History of Evansville, Indiana
Because of its position on the river and surrounding natural resources, Evansville grew to become a commercial, industrial and financial hub for the tri-state area.
[3] By the time European settlers arrived, a group of Shawnee were still living on the banks of Pigeon Creek where it flowed into the Ohio River in present-day Evansville.
McGary also sought to entice more people to buy land in the village by designating the town as the "permanent" seat of government for the county.
Robert Evans and his brother-in-law, James W. Jones, purchased a third interest in Evansville and a new plat was made on about 200 acres, with streets running parallel to the river from northwest to southeast.
[10] Around the 1848 Revolution in Europe and after the American Civil War, massive German immigration increased the population, enticing Evansville to annex it in the spring of 1870.
To counter the annexation some residents proposed incorporating as a separate town with the name "Madduxport" after Alexander Maddux, a justice of the peace.
Throughout this period Evansville's main ethnic groups consisted of Germans fleeing Europe, Protestant Scotch-Irish from the South, Catholic Irish coming for canal or railroad work, New England businessmen, and newly freed slaves from Western Kentucky.
Additionally, Evansville native John W. Foster (whose descendants were titans in American diplomacy) served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Benjamin Harrison from 1892 and 1893.
One of Evansville's most notable residents, Albion Fellows Bacon (1865 – 1933), was Indiana's foremost "municipal housekeeper," a Progressive Era term for women who applied their domestic skills to social problems plaguing their communities.
[16] As the new century began, residential growth in the city continued to move eastward, particularly with the development of the Bayard Park Neighborhood, Washington Avenue and Lincolnshire.
In 1920 Joe Huffington was chosen by Imperial Wizard William J. Simmons of Atlanta, Georgia, to start an official Indiana chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.
[18] With steamboats less of a factor in the local economy, city and federal officials responded to the flood with about fifty years of levee construction that penned and hid the Ohio River behind a barrier of earthen berms and concrete walls.
[19] Just before the outbreak of World War II, oil discovery in the area brought an economic boom, and with it gambling dens and a thoroughbred racetrack at Ellis Park on the orphaned piece of Kentucky north of the river.
[20] During World War II, Evansville was a major center of industrial production and, as a result, it helped wipe away the last lingering effects of the 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 Plymouth factory was converted into an ordnance plant which turned out "bullets by the billions," and many other companies switched over to the manufacture of war material.
Evansville's manufacturing base of automobiles, household appliances and farm equipment stood to benefit from growing post-war demand.
[25] A growing housing demand also caused residential development to leap north across Pigeon Creek and east across Weinbach Avenue.
[26] In the decades that followed Green River Road on the city's east side, including its anchor Eastland Mall, became the area's primary commercial district.
In an attempt to renew urban districts and draw commerce back downtown, city leaders began tearing down older buildings and neighborhoods.
Some prominent landmarks got caught up in the clearings, including Assumption Cathedral, old Central High School, the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad Depotcum-Community Center, and every downtown theater except the Victory.
With the close of the Korean War came a nationwide recession which hit Evansville particularly hard because of the city's reliance on industries with ties to defense contractors.
The arrival of giant Toyota and AK Steel plants, as well as Tropicana Evansville (originally Casino Aztar), Indiana's first gaming boat, also contributed to the growth of jobs and economic activity.
This growth resulted in dramatic changes to Evansville's riverfront in just 15 years, with a brand new Tropicana casino facility and new corporate headquarters for Vectren and Old National Bank.
[27] Following the Evansville Tornado of November 2005, the coordinating officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency noted, "I don't think I've ever seen a community of people come out so quickly to help each other.
Numerous residential lofts and condominiums were constructed downtown and in 2011 a new indoor arena opened – the Ford Center – with a seating capacity of 11,000.
[29] Several important cultural influences have arisen from Evansville, such as the annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival, along with Kyle Starks, a famous comic-book writer and illustrator.
