Floyd County, Indiana

Floyd County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: New Albany
Year Organized: 1819
Square Miles: 148

Court House:

311 West 1st
City County Building
New Albany, IN 47150-0000

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for Colonel John Floyd, the distinguished Virginian killed by Indians on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Formerly part of Clark and Harrison Counties, through the efforts of the Scribner family (founders of New Albany), Floyd County was organized January 2, 1819 and made effective one month later.

Floyd County is divided into 5 Civil Township as follows: Franklin, Georgetown, Greenville, Lafayette and New Albany.

Floyd County, originally the Shawnee Indians hunting ground, was conquered for the United States by George Rogers Clark during the American Revolutionary War from the British. For his services he was awarded with large tracts of land in Indiana including almost all of present day Floyd County. After the war Clark sold off parcels of land to settlers who quickly began entering the region as soon as peace returned.

In 1818 New Albany was a large enough city to become a county seat and form a new county, local leaders sent Nathaniel Scribner and John K. Graham were sent to then capitol Corydon, Indiana to petition the Indiana General Assembly. Floyd County was approved on January 2, 1819 by the General Assembly and formally became Floyd County on February 1, 1819. There are two possibilities to the origin of the name of Floyd County. According to the Indiana State Library the county was named for John Floyd, who was a leading Jefferson County, Kentucky pioneer and uncle of Davis Floyd. John died in 1783 when his group was attacked by Indians near present day Bullitt County, Kentucky. It is debated by some that the county was named for Davis who was convicted of aiding Aaron Burr in the treason of 1809. Davis was a local politician of the area, the county's first circuit court judge.

In 1814 New Albany was platted and was established as the county seat on March 4, 1819 where it has since remained. There was an attempt in 1823 to move the county seat but the motion failed. Floyd County would have the largest city in the state for much of the early 19th century, eventually being overtaken by Indianapolis during the Civil War.

Between 1800 and 1860 Floyd County experienced a huge boom in population doubling many times over. A survey in the 1850s found that over half of Indiana's population that made more than $100,000 dollars (USD) a year lived in Floyd County, establishing it as having the richest population in the state.

The Duncan Tunnel, the longest in Indiana, was built in Floyd County in 1881 between New Albany and Edwardsville. The railroad was unable to find a suitable route over the Floyds Knobs so they decided to tunnel through them. The project was originally began by the Air Line but was completed by Southern Railway. It took five years to bore at a cost of $1 million dollars (USD). The Tunnel is 4,311 feet (1,314 m) long.

Floyd County during the 19th century attracted immigrants of Irish, German, French and African American origins. The French settlers located mostly in Floyds Knobs, Indiana. The Irish began arriving in 1817 and in large numbers in 1830 to 1850. German immigrants settled mostly in New Albany and by 1850 about 17% of New Albany's population was from immigrants.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 148 square miles (384 km²), of which 148 square miles (383 km²) is land and 0 square miles (1 km²) (0.21%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Clark County
Southeast: Jefferson County, Ky.
Southwest: Harrison County
Northwest: Washington County

Cities and Towns:

- Galena	township
- Georgetown	town	Incorporated Area
- Greenville	town	Incorporated Area
- New Albany (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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