Connersville is a city in Fayette County, Indiana, United States, 66 miles (106 km) east by southeast of Indianapolis.

[5] There was also, at least through 1795, Connerstown, a small Shawnee village near Lancaster, Ohio, named for John's father, Richard Conner.

The Whitewater River valley running north-south through eastern Indiana and southwestern Ohio was created by the Late Wisconsin Glaciation ending 13,600 years ago.

The Ice Age was punctuated by several prolonged warm periods during which the glaciers disappeared entirely from the temperate latitudes and a climate similar to modern times or even warmer prevailed.

In the Northwest Territory during the latter half of the 18th century, the Miami Indians were dominant in the region, but the Potawatomi and Shawnee had a significant presence.

Delaware Indians, displaced from their eastern homelands by European settlement, migrated west and settled along the forks of the Whitewater River.

The geological aspects of the Whitewater River Valley contributed to early settlement after defeat of the Delaware Indians by General Anthony Wayne at Fallen Timbers in 1794, followed on August 3, 1795, by the Treaty of Greenville ceding most of Ohio and a sliver of southeastern Indiana to the United States.

The valley, running south and southeasterly from east central Indiana to the Ohio River Valley, provided a convenient conduit for migration through Fort Washington (Cincinnati) from points east, settlements on the Ohio River, and settlers from Kentucky to northern and central Indiana Territory.

An Indian trail paralleled the river from the Ohio Valley northward to the forks, then went along the East Fork to Eli Creek, thence taking a northwesterly direction passing through what was later Connersville, and then on to the Delaware villages strung along the White River from north of modern-day Indianapolis to modern Muncie.

By 1808, as a result of reduction of Indian hunting grounds by treaty, the trading post, known as "Conner's Post", had been relocated 20 miles (32 km) north at the Whitewater River junction with an Indian trail between the Ohio River 70 miles (110 km) to the southeast and hunting grounds to the north.

According to research by J. L. Heineman, the trading post was located in the middle of what is now Eastern Avenue, at the west end of Charles Street.

In 1809, the Treaty of Fort Wayne was signed, by the terms of which the land locally known as the "Twelve Mile Purchase" was ceded by the Indians to the government.

This tract included a strip twelve miles (19 km) in width lying west of the 1795 Greenville treaty line that ran from the midpoint of the Indiana/Ohio border southwest to the Ohio River, cutting off a thin wedge of southeastern Indiana.

The exodus of the Delaware Indians from Indiana after the War of 1812, completed by June 1813, deprived John Conner of his field for trading.

John Conner laid out the town on the north side of the west fork of the Whitewater River in March 1813, adjacent to the fur trading post.

For many years prior to the Civil War, and even for some time after, the main industries of the town were milling, pork packing, and woolen manufacturing.

In 1857, a separate village, East Connersville, was platted on the south bank of the west fork of the Whitewater River, and had its own government.

Automobile manufacturing in Connersville began as early as 1909 and included Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg, Ansted, Empire, Lexington, and McFarlan.

Companies included Roots Blower (later Dresser Industries), Stant, McQuay-Norris, Design & Manufacturing Co. (D&M), H. H. Robertson, Visteon, and Philco Ford.

Architectural Products Division of H. H. Robertson purchased land owned by the defunct Lexington Motor Car Company in February 1960.

Robertson was a victim of hard times for the industry in the late 1980s and the Connersville plant was merged with operations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, starting in 1986.

Roberts Park, located in the northeast corner of town, contains a public pool, community center, grandstand, and racetrack.

It hosts the annual Fayette County Free Fair, a week-long event held late in the summer.

Whitewater Memorial State Park is located adjacent to 5,260-acre (2,130 ha) Brookville Lake about 10 miles (16 km) southeast by east of Connersville near Liberty, Indiana.

Shrader-Weaver Woods Nature Preserve, about 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Connersville, is 108 acres (44 ha) of pristine old growth woodland offering hiking, sightseeing and bird watching.

The Mary Gray Bird Sanctuary, over 700 acres (280 ha) of forest, meadow, prairie, and ponds, provides hiking, picnicking, camping.

Elmhurst, an estate south of town on State Road 121 and built in 1831, was the home of Caleb Blood Smith, who served in Abraham Lincoln's cabinet.

Mettel Field is a private aviation airport located three nautical miles (6 km) north of the central business district of Connersville.

The Fayette County School Corporation garnered national attention in November 2017 with a series of articles on CBS News on the subject of school nutrition programs, nationwide—featuring Connersville schools' partnership with a food service company, Chartwell's, to offer free breakfast, lunch and supper services to all children in their schools—integrating breakfasts with classroom learning activity, offering a "second chance" breakfast for teens, and providing after-school movies with a free supper.

[20] Connersville has a daily newspaper called The News Examiner in continuous publication (including predecessor papers) since 1849.