[7] Nearer the river along the southeastern border, the land has many hills, valleys, and tributary streams and is more heavily wooded.

It was named for Joseph Warren, who was killed in 1775 at the Battle of Bunker Hill,[17][18] in which he fought as a private because his commission as a general had not yet taken effect.

When the county seat moved to Williamsport, a log house belonging to the town's founder, William Harrison, served this purpose for several years.

[20][n 3] As the 19th century progressed, the United States government's Indian removal policy pushed Native American tribes west of the Mississippi River.

[23] When railroads were constructed starting in the 1850s, they in turn began to render the canals obsolete and allowed trade to reach towns that lacked water connections.

The railroad entered the county near Williamsport and was built westward, reaching the western border at State Line City by 1857.

West Lebanon was the only other settlement near the railroad's path, but the line bypassed it by about a mile; the town subsequently moved northward to be nearer the station.

[32] World War II and the economic revival of the late 1940s and 1950s drew people to better jobs in growing regional cities, and this further diminished small towns.

[32] The population shrank again in the 1980s due largely to the effects of the "farm crisis" of low crop prices, high farmer debt and other economic causes.

In 1856, farmers in the northern part of the county held a fair just east of Pine Village, and this continued each year through 1864.

People such as James Whitcomb Riley, John L. Sullivan and Harry Lauder are known to have stayed at the hotel, which burned down in 1920.

[42] Northeast of Independence is the Black Rock Barrens Nature Preserve, a rare siltstone glade area that, with the adjacent Weiler-Leopold Nature Reserve, supports a diversity of flora including sessile trillium, phlox and wild hyacinth in the moist lowlands and serviceberry, rue anemone, birdsfoot violet and yellow pimpernel on the drier slopes.

[47] The landscape consists mostly of flat or gently sloping moraine overlaying silty and loamy glacial till, except along the Wabash River where sand, gravel, sandstone and shale are exposed.

[59] In addition to the incorporated towns, there are over a dozen small unincorporated communities in Warren County[60] that are historical centers of activity.

[70] From 1950 through 2009, ten tornadoes were reported in Warren County; none resulted in any deaths or injuries, but the total estimated property damage was over $3 million.

[74] The four-lane divided State Road 63 runs south from its northern terminus at U.S. Route 41 near the center of the county; both reach Terre Haute about 60 miles (97 km) to the south, but while Route 41 crosses to the east side of the river, State Road 63 remains on the west side.

[74] A Norfolk Southern Railway route connecting Danville, Illinois, with the city of Lafayette is the county's busiest rail line, carrying about 45 freight trains each day.

[78] The 6-mile (10 km) Vermilion Valley Railroad serves the Flex-N-Gate factory near Covington and runs west from the plant through the town of Foster to meet a CSX line in Danville.

[8] Farming is a significant part of the economy, employing approximately 14% of the county's workers and supporting grain elevators in most towns.

Farmers also grew small amounts of hay (3,700 acres (1,500 ha)) and winter wheat, and held 3,600 head of cattle.

Flex-N-Gate, an automobile parts assembly and warehouse facility, occupies the 750-acre (300 ha) former Olin factory complex west of Covington.

[84] St. Vincent Hospital and a nursing home in Williamsport are also important local employers; 9.8% of the county's jobs relate to health care and social services.

Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana has 23 campuses throughout the state; the closest to Warren County is in Lafayette.

After the war, he moved to Williamsport and practiced law; he died in 1869 at age 39 and is buried in Armstrong Cemetery north of Green Hill, near the farm where he was raised.

While traveling to such a lecture in 1920, he died in an automobile accident in Ohio and is buried at Hillside Cemetery on the northeast side of Williamsport.

The council members serve four-year terms and are responsible for setting salaries, the annual budget and special spending.

The commissioners are charged with executing the acts legislated by the council, collecting revenue, and managing the day-to-day functions of the county government.

[120][121] The county has several other elected offices, including sheriff, coroner, auditor, treasurer, recorder, surveyor and circuit court clerk.

[115] Each of the townships has a trustee who administers rural fire protection and ambulance service, provides poor relief and manages cemetery care, among other duties.

[123] The western portion of the county is in the 42nd Indiana House of Representatives district; the eastern townships of Adams, Medina and Warren are in the 26th.