Connersville, Indiana

City of Connersville, Indiana
City
Central Avenue in Downtown Connersville
FIPS code		18-14932[3]
GNIS feature ID	2393620[2]
Website	Fayette County/ Connersville Website

Connersville is a city in

, 26 miles (42 km) to the northeast by road. Connersville is home to the county's only high school. The local economy relies on manufacturing, retail, and healthcare to sustain itself. However, there has been a consistent decline in both employment and population since the 1960s, placing it among the least affluent areas in the state, as indicated by measures such as median household income and other economic indicators.

The city is among the oldest cities in Indiana and the former Indiana Territory, having been established in 1813 by its namesake, John Conner.

History

Connersville is named for settler John Conner, older brother of William Conner, an early Indiana settler and politician.^[5] There was also, at least through 1795, Connerstown, a small Shawnee village near Lancaster, Ohio, named for John's father, Richard Conner.

Whitewater Valley and pre-European inhabitants

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The Whitewater River Valley running north-south through eastern Indiana and southwestern Ohio was created by the Late

ending 13,600 years ago. Fayette County was at the southern fringe of the glaciation at that time. The Ice Age was punctuated by several prolonged warm periods during which the glaciers disappeared entirely from the temperate latitudes and a climate similar to today or even warmer prevailed. The flood waters produced resulted in lakes; breaching of the lakes resulted in rivers and streams carving the hills and valleys we see today.

In the

for their characteristic large burial mounds still in evidence today.

The geological aspects of the Whitewater River Valley contributed to early settlement after defeat of the Delaware Indians by Gen.

.

Conner's Post

John Conner, his brother William, and others arrived in the Whitewater Valley from south central Ohio in 1802, establishing a fur trading post in an unpopulated area near what was later to become

in 1803) which included all of what is today Fayette County. Conner obtained title to his plat in 1811.

First 50 years – through the Civil War

The exodus of the Delaware Indians from Indiana after the War of 1812, completed by June 1813, deprived John Conner of his field for trading. After 1812, Indian resistance to settlement in the Indiana Territory became nearly non-existent, so Conner busied himself with another task.

John Conner laid out the town on the north side of the west fork of the

in March 1813, adjacent to the fur trading post. The original plat was for 62 lots bounded by what are today Central Avenue to the west and Water Street to the east, Third Street to the south, and Sixth Street to the north. The first constructions in the town were a saw mill and grist mill north of town utilizing water power, and a general store and distillery in town. The influx of settlers was initially sparse – as late as 1815, there were only four cabins in the town. The boundary lines for Fayette County were established in December 1818, and Connersville was chosen as the county seat.

Conner served briefly as sheriff of the newly organized Fayette County. In 1820, John Conner helped plat the new capital of Indianapolis, and in 1822 relocated his fur trading business to Noblesville, north of Indianapolis. He also served as state senator and representative. He died in Indianapolis in April 1826 and was buried there. No trace remains of his grave.

The first post office in Connersville opened in January, 1818.

.

For many years prior to the Civil War, and even for some time after, the main industries of the town were milling, pork packing, and woolen manufacturing.

In 1857, a separate village, East Connersville, was platted on the south bank of the west fork of the Whitewater River, and had its own government. It was annexed by Connersville some time in the 1920s.

Early growth – pre-industrial age

The Roots blower, a type of air turbine, was invented by the Roots brothers in Connersville in the 1850s, patented in 1859, and manufactured in Connersville for over 150 years.

The town of Connersville became a chartered city in June 1869, and William H. Beck was chosen as its first mayor. The first high school opened in 1875. In 1882, James H. Fearis of Connersville started the Bell telephone exchange. The Connersville Electric Light Company commenced operations in August 1890 as the first supplier of electric power in the city. Central Avenue was paved with brick in 1902, and became the first paved street in the city.

Prior to the advent of automotive manufacturing, Connersville for decades was colloquially known as the "furniture and buggy town" because of the dominance of those two industries in the town.

In 1898, Stant was founded in Connersville, and became the world's largest producer of piano

.

During the school year 1906–07, Dr. W. Otto Miessner established the first public high school band in the U.S. at Connersville High School.^[9]

Automotive and industrial age to 1960s

In the early 20th century, the town became known as "Little Detroit" because of its importance to the automobile industry, with over 500,000 jeep bodies produced in the town during the

Much of the western portion of town was occupied by light industry for the 150 years prior to 1990. Companies included Roots Blower (later Dresser Industries), Stant, McQuay Norris, Design & Manufacturing Co. (D&M), H.H. Robertson, Visteon, Philco Ford.

McQuay-Norris, manufacturer of auto parts based in St. Louis, got its start in Connersville in 1921 by the acquisition of Wainwright Engineering, a privately held local company manufacturing automotive engines. In 1969, it was acquired by Eaton, Yale & Towne, and closed its Connersville and Indianapolis plants in 1983.

Design & Manufacturing (D&M) company got its start when Rex Regenstrief purchased American Kitchens in 1958 and renamed the company. By 1972, D&M controlled 25% of the nation’s dishwasher market. Design & Manufacturing’s assets were sold to

in 1987 and the firm was dissolved in 1990.

Architectural Products Division of H. H. Robertson purchased land owned by the defunct Lexington Motor Car Company in February 1960. Robertson was a victim of hard times for the industry in the late 1980s and the Connersville plant was merged with operations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, starting in 1986.

Decline from 1960s onward

The 1980s were the beginning of the end for Connersville automotive manufacturing, which had been on the wane for more than a decade. Due to high cost of local union labor and economies of scale elsewhere, most industry departed in the 1980s and 1990s. Connersville union labor went down from a high of 10,000 to about 600 workers in 2012. Connersville’s role in automobile manufacturing ceased when the

, remains, but with a skeleton staff of fewer than 100 full-time employees. Stant also remains with a little over 200 employees. There are still some furniture making, machine shops, and other local manufacturing establishments.

In March 2014, the city declared a fiscal emergency when revenue fell short of expenses, and the city nearly fell into bankruptcy.

Geography

Connersville is oriented roughly north-south. The center of town is roughly Central Ave and 5th street in the southern portion.

According to the 2010 census, Connersville has a total area of 7.755 square miles (20.09 km²), of which 7.74 square miles (20.05 km²) (or 99.81%) is land and 0.015 square miles (0.04 km²) (or 0.19%) is water.^[11]

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1840	596		—
1850	1,396		134.2%
1860	2,119		51.8%
1870	2,496		17.8%
1880	3,228		29.3%
1890	4,548		40.9%
1900	6,836		50.3%
1910	7,738		13.2%
1920	9,901		28.0%
1930	12,795		29.2%
1940	12,898		0.8%
1950	15,550		20.6%
1960	17,698		13.8%
1970	17,604		−0.5%
1980	17,023		−3.3%
1990	15,550		−8.7%
2000	15,411		−0.9%
2010	13,481		−12.5%
2020	13,324		−1.2%
Source: US Census Bureau

As of 2019, the population is estimated to be 12,796 people. About 55% of Fayette county's population lives in the town.

2010 census

As of the

of any race were 1.0% of the population.

There were 5,582 households, of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.9% were married couples living together, 15.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.2% were non-families. 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.95.

The median age in the city was 39.4 years. 24.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.3% were from 25 to 44; 25.6% were from 45 to 64; and 17.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.7% male and 52.3% female.

2000 census

As of the census^[3] of 2000, there were 15,411 people, 6,382 households, and 4,135 families residing in the city.

Religion

About 44% of the population is affiliated with a religious congregation. 25% are

and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint faiths, as well as about a dozen non-denominational Christian churches. There are also a number of Pentecostal (including Charismatic and Revival) churches and organizations.

Culture

Fayette County Public Library is located in the city.[13]

A golf course west of town is known as Willowbrook Country Club.

Connersville has an indoor movie theater, Showtime Cinemas.

There is a basketball stadium at the old high school at 19th and Grand ave, and a football field at the high school on Ranch Road where high school events are held. Both are available for other events, gymnastics, track and field, etc.

Overnight and long-term camping are available at the Whitewater River Campground south of town. The Heritage MusicFest takes place every year in June at the campground. Local bands ranging in style from bluegrass to rock perform.

Parks and preserves

Roberts Park, located in the northeast corner of town, contains a public pool, community center, grandstand, and racetrack. It hosts the annual Fayette County Free Fair, a week-long event held late in the summer.

Whitewater Memorial State Park is located adjacent to 5,260-acre (2,130 ha) Brookville Lake about 10 miles (16 km) southeast by east of Connersville near Liberty, Indiana.

Manlove Park, about 8 miles (13 km) northwest of downtown near Milton, is a recreation area around Manlove Lake.

Shrader-Weaver Woods Nature Preserve, about 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Connersville, is 108 acres of pristine old growth woodland offering hiking, sightseeing and bird watching.

The Mary Gray Bird Sanctuary, over 700 acres (280 ha) of forest, meadow, prairie, and ponds, provides hiking, picnicking, camping. and bird watching. It is located about 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Connersville.

Doc-O-Lake, a 50-acre (20 ha) lake and recreation area 7 miles (11 km) north of town, features camping, boating and limited fishing (not a stocked lake).

Cemeteries

Connersville City Cemetery in the middle of town, Dale Cemetery just west of downtown, and Tullis Chapel Cemetery 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of town, are the only local cemeteries. There are a few private and church cemeteries located in outlying unincorporated areas.

Historic places

The estate was formerly known as Conners Elm Park.

The Whitewater Valley Railroad is a 19-mile (31 km) long operating scenic railroad and museum between Connersville and Metamora.

Fayette County Historical Museum is located in the city, as is the Canal House, built in 1842 as headquarters for the Whitewater Canal Company,

In addition to the Canal House and Elmhurst, the Fayette County Courthouse and Roberts Park are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[15][16]

Transportation

There is no commercial air or bus service to Connersville. There is Amtrak (passenger) and CSX (freight) rail service. The Whitewater River, while mostly navigable, is not commercially viable as a means of transportation.

Freight moves into and out of Connersville by truck, principally via

, 135 miles (217 km) to the east.

Airport

Mettel Field is a private aviation airport located three nautical miles (6 km) north of the central business district of Connersville. There is no commercial service. It is owned by the Connersville Board of Aviation Commissioners.^[17] The nearest commercial airport is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, 62 miles (100 km) to the southeast.

Railroad

Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Connersville. Each of two trains provides service three days a week. The westbound train provides service to Indianapolis, Lafayette, and Chicago. The eastbound train provides service to Cincinnati, cities in Kentucky, and points east ending at New York City.

Bus and taxi service

There is no transit bus service to Connersville, but local public transit is available to all residents by calling the public transit office. There is 1 local taxi service in town.

Highways

• Indiana State Road 1 runs north-south through downtown Connersville north to beyond Fort Wayne and south to Lawrenceburg
• Indiana State Road 44 runs east-west through downtown Connersville west to Martinsville and east to the Ohio state line
• Indiana State Road 121 runs north-south from intersection with SR44 in downtown Connersville south to Metamora
• Interstate 70, 14 miles (23 km) to the north via SR1 runs east-west from Indianapolis to Columbus, Ohio
• U.S. Route 40, 12 miles (19 km) to the north via SR1 runs east-west from just south of Indianapolis to Richmond, IN

Education

All public schools belong to the Fayette County School Corporation. There are about 1,200 students in high school, 700 in middle school, 1,800 in public elementary schools, and 300 in parochial elementary schools (as of 2012). Public elementary schools and some parochial elementary schools include kindergarten. The Whitewater Technical Career Center is a secondary school including grades 11–12 with an enrollment of over 500; it prepares non-college-bound students for careers in the trades. There are no institutions of higher learning in Connersville. The Connersville Center offers extension courses through Indiana University East. The nearest four-year colleges are IU East and Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, all about 25 miles (40 km) away by road.

The Fayette County School Corporation garnered national attention in November 2017 with a series of articles on CBS News on the subject of school nutrition programs, nationwide—featuring Connersville schools' partnership with a food service company, Chartwell's, to offer free breakfast, lunch and supper services to all children in their schools—integrating breakfasts with classroom learning activity, offering a "second chance" breakfast for teens, and providing after-school movies with a free supper.^[18]

Middle, high and trade schools

• Connersville High School
• Connersville Middle School (formerly Junior High North formerly Connersville Sr. High)
• Whitewater Career Center (formerly Connersville Area Vocational School)

Elementary schools

• Eastview
• Grandview
• Frazee
• Fayette Central
• Everton

Parochial elementary schools

• St. Gabriel's (Catholic)
• Community (Christian)
• Faith (Christian)

Healthcare

Reid Health operates the hospital and associated entities in Connersville, having purchased most of the assets of the former Fayette Regional Health System after it filed for bankruptcy in 2018.^[19]

Media

Connersville has a daily newspaper called The News Examiner in continuous publication (including predecessor papers) since 1849.^[20]

Radio station

.

Connersville High School's daily TV news program, CHS Today, was the first student-produced TV news program in the United States.[21] It began in 1970 with presenters Dennis Sullivan and Ron Stevens. At first, it was broadcast only to the school via closed-circuit TV. Later it expanded and now airs live at 11:00 a.m. weekdays to the community and re-airs twice in the evening at 6:45 and 10:45pm via TV3 on local cable.

Notable people

• E. L. Cord
  , Industrialist and automaker and founded American Airlines in Dallas, Texas.
• Howard Garns, creator of the logic game Sudoku, was born in Connersville on March 2, 1905.
• Finly H. Gray
  was a US Congressman for Indiana's 6th and 10th Districts.
• Scott Halberstadt, television actor, born in Connersville
• Tom T. Hall, country singer and Grand Ole Opry member, spent time in Connersville early in his career.
• Matt Howard, basketball player and 2007 graduate of Connersville High School.^[22]
• Bill Hunt, racing driver, born in Connersville
• James N. Huston, Treasurer of the United States 1889–1891.
• Virginia Claypool Meredith, "Queen of American Agriculture," born in Connersville
• Louis T. Michener, Indiana Attorney General (1886-1890), campaign manager for Benjamin Harrison.
• Caleb Blood Smith
  , Congressman and the Secretary of the Interior in the Lincoln administration.
• Oliver H. Smith was a Congressman and Senator.
• Joey Sturgis, music producer, sound engineer, musician, drummer.
• Allman Brothers Band and Gregg Allman Band
• Robert Wise, Hollywood director and producer, graduated from Connersville High School in 1932.

See also

• Connersville Township, Fayette County, Indiana

References

Further reading

• A Little Journey to Connersville, Elbert Hubbard, 1917, Roycrofters, N.Y. 23pgs.
• Sons of the Wilderness: John and William Conner, Charles N. Thompson, 1988, Clerisy Press, KY. 283pgs.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Connersville, Indiana.

Wikisource has the text of the 1921 Collier's Encyclopedia article Connersville.

• City of Connersville, Indiana website
• http://www.newsexaminer.com
• http://fayettein.schooldesk.net/
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. IN-7, "Connersville Industrial Park, Eleventh & Twenty-first Streets, Connersville, Fayette County, IN"
• https://connersvillehistory.wordpress.com/