e-ReferenceDesk's College and 50 State Learning Resource Guide

Find Online Colleges

Find Campus Colleges

Indiana State...

Indiana

Choose a County

Adams, Allen, Bartholomew, Benton, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Crawford, Daviess, Dearborn, Decatur, DeKalb, Delaware, Dubois, Elkhart, Fayette, Floyd, Fountain, Franklin, Fulton, Gibson, Grant, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Harrison, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Huntington, Jackson, Jasper, Jay, Jefferson, Jennings, Johnson, Knox, Kosciusko, La Porte, LaGrange, Lake, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Martin, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Newton, Noble, Ohio, Orange, Owen, Parke, Perry, Pike, Porter, Posey, Pulaski, Putnam, Randolph, Ripley, Rush, Scott, Shelby, Spencer, St. Joseph, Starke, Steuben, Sullivan, Switzerland, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Union, Vanderburgh, Vermillion, Vigo, Wabash, Warren, Warrick, Washington, Wayne, Wells, White, Whitley

Indiana Counties

Click Image to Enlarge

Indiana Counties

Indiana is divided into 92 counties. The oldest and newest Counties in Indiana are Knox County (created 1790) and Newton County (created 1857).

The largest county is Allen (657 sq. mi.) and the smallest is Ohio (87 sq. mi.). According to the Indiana Constitution, no county may be created of less than 400 square miles, nor may any county smaller than this be further reduced in size.

Many Indiana Counties are named for the US Founding Fathers and personalities of the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and Battle of Tippecanoe; early leaders of Indiana Territory and Indiana, as well as surrounding states like Michigan and Kentucky; plus Native American tribes and geographical features.

Franklin County, Indiana

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

County Seat: Brookville
Year Organized: 1810
Square Miles: 386

Court House:

459 Main Street
County Courthouse
Brookville, IN 47012-1484

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for Benjamin Franklin, American Statesman, Scientist, Writer and more.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Franklin County was the sixth county formed and was taken from Dearborn and Clark Counties in conformity with the legislative act of November 27, 1810. Franklin County was made effective February 1, 1811. The additional organization of Fayette and Union counties in 1819 and 1821 greatly reduced the area of Franklin County. It was named for Benjamin Franklin.

Some of the early settlers of this county were Primitive Baptists, they came with Elder William Tyner who came from Virginia in 1797. They organized the Little Cedar Grove Baptist Church, the first church in the Whitewater Valley. The members built a log church as early as 1805, about two or three miles southeast of Brookville, Indiana. In 1812 they built a large brick church, with balcony, and rifle ports. They held the first meeting in it on August 1, 1812. It is the oldest church building standing on its original site in Indiana. It is open as a historic site.

One further landmark in the county is the Big Cedar Baptist Church and Burying Ground on Big Cedar Creek Road, between the road to Reily and the Oxford Pike. The original church was established in 1817, as an arm of the Little Cedar Baptist church. The plain, simple brick building, but impressive in its simplicity was built in 1838. This church, like all, or nearly all of the pioneer Baptist groups in the county was originally Primitive Baptist or Hardshell. In the 1830’s or there abouts, modernism came upon the scene, modernism and human inventions, like Sunday Schools, Missionary Societies, and organs. Organs were particularly anathema to the Primitive Party; an organ was Arron’s golden calf. The Big Cedar congregation divided into two congregations, but the two groups arrived at an amicable settlement and both congregations continued to use the same building. The Primitives, or Hardshells, had church there on the first and third Sabbath of each month, and the Modernists or Missionary Baptists used the church on the second and fourth Sundays. Each congregation had its own wood shed. The building is now maintained in connection with the Big Cedar Cemetery Association.

Governors James B. Ray, Noah Noble and David Wallace were known as the "Brookville Triumvirate," in that they all had lived in Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana and served consecutive terms in the office of Governor of Indiana. Noble and former governor Ray were political enemies.

James B. Goudie Jr. Speaker of the Indiana House was from Franklin County

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 391 square miles (1,014 km²), of which 386 square miles (1,000 km²) is land and 5 square miles (14 km²) (1.36%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Union County
East: Butler County, Ohio
South: Dearborn County
Southwest: Ripley County; Decatur County
Northwest: Rush County; Fayette County

Cities and Towns:

- Batesville	city	Incorporated Area
- Bath	township
- Blooming Grove	township
- Brookville (County Seat)	town	Incorporated Area
- Cedar Grove	town	Incorporated Area
- Fairfield	township
- Laurel	town	Incorporated Area
- Metamora	township
- Mount Carmel	town	Incorporated Area
- Oldenburg	town	Incorporated Area
- Posey	township
- Salt Creek	township
- Springfield	township
- West College Corner	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this 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."