Knox County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the U.S. state of Indiana in the United States. The oldest county in Indiana, it was one of two original counties created in the Northwest Territory in 1790, alongside

St. Clair County, Illinois St. Clair County is the ninth most populous county in Illinois. Located directly east of St. Louis, the county is part of the Metro East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area in southern Illinois. As of the 2020 United States ...

. Knox County was gradually reduced in size as subsequent counties were established. It was established in its present configuration when Daviess County was partitioned off (February 2, 1818). At the 2020 United States census, the county population was 36,282. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

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. Vincennes is famous for its castle: the Château de Vincennes. It is next to but does not include the ...

. Knox County comprises the Vincennes, IN Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

In 1790,

Winthrop Sargent Winthrop Sargent (May 1, 1753 – June 3, 1820) was an American politician, military officer and writer, who served as List of Governors of Mississippi, Governor of Mississippi Territory from 1798 to 1801, and briefly as acting List of Adjutant ...

, Secretary of Northwest Territory, organized Knox County, the fourth in the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...

. It was named for Major General

Henry Knox Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806) was an American military officer, politician, bookseller, and a Founding Father of the United States. Knox, born in Boston, became a senior general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionar ...

, who had completed his term as second U.S. Secretary of War the previous September. Knox County was created prior to the formation of the

Indiana Territory The Indiana Territory, officially the Territory of Indiana, was created by an organic act that President of the United States, President John Adams signed into law on May 7, 1800, to form an Historic regions of the United States, organized incor ...

. When it was created, Knox County extended to Canada and encompassed all or part of the present states of Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio. When the

Illinois Territory The Territory of Illinois was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 1, 1809, until December 3, 1818, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Illinois. Its ...

was formed in 1809, the portions of Knox County beyond the

Wabash River The Wabash River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana, and a significant part of Illinois, in the United ...

became Saint Clair County, Illinois. Many of Knox County townships and lots were surveyed with the French system, which employs non-cardinal compass points. Knox and Clark counties are the only ones laid out in this fashion.

Geography

Knox County lies on the west edge of the state; its western border abuts the eastern border of Illinois across the

. According to the 2010 census, the county has a total area of , of which (or 98.47%) is land and (or 1.53%) is water. The county's west border is defined by the south-flowing Wabash River, and its east border is defined by the south-southwest-flowing White River. Its southwesternmost point occurs at the confluence of the two rivers, near

Mount Carmel, Illinois Mount Carmel is a city in and the county seat of Wabash County, Illinois, United States. At the time of the 2020 census, the population was 7,015, and it is the largest city in the county. The next largest town in Wabash County is Allendale, ...

. The terrain consists of verdant low-rolling hills, largely devoted to agriculture. Its highest points (around ASL) occur in the hills midway between Bruceville and Bicknell.

Major highways

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Adjacent counties

* Sullivan County - north * Greene County - northeast * Daviess County - east * Pike County - southeast * Gibson County - south * Wabash County, Illinois - southwest *

Lawrence County, Illinois Lawrence County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Illinois. At the 2020 census, the population was 15,280. Its county seat is Lawrenceville. History Lawrence County was formed in 1821 out of Crawford and Edwards counties. It ...

- west * Crawford County, Illinois - northwest

National protected area

* George Rogers Clark National Historical Park

Communities

Cities

* Bicknell *

Towns

* Bruceville * Decker * Edwardsport * Monroe City * Oaktown * Sandborn * Wheatland

Census-designated places

* Emison * Freelandville * Ragsdale *

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

Unincorporated areas

* Beal * Busseron * Fritchton * Iona *

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

* Orrville * Purcell * Saint Thomas * Verne * Wagner Station

Townships

* Busseron * Decker * Harrison *

Johnson Johnson may refer to: People and fictional characters *Johnson (surname), a common surname in English * Johnson (given name), a list of people * List of people with surname Johnson, including fictional characters *Johnson (composer) (1953–2011) ...

Palmyra Palmyra ( ; Palmyrene dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...

* Steen *

Vigo Vigo (, ; ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of province of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest ...

* Washington * Widner

Climate and weather

In recent years, the average temperature in Vincennes has ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1994 and a record high of was recorded in June 1988. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in May.

Government

The county government is a constitutional body, and is granted specific powers by the Constitution of Indiana, and by the Indiana Code. County Council: The legislative branch of the county government; controls the county's spending and revenue collection. Representatives are elected from county districts to four-year terms. They set salaries, the annual budget, and special spending. The council has limited authority to impose local taxes, in the form of an income and property tax that is subject to state level approval, excise taxes, and service taxes. Board of Commissioners: The executive body of the county. The commissioners are elected county-wide to staggered four-year terms. One commissioner serves as president. The commissioners are charged with executing the legislative acts of the County Council, collecting revenue, and managing the county government's functions. Court: The county maintains a

small claims court Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and go by different names in different jurisdictions. For example, it ma ...

that can handle some civil cases. The court judge is elected to a four-year term, and must be a member of the Indiana Bar Association. The judge is assisted by a constable, who is elected county-wide to a four-year term. Some court decisions can be appealed to the state level

circuit court Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to: * Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases; * Courts that s ...

. County Officials: The county has several other elected offices, including

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

, treasurer, recorder,

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

, and circuit

court clerk A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court and administering oaths ...

. Each is elected county-wide to a four-year term. Members elected to county government positions are required to declare party affiliations and to be residents of the county. Knox County is part of

Indiana's 8th congressional district Indiana's 8th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Indiana. Based in Southwestern Indiana, southwest and west central Indiana, the district is anchored in Evansville, Indiana, Evansville and also includes Jasp ...

Indiana Senate The Indiana State Senate is the upper house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Senate is composed of 50 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. Senators serve four-year ...

districts 39 and 48, and

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House mem ...

districts 45 and 64.

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 38,440 people, 15,249 households, and 9,725 families in the county. The population density was . There were 17,038 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 94.9% white, 2.6% black or African American, 0.6% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.5% from other races, and 1.2% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.5% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 26.9% were German, 19.9% were American, 13.0% were Irish, and 9.1% were English. Of the 15,249 households, 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% were married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.2% were non-families, and 30.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.90. The median age was 38.5 years. The median income for a household in the county was $47,697 and the median income for a family was $51,534. Males had a median income of $40,553 versus $27,201 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,381. About 12.6% of families and 16.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.7% of those under age 18 and 11.4% of those age 65 or over.

Workforce

In 2005, Knox County had 998 business units and 16,240 jobs. The largest employing industry in the county was education and health services (including both public and private employment) with almost 34 percent of total industry employment. Trade, transportation, and utilities came in second with over 22 percent of total industry employment. Manufacturing showed the most job growth and the largest percentage gain since 2001, increasing 316 jobs or almost 21 percent. The 2005 all industry earnings average for Knox County was $26,875, up $2,824 or 11.7 percent over the county's 2001 average. The manufacturing industry had the highest average annual earnings at $33,238, increasing $1,695 since 2001. Annual earnings in the information sector increased the most between 2001 and 2005, up $6,518 or 29.7 percent. The Vincennes area has a diversified economy. In 2005 retail trade was the largest of 20 major sectors. It had an average wage per job of $19,743. Per capita income grew by 17.9% between 1994 and 2004 (adjusted for inflation). While manufacturing accounts for 8.2% of the jobs, the services sector is rapidly growing. Knox County's ground breaking Pathways Program insures a well-trained, highly motivated labor force. Knox County encompasses an area that attracts approximately 300,000 potential employees within an easy commute. Because of the proximity of the surrounding counties, and ease of access to the Vincennes area, businesses routinely draw from a labor force that lies within a 50-mile radius of their work site.

Education

School districts in the county include North Knox School Corporation, South Knox School Corporation, and Vincennes Community School Corporation.
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