Evansville is a city in, and the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
of,
Vanderburgh County
Vanderburgh County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 179,703. The county seat is in Evansville. While Vanderburgh County was the seventh-largest county in 2010 population with 179,703 people, it is also the ...
,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, United States.
The population was 118,414 at the
2020 census, making it the state's
third-most populous city after
Indianapolis and
Fort Wayne, the largest city in
Southern Indiana
Southern Indiana is a region consisting of the southern third of the state of Indiana.
The region's history and geography has led to a blend of Northern and Southern culture distinct from the remainder of Indiana. It is often considered to be par ...
, and the
249th-most populous city in the United States. It is the central city of the
Evansville metropolitan area
The Evansville metropolitan area is the 164th largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States. The primary city is Evansville, Indiana, the third largest city in Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana as well as the h ...
, a hub of commercial, medical, and cultural activity of
southwestern Indiana
Southwestern Indiana is an 11-county region of southern Indiana, United States located at the southernmost and westernmost part of the state. As of the 2010 census, the region's combined population is 474,251. Evansville, Indiana's third-largest c ...
and the
Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area
The Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area is a tri-state area where the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky intersect. The area is defined mainly by the television viewing area and consists of ten Illinois counties, eleven Ind ...
, that is home to over 911,000 people. The
38th parallel crosses the north side of the city and is marked on
Interstate 69.
Situated on an
oxbow __NOTOC__
An oxbow is a U-shaped metal pole (or larger wooden frame) that fits the underside and the sides of the neck of an ox or bullock. A bow pin holds it in place.
The term " oxbow" is widely used to refer to a U-shaped meander in a rive ...
in the
Ohio River, the city is often referred to as the "Crescent Valley" or "River City". Early French explorers named it ''La Belle Rivière'' ("The Beautiful River"). The area has been inhabited by various indigenous cultures for millennia, dating back at least 10,000 years.
Angel Mounds
Angel Mounds State Historic Site ( 12 VG 1), an expression of the Mississippian culture, is an archaeological site managed by the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites that includes more than of land about southeast of present-day Evansville ...
was a permanent settlement of the
Mississippian culture from 1000 AD to around 1400 AD. The European-American city was founded in 1812.
Evansville anchors a regional economic hub based primarily on trade, transportation, and utilities; professional and business services; education and health services; government; leisure and hospitality; and manufacturing.
Two
NYSE
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...
-listed companies (
Berry Global and
OneMain Financial
OneMain Holdings, Inc. is an American financial services holding company headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, with central offices throughout the United States. The company wholly owns OneMain Finance Corporation and its subsidiaries, through w ...
) are headquartered in Evansville, and three companies traded on
NASDAQ (
Escalade
{{Unreferenced, date=May 2007
Escalade is the act of scaling defensive walls or ramparts with the aid of ladders. Escalade was a prominent feature of sieges in ancient and medieval warfare, and though it is no longer common in modern warfare ...
,
Old National Bank
Old National Bank is an American regional bank with nearly 200 retail branches operated by Old National Bancorp and based in Chicago, Illinois and Evansville, Indiana. With assets at $23.0 billion and 162 banking centers, Old National Bancorp i ...
, and
Shoe Carnival
Shoe Carnival Inc. is an American retailer of family footwear. The company operates 377 stores throughout the midwest, south, and southeast regions. It was founded by David Russell in 1978 and is headquartered in Evansville, Indiana.
The company ...
) are also headquartered in Evansville.
Evansville is home to
Bally's Evansville, the state's first casino;
Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden
The Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden is a zoo that opened in 1928 in Evansville, Indiana, United States. It is located in Mesker Park on Evansville's northwest side and is run by the City of Evansville.
The Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden ...
, one of the state's oldest and largest zoos; and
sports tourism industry. The city has several notable educational institutions. The
University of Evansville
The University of Evansville (UE) is a private university in Evansville, Indiana. It was founded in 1854 as Moores Hill College. The university operates a satellite center, Harlaxton College, in Grantham, England.
UE offers more than 80 differ ...
is a private school on the city's east side, while the
University of Southern Indiana
The University of Southern Indiana (USI) is a public university just outside of Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1965, USI enrolls 9,750 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 130 areas of study. USI offers program ...
is a larger public institution just outside the city's westside limits. The
Indiana University School of Medicine
The Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) is a major multi-campus medical school in the state of Indiana. There are nine campuses throughout the state; the principal research and medical center is located on the Indiana University–Purd ...
also maintains a campus in Evansville. Other local educational institutions include the nationally ranked
Signature School, the
Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library
The Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library (EVPL) is a public library system serving Evansville and Vanderburgh County in Indiana, USA. The EVPL also supplements the services provided by the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation and has the a ...
, and the
Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation
The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC) is a public school corporation serving Evansville, Indiana and Vanderburgh County; its boundary includes the entire county. It is the third largest school district in the state of Indiana, beh ...
.
History
:''See main article:
History of Evansville, Indiana''.
There has been a continuous human presence in the area that became Evansville from at least 8,000 BC by
Paleo-Indians. Archaeologists have identified several archaic and ancient sites in and near Evansville, with the most complex at
Angel Mounds
Angel Mounds State Historic Site ( 12 VG 1), an expression of the Mississippian culture, is an archaeological site managed by the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites that includes more than of land about southeast of present-day Evansville ...
. This was built and occupied from about 900 A.D. to about 1600 A.D., just before the arrival of Europeans to North America.
Following the abandonment of Angel Mounds between the years 1400 and 1450, tribes of the historic
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
,
Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
,
Piankeshaw
The Piankeshaw, Piankashaw or Pianguichia were members of the Miami tribe who lived apart from the rest of the Miami nation, therefore they were known as Peeyankihšiaki ("splitting off" from the others, Sing.: ''Peeyankihšia'' - "Piankeshaw Per ...
,
Wyandot
Wyandot may refer to:
Native American ethnography
* Wyandot people, also known as the Huron
* Wyandot language
Wyandot (sometimes spelled Wandat) is the Iroquoian language traditionally spoken by the people known variously as Wyandot or Wya ...
,
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
and other
Native American peoples were known to be in the area. French hunters and trappers were among the first Europeans to come to the area, using
Vincennes
Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attache ...
as a base of operations for fur trading. As a testament to the Ohio River's grandeur, early French explorers named it ''La Belle Rivière'' ("The Beautiful River"). The land encompassing Evansville was formally relinquished by the
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
in 1805 to
General William Henry Harrison, then governor of the
Indiana Territory
The Indiana Territory, officially the Territory of Indiana, was created by a congressional act that President John Adams signed into law on May 7, 1800, to form an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, ...
.
The city of Evansville, Indiana was founded in 1812 and incorporated in 1817. It is situated on an
oxbow __NOTOC__
An oxbow is a U-shaped metal pole (or larger wooden frame) that fits the underside and the sides of the neck of an ox or bullock. A bow pin holds it in place.
The term " oxbow" is widely used to refer to a U-shaped meander in a rive ...
in the
Ohio River, and is often referred to as the "Crescent Valley" or "River City".
On March 27, 1812,
Hugh McGary Jr. Hugh McGary Jr. was the founder of Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city ...
purchased about 441 acres and named it "McGary's Landing". In 1814, to attract more people, McGary renamed his village "Evansville" in honor of
Colonel Robert Morgan Evans. Evansville incorporated in 1817 and was designated as the county seat on January 7, 1818. The county was named for Henry Vanderburgh, a deceased chief judge of the Indiana Territorial Supreme Court.
Evansville became a thriving commercial town with a river trade, and the town began to expand outside of its original footprint. Evansville's west side was for many years cut off from the city's main part by
Pigeon Creek and the factories that developed along it, making the creek an industrial corridor. The land comprising the former town of
Lamasco
Lamasco is a former town, and current district, in Evansville, Indiana originally bounded by the present day streets of St. Joseph Avenue on the west, First Avenue on the east, Maryland on the north and the Ohio River on the south to Fulton (mea ...
was platted in 1837 and was annexed in 1870.
Evansville's 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
Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...
with the inland rivers at Evansville. The project was intended to open Indiana to commerce and improve transportation from
to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. The project bankrupted the state and was so poorly engineered that it would not hold water. By the time the
Wabash and Erie Canal
The Wabash and Erie Canal was a shipping canal that linked the Great Lakes to the Ohio River via an artificial waterway. The canal provided traders with access from the Great Lakes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Over 460 miles long, it was th ...
was finished in 1853, Evansville's first railroad,
Evansville & Crawfordsville Railroad, was opened to Terre Haute.
The expansion of railroads in this territory had made the canal obsolete. Only two flat barges ever made the entire trip.
The canal basin at Fifth and Court street in downtown Evansville became the site of a new courthouse in 1891.
The era of Evansville's greatest growth occurred in the second half of the 19th century, following the disruptions of the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. The city was a major stop for steamboats along the Ohio River, and it was the home port for a number of companies engaged in trade via the river. Coal mining, manufacturing, and hardwood lumber was a major source of economic activity. By 1900, Evansville was one of the world's largest hardwood furniture centers, with 41 factories employing approximately 2,000 workers. Railroads eventually became more important and in 1887 the
L&N Railroad
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.
Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the ...
constructed a bridge across the Ohio River. Along with a major rail yard southwest of Evansville in Howell, which was annexed in 1916 and completed the city's counterclockwise march around the horseshoe bend.
Throughout this period, Evansville's 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
A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...
from western Kentucky. By the
1890 census, Evansville ranked as the 56th-largest urban area in America, but it was surpassed in population by other cities in the early 1900s. As the new century began, the city continued to develop to its eastern areas. Manufacturing also took off, particularly in the automobile and refrigeration industries.
![Graham Brothers Truck Plant, Evansville, Indiana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Graham_Brothers_Truck_Plant%2C_Evansville%2C_Indiana.jpg)
The Graham brothers, Ray, Robert, and Joseph, got their start with a successful glass factory in Evansville. After they sold it in 1907, the glass factory became Libbey-Owens-Ford. In 1916, seeing the need for a dependable truck, the Graham brothers entered the truck chassis business. Evansville was home to Graham Brothers Trucks from then until 1929. The dependability of Graham trucks was due in part to their use of Torbensen internal gear drive rear axles.
In 1921, after the death of both Dodge brothers, Graham Brothers started selling 1.5 ton pickups through Dodge dealers. (Dodge did not manufacture trucks at the time). 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). A bridge was built across the Ohio River in 1932 and in that same decade steps were taken to develop an airport.
But the
Ohio River flood of 1937
The Ohio River flood of 1937 took place in late January and February 1937. With damage stretching from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Illinois, 385 people died, one million people were left homeless and property losses reached $500 million ($10.2 billion ...
covered 500 city blocks in Evansville, resulting in a major crisis. With steamboats less necessary to the local economy, city and federal officials responded to the flood and its destruction by constructing more and higher levees: construction that penned and hid the Ohio River behind a barrier of earthen berms and concrete walls.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, 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). The Evansville Shipyard was the nation's largest inland producer of LSTs. The Plymouth factory was converted into a plant which turned out "bullets by the billions," and many other companies switched over to the manufacture of war material. In 1942, the city acquired a factory adjacent to the airport north of the city for the manufacture of the
P-47 Thunderbolt
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bom ...
fighter aircraft, known as the P-47Ds. Evansville produced a total of 6,242 P-47s, almost half of the P-47s made nationally during the war.
After the war, Evansville's manufacturing base of automobiles, household appliances, and farm equipment benefited from growing post-war demand. A growing housing demand also caused residential development to leap north and east of the city. However, between 1955 and 1963, a nationwide recession hit Evansville. Among other closures, Servel (which produced refrigerators) went out of business and Chrysler ended its local operations. The economy was saved from near total collapse by 28 businesses that moved into the area, including
Whirlpool
A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( ). ''Vo ...
,
Alcoa, and
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
.
During the final third of the 20th century, Evansville became the hub of the tri-state region's commercial, medical, and service industries. A 1990s economic spurt was fueled by the growth of the
University of Southern Indiana
The University of Southern Indiana (USI) is a public university just outside of Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1965, USI enrolls 9,750 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 130 areas of study. USI offers program ...
. The arrival of giant
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
and
AK Steel
AK Steel Holdings Corporation was a steelmaking company headquartered in West Chester Township, Butler County, Ohio. The company, whose name was derived from the initials of Armco, its predecessor company, and Kawasaki Steel Corporation, was a ...
manufacturing plants, as well as
Casino Aztar (now Bally's), Indiana's first gaming boat, also contributed to the growth of jobs. As the twenty-first century began, Evansville continued in a steady pace of economic diversification and stability.
Geography
![EvansvilleMSA-Census04](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/EvansvilleMSA-Census04.gif)
The
Evansville metropolitan area
The Evansville metropolitan area is the 164th largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States. The primary city is Evansville, Indiana, the third largest city in Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana as well as the h ...
, the
142nd largest in the United States, includes three
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
counties
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
(
Posey,
Vanderburgh, and
Warrick) and two
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
counties (
Henderson Henderson may refer to:
People
*Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname
*Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan
Places Argentina
*Henderson, Buenos Aires
Australia
*Henderson, Western Australia
Canada
* H ...
, and
Webster). The metropolitan area does not include
Owensboro, Kentucky, which is an adjacent metropolitan area about southeast of Evansville. This area is sometimes referred to as "
Kentuckiana
Kentuckiana, a portmanteau of Kentucky and Indiana, is the area in the Upland South region of the United States containing metropolitan areas with counties in both Kentucky and Indiana. Kentuckiana is primarily the Louisville metropolitan area, in ...
", although it is usually referred to as the “tri-state" by the local media. Evansville is at 37°58'38" north, 87°33'2" west (37.977166, −87.550566).
According to the 2010 census, Evansville has an area of , of which (or 98.94%) is land and (or 1.06%) is water.
Topography
The city's southern boundary lies on an oxbow in the Ohio River. Most of the city lies in a shallow valley surrounded by low rolling hills. The city's west side is built on these rolling hills and is home to
Burdette Park
Burdette Park is a recreational facility in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. It is the only municipal park in Vanderburgh County not operated by the City of Evansville. Burdette Park provides a recreational and educational environment consisting of ...
,
Mesker Amphitheatre
Mesker Amphitheatre was a historic 8,500-seat amphitheater, located in Evansville, Indiana, United States. It contained 5,500 chair back seats before they were removed and 3,000 lawn seats and is located at Mesker Park, near the Mesker Park Zoo.
...
, and
Mesker Park Zoo
The Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden is a zoo that opened in 1928 in Evansville, Indiana, United States. It is located in Mesker Park on Evansville's northwest side and is run by the City of Evansville.
The Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden ...
. The eastern portion developed in the valley and is protected by a series of levees that closely follow the path of
I-69
Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of 10 unconnected segments with an original continuous segment from Indianapolis, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, at ...
. Notable landmarks on the east side are the
Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve
Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve is a nature preserve located in Evansville, Indiana. It is a National Natural Landmark and a State Nature Preserve owned by the City of Evansville and operated by the non-profit Wesselman Nature Society.
The prese ...
and the Angel Mounds State Historic Site, just southeast of Evansville, between Evansville and
Newburgh.
Cityscape
''For more details on this topic, see
List of tallest buildings in Evansville
File:EvansvilleSkyline.jpg, 600px, The 2018 Evansville skyline as seen from Dreier Boulevard (Use cursor to identify buildings)
poly 586 493 615 493 619 476 681 470 681 447 712 443 714 346 594 342 420 Main
poly 936 350 1070 352 1070 474 1025 4 ...
''
Evansville's original
downtown plat was made on about 200 acres, with streets running parallel to the river from northwest to southeast. Other streets nearby were later laid out on the cardinal points, due north-south, and east-west. Thus, anyone entering or leaving downtown finds the street makes a confusing oblique-angle turn in one direction or another. In the 1970s, the city suffered from problems such as decreased economic activity and suburban flight, but city-sponsored revitalization has improved downtown conditions.
The business district and riverfront feature land-based casino gambling, restaurants, bars, and shops that attract tens of thousands of visitors each year. Although much of the outer city's architecture is typical suburban design,
the city's downtown district retains early twentieth-century architecture. A few blocks east of the main business district is the
Riverside district, featuring tree-lined brick streets full of turn of the twentieth-century homes. The
Reitz Home Museum
The Reitz Home Museum is a Victorian house museum located in the Riverside Historic District in downtown Evansville, Indiana. The museum offers year-round guided tours.
An authentic restoration offers visitors a step back in time with silk da ...
is one of the finest examples of French
second empire Second Empire may refer to:
* Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783
* Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396)
* Second French Empire (1852–1870)
** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...
architecture in the United States. Other homes nearby feature similar character and design and include
Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...
,
Colonial Revival
The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture.
The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...
, and
Renaissance Revival
Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...
styles.
Neighborhoods
Evansville has thirteen neighborhoods that have qualified as historic districts and are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
File:East_Branch_Library.jpg, Bayard Park
File:Rathbone Home, Culver.jpg, Culver
Culver may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
*Culver Down, Isle of Wight
United States
*Culver, Indiana, a town in northern Indiana
* Culver, Kansas, a city in north-central Kansas
* Culver, Kentucky, an unincorporated community
* Culver, Misso ...
File:Central_Union_Bank.jpg, Downtown
File:Alhambra Theatorium.jpg, Haynie's Corner
File:Willow Road in the Lincolnshire Historic District.jpg, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...
File:Riverside_Historic_District_in_Evansville.jpg, Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...
File:Parrett Street near Washington.jpg, Washington Avenue Washington Avenue may refer to:
United States
* Washington Avenue (Miami Beach) in Miami Beach, Florida
* Washington Avenue (Milford Mill, Maryland)
* Washington Avenue (Towson, Maryland)
* Washington Avenue (Minneapolis), a major street in Minne ...
File:Independence Historic District in Evansville.jpg, West Franklin Street
Climate
Evansville lies within the northern limits of the
humid subtropical climate (
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Cfa''), and straddles the border between
USDA plant hardiness zones
A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...
6b and 7a. Summers are hot and humid, winters are cold to cool. Average temperatures range from in January to in July.
Annual precipitation averages , including an average seasonal snowfall of .
Evansville winters can range from just of snowfall in 2011–12, up to in 1969–70. On average, there are 41 days annually with a maximum temperature of or above and 17 days with a maximum at or below freezing; the mean first and last freeze dates are October 26 and April 7, resulting in a frost-free period of 201 days.
Extreme temperatures range from on February 2, 1951 up to on July 28, 1930; the record cold maximum of was set on
January 20, 1985 and December 22, 1989, while, conversely, the record warm minimum of was last reached July 8, 1980.
Pollution
In August 2018, the mayor of Evansville sent a letter to the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORVWSO) opposing a proposal to eliminate pollution control standards for the Ohio River. Evansville is located downstream from the river's origin. Sources of pollution that affect water quality include
agricultural runoff
Agricultural pollution refers to biotic and abiotic byproducts of farming practices that result in contamination or degradation of the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and/or cause injury to humans and their economic interests. The pol ...
, raw sewage discharges from
combined sewer overflows, and toxic chemicals released by companies with
water pollution permits. The state of Indiana issues a fish consumption advisory for fish from the
Ohio River based on
PCB
PCB may refer to:
Science and technology
* Polychlorinated biphenyl, an organic chlorine compound, now recognized as an environmental toxin and classified as a persistent organic pollutant
* Printed circuit board, a board used in electronics
* ...
contamination. The recommended consumption limit for most fish, including
carp,
striped bass and
flathead catfish
The flathead catfish (''Pylodictis olivaris''), also called by several common names including mudcat or shovelhead cat, is a large species of North American freshwater catfish in the family Ictaluridae. It is the only species of the genus '' ...
is no more than 8 oz. per month, but for
channel catfish, the recommendation is only 8oz every two months.
Six very large
coal-fired power plant
A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide, there are about 8,500 coal-fired power stations totaling over 2,000 gigawatts capacity. They generate about a th ...
complexes operate within 30 miles of Evansville:
Indiana-Michigan Power
American Electric Power (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is a major investor-owned electric utility in the United States, delivering electricity to more than five million customers in 11 states.
AEP ranks among the nation's largest gen ...
's
Rockport Generating Station
Rockport Generating Station is a coal-fired power plant, located along the Ohio River in Ohio Township, Spencer County, Indiana, in the United States, near Rockport. The power plant is located along U.S. Route 231 (segment known as the Abraha ...
, near
Rockport, Indiana
Rockport is a city in Ohio Township and the county seat of Spencer County, Indiana, along the Ohio River. The population was 2,270 at the 2010 census. Once the largest community in Spencer County, the city has recently been surpassed by the t ...
,
AES Indiana
AES Indiana, formerly known as Indianapolis Power & Light Company (also known as IPL or IPALCO), is an American utility company providing electric service to the city of Indianapolis. It is a subsidiary and largest utility of AES Corporation, wh ...
's
Petersburg Generating Station
Petersburg Generating Station is a major coal-fired power plant in Indiana, rated at 2.146- GW nameplate capacity. It is located on the White River near Petersburg in Pike County, Indiana, just upstream from a much smaller coal-fired Frank E. R ...
near
Petersburg, and
Duke Energy's
Gibson Generating Station
The Gibson Generating Station is a coal-burning power plant located at the northernmost end of Montgomery Township, Gibson County, Indiana, United States. It is close to the Wabash River, southeast of Mount Carmel, Illinois, south of the m ...
near
Mount Carmel. Evansville-Based
Vectren
Vectren Corporation was a Fortune 1000 energy holding company headquartered in Evansville, Indiana. Through its utility subsidiaries (Vectren North, Vectren South, and Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio), the company distributed natural gas to appr ...
operates the other two; the
A. B. Brown Generating Station, located just west of Evansville, and
Warrick County Generating Station/
F. B. Culley Generating Station complex, east of
Newburgh, largely owned by
Alcoa. In addition, another coal fired power plant complex, The R.D. Green Station, operated by
Touchstone Energy
Touchstone Energy Cooperatives (also called simply Touchstone) is a cooperative federation composed of more than 750 local, consumer-owned utility cooperatives in 46 of the 50 United States of America. Touchstone Energy co-ops serve more than 30 m ...
's Big Rivers Electric, exists 20 miles south of Evansville, near
Sebree, Kentucky
Sebree () is a home rule-class city in Webster County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 1,603 at the 2010 census.
History
Sebree was founded as a railroad town in 1868, just ahead of the arrival of the Louisville and Nashvi ...
. The levels of
fine particles in the air in
Vanderburgh County
Vanderburgh County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 179,703. The county seat is in Evansville. While Vanderburgh County was the seventh-largest county in 2010 population with 179,703 people, it is also the ...
were almost as high as in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
A large portion of the downtown and north side areas were declared contaminated by lead and arsenic because of factory dumping dating back to the Civil War. Contractors have been working for more than 20 years to dig up the lawns of residents to make them safe for children to play. About 18 inches of contaminated dirt is dug up from each yard then dumped in a nearby landfill. The work has many more years to go.
Demographics
As of the 2010 census,
there were 117,429 people, 50,588 households, and 28,085 families residing in the city. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...
was . There were 57,799 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 82.0%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
, 12.6%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.3%
Native American, 1.0%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.1%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 1.3% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 2.8% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 2.6% of the population.
There were 50,588 households, of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.8% were
married couples living together, 15.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 44.5% were non-families. 36.5% 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 2.23 and the average family size was 2.91.
Median household income was $36,330 (2016), with the per capita income being $21,368 (2016). Poverty level was 21.7%.
The median age in the city was 36.5 years. 22.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 11.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26% were from 25 to 44; 25.8% were from 45 to 64, and 14.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.1% male and 51.9% female.
Economy
Evansville is the regional center for a large trade area in
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
, and
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
. The largest industry sectors in size in Evansville are healthcare, finance, education, and manufacturing. Other major industries by employment are energy, warehousing and distribution, and retail.
Corporate headquarters in Evansville include
Accuride
:'' Accuride International (California), an unrelated company, is a manufacturer of drawer slides.''
Accuride Corporation is a diversified manufacturer and supplier of commercial vehicle components in North America. Based in Livonia, Michigan, t ...
, Ameriqual Group, Anchor Industries,
Atlas Van Lines
Atlas World Group, Inc. is a privately owned company in the moving and storage industry headquartered in Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1948, Atlas holds the position as the 11th largest private company in the state. Atlas World Group is the p ...
,
Berry Global, Evana Tool & Engineering,
Karges Furniture
Karges Furniture is a family-owned furniture company originating in Evansville, Indiana. The company manufactures custom high-end furniture which is sold mostly to designers through wholesale showrooms. After the acquisition of Karges by another ...
, Koch Enterprises, Lewis Bakeries, Metronet,
Old National Bank
Old National Bank is an American regional bank with nearly 200 retail branches operated by Old National Bancorp and based in Chicago, Illinois and Evansville, Indiana. With assets at $23.0 billion and 162 banking centers, Old National Bancorp i ...
, Red Spot Paint & Varnish,
Shoe Carnival
Shoe Carnival Inc. is an American retailer of family footwear. The company operates 377 stores throughout the midwest, south, and southeast regions. It was founded by David Russell in 1978 and is headquartered in Evansville, Indiana.
The company ...
,
OneMain Financial
OneMain Holdings, Inc. is an American financial services holding company headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, with central offices throughout the United States. The company wholly owns OneMain Finance Corporation and its subsidiaries, through w ...
, and Traylor Brothers. Major manufacturing operations near the city include
Alcoa in
Newburgh,
AK Steel
AK Steel Holdings Corporation was a steelmaking company headquartered in West Chester Township, Butler County, Ohio. The company, whose name was derived from the initials of Armco, its predecessor company, and Kawasaki Steel Corporation, was a ...
in
Rockport,
SABIC
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation ( ar, الشركة السعودية للصناعات الأساسية), known as SABIC ( ar, سابك), is a Saudi chemical manufacturing company. 70% of SABIC's shares are owned by Saudi Aramco. It is active in ...
in
Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...
, and
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
in
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
. Other major employers with workforces of 500 or more in the area include
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...
,
Bristol-Myers Squibb
The Bristol Myers Squibb Company (BMS) is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in New York City, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consistently ranks on the ''Fortune'' 500 list of the lar ...
,
SRG Global
SRG Global Inc. is one of the largest manufacturers of chrome plated plastic parts for the automotive and commercial truck industries. Headquartered near Detroit in Troy, Michigan, the Tier 1 supplier has manufacturing operations across North A ...
,
Industrial Contractors,
Mead Johnson
Mead Johnson & Company, LLC is an American company that is a leading manufacturer of infant formula, both domestically and globally, with its flagship product Enfamil. It operates as an independent subsidiary of Reckitt.
The company dates back ...
,
Peabody Energy
Peabody Energy is a coal mining and energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its primary business consists of the mining, sale, and distribution of coal, which is purchased for use in electricity generation and steelmaking. Peabody ...
, PGW Pittsburgh Glass,
T.J. Maxx
TJ Maxx (stylized as T•J•maxx) is an American department store chain, selling at prices generally lower than other major similar stores. It has more than 1,000 stores in the United States, making it one of the largest clothing retailers in ...
, and
Bally's Evansville.
Evansville has emerged as the
tri-state's major center for the healthcare and medical sciences industries.
Deaconess Health System
Deaconess Health System is one of the largest health care networks in the Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area. It serves a total of 26 counties and consists of 9 hospitals within Southern Indiana and 2 hospitals in Kentucky.It has been ...
and St. Vincent Evansville (formerly
St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Center
Ascension St. Vincent Evansville (formerly St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Center) is the flagship hospital of a health system in the Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area located in Evansville, Indiana and is a level II trauma center. The ...
), including the
Deaconess Gateway and Women's Hospital
Deaconess Gateway Hospital, The Women's Hospital, and The Heart Hospital are all part of the Deaconess Gateway Campus of the Deaconess Health System Located on Gateway Blvd in Newburgh, near Interstate 164, this health care campus offers acute ...
just outside city limits, provide the anchors for a health care system that are among the region's largest employers.
Educational institutions such as
Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation
The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC) is a public school corporation serving Evansville, Indiana and Vanderburgh County; its boundary includes the entire county. It is the third largest school district in the state of Indiana, beh ...
,
Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana
Ivy Tech Community College (Ivy Tech) is a public community college system in the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the state's public community college system and it has more than 40 locations. It is also the state's largest public postsecondary in ...
,
University of Evansville
The University of Evansville (UE) is a private university in Evansville, Indiana. It was founded in 1854 as Moores Hill College. The university operates a satellite center, Harlaxton College, in Grantham, England.
UE offers more than 80 differ ...
and the
University of Southern Indiana
The University of Southern Indiana (USI) is a public university just outside of Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1965, USI enrolls 9,750 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 130 areas of study. USI offers program ...
also contribute thousands of jobs to the tri-state annually.
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, including internationally. Chemicals make up 64% of international exports from the metro area, followed by transportation equipment (18%) and food manufacturing (5%).
Evansville is also a regional energy hub because of regional energy-related facilities such as
BWX Technologies
BWX Technologies, Inc. (), headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia is a supplier of nuclear components and fuel to the U.S. On July 1, 2015, BWX Technologies Inc. began trading separately from its former subsidiary Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc ...
Nuclear Operations Group,
coal mines
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...
, Global Blade Technology, several large
ethanol
Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...
and
biofuel facilities, and a network of
gas
Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma).
A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...
and
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
pipelines.
The city of Evansville offers a tax structure for companies locating inside the Evansville urban enterprise zone. Established in 1984 as one of five enterprise zones in the state, the area offers inventory tax credits and other tax credits to eligible businesses.
Arts and culture
Entertainment venues
Historic Bosse Field, a 7,180-seat baseball stadium in Garvin Park, was built in 1915 and is the third-oldest ballpark still in regular use in the United States. It is surpassed only by
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Bas ...
(1912) in Boston and
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago ...
(1914) in Chicago.
The
Ford Center is a multi-use
indoor arena downtown with a maximum seating capacity of 11,000 connected via Sky Bridge to the
Evansville DoubleTree Hotel
DoubleTree by Hilton is an American hotel chain managed by Hilton Worldwide. DoubleTree has been the fastest growing Hilton brand by number of properties since 2007, and by number of rooms from 2007 to 2015. As of December 31, 2019, it has 587 p ...
. It officially opened in 2011 and is used mainly for
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
,
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
, and
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
concerts
A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variet ...
.
A wide variety of concerts, plays, conventions, expositions and other special events are held at the 2,500-seat auditorium and convention center at the
Old National Events Plaza
The Old National Events Plaza (formerly The Centre) is a convention center and auditorium in Evansville, Indiana, United States, that consists of a 2,500-seat auditorium, a exhibit hall, ballroom, and 12 flexible meeting rooms.
The facility ho ...
downtown.
Victory Theatre
The Victory Theatre is a 1,950 seat venue in Evansville, Indiana. It is home to the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and also hosts local ballet and modern dance companies, theatre companies, and touring productions.
Opened on June 16, 1921 a ...
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, four double pops performances, 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
University of Evansville
The University of Evansville (UE) is a private university in Evansville, Indiana. It was founded in 1854 as Moores Hill College. The university operates a satellite center, Harlaxton College, in Grantham, England.
UE offers more than 80 differ ...
maintains a theater program, which features four mainstage and two studio productions a year. UE has been honored more times at the
Kennedy Center
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
than any other theatre institution. The university is the only institution, along with
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
, which has been asked to perform at the Kennedy Center without first going through competition. It leads the nation in the top awards for its students as awarded by the Broadway Theatre Wing and other governing bodies of serious theatre.
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. From its humble beginnings at the old Central High School auditorium, the theatre has had many homes –
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Coliseum, Bosse High School, the Rose Room of the McCurdy Hotel, the Elks Ballroom, and the Evansville Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1974, Evansville Civic Theatre acquired the historic Columbia Movie Theater as its permanent home.
Annual festivals
The
West Side Nut Club Fall Festival is a street fair held in the area west of downtown Evansville. It is held on the first full week of October and draws between 100,000 and 150,000 people each day. The main attraction of the festival is the food, with includes pronto pups, elephant ears, corn dogs, chocolate-covered crickets,
fried-brain sandwich
A fried brain sandwich is a sandwich of sliced calves' brains on sliced bread.
Thinly sliced fried slabs on white toast became widespread on menus in St. Louis, Missouri, after the rise of the city's stockyards in the late 1880s, although dema ...
, and alligator stew.
Paul Harvey
Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous '' The Rest ...
remarked only
Mardi Gras in
is larger than the Fall Festival.
The
Germania Männerchor Volksfest The Germania Maennerchor Volksfest is an annual German heritage festival that takes place each August in Evansville, Indiana, United States.
History
The festival is run by the Germania Maennerchor, which is a social and singing club founded in 1900 ...
is a three-day German heritage festival which takes place every August in the historic Germania Mannerchor building on the city's west side. The festival includes food, drink, dance, and music. Many of the city's residents with German ancestry also wear historic German attire. On the last weekend of August, 4,000
hot rods converge on the Vanderburgh County 4-H fairgrounds north of the city for "Frog Follies."
Museums
Angel Mounds State Park is nationally recognized as one of the best preserved prehistoric
Native American sites in America. From 1100 to 1450 A. D., a town near this site was home to people of the middle Mississippian culture. Several thousand people lived in this town protected by a stockade made of wattle and daub. Because Angel Mounds was a
chiefdom
A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites form a ...
(the home of the chief), it was the regional center of a large community.
The
Children's Museum of Evansville
The Koch Family Children's Museum of Evansville is an interactive children's museum in Evansville, Indiana. The museum educates and inspires children about the world. Exhibits include deconstructing objects, a water exhibit that spans multiple flo ...
opened its doors to the public in September 2006. The museum is the result of two years of planning and was constructed in the historic Central Library downtown. The
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
building is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
. The museum offers visitors three floors of interactive exhibits and galleries.
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 museum is in the last remaining building of Lincoln Gardens, the second federal housing project created under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1938.
The
Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science is home to one of southern Indiana's most established and significant cultural centers. It holds the Koch Planetarium, the oldest in Indiana. Also on the campus is the Evansville Museum Transportation Center, which features transportation in southern Indiana from the latter part of the nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century.
The
Reitz Home Museum
The Reitz Home Museum is a Victorian house museum located in the Riverside Historic District in downtown Evansville, Indiana. The museum offers year-round guided tours.
An authentic restoration offers visitors a step back in time with silk da ...
is Evansville's only Victorian House Museum. It is noted as one of the country's finest examples of
second French empire
The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France.
Historians in the 1930 ...
architecture. It was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1973.
In October 2005, the moored in Evansville and was turned into a museum (USS LST Ship Memorial) in recognition of the city's war effort. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Evansville produced 167
LSTs (and 35 other craft), making it the largest inland producer of LSTs in the nation. The USS ''LST-325'' is the last navigable
tank landing ship
Landing Ship, Tank (LST), or tank landing ship, is the naval designation for ships first developed during World War II (1939–1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto shore with ...
in operation.
The Evansville Wartime Museum was opened on the weekend of Memorial Day in 2017. The Museum features exhibits commemorating Evansville's role in the Allied war effort during World War II including a display of one of the few remaining P-47 Thunderbolts.
Mesker Park Zoo
The Mesker Park Zoo, Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden opened in 1928 and is one of the oldest and largest zoos in the state. Set in a park, the zoo features 200 species and more than 700 animals. An estimated 3 million people visit the zoo between April and August every year. Mesker Park Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Libraries
![Evpl-central](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Evpl-central.jpg)
Evansville is home to the
Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library
The Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library (EVPL) is a public library system serving Evansville and Vanderburgh County in Indiana, USA. The EVPL also supplements the services provided by the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation and has the a ...
(EVPL). As a unified system serving both Evansville and the surrounding county, EVPL is one of the largest public library systems in
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
. It was rated a five star library by the Library Journal, which places it in the top 1% of public libraries in the U.S. EVPL also obtained a Top Ten library ranking in the 2010 edition of Hennen's American Public Library Ratings, achieving a number eight ranking within its population category.
An independent private institution, Willard Library, is also in Evansville. Willard was formed in 1881 to serve the public, regardless of race, a progressive mission in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The library houses local archives and genealogical materials, in addition to its collection of standard publications. The building is constructed in the Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival style and was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1972.
Sports
Evansville is home to two NCAA Division I athletic programs. The Evansville Purple Aces basketball team plays at the
Ford Center. The Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles basketball team plays on campus at Screaming Eagles Arena.
Evansville is home to several professional teams as well. The Evansville Otters are a professional baseball team in the Frontier League and have played at Bosse Field since 1995. The Evansville Thunderbolts are a minor league professional
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
team in the Southern Professional Hockey League and play at the
Ford Center. There was also a junior hockey team named the Evansville Jr. Thunderbolts in the North American 3 Hockey League, NA3HL and played at Swonder Ice Arena from 2015 to 2019. The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Coliseum, Evansville Coliseum is home to the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, WFTDA league, the Demolition City Roller Derby. In 2021, the city saw the formation of two minor league soccer clubs: the Evansville Legends FC and the Midwest Hooligans. The Legends compete in the Ohio Valley Premier League on Old National Bank Field at Goebel Soccer Complex. The Hooligans compete in the United Premier Soccer League and play at EVSC Fields, Double Cola Soccer Complex near the demolition site of Roberts Municipal Stadium, Roberts Stadium.
From 1957 to 1975, and then again in 2002, 2014, 2015, 2019, and from 2021 to 2025 Evansville hosted the NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship (Elite Eight). From 1999 to 2007, Roberts Municipal Stadium, Roberts Stadium hosted the Great Lakes Valley Conference basketball tournaments, and in 2013, the same event was held at the
Ford Center. A number of Division I NCAA events have been hosted by the city as well. In 1983 Roberts Municipal Stadium, Roberts Stadium hosted the first round of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, and in 1980 and 1983, it hosted the Horizon League, Midwestern City Conference men's basketball conference tournament. The
Ford Center has hosted the Ohio Valley Conference Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament, men's and Ohio Valley Conference women's basketball tournament, women's basketball tournaments since 2018.
Evansville used to play host to the top tier boat racing circuit of H1 Unlimited when it hosted Thunder on the Ohio along the Ohio River in downtown Evansville, which was hosted continuously from 1979 to 2009. Evansville had also previously hosted Thunder on the Ohio from 1938 to 1940. The two-mile Evansville tri-oval was known as one of the fastest hydroplane courses in the world, as various world records were set on the Evansville course. Hydroplane racing returned to Evansville in 2017, with the introduction of the Evansville Hydrofest, an American Power Boat Association event.
Goebel Soccer Complex is on of land and features nine Olympic-size irrigated Bermuda grass fields and one Olympic-size AstroPlay turf field. Additionally, EVSC Fields, Double Cola Soccer Complex provides twin soccer fields and stadium seating for the high school regular season and postseason matches. Swonder Ice Arena is a double-rink facility that opened in the fall of 2002 and features a fitness center, a skate park, and party rooms. High schools in the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation, EVSC district used Lloyd Pool for Southern Indiana Athletic Conference, SIAC swimming and diving meets before its shutdown and demolition plans in 2021. The Deaconess Aquatic Center replaced Lloyd as the local hub for swim and dive in October 2021.
Evansville has hosted Drums on the Ohio, a Drum Corps International Summer tour competition at the Reitz Bowl, since 1978 with a brief hiatus from 2008 to 2013. The event normally takes place in June, and draws over 3,000 spectators. It is the only DCI event within a 100 mile radius.
Parks and recreation
Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve
Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve is a nature preserve located in Evansville, Indiana. It is a National Natural Landmark and a State Nature Preserve owned by the City of Evansville and operated by the non-profit Wesselman Nature Society.
The prese ...
is a National Natural Landmark containing approximately of virgin bottomland hardwood forest, the largest tract of virgin forest inside any city limits in the United States. The Nature Center features exhibits, events, wildlife observation areas, meeting rooms, library, and gift shop. Adjacent to the Nature Preserve, Wesselman Park features a Par 3 golf course, basketball courts, tennis courts, sand volleyball courts, softball fields, and a playground.
Evansville has a municipal park system with 65 parks and 21 special facilities encompassing more than of land in the city of Evansville and Vanderburgh County. A bicycle and pedestrian trail extend into adjacent counties and links to the American Discovery Trail. This trail system includes the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage, a bicycle and pedestrian trail. The city's operates four public golf courses, two disc golf courses, Garvin Park, Lloyd Pool, the Goebel Soccer Complex, Swonder Ice Arena and the C.K. Newsome Community Center.
Anchored by the Four Freedoms Monument and the
Bally's Evansville, Dress Plaza along the riverfront offers a brick paved walkway above, and tiered seating below with a view of the
Ohio River.
Government
![Evansville mayor winnecke](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Evansville_mayor_winnecke.jpg)
The Mayor of Evansville, Lloyd Winnecke, serves as the chief executive officer. Cities in Indiana have a Mayor–council government, or strong mayor system, so the mayor has most of the executive and administrative power over the city’s daily operations. A nine-member elected City Council is the legislative and fiscal body of city government. The Council’s nine members are made up of one representative from each of the City’s six Council districts and three at-large members. Members are part-time elected officials who serve for four-year terms. As the legislative body, the Council has the exclusive responsibility of passing or changing local laws. As the fiscal body, the Council has the authority to levy certain taxes and it has the sole responsibility of adopting a City budget each year.
The county has eight state trial courts of original jurisdiction. One circuit court and seven superior courts. The judge's offices are non-partisan in terms of six years. A judge must be a member of the Indiana Bar Association. The judges are assisted by magistrates that are appointed. circuit court.
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana maintains a permanent division in the city.
Vanderburgh County's delegation to the Indiana State House of Representatives comprises three representatives: Wendy McNamara (District 76), Gail Riecken (District 77), and Holli Sullivan (District 78). Evansville and Vanderburgh County are represented by two state senators. In general, the southern third of the county and Armstrong Township are part of District 49, currently held by Jim Tomes. The county's west side is also in District 49. Most of the county is in District 50, which extends to the east, a seat held by Vaneta Becker.
The region is in the Indiana's 8th congressional district, 8th District of Indiana and served by U.S. Representative Larry Bucshon.
Evansville is the county seat of
Vanderburgh County
Vanderburgh County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 179,703. The county seat is in Evansville. While Vanderburgh County was the seventh-largest county in 2010 population with 179,703 people, it is also the ...
. Some of the city's governmental functions are shared with
Vanderburgh County
Vanderburgh County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 179,703. The county seat is in Evansville. While Vanderburgh County was the seventh-largest county in 2010 population with 179,703 people, it is also the ...
officials. In recent years various bi-partisan groups have advocated merging the Evansville city and Vanderburgh County governments, as was done in other surrounding cities such as
Indianapolis, Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville, and Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. Evansville and Vanderburgh County already have a number of notable merged government functions. The school system is consolidated countywide in the
Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation
The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC) is a public school corporation serving Evansville, Indiana and Vanderburgh County; its boundary includes the entire county. It is the third largest school district in the state of Indiana, beh ...
and the library system is consolidated countywide in the
Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library
The Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library (EVPL) is a public library system serving Evansville and Vanderburgh County in Indiana, USA. The EVPL also supplements the services provided by the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation and has the a ...
. Additional countywide authorities are in place for the Evansville Regional Airport and for flood control via the countywide levee authority.
Mayors
The following is a list of mayors of Evansville:
Education
Higher education
![UE1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/UE1.JPG)
Evansville is home to several institutions of higher learning. The
University of Evansville
The University of Evansville (UE) is a private university in Evansville, Indiana. It was founded in 1854 as Moores Hill College. The university operates a satellite center, Harlaxton College, in Grantham, England.
UE offers more than 80 differ ...
(UE) is a small, private, United Methodist Church, Methodist affiliated university with approximately 3,050 students. Founded in 1854, UE features liberal arts and science degrees along with a nationally renowned theatre department. Nearly half of UE's students study abroad as part of their experience, including at a satellite campus, Harlaxton Manor, Harlaxton College, in Grantham, England. UE athletic teams participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA and are known as the Evansville Purple Aces, Purple Aces. Evansville is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference
The
University of Southern Indiana
The University of Southern Indiana (USI) is a public university just outside of Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1965, USI enrolls 9,750 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 130 areas of study. USI offers program ...
(USI) is a public university just outside Evansville city limits. Founded in 1965, the school has an enrollment of 11,021 students (2019) and is among the fastest growing comprehensive state universities in Indiana.
USI athletic teams participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA and are known as the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles, Screaming Eagles. USI is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference. The school began transitioning to Division 1 sports in the 2022-2023 school year.
The Indiana University School of Medicine - Evansville opened in 2018 in a new interdisciplinary academic health science education and research campus downtown in partnership with the University of Southern Indiana and the University of Evansville. Other campuses in the city include Ivy Tech Community College and Oakland City University's School of Adult and Extended Learning.
Primary and secondary education
![Reitz Memorial High School](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Reitz_Memorial_High_School.jpg)
The
Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation
The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC) is a public school corporation serving Evansville, Indiana and Vanderburgh County; its boundary includes the entire county. It is the third largest school district in the state of Indiana, beh ...
consists of five public high schools, 11 middle schools, and 20 elementary schools. In addition, there are two parochial, two charter, and one private school. Catholic education is administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Evansville.
Notable public schools
* Benjamin Bosse High School
* Central High School (Evansville), Central High School
* North High School (Evansville), North High School
* FJ Reitz High School
* William Henry Harrison High School (Evansville, Indiana), William Henry Harrison High School
* Southern Indiana Career & Technical Center
Notable Catholic schools
* Reitz Memorial High School
* Mater Dei High School (Evansville, Indiana), Mater Dei High School
Charter school
*
Signature School
Private school
* Evansville Day School offers grades JPK-12.
* Evansville Christian School offers grades PK-12
Media
The ''Evansville Courier & Press'', owned by Gannett, serves the Evansville area. The newspaper also publishes the monthly magazines ''Evansville Business Journal'' and ''eWoman Magazine'', and it owns the ''Henderson Gleaner'' in neighboring Henderson, Kentucky. ''Evansville Living'' and ''Evansville Business'', published locally by Tucker Publishing Group, are bi-monthly local magazines showcasing the people, businesses, and communities in the area. Other media publications include ''Maturity Journal'', a free monthly newspaper aimed at senior citizens, and ''News4U'', a free monthly entertainment magazine.
The Evansville area is primarily serviced by radio stations in Indiana and Kentucky. The two main radio groups in Evansville that control the majority of its radio stations are Townsquare Media and Midwest Communications. Radio stations providing coverage to Evansville include: WSWI, WSWI/820, WGBF (AM), WGBF/1280, WBGW (AM), WBGW/1330, WEOA, WEOA/1400, WABX, WABX/107.5, WDKS, WDKS/106.1, WJPS, WJPS/107.1, WGBF-FM, WGBF-FM/103.1, WIKY-FM, WIKY-FM/104.1, WJLT, WJLT/105.3, WKDQ, WKDQ/99.5, WLYD, WLYD/93.5, WNIN-FM, WNIN-FM/88.3, WSTO, WSTO/96.1, WBKR, WBKR/92.5 WJWA, WJWA/91.5 and WPSR (FM), WPSR/90.7.
Evansville is, as of the 2015-16 rankings, the 103rd-largest List of television stations in North America by media market, television market in the United States according to Nielsen Media Research. The designated market area consists of 30 counties in Southeastern
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
, Southwestern Indiana, and Northwestern
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
. The 2010 population estimate of this 30-county region is nearly one million people.
Local Broadcast Television:
Infrastructure
Transportation
Immediate access to many major forms of transportation makes Evansville an important factor in Indiana's global economy. The city boasts road, rail, water, and air transportation systems. The Evansville Regional Airport, housed in a Airport terminal, terminal, offers over 30 flights a day to destinations around the country. Evansville does not have convenient access to commuter rail.
Evansville has a growing interstate system. Interstate 64 (Indiana), I-64 is eight miles north of the city and straddles the Gibson County, Indiana, Gibson -
Vanderburgh County
Vanderburgh County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 179,703. The county seat is in Evansville. While Vanderburgh County was the seventh-largest county in 2010 population with 179,703 people, it is also the ...
line. This interstate routes west to St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis and runs east to Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville. Interstate 69 in Indiana, I-69 provides a convenient link from I-64 to the city's thriving eastside retail district and a direct route to the downtown business district via the Veterans Memorial Parkway (Evansville), Veterans Memorial Parkway. It is also being extended north to Indianapolis.
U.S. Highway 41 (Indiana), U.S. Highway 41 connects the city with Henderson, Kentucky, Henderson via the Bi-State Vietnam Gold Star Bridges to the south and, to the north, the cities of
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
,
Vincennes
Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attache ...
, and Terre Haute, Indiana, Terre Haute. Other major local state roads include Indiana State Road 57, State Road 57, Indiana State Road 62, State Road 62 (Morgan Avenue / Lloyd Expressway), and Indiana State Road 66, State Road 66 (Lloyd Expressway / Diamond Avenue).
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, and in many areas there are on-road bike paths that help cyclists get around the city by bicycle. Like most cities, Evansville was served by electric streetcars into the 20th century. The community is served by Uber and Lyft and as of fall 2019 rentable scooters.
Evansville has historically been a center for railway traffic. The Evansville and Crawfordsville Railroad was first completed in 1853. The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, Big Four, Illinois Central, and the Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway served the city in early decades of the 20th century. The Chicago & Eastern Illinois closed its station in 1935 and merged its trains into the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Station (Evansville, Indiana), Louisville and Nashville Railroad station. Evansville's last remaining depot, the L&N station, last had passenger trains in 1971 with unnamed remnants of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois' and the Louisville and Nashville's ''Georgian (train), Georgian'': one to St. Louis, and another to Atlanta via Nashville.
Today, the city is served by four major freight railroads, CSX Transportation, CSX (with a major yard in the Howell area), Evansville Western Railway, the Indiana Southwestern Railway, and the Norfolk Southern Railway. The Howell Yard in Evansville sorts and makes up trains, and has intermodal facilities to handle 3,000 cargo containers and piggyback trailers per month
Three public and several private port facilities receive year-round service from five major Barge#Barges in the United States, 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
. Evansville has been a United States Customs, U.S. Customs port of entry for more than 125 years. Because of this, it is possible to have international cargo shipped to Evansville in bond. The international cargo can then clear Customs in Evansville rather than a coastal port.
Utilities
Electricity and natural gas are both provided to Evansville by Centerpoint Energy. Water and sewer services are provided by the Evansville Water & Sewer Utility, which provides water to more than 75,000 customers in Evansville and the surrounding area. The
Ohio River provides for most of the city's source of drinking water. Water is drawn from the river and filtered at a 60 million gallon per day treatment plant. There are approximately 1,000 miles of water mains in the system and includes approximately 6,000 fire hydrants.
Police
From 1818 to 1847, law enforcement was administered by the Warrick County, Indiana, Warrick County sheriff, and from 1847 to 1863, the city marshal shared policing duties with the police department. In 1863, the Evansville Police Department was founded.
Notable people
In popular culture
Film and television
Game scenes in the 1992 film ''A League of Their Own'' were filmed at Bosse Field. It is the third oldest baseball stadium still in use in the United States (behind
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Bas ...
in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston and
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago ...
in Chicago). The ballpark served as the homefield for the Racine Belles. Scenes from the 2014 Michael Rosenbaum movie ''Back in the Day (2014 film), Back in the Day'' feature Green River Road in Evansville.
All exterior shots on the 1988-1997 sitcom ''Roseanne (TV series), Roseanne'' are still photographs taken in and around Evansville. The Conners' house is at 619 South Runnymeade Avenue, and the Lobo Lounge is a pizzeria at the corner of Edgar and Louisiana Streets. Matt Williams (producer), Matt Williams, one of the show's producers, is a native of Evansville and a graduate of The University of Evansville theatre program. He is a co-founder of Wind Dancer Productions and has been involved with numerous sitcoms such as 'Home Improvement', movies and dramatic plays for Broadway.
''The Daily Show'' has featured Evansville in two episodes. The first featured a story about comedian Carrot Top's reopening of the historic Victory Theatre. The second poked fun at former mayor Russell Lloyd Jr. for skipping out on a city meeting to attend Cher's Farewell Tour concert being performed on the same night at Roberts Stadium.
Evansville was also featured in Alton Brown's series ''Feasting on Asphalt''. Alton and his crew visited the historic Greyhound Bus station for its vending machines, the YWCA tea room for lunch, and the Hilltop Inn for a Fried-brain sandwich, brain sandwich and burgoo. Other shows have included ''Ghost Hunters (TV series), Ghost Hunters'' which investigated Willard Library's "Gray Lady" ghost and ''Storm Stories'' on The Weather Channel documenting the devastating Evansville Tornado of November 2005, tornado that struck the city in 2005. The city was briefly featured in the 2007 ''Prison Break'' episode "Chicago (Prison Break episode), Chicago". In 2012, Evansville was featured on the British television program ''Supersize vs Superskinny'' because of a poll that ranked the residents of the city as the most obese in the United States.
Evansville and neighboring Newburgh was the featured location for the feature film ''Back in the Day'' filmed in 2014.
Evansville is mentioned several times in the Boardwalk Empire (season 3), third and Boardwalk Empire (season 4), fourth seasons of the HBO series ''Boardwalk Empire''.
In 2021, an episode of HBO's "We're Here" was filmed in Evansville.
Literary media
Evansville is featured in a section of Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel ''Lolita'', as well as Walker Percy's 1962 novel ''The Moviegoer'', and Robert Silverberg's 1969 science fiction novel ''To Live Again (novel), To Live Again''.
Evansville is the primary location in the historical fiction novel, ''Invitation to Valhalla'' by Mike Whicker, published in 2004. The novel is based on the records of German spy Erika Lehmann's attempt to infiltrate the LST shipyards during WWII.
An Evansville couple is the focus of "Hungarian Rhapsody: An Adoption Story" by James Derk, based on a series of stories in the ''Evansville Courier & Press''.
Evansville, under the name Vansul, appears as a slapstick satire in the post-apocalyptic novel ''Light of the Ancient Sun''.
Evansville is the hometown of the protagonist, Jack Crabb, in Thomas Berger (novelist), Thomas Berger's 1964 book ''Little Big Man (novel), Little Big Man''. This is not mentioned in the 1970 cinematic adaption, ''Little Big Man (film), Little Big Man''.
Sister cities
Evansville has three sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):
* Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany
* Tizimín, Yucatán, Mexico
* Tochigi, Tochigi, Tochigi City, Japan
Notes
References
Further reading
* Lawrence M. Lipin, ''Producers, Proletarians, and Politicians: Workers and Party Politics in Evansville and New Albany, Indiana, 1850-87.'' Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1994.
External links
City of EvansvilleEvansville Convention and Visitor's BureauEvansville Vanderburgh Public Library's digital archive
{{Authority control
Evansville, Indiana,
Populated places established in 1812
Cities in Indiana
Cities in Vanderburgh County, Indiana
Communities of Southwestern Indiana
Evansville metropolitan area
County seats in Indiana
Indiana populated places on the Ohio River
1812 establishments in Indiana Territory