Private Port facilities receive year-round service from five major barge lines
operating on the Ohio River. The river connects Evansville with all river
markets in the central United States and on the Great Lakes and with
international markets through the port of New Orleans.
Evansville has been a U.S. Customs Port of Entry for more than
125 years