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Washington County, Indiana

Washington County, Indiana

Washington County is a county located in the state of Indiana. As of 2000, the population is 27,223. The county seat is Salem6.

History

Early Settlers

As early as 1802, a man named Frederick Royce lived among the Ox Indians at a place know as the Lick, two miles east of Salem and is probably the first white man to inhabit this county. He was a hunter-trader and salt manufacturer. In 1803, Thomas Hopper was the first to settle in this county near Hardinsburg.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,338 km² (517 mi²). 1,332 km² (514 mi²) of it is land and 5 km² (2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.41% water.

Adjacent counties


- Jackson County (north)
- Scott County (northeast)
- Clark County (southeast)
- Floyd County (south [1])
- Harrison County (south [2])
- Crawford County (southwest)
- Orange County (west)
- Lawrence County (northwest)

Demographics

As of the census2 of 2000, there are 27,223 people, 10,264 households, and 7,585 families residing in the county. The population density is 20/km² (53/mi²). There are 11,191 housing units at an average density of 8/km² (22/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 98.75% White, 0.13% Black or African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.24% from other races, and 0.58% from two or more races. 0.73% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 10,264 households out of which 35.00% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.20% are married couples living together, 9.20% have a female householder with no husband present, and 26.10% are non-families. 22.20% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.00% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.62 and the average family size is 3.05. In the county the population is spread out with 26.50% under the age of 18, 8.70% from 18 to 24, 29.70% from 25 to 44, 23.00% from 45 to 64, and 12.00% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 100.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 97.20 males. The median income for a household in the county is $36,630, and the median income for a family is $42,618. Males have a median income of $29,929 versus $21,944 for females. The per capita income for the county is $16,748. 10.60% of the population and 7.30% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 13.30% of those under the age of 18 and 9.40% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Cities and towns


- Campbellsburg
- Fredericksburg
- Hardinsburg
- Little York
- Livonia
- New Pekin
- Salem
- Saltillo

Townships


- Brown
- Franklin
- Gibson
- Howard
- Jackson
- Jefferson
- Madison
- Monroe
- Pierce
- Polk
- Posey
- Vernon
- Washington

Other Communities


- Bartle
- Becks Mill
- Blue River
- Bunker Hill
- Canton
- Claysville
- Daisy Hill
- Farrabee
- Georgetown
- Haleysburg
- Harristown
- Hitchcock
- Kossuth
- Martinsburg
- McKinley
- Mt. Carmel
- New Liberty
- New Philadelphia
- Norris (Harristown)
- Organ Spring
- Plattsburg
- Prowsville
- Pumpkin Center
- Rosebud
- Rush Creek Valley
- Smedley
- South Boston

References


- American Legion Pekin Post 203, The. History of Pekin, Indiana (1959). The American Legion Pekin Post 203
- Everton Publishers, Inc, The. Handy book for Genealogists (1971). Everton Publishers, Inc, The
- History of Washington County 1884 (1884).
- Indiana Historical Commission. Indiana History Bulletin (August 1924). Wm. B. Burford Category:Indiana counties

County

Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count. Counts are called "earls" in post-Celtic Britain and Ireland - the term is from Old Norse jarl and was introduced by the Vikings - but there is no correlation between "county" and "earldom." Rather, the term "county," from French comté, was simply used by the Normans after 1066 to replace the native English term scir ("sheer") or "shire," in Modern English. A shire was an administrative division of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom (Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, etc.), usually named after its administrative centre (e.g., Gloucester > Gloucestershire, Worcester > Worcestershire, etc.). Thus, whereas the word comté denoted a sovereign jurisdiction in the original French, the English word "county" denotes a subdivision of a sovereign jurisdiction.

Overview

Australia

New South Wales

While New South Wales was divided into counties in the early days of the colony, often preceding European settlement, hundreds, parishes and counties became dead letters for most purposes other than the registration of land ownership, which, under the Torrens title system, is centralised in the state capital of Sydney. Sydney lies in the County of Cumberland. Local government is organised as municipalities for urban areas, and shires for rural areas. Large urban areas are called "cities".

Canada

shire Main article: Census division Five of Canada's ten provinces are divided into counties. In Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, these are local government units, whereas in Quebec and Prince Edward Island they are now only geographical divisions. Most counties consist of several municipalities, however there are a few that consist of a single large city. In sparsely populated northern Ontario and Quebec, these units are called districts not counties, and in densely populated areas of south-central Ontario new regional municipalities are used for local government instead of counties. See also:
- List of New Brunswick counties
- List of Nova Scotia counties
- List of Prince Edward Island counties
- List of Ontario counties
- List of Quebec counties
- List of Quebec county regional municipalities Divisions of the other provinces:
- In Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador, instead of counties, divisions are used. (Though Alberta has "counties," they are not equivalent to Census Divisions). See list of Alberta Census Divisions.
- In British Columbia, regional districts are used. (see List of British Columbia Regional Districts)
- The Yukon Territory is one district in itself
- The Northwest Territories and Nunavut are divided into districts. Statistics
- Census division statistics of Canada

China

Main article: County of China The word "county" is used to translate the Chinese term xiàn (县 or 縣). On Mainland China under the People's Republic of China, counties are the third level of local government, coming under both the province level and the prefecture level. On Taiwan, the streamlining of Taiwan Province has left the county the major governmental level below the Republic of China central government. The number of counties in China proper numbers about 2,000, and has remained more or less constant since the Han dynasty. The county remains one of the oldest levels of government in China and significantly predates the establishment of provinces in the Ming dynasty. The county government was particularly important in imperial China because this was the lowest layer at which the imperial government functioned. In older context, "prefecture" and "district" are alternative terms to refer to xiàn before the establishment of the Republic of China. The English nomenclature "county" was adopted following the establishment of the ROC. The head of a county is the magistrate. See also: Political divisions of China, Counties of Taiwan

Croatia

Counties have been units of regional self-government in Croatia since 1990. There are twenty counties and the city of Zagreb which has the same status. They are called županije and they are each headed by a župan (whose replacement is called a dožupan). See also: Counties of Croatia

Hungary

The administrative unit of Hungary is called megye, or in Latin: comitatus, which can be translated with the word county. Presently Hungary is subdivided into 19 "proper" counties, 22 city counties and 1 capital, Budapest. See the list of counties of Hungary. The comitatus was also the historic administrative unit in the Kingdom of Hungary, which included present-day neighboring countries of Hungary. See the list of historic counties of Hungary.

Ireland

The island of Ireland is divided into 32 counties, of which 26 later formed the Republic of Ireland and 6 made up Northern Ireland (for current status on Northern Irish counties, see under 'United Kingdom,' below). The counties are traditionally grouped into 4 provinces - Leinster (12), Munster (6) Connacht (5) and Ulster (9). Historically, the counties of Meath, West Meath and Dublin constituted the province of Meath - one of the "Five Fifths" of Ireland; but these have long since become the three northernmost counties of Leinster province. In the Republic each county is administered by an elected "county council", and the old provincial divisions are merely traditional names with no political significance. The number and boundaries of administrative counties in the Republic of Ireland were reformed in the 1990's. For example County Dublin was broken into three: Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin - the City of Dublin had existed for centuries before. In addition "County Tipperary" is actually two administrative counties, called North Tipperary and South Tipperary while the major urban centres Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford have been separated from the town and rural areas of their counties. Thus, though sometimes called the 'twenty-six counties', the Republic of Ireland now has thirty-four 'county-level' authorities. For almost all sporting, cultural and other purposes, the traditional 32 counties and 4 provinces remain in common usage. Each county has its own flag/colours (and often a nickname too), and county allegiances are taken quite seriously. See the counties of Ireland.

Japan

"County" is one of the translations of gun (郡), which is a subdivision of prefecture. It is also translated as rural district, rural area or district. The translation "district" is not preferred, because it comes into conflict with the usual translation of "district", chome. In this encyclopedia, district is used for gun. See Japanese translation note. Presently, "counties" have no political power or administrative function. The division is mainly significant in postal services.

Lithuania

Apskritis (pl. apskritys) is the Lithuanian word for county. Since 1994 Lithuania has 10 counties; before 1950 it had 20. The only purpose with the county is an office of a state governor who shall conduct law and order in the county. See counties of Lithuania.

New Zealand

After New Zealand abolished its provinces in 1876, a system of counties similar to other countries' systems was instituted, lasting until 1989. They had chairmen, not mayors as boroughs and cities had; many legislative provisions (such as burial and land subdivision control) were different for the counties. During the second half of the 20th century, many counties received overflow population from nearby cities. The result was often a merger of the two into a "district" (eg Rotorua) or a change of name to "district' (eg Waimairi) or "city" (eg Manukau). The Local Government Act 1974 began the process of bringing urban, mixed, and rural councils into the same legislative framework. Substantial reorganisations under that Act resulted in the 1989 shake-up, which covered the country in (non-overlapping) cities and districts and abolished all the counties except for the Chatham Islands County, which survived under that name for a further 6 years but then became a "Territory" under the "Chatham Islands Council".

Norway

Norway is divided into 19 counties (sing. fylke, plur. fylker, literally "folk") as of 1972. Up to this year Bergen was a separate county, but is today a municipality in the county of Hordaland. All counties are divided into municipalities, (sing. kommune, plur. kommuner), the ones with incorporated cities being called city municipalities (sing. bykommune, plur. bykommuner). The county of Oslo is equivalent to the municipality of Oslo. Each county has its own assembly (fylkesting) whose representatives are elected every 4 years together with representatives to the municipality councils. The counties handle matters as high schools and local roads, and until recently hospitals as well. This responsibility is now transferred to the state, and there is a debate on the future of the county as an administrative entity. Some people, and parties, such as the Conservatives, Høyre, call for the abolishment of the counties once and for all, while others merely want to merger some of them into larger regions.

Poland

Polish second-level administration unit powiat is usually translated into English as county or district. See also:
- List of counties in Poland
- List of counties in Poland by voivodships

Romania

The administrative subdivisions of Romania are called judeţ (plural: judeţe), name derived from jude, a mayor and judge of a city (akin to English judge; both are derived from Latin) Presently Romania is subdivided into 40 counties and the capital, Bucharest having a separate status. See the list of counties of Romania.

Serbia and Montenegro

Subdivisions of Serbia (okrug) are sometimes translated as counties, though more often as districts. See District#Serbia and Montenegro

Sweden

The Swedish division into counties was established in 1634, and was based on an earlier division into Provinces. Sweden is today divided into 21 counties, and each county is further divided into municipalities. At the county level there is a county administrative board led by a governor appointed by the central government of Sweden, as well as an elected county council that handles a separate set of issues, notably hospitals and public transportation. The Swedish term used is län, which literally means "fief."

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is divided into a number of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. There are also ceremonial counties and traditional counties which have no administrative function but exist as geographic areas. The metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties had replaced in 1974 a system of administrative counties which were introduced in 1889. Most non-metropolitan counties in England are run by county councils and divided into non-metropolitan districts, each with its own council. Local authorities in the UK are usually responsible for running education, emergency services, planning, transport, social services, and a number of other functions. In England, in the Anglo-Saxon period, Shires were established as areas used for the raising of taxes, and usually had a fortified town at their centre. These became known as the shire town or later the county town. In most cases, the shires were named after their shire town (for example Bedfordshire) however exceptions to this rule exist, such as Wiltshire. In several other cases, such as Devon the shire has a county town different from that which it is named after. The name 'county' was introduced by the Normans, and was derived from a Norman term for an area administered by a Count (lord). These Norman 'counties' were geographically based upon the Saxon shires, and kept their Saxon names. Several traditional counties, including Essex, Sussex and Kent, predate the unification of England by Alfred the Great, and originally existed as independent kingdoms. The thirteen traditional counties of Wales were fixed by Statute in 1539 (although counties such as Pembrokeshire date from 1138) and most of those of Scotland are of at least this age. The county boundaries of England have changed over time. In the mediæval period, a number of important cities were granted the status of counties in their own right, such as London, Bristol and Coventry, and numerous small exclaves such as Islandshire were created. The next major change occurred in 1844, when many of these exclaves were re-merged with their surrounding counties (for example Coventry was re-merged with Warwickshire). For centuries, the counties were used mainly for legal administration and tax raising. Modern local government did not come into being until 1889, when administrative counties (county councils) were created which were based upon the traditional county areas. In 1965 and 1974 a major re-organisation of local government created several new administrative counties such as Hereford and Worcester and also created several new metropolitan counties which served large urban areas as a single administrative unit. In 1986, however, the metropolitan county councils were abolished, and divided into a series of unitary authorities, although the counties still exist in name and for some administrative and ceremonial purposes. Traditionalists still refer to traditional counties for geographic purposes rather than administrative ones. Uniquely, the Isle of Wight is a unitary authority with county status. Modern local government in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and a large part of England is based on the concept of smaller unitary authorities, a system similar to that proposed for most of Britain in the 1960s. See also:
- Association of British Counties
- County Watch

United States

Main article: County (United States) County (United States) The term "county" is used in 48 of the 50 states of the United States for the tier of state government authority immediately below the statewide tier and above the township tier, in those states that sub-divided counties into civil townships. Each county contains a county seat, which is where county offices are located (this is usually, but not always, an incorporated municipality). In some states, counties are subdivided into townships, which typically provide some or all of the local government services provided by cities and towns. The State of Michigan additionally has "charter townships", which are self-governing townships that have many of the rights of a city but fewer of the responsibilities, e.g., a charter township can have its own police force but it can also opt merely to use the county sheriff's deputies; and whereas ordinary townships cannot refuse to release land that a neighbouring city wishes to annex, charter townships, by virtue of having a charter from the state, have right of refusal. In most western states, the county controls all unincorporated land within its boundaries. In states with a township tier, unincorporated land is controlled by the township. Residents of unincorporated land who are dissatisfied with county-level or township-level resource allocation decisions can incorporate as a city or village. In turn, depending on the state, the city or village government can then choose to provide all its own services, or provide only some and allow the county to provide the rest. Usually, the key difference between "city" and "village" is that a city must provide all of its own services and equivalent county authorities have no jurisdiction without the city's permision; while villages (which remain subject to township governments in those states that have them), being usually rural or semi-rural jurisdictions, are typically required to provide only those services that they can, with the rest being provided by the county or township. Lists of counties by state can be found through U.S. counties; for more comparative information on U.S. counties, see county statistics of the United States.

Exceptions in Louisiana and Alaska

Louisiana uses the term parishes and Alaska uses boroughs. The U.S. Census Bureau lists 3,141 counties or county-equivalent administrative units. The power of the county government varies widely from state to state as does the relationship between counties and incorporated municipal governments, but counties (parishes, boroughs) are always administrative divisions of the state and the power they exercise is state government power. Unlike cities, which are municipal corporations with a degree of sovereignty granted by the state, counties have no powers of their own but merely exercise powers of state government that have assigned to their jurisdiction, either by the state constitution or the state legislature.

New England

In New England, counties function primarily as judicial districts, as most local government is exercised by towns. In Connecticut and Rhode Island, they have even lost all governmental function and are solely geographic designations. Outside New England, counties typically maintain law enforcement agencies, public utilities, library systems, collect vital statistics and prepare, and/or process to the state, certificates of births, deaths, marriages, and dissolutions (divorce decrees). In some states, the county sheriff is the principal law enforcement officer in the county, usually limited to areas outside the jurisdiction of cities and towns. In parts of the U.S., counties are "policed" by sheriffs, and cities are policed by police. In other areas, county law enforcement is called "County Police" with county sheriffs providing court services.

Massachusetts

As of 2005, Massachusetts has terminated 6 of 14 County Governments and put these county governments under state control.

Independent Cities in the U.S.

In Virginia, all municipalities incorporated as cities are organized as separate political units that are not part of any county (i.e., independent cities). In Maryland, the city of Baltimore is independent of any county, and Baltimore County is a separate entity outside the city. In Missouri, the city of St Louis is independent of any county, and St Louis County is a separate entity outside the city. There are also a small number of independent cities (not part of any county) in other states. However, independent cities are the exception rather than the rule, as are metropolitan municipalities. (In addition, until November 7, 1997, the portion of Yellowstone National Park that was within Montana was not part of any county, but as of that date, that portion has been added to Gallatin County.) The City of Atlanta is planning to merge with Fulton County to become an independent city or a consolidated city.

Counties switching into Regional or Metropolitan Municipalities

Metropolitan municipalities are consolidated city and county governments, which simultaneously operate as administrative divisions of and subordinate to state power and as municipal corporations that exercise whatever degree of sovereignty the state government or constitution confers upon them. Examples are San Francisco, California, Denver, Colorado, Honolulu, Hawaii, Indianapolis, Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Nashville, Tennessee. The City of Greater New York is a unique metropolitan municipality in the world, being coextensive with five counties, each with their own administrative organs but all of them subject to one, integrated citywide government. With the exception of Denver and Broomfield, Colorado, both city and county councilors are the same.

County seats overlapping two or more counties

Some cities lie within two or more counties with state approval: Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; Columbus, Ohio; Kansas City, Missouri.

Atlanta and Fulton County

As Atlanta has grown, its relationship with Fulton County has become more complicated. Below are several plans for reconciliation.

Secession

One solution which has come up frequently during the 2000s is for north Fulton to secede, again becoming Milton County. This time it would include Roswell, as well as its original county seat of Alpharetta, and the neighborhood incorporated as Mountain Park. Some proposals call for it to include Sandy Springs as well, though it has always been in Fulton County and not in Milton. One of those proposals is being studied by a commission set up by the Georgia General Assembly during its 2005 session. Any change in Georgia's county borders requires the consent of any county whose territory is involved, and the state legislature. In addition, any attempt to divide Fulton would require a constitutional amendment to the Georgia state constitution, in order for more than 159 counties to exist.

Municipalization

Since the 1970s, the longest-running battle has been allowing Sandy Springs to incorporate. With over 80,000 residents, it is already one of the largest cities in the state. It has not become a city however, due to the fact that it will take at least 20 million dollars away from the county every year, which will not be offset by the services the new city would take over. In 2005, the legislature finally allowed a referendum on the matter, and on June 21 Sandy Springs residents voted 94% in favor of incorporation. The new city will take over on the first day of 2006, though the county will continue to provide most services under contract through sometime in 2007. Since 2004, municipalization of the entire county is also being considered, which would incorporate every area into a city. This would esentially eliminate the county's home rule powers (granted in the 1960s) to act as a municipality in unincorporated areas, and return it to being entirely a local extension of state government. At least one proposal would create several small cities, even where there are no longer towns to base them in. If Milton were to become a county again, incorporating the relatively undeveloped northern and eastern corners of it would eliminate the need for much new government for a new county, though it would also create a need for two new city governments, possibly without a large enough tax base to support one or either of them. Incorporating the southwest of the county (formerly part of Campbell County) would be difficult, as the cities are really only smaller towns, and the unincorporated areas are quite large and not necessarily near any of them.

Other options

Other options which may be considered:
- Under current Georgia law, the city of Atlanta could merge government with Fulton County's, becoming a consolidated city-county. This could be complicated by the fact that part of Atlanta is in another county, and by the presence of other large cities in Fulton.
- Consolidation could also occur by reducing Fulton County down to only Atlanta, or to Atlanta and its immediate neighbors, leaving no unincorporated areas. This would also put the Atlanta-in-DeKalb area into Fulton, and require two new counties in the north and southwest.
- Atlanta could be made an independent city and if possible, they may change the official city name as The Corporation of Fulton County(simply as City of Fulton County), taking it out of both Fulton and DeKalb entirely. This would be difficult until more urban development can improve the city's tax base, and until the state begins to give significant support for MARTA and Grady Hospital (which serve the entire metro area but are paid for almost entirely by the city and county). Doing this would split Fulton County, requiring the remaining parts to become another two counties.
- Extraterritorial jurisdiction could be allowed, though statutory restrictions on the distance this could extend from an existing city may make it difficult to reach the far corners of the unusually-shaped and very unevenly-populated county. ETJ could also become a problem if boundaries are not organized and agreed upon at the beginning, which could spark further confusion and political discord if it becomes a first-come, first-served situation. ETJ is also mainly a zoning function, and thus may not be a complete solution.
- A different type of municipal or civil division could be created, such as a town or township. This could give independent local boards certain ETJ-like powers, but unlike a new city still allow for annexation by existing cities. This option could be politically complicated, as it would make a change which would likely have a statewide effect. The only neighboring state with townships is North Carolina, where they are considered county divisions.
- With the approval of the legislature, the far ends of the county could join other counties with their consent. The north end could rejoin Forsyth County, bringing the heavy business tax base of Alpharetta into the heavily-residential and still largely rural exurban county. The largely-undeveloped southwest end could rejoin with Douglas County, as they were originally under Campbell County. Some of those options (except the first two and last) would also require an amendment passed by two-thirds of both the state house and senate, and a statewide referendum. Most have not yet been widely discussed, though the idea of consolidation has recently been mentioned by at least one state legislator.

Notes

# [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=county&searchmode=none Etymology of the word county.]

References

Category:Subnational entities
- simple:County

Indiana

:This article is about the U.S. state. See also Indiana, Pennsylvania (U.S.) and Indiana, São Paulo (Brazil.) Indiana, meaning the "Land of the Indians," is a state of the United States of America. Its capital is Indianapolis. The U.S. postal abbreviation for the state is IN. A resident of Indiana is called a Hoosier (which is also the name used for a student of Indiana University, Bloomington). The USS Indiana was named in honor of this state.

History

The area of Indiana has been settled since before the development of the Hopewell culture (ca. 100–400 CE). It was part of the Mississippian culture from roughly 1000CE up to the conventional end of Mississippian dating ("contact with Europeans"). The specific Native American tribes that inhabited this territory at that time were primarily the Miami and the Shawnee. The area was claimed for New France in the 17th century, handed over to the Kingdom of Great Britain as part of the settlement at the end of the French and Indian War, given to the United States after the American Revolution, soon after which it became part of the Northwest Territory, then the Indiana Territory, and joined the Union in 1816 as the 19th state.

Law and Government

The current governor of Indiana is Mitch Daniels, whose campaign slogan was "My Man Mitch." He was elected to office on November 2, 2004. The state's U.S. senators are B. Evans "Evan" Bayh III (Democrat) and Richard G. Lugar (Republican). Indiana is considered by many to be one of the more conservative states in the Midwest. Since it supported Lyndon B. Johnson over Barry Goldwater in 1964, Indiana has not backed a single Democratic presidential candidate. However, half of Indiana's governors in the 20th century were Democrats. Former Governor and current U.S. Senator Evan Bayh is an all-but-announced canidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. His middle-of-the-road record and attention to constituencies has been well-received by Indiana voters. His father was a three-term Senator with a liberal record.

Geography

Evan Bayh Indiana is bounded on the north by Lake Michigan and the state of Michigan, on the east by Ohio, on the south by Kentucky with which it shares the Ohio River as a border, and on the west by Illinois. Indiana is one of the Great Lakes states. The 475 mile long Wabash River bisects the state from northeast to southwest and has given Indiana two theme songs, the state song On the Banks of the Wabash as well as The Wabash Cannonball. The White River (a tributary of the Wabash, which is a tributary of the Ohio) zigzags through central Indiana. Indianapolis and Muncie are large cities on this river. Evansville, the third largest city in Indiana, is located on the Ohio River, which forms all of the Indiana-Kentucky border. Northern Indiana is mostly farmland; however, the northwest corner of the state is part of the greater metropolitan area of Chicago and is therefore more densely populated. Gary, a city on Lake Michigan, is effectively a suburb of Chicago, even though it is in Indiana. The Kankakee River, which winds through Northern Indiana, serves somewhat as a demarcating line between rural and suburban northwest Indiana. Southern Indiana is a mixture of farmland and forest. The Hoosier National Forest is a 200,000 acre nature preserve near Bedford. Southern Indiana generally contains more hills and geographic variation than the northern portion.

Economy

Hoosier National Forest The total gross state product in 2003 was $214 billion. Indiana's per capita income, as of 2003, was $28,783. Indiana is located well within the Corn Belt, and the state's agricultural methods and principal farm outputs reflect this: a feedlot-style system raising corn, to fatten hogs and cattle. Soybeans are also a major cash crop. The state's nearness to large urban centers, such as Chicago, Illinois, also assures that much dairying, egg production, and specialty horticulture occur. Specialty crops include melons (southern Wabash Valley), tomatoes (concentrated in central Indiana), grapes, and mint (Source: USDA crop profiles). In addition, Indiana is a significant producer of tobacco. It should be remembered that most of the original land was not prairie and had to be cleared of deciduous trees. Many isolated parcels of woodland remain, and much of the southern, hilly portion is heavily forested (a condition which supports a local furniture-making sector in that part of the state). A high percentage of Indiana's GDP comes from manufacturing. The Calumet region of northwest Indiana is the largest steel producing area in the USA, and this activity also requires that very large amounts of electric power be generated. Indiana's other manufactures include automobiles, electrical equipment, transportation equipment, chemical products, rubber, petroleum and coal products, and factory machinery. In addition, Indiana has the international headquarters of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly as well as the headquarters of Mead Johnson Nutritionals, a division of Bristol-Myers Squibb. Bristol-Myers Squibb Despite it's reliance on manufacturing, Indiana has been much less hit by declines in traditional Rust Belt manufactures than many of its neighbors. The explanation appears to be certain factors in the labor market. First, much of the heavy manufacturing, such as industrial machinery and steel, requires highly skilled labor, and firms are often willing to locate where hard-to-train skills already exist. Second, Indiana's labor force is located primarily in medium-sized and smaller cities rather than in very large and expensive metropolises. This makes it possible for firms to offer, and labor accept, somewhat lower wages for these skills than would normally be paid. In other words, firms often see in Indiana a chance to obtain higher than average skills at lower than average wages for those skills, which often makes location in the state desirable. (Source for basic manufacturing facts in the above two paragraphs is generally McCoy and McNamara, "Manufacturers in Indiana," Purdue University Center for Rural Development, Research Paper 19, July 1998.) In mining Indiana is probably best known for its decorative limestone from the southern, hilly portion of the state, especially from around Bedford (the home area of Apollo I astronaut Gus Grissom). One of the many public buildings faced with this stone is The Pentagon, and after the attack of September 11, 2001, a special effort was made by the mining industry of Indiana to replace those damaged walls with as nearly identical type and cut of material as the original facing. There are also large coal mines in the southern portion of the state. Like most Great Lakes states Indiana has small to medium operating petroleum fields; the principal location of these today is in extreme southwest. Indiana's economy is considered to be one of the most business-friendly states in the U.S. This is due in part to it's conservative business climate, low business taxes, and many labor laws that have remained unchanged since the 1800s, emphasizing the supremacy of employer/management. The doctrine of at-will employment, where an employer can terminate an employee for any or no reason, is firmly ensconced in Indiana. Unions in Indiana are among the weakest in the U.S. and it is difficult for unions to organize. It has been said that Indiana is a post-industrial state with a pre-Industrial Revolution mindset regarding the rights of workers. With isolated exceptions in university areas such as Bloomington and Lafayette, technology has been slow to catch on in Indiana, in part to Hoosiers' traditional, well-known resistance to change. Most political leaders at the state level continue to emphasize the state's past economic base of manufacturing and farming.

Demographics

As of 2004, the population of Indiana was estimated to be 6,237,569. This includes about 229,000 foreign-born (3.7%). Racially, the state is:
- 85.8% White
- 8.4% Black
- 3.5% Hispanic
- 1% Asian
- 0.3% Native American
- 1.2% Mixed race The five largest ancestries in the state are: German (22.7%), American (12%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.9%), African American (8.4%). German is the largest ancestry reported in Indiana, with almost one-in-four whites reporting German ancestry in the Census. Persons of American and British ancestry are also present throughout the state, especially in the southern and central parts of the state. Gary and the surrounding Chicago suburbs, along with the city of Indianapolis, have large black populations. South Bend has a large Polish population and there are a sizeable number of people with Belgian ancestry in Mishawaka. Dyngus Day, the Polish celebration of the end of Lent, takes place on the Monday after Easter and is widely celebrated in South Bend. A large Hispanic/Latino population has swelled in Elkhart County, particularly the north side of the city of Goshen. This formerly German- and Dutch-dominated area now has a high concentration of Hispanic (particularly Mexican)-oriented businesses and many official signs in the area are bilingual. Population growth since 1990 has been extremely concentrated in the counties surrounding Indianapolis, with four of the top five fastest-growing counties in that area: Hamilton, Hendricks, Johnson, and Hancock. The other county is Dearborn County, which is near Cincinnati. Meanwhile, population decline has primarily been in a series of counties that geographically form a line between Logansport and Richmond. Most of these counties were at the heart of the Gas Belt. There were also three counties along the Wabash River and the Ohio River that experienced decline, these were Vigo, Knox, and Perry.

Religion

Religiously, Indiana is predominantly Protestant, although there is also a significant Roman Catholic population. The Catholic presence is perhaps better known than its size would imply due to the existence of the University of Notre Dame. Indiana is home to a moderate proportion of Mennonite and Amish Christians, particularly in Elkhart and LaGrange Counties in the north, and Parke County in the west, and the state has the nation's largest population of members of the Protestant "Churches of Christ" denomination. The current religious affiliations of the people of Indiana are shown below:
- Christian – 82%
  - Protestant – 62%
    - Baptist – 15%
    - Methodist – 10%
    - Lutheran – 6%
    - Church of Christ – 5%
    - Pentecostal – 3%
    - Mennonite/Pietist – 1%
    - Other Protestant – 23%
  - Roman Catholic – 19%
  - Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious – 17%

Important Cities and Towns

Education

Colleges and Universities

Professional Sports Teams

Time Zones

Roman Catholic Most of Indiana has historically exempted itself from the observation of daylight saving time (DST). Some counties within this area, particularly Floyd, Clark, and Harrison counties near Louisville, Kentucky, and Ohio and Dearborn counties near Cincinnati, Ohio, observe daylight saving time unofficially and illegally by local custom. In addition, Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton, and Jasper counties in the nortwest and Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick, and Spencer counties in the southwest are in the Central time zone and remain subject to daylight saving time. The history of this unique arrangement is fairly convoluted. From 1918 until 1961, at which time authority under the various Standard Time Acts was in the Interstate Commerce Commission, the dividing line between Eastern and Central Standard Time was approximately the eastern boundary line of the State of Indiana. In 1961 after hearings, the Interstate Commerce Commission adjusted the boundary line between Eastern and Central so that the line essentially split Indiana down the middle. In 1967, the Governor of Indiana petitioned the United States Department of Transportation to have the entire state of Indiana placed on Central Time. Instead, the time line was fixed in a position where all but 10 counties in western Indiana were placed in the Eastern Time Zone, but dispensation was given to allow a state to exempt an entire time zone bloc within the state from observance of Daylight Saving Time. Technically, during the summer months, this meant most of Indiana was on Eastern Standard Time, but functionally most of the state was on Central Daylight Time. Due to this confusion, the state passed a bill in 2005 whereby the entire state is to begin observing daylight saving time starting in April 2006. Counties would remain under their current time zones, but the bill also asks the federal Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over time zones, to reconsider whether more counties should switch to the Central zone. The counties that petitioned for Central Time were St. Joseph, Starke, Marshall, Pulaski, Fulton, White, Cass, Benton and Carroll in the northern part of the state; Fountain and Vermillion counties in the central part of the state; and Sullivan, Knox, Daviess, Martin, Lawrence, Pike, Dubois, and Perry counties in the southern part of the state. As of October 25, 2005, the USDOT had tentatively proposed that only St. Joseph, Starke, Knox, Pike, and Perry Counties move from the Eastern to the Central time zone. [http://dms.dot.gov/search/document.cfm?documentid=360876&docketid=22114]

Miscellaneous Information


- State bird: Cardinal
- State flower: Peony
- State motto: "Crossroads of America."
- State poem: [http://www.in.gov/sic/about/emblems/state_poem.html Indiana], by Arthur Franklin Mapes
- State song: On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away
- State river: Wabash
- State stone: Salem limestone
- State tree: Tulip tree Indiana is the home state of a large number of astronauts, including such notables as "Gus" Grissom and Frank Borman. Many other astronauts, including Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan, were graduates of Purdue University in West Lafayette ([http://www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/history/space_program/hoosier_astronauts.html]). Neil Armstrong's Purdue class ring may be the only such object that has ever traveled to the moon and back.

Natural Resources

There are 24 Indiana state parks, nine man-made reservoirs, and hundreds of lakes in the state.

External Links


- [http://www.in.gov Indiana government home page] :
- [http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/emblems/index.html Indiana state emblems]
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/18000.html U.S. Census Bureau]
- [http://www.usnewspapers.org/state/indiana Indiana Newspapers]
- Category:States of the United States ko:인디애나 주 ja:インディアナ州 simple:Indiana th:มลรัฐอินดีแอนา

2000

This article is about the year 2000. For other uses of 2000, see 2000 (number) or 2000 (breakdancing move). 2000 (MM) is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. Popular culture also holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium. By strict interpretation of the Gregorian Calendar, however, this distinction falls to the year 2001. This is due to the fact that the first century began with the year 1, and there does not exist a year zero. The first century (or first 100 years AD) was from January 1, in the year one (1 AD) through December 31, in the year one-hundred (100 AD). The second century began on January 1, in the year one-hundred and one (101 AD). The year 2000 is also marked as:
- The International Year for a Culture of Peace.
- The World Mathematical Year. See also Wikipedia's almanac of events for this year.

Events

January


- January 1 - Millennium celebrations take place throughout the world. Y2K passes without the serious, widespread computer failures and malfunctions that had been predicted.
- January 5-January 8 - The 2000 al-Qaida Summit
- January 6 - The last remaining Pyrenean Ibex is found dead.
- January 10 - America On-line announces an agreement to buy Time Warner for $162 billion. This is the largest-ever corporate merger.
- January 11 - the armed wing of Islamic Salvation Front concludes its negotiations with the government for an amnesty and disbands in Algeria.
- January 11 - The trawler Solway Harvester sinks off the Isle of Man.
- January 14 - A United Nations tribunal sentences five Bosnian Croats up to 25 years for the 1993 killing of over 100 Bosnian Muslims in a Bosnian village.
- January 16 - In Sacramento, California a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the state capitol building killing the driver.
- January 24 - God's Army, Karen militia group led by twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, take 700 hostages at a Thai hospital near the Burmese border.
- January 30 - St. Louis Rams 23 defeat the Tennessee Titans 16 to win the Super_Bowl_XXXIV
- January 30 - Off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169. Within a day, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashes off the California coast into the Pacific Ocean, killing 88.
- January 31 - Dr. Harold Shipman in sentenced to life in prison for murder of at least 15 of his patients out of 365 suspected victims.

February


- February 4 - German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with sabotage of German railway lines.
- February 6 - Tarja Halonen is elected the first Finnish female president.
- February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published.
- February 14 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker entered orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

March


- March 1 - The Constitution of Finland is rewritten.
- March 2 - Hans Blix assumes the position of Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC.
- March 8 - Tokyo train disaster.
- March 9 - FBI arrests suspected purveyor of art forgeries, Ely Sakhai, in New York City.
- March 10 - The NASDAQ Composite Index reaches an all-time high of 5048. ([http://dynamic.nasdaq.com/dynamic/IndexChart.asp?symbol=IXIC&desc=NASDAQ+Composite&sec=nasdaq&site=nasdaq&months=84])
- March 18 - 2000 Taiwanese presidential election: Chen Shui-bian is elected President of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
- March 20 - Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther, is captured after gun battle that left a sheriff's deputy dead.
- March 21 - Pope John Paul II began the first office visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to Israel.
- March 21 - US Supreme Court ruled the goverment lacked authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug, throwing out the Clinton administration's main anti-smoking initiative.
- March 26 - Presidential elections in Russia: Vladimir Putin elected President.
- March 30 - America's Cup 2000 retained by Team New Zealand near Auckland. Prada Challenge 2000 lost 0-5 in a "best-of-9".

April

April.]]
- April 1 - Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi suffers a stroke and falls into a coma.
- April 3 - United States v. Microsoft: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.
- April 5 - Yoshiro Mori replaces Obuchi as prime minister of Japan.
- April 7 - Attack submarine ex-Trepang completes being recycled.
- April 16 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, Raja of Perlis dies after a reign of 55 years. He was the longest reigning monarch in the world since the death of Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein.
- April 17 - Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin becomes Raja of Perlis.
- April 22 - In a predawn raid, federal agents seize six-year old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida and fly him to his Cuban father in Washington, DC ending one of the most publicized custody battles in US history.
- April 25 - The State of Vermont passes HB847, legalizing Civil Unions for same-sex couples.

May


- May 3 - A rare conjunction occurs on the New Moon including all seven of the traditional celestial bodies known from ancient times up until 1781 with the discovery of Uranus. The May 2000 conjunction consisted of: the Sun and Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
- May 3 - Computer pioneer Datapoint Corporation files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- May 12 - The Tate Modern opens in London.
- May 13 - In Enschede a heavy fireworks explosion kills 20 and leaves an entire neighborhood in ruins.
- May 18 - Boo.com collapses due to lack of funds after six months.
- May 25 - Israel withdraws IDF troops from southern Lebanon after 22 years.
- May 28 - The volcano Mount Cameroon erupts.

June


- June 1 - Mark Mendlan, professional wrestler known by his ring name "Kid Gorgeous," is killed while wrestling at a show in New Hampshire.
- June 7 - U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson of the 4th circuit ordered the breakup of Microsoft Corp.
- June 10 - The New Jersey Devils defeat the Dallas Stars 4 games to 2 to win the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals.
- June 10 - The 2000 European Football Championship begins, hosted jointly by Belgium and the Netherlands.
- June 21 - Section 28, a law preventing the promotion of homosexuality is repealed by the Scottish Parliament.
- June 23 - Palace Backpackers Hostel fire in Childers, Queensland, Australia, kills 15 people.
- June 30 - During a set of the band Pearl Jam at the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen, 9 die and 26 are injured in the crowd.

July

July
- July 2 - France beat Italy 2-1 to win the 2000 European Football Championship with a golden goal.
- July 2 - Presidential election of Mexico. Vicente Fox wins the Presidency as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party).
- July 10 - In southern Nigeria, a leaking petroleum pipeline explodes killing about 250 villagers who were scavenging gasoline
- July 10 - Death of Denis O Conor Donn, died 10th July 2000, aged 88; succeded by his son, Desmond as The O Connor Donn
- July 18 - Alex Salmond resigns as the leader of the Scottish National Party
- July 25 - A Concorde carrying Air France Flight 4590 crashes just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 5 on the ground.

August


- August 1 - The Santa Cruz Operation announced that it will sell its Server Software and Services Divisions, as well as UnixWare and OpenServer technologies, to Caldera Systems,Inc.
- August 8 - Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor.
- August 12 - The Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.
- August 14 - The first comic of Megatokyo goes online. This webcomic will later become one of the most popular comics on the web (in terms of page views) and spawn numerous imitators.
- August 25 - the Emulex hoax - wire services publish fraudulent bad news about Emulex
- August 27 - The Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.

September


- September 5 - Tuvalu joins the United Nations.
- September 6 - In New York City, the United Nations Millennium Summit begins with more than 180 world leaders present.
- September 6 - The last wholly Swedish-owned arms manufacturer, Bofors, is sold to American arms manufacturer United Defense
- September 7–14 - The UK fuel protests take place, with refineries blockaded, and supply to the country's network of petrol stations halted.
- September 8 - Albania officially joins the World Trade Organization.
- September 15 - The 2000 Summer Olympics are opened in Sydney, Australia.
- September 16 - Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze is last seen alive; this day is taken as the commemoration date of his death.
- September 24 - The American Family Association begins lobbying the U.S. Congress to eradicate the National Endowment for the Arts for funding the controversial book One of the Guys by Robert Clark Young
- September 26 - Anti-globalization protests in Prague (some 15,000 protesters) turned violent during the IMF and World Bank summits.
- September 28 - Ariel Sharon leads several hundred armed Israelis in a visit to the Temple Mount. Palestinian civil disorder increases into the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
- September 29 - The Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland is closed.

October


- October 2 NBC Today Show expanded it to three hours (7:00–10:00 A.M. Eastern Time/Pacific Time; 6:00–9:00 A.M. Central Time/Mountain Time)
- October 5 - President Slobodan Milošević leaves office after widespread demonstrations throughout Serbia and the withdrawal of Russian support.
- October 11 - 250 million gallons of coal sludge spill in Martin County, Kentucky. Considered a greater environmental disaster than the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
- October 12 - In Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole is badly damaged by two suicide bombers who placed a small boat laden with explosives along-side the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.
- October 21 15 Arab leaders convened in Cairo, Egypt, for their first summit in four years; the Libyan delegation walked out, angry over signs the summit would stop short of calling for breaking ties with Israel.
- October 22 – Mainichi Shinbun exposes Japanese archeologist Shinichi Fujimura as a fraud; Japanese archaeologists had based their treatises of his findings.
- October 26 - Pakistani authorities announce that their police have found an apparently ancient mummy of a persian princess in the province of Baluchistan. Iran, Pakistan and the Taliban all claim the mummy until Pakistan announces it is a forgery in April 17 2001
- October 31 - Singapore Airlines Flight 006 collides with construction equipment in the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport - 83 dead.
- October 31 - The last Jeremy clone has shut down.

November

November
- November - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq rejects new U.N. Security Council weapons inspections proposals
- November 1 - Yugoslavia's new democratic government joined the United Nations after eight years of U.N. ostracism under former strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
- November 3 - Widespread flooding throughout England and Wales after days of heavy rain
- November 4 - President Clinton vetoed a bill that would have criminalized the leaking of government secrets.
- November 7 - U.S. presidential election, 2000: Republican challenger George W. Bush defeats Democrat Vice President Al Gore, but the final outcome is not known for over a month because of disputed votes in Florida.
- November 7 - Criminal gang raids the Millennium Dome to steal The Millennium Star diamond but police surveillance catches them in the act
- November 7 - Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first First Lady of the United States to win public office
- November 11 - Kaprun disaster, Austria, where 155 skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel.
- November 13 - Richard C. Duncan presents his paper, "The Peak Of World Oil Production And The Road To The Olduvai Gorge", on the Olduvai theory (about the collapse of the industrial civilization), at the Summit 2000 Pardee Keynote Symposia of the Geological Society of America)
- November 14 - Netscape version 6.0 is launched following two years of open source development creating a stable Mozilla web browser upon which it is based
- November 16 - Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting US President to visit Vietnam
- November 17 - Catastrophical landslide in Log pod Mangartom,Slovenia, kills 7, and causes millions of SIT of damage. It is one of the worst catastrophies in Slovenia in the past 100 years.
- November 17 - Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru
- November 27 - Canada - Parliamentary elections - Jean Chrétien re-elected as Prime Minister as Liberal Party increases majority in House of Commons
- November 28 - Ukrainian politician Oleksander Moroz touches off the Cassette Scandal by publicly accusing President Leonid Kuchma of involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

December


- December 1 - Mexico - Vicente Fox becomes the first opposition President to take office since Francisco I. Madero in 1911. He wins the Presidency as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party).
- December 28 - U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.
- December 30 - Rizal Day Bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines, within a span of a few hours killing 22 and injuring about a hundred.

Unknown Date


- Limited reintroduction of routinely armed police in the UK for the first time since 1936.
- Scientists at University of Szeged's laboratory were first in the world to produce artificial heredity material.
- Millie I. Webb elected president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Births


- February 23 - Max & Sam Christy, American actors
- March 15- Amy and Emily Walton, English actresses
- April 25 - Jacob & Joshua Rips, American actors
- October 6 - Amanda Pace, American actress
- October 20 - Cooper and Oliver Guynes, American actors
- November 8 - Madison and Marissa Poer, actresses

Deaths

January


- January 2 - Patrick O'Brian, English writer (b. 1914)
- January 15 - Fran Ryan, American actress (b. 1916)
- January 19 - Bettino Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1934)
- January 19 - Hedy Lamarr, Austrian actress (b. 1913)

February


- February 9 - Beau Jack, American boxer (b. 1921)
- February 11 - Roger Vadim, French film director (b. 1928)
- February 12 - Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins, American musician (b. 1929)
- February 12 - Tom Landry, American football coach (b. 1924)
- February 12 - Charles M. Schulz, American comic strip artist (b. 1921)
- February 23 - Sir Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)

April


- April 6 - Habib Bourguiba, President of Tunisia (b. 1903)
- April 16 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, King of Malaysia (b. 1920)
- April 25 - David Merrick, American stage producer (b. 1911)
- April 29 - Phạm Văn Ðồng, Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1906)

May


- May 11 - Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (b. 1907)
- May 12 - Adam Petty, American race car driver (b. 1980)
- May 14 - Keizo Obuchi, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
- May 17 - Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1909)
- May 19 - Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center for a county. In the U.S. New England states and the Canadian Maritime Provinces, the term "shire town" is also used, but officially so only in Vermont. In England, Wales and Ireland, the term county town is used. This term is probably still used colloquially in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but today neither are divided into counties - instead being divided, respectively, into regions and districts. Counties are called "parishes" in Louisiana and Alaska is divided into "boroughs" (here, meaning a very large district or region of the state). Their seats of county government are called "parish seat" and "borough seat," respectively. The Canadian province of Ontario, in addition to counties, also has territorial districts, regional muncipalities, and at least one metropolitan municipality, which are effectively different types of counties in that they perform county government functions. In America as in England and Canada, a county is an administrative division of a state which has no sovereign jurisdiction of its own, so it would not be correct to say that a county seat is equivalent to a capital city since it's just an administrative centre. (See also the article, Counties of the United States.) Counties administer state or provincial law at the local level as part of the decentralisation of state/provincial authority. In many U.S. states, state government is further decentralised by dividing counties into townships, to provide local government services to residents of the county who do not live in incorporated cities or towns. A county seat is often, but not always, an incorporated municipality. The county courthouse and county administration are usually located in the county seat, but some functions may also be conducted in other parts of the county, especially if it is geographically large. Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Mississippi have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of the county. An example is Harrison County, Mississippi, which lists both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats. The practice of multiple county towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement since a county seat is a source of pride (and jobs) for the towns involved. In Virginia, all cities are independent cities, which are legally distinct from the counties that surround them. An independent city interacts with the commonwealth (state) government directly whereas villages and other local government authorities do so through the county government apparatus. However, many of Virginia's independent cities act as the county seat for their neighbouring counties. For example, the City of Fairfax is separate from Fairfax County, but is still the county's seat. Uniquely, because it was formerly part of the District of Columbia, Arlington County, Virginia, which is the smallest county in the United States, has no county seat - because it has no muncipalities within its boundaries. Prior to their retrocession to Virginia during the nineteenth century, Arlington and the neighboring independent city of Arlington were, respectively, Arlington County and Alexandria County - two of the three counties of the District of Columbia. The District as currently drawn was coextensive with the County of Washington, which disappeared in the twentieth century following the amalgamation of Tenley, Anacostia and the other rural and semi-rural towns and villages of Washington County, D.C., to the City of Washington.

References

Category:Capitals Category:U.S. counties ja:郡庁所在地

Salem, Indiana

Salem is a city located in Washington County, Indiana. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 6,172. The city is the county seat of Washington County.

History

Morgan's Raid

Morgan's Raid reached Salem on July 10, 1863, coming north from Corydon, Indiana. They entered the town at nine o'clock in the morning and departed a three o'clock in the afternoon. Upon entering Salem they immediately took possession of the town and placed guards over the stores and streets. They burned the large brick depot along with all the cars on the track and the railroad bridges on each side of the town. They demanded taxes from the two flour mills that belonged to DePaw and Knight and from the Allen Wollen Mill. Morgan's men looted stores and took about 500 from the area. Of the action at Salem, Colonel Basil Duke, a Morgan staff officer said: "They did not pillage with any sort of method or reason; it seemed to be a mania, senseless and purposeless. One man carried for two days a bird cage containing three canaries. Another rode with a huge chafing dish on the pommel of his saddle. Although the weather was intensely warm, another slung seven pairs of skates around his neck. I saw very few articles of real value taken; they pillaged like boys robbing an orchard."

Famous Residents

Birth Place of Secretary of State John Hay. Roy Robertson invented the process for making 2% milk while working at the Salem Creamery where it was first produced and marketed.

Geography

Salem is located at 38°36'15" North, 86°5'56" West (38.604124, -86.098801). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.1 km² (3.9 mi²). 10.1 km² (3.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.51% water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 6,172 people, 2,555 households, and 1,635 families residing in the city. The population density is 612.6/km² (1,586.8/mi²). There are 2,745 housing units at an average density of 272.5/km² (705.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 98.74% White, 0.03% African American, 0.21% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.08% from other races, and 0.70% from two or more races. 0.42% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 2,555 households out of which 29.2% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.4% are married couples living together, 12.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 36.0% are non-families. 32.1% of all households are made up of individuals and 15.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.29 and the average family size is 2.84. In the city the population is spread out with 22.4% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 19.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 86.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 83.0 males. The median income for a household in the city is $29,256, and the median income for a family is $37,179. Males have a median income of $27,521 versus $21,952 for females. The per capita income for the city is $16,299. 11.6% of the population and 8.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 14.6% of those under the age of 18 and 5.7% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line. Salem, Indiana is a quiet, small town in Southern Indiana, surrounded by rolling