During the American Revolution, George Rogers Clark captured the surrounding area of what became the town of Corydon from the British, bringing it under the control of the fledgling United States government.

[6] He purchased land at the edge of a fertile valley near a large spring, which is the site of the present-day Harrison County fairgrounds.

[8][10] Corydon's official founding date of 1808 commemorates the year when Heth, a U.S. government surveyor and landowner, platted the town.

Heth donated the town square for public use and sold individual lots to settlers and the territorial government.

[7] In 1809 Corydon was connected by road to Doup's Ferry, 15 miles (24 km) to the south at Mauck's Port, providing access to the Ohio River for trade.

During the War of 1812, Corydon sent a mounted militia company nicknamed the Yellow Jackets to support the territorial army.

Opponents of William Henry Harrison, the former territorial governor, wanted to move the capital away from his political stronghold in Knox County.

Pennington supervised construction of the limestone courthouse, which was nearly completed when Indiana's first state legislature convened at Corydon in 1816.

[18] Paul and Susannah Mitchem became Quakers and immigrated to Harrison County from North Carolina in 1814, bringing with them 107 slaves whom they freed after arriving.

[19] On April 19, 1816, President James Madison signed an Enabling Act that provided for the election of delegates to a convention at Corydon to consider statehood for Indiana.

Forty-three delegates, including five men from Harrison County, convened June 10–29, 1816, to draft Indiana's first state constitution.

[22][23] The preamble of the constitution acknowledges the site of the historic gathering: "We the Representatives of the people of the Territory of Indiana, in Convention met, at Corydon, on Monday the tenth day of June in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixteen,..."[24] The delegates met in an unfinished log cabin near the Harrison County courthouse, which had not yet been completed; due to cramped conditions and the summer heat, the men often sought refuge outside under a giant elm tree, later named the Constitution Elm.

Although the tree was lost to Dutch Elm Disease in 1825, a portion of its trunk has been preserved, surrounded by a sandstone memorial built by the WPA during the Great Depression in the 1930s.

[25][26][27] The delegates completed their work in nineteen days, adjourning on June 29, 1816, when the newly signed state constitution went into effect.

[28] As outlined in Article XI, Section 11, of the constitution of 1816: "Corydon, in Harrison County shall be the seat of Government of the state of Indiana, until the year eighteen hundred and twenty-five, and until removed by law.

Many officials, including three successive Governors, and their staff moved to Corydon and built large homes in the town.

The town hosted meetings from national officials, including an 1819 visit by United States President James Monroe and Andrew Jackson.

[30] On November 4, 1816, the Indiana General Assembly met for the first time at Corydon under the new constitution and state government.

Others expressed concern that the town's geographic location in the extreme southern part of Indiana would become inconvenient as the state's population center shifted northward; however, Dennis Pennington and other Harrison County representatives to the Indiana General Assembly successfully resisted attempts to move the seat of government from Corydon until 1825.

[32][38][39] Governor Hendricks signed a legislative bill in 1824 to move the state capital to Indianapolis,[40] effective January 10, 1825.

[43] During 1848, a new two-story federal style brick office building was constructed on the east side of the county courthouse.

[47] Corydon was sacked in retaliation for Union looting in Kentucky, the town's treasury of $690 was seized, and the inmates of the local jail were released.

[42] Southern Railroad's main line ran across northern Harrison County at Crandall, and remained open to passenger traffic until 1996.

A major fire broke out in 1871, in which the Kintner House Tavern was destroyed, along with the entire block from Cherry to Beaver Streets.

A mob of 150 mounted men, led by twenty masked Indiana white cap vigilantes, arrived at the county jail and demanded the release into their custody of two men (James Devin and Charles Tennyson) being held on charges of attempted murder.

A replacement grandstand was acquired from the minor league baseball team at Parkway Field in Louisville, Kentucky, is still in use.

[56] In 1969 Corydon-born environmental historian Samuel P. Hays donated the 311-acre (126-hectare) Hayswood Nature Reserve to the county.

Initially, the district included major sites dating from the period when Corydon was a territorial and state capital: the Old Capitol/Harrison County Courthouse building, the Governor Hendricks' Headquarters, Constitution Elm, the first state office building, the Kintner-McGrain House (Cedar Glade), and the Posey House, among others.

In 1989 the historic district's boundary was increased to include The Kintner House Inn, among other commercial and residential buildings.

Southern Indiana Transit System provides deviated fixed-route and demand-response bus service in the town.