1.
City
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A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, a big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas. Once a city expands far enough to another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. Damascus is arguably the oldest city in the world, in terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai. There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities, some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution, the Neolithic revolution brought agriculture, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development. The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to settle near others who lived by agricultural production, the increased population density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch takes up position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form. According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example, Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, when the cost of transport is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometres. Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain, the urban theorist Jane Jacobs suggests that city formation preceded the birth of agriculture, but this view is not widely accepted. In his book City Economics, Brendan OFlaherty asserts Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages, OFlaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale and economies of scale, which are concepts usually associated with businesses. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well, increasing returns to scale occurs when doubling all inputs more than doubles the output an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost. To offer an example of these concepts, OFlaherty makes use of one of the oldest reasons why cities were built, in this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. OFlaherty then asks that we suppose the protected area is square, the advantage is expressed as, O = s 2, where O is the output and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side, the inputs depend on the length of the perimeter, I =4 s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. So there are increasing returns to scale, O = I2 /16 and this equation shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output
2.
Indiana
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Indiana /ɪndiˈænə/ is a U. S. state located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 16th most populous of the 50 United States and its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th U. S. state on December 11,1816, before becoming a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Indiana has an economy with a gross state product of $298 billion in 2012. Indiana has several areas with populations greater than 100,000. The states name means Land of the Indians, or simply Indian Land and it also stems from Indianas territorial history. On May 7,1800, the United States Congress passed legislation to divide the Northwest Territory into two areas and named the section the Indiana Territory. In 1816, when Congress passed an Enabling Act to begin the process of establishing statehood for Indiana, a resident of Indiana is officially known as a Hoosier. The first inhabitants in what is now Indiana were the Paleo-Indians, divided into small groups, the Paleo-Indians were nomads who hunted large game such as mastodons. They created stone tools made out of chert by chipping, knapping and flaking, the Archaic period, which began between 5000 and 4000 BC, covered the next phase of indigenous culture. The people developed new tools as well as techniques to cook food, such new tools included different types of spear points and knives, with various forms of notches. They made ground-stone tools such as axes, woodworking tools. During the latter part of the period, they built mounds and middens. The Archaic period ended at about 1500 BC, although some Archaic people lived until 700 BC, afterward, the Woodland period took place in Indiana, where various new cultural attributes appeared. During this period, the people created ceramics and pottery, an early Woodland period group named the Adena people had elegant burial rituals, featuring log tombs beneath earth mounds. In the middle portion of the Woodland period, the Hopewell people began developing long-range trade of goods, nearing the end of the stage, the people developed highly productive cultivation and adaptation of agriculture, growing such crops as corn and squash. The Woodland period ended around 1000 AD, the Mississippian culture emerged, lasting from 1000 until the 15th century, shortly before the arrival of Europeans. During this stage, the people created large urban settlements designed according to their cosmology, with mounds and plazas defining ceremonial
3.
Vermillion County, Indiana
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Vermillion County lies in the western part of the U. S. state of Indiana between the Illinois border and the Wabash River. As of the 2010 census, the population was 16,212 and it was officially established in 1824 and was the fiftieth Indiana county to be formed. Vermillion County is included in the Terre Haute, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, an interstate highway, two U. S. routes, and five state roads cross the county, as does a major railroad line. The first settlers in the area arrived in 1816, the year that the state of Indiana was established. Vigo County was formed in 1818 and included the area later became Parke. In 1821, Parke County was formed, and on January 2,1824, the Indiana General Assembly created Vermillion County out of Parke County, the county seat was established at Newport later that year, and it has always remained there. The county was named for the southbound Vermilion River, which flows nearby, the name is spelled in the French/Commonwealth English style with a double letter l, in contrast to the American English spelling of the adjacent Vermilion County, Illinois. This is one of only a few cases in the United States in which a county borders a county with the name in another state. The first courthouse was a frame building, the contract was awarded in June 1824 for $345 and was to be completed by the following November, it was used for county business until a brick building could be constructed. The brick courthouse was contracted in 1831, the building was used until January 29,1844. It was repaired and served until 1868 when a courthouse was built at a cost of $30,000. That building was struck by lightning early on the morning of May 27,1923, construction on the fourth courthouse began that same year, Halbert Fillinger and John Bayard were the architects. The stone building was constructed by Jasper Good of Columbus at a cost of $358,707, the Newport Hill Climb was first held in 1909. Vermillion County is less than 10 miles from east to west at its widest point and it shares a 6. 5-mile border with Warren County to the north. Its eastern border is defined by the Wabash River, Fountain and Parke counties lie across the river to the northeast and southeast, Vermillion County is the southernmost county in Indiana entirely on the right bank of the Wabash. Vigo County, from which Parke and Vermillion counties were formed, the countys western border is shared with the state of Illinois. To the northwest lies Vermilion County, its city of Danville is west of the border of Vermillion County. To the southwest is Edgar County, its city of Paris is west of Vermillion Countys southern border, the state capital of Indianapolis lies about 65 miles to the east
4.
Democratic Party (United States)
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The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The Democrats dominant worldview was once socially conservative and fiscally classical liberalism, while, especially in the rural South, since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s, the Democratic Party has also promoted a social-liberal platform, supporting social justice. Today, the House Democratic caucus is composed mostly of progressives and centrists, the partys philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with the welfare state. It seeks to provide government intervention and regulation in the economy, the party has united with smaller left-wing regional parties throughout the country, such as the Farmer–Labor Party in Minnesota and the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota. Well into the 20th century, the party had conservative pro-business, the New Deal Coalition of 1932–1964 attracted strong support from voters of recent European extraction—many of whom were Catholics based in the cities. After Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal of the 1930s, the pro-business wing withered outside the South, after the racial turmoil of the 1960s, most southern whites and many northern Catholics moved into the Republican Party at the presidential level. The once-powerful labor union element became smaller and less supportive after the 1970s, white Evangelicals and Southerners became heavily Republican at the state and local level in the 1990s. However, African Americans became a major Democratic element after 1964, after 2000, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asian Americans, the LGBT community, single women and professional women moved towards the party as well. The Northeast and the West Coast became Democratic strongholds by 1990 after the Republicans stopped appealing to socially liberal voters there, overall, the Democratic Party has retained a membership lead over its major rival the Republican Party. The most recent was the 44th president Barack Obama, who held the office from 2009 to 2017, in the 115th Congress, following the 2016 elections, Democrats are the opposition party, holding a minority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a minority of governorships, and state legislatures, though they do control the mayoralty of cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Washington, D. C. The Democratic Party traces its origins to the inspiration of the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and that party also inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans. Organizationally, the modern Democratic Party truly arose in the 1830s, since the nomination of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, the party has generally positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party on economic issues. They have been liberal on civil rights issues since 1948. On foreign policy both parties changed position several times and that party, the Democratic-Republican Party, came to power in the election of 1800. After the War of 1812 the Federalists virtually disappeared and the national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republican party still had its own factions, however. As Norton explains the transformation in 1828, Jacksonians believed the peoples will had finally prevailed, through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, and newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president
5.
ZIP Code
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ZIP Codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was chosen to suggest that the travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly. The basic format consists of five numerical digits, an extended ZIP+4 code, introduced in 1983, includes the five digits of the ZIP Code, a hyphen, and four additional digits that determine a more specific location within a given ZIP Code. The term ZIP Code was originally registered as a servicemark by the U. S. Postal Service, USPS style for ZIP is all caps and the c in code is also capitalized, although style sheets for some publications use sentence case or lowercase. The early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers, the United States Post Office Department implemented postal zones for numerous large cities in 1943. For example, Mr. John Smith 3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue Minneapolis 16, by the early 1960s a more organized system was needed, and on July 1,1963, non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide. Three months later, on October 1,1963, the U. S, an earlier list in June had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with one exception, according to the historian of the U. S. Robert Moon, an employee of the post office, is considered the father of the ZIP Code, he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector. The post office gives credit to Moon only for the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility or sec center, an SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes, the mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. The United States Post Office used a character, which it called Mr. ZIP. He was often depicted with a such as USE ZIP CODE in the selvage of panes of stamps or on labels contained in, or the covers of. In 1983, the U. S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it called ZIP+4, often called plus-four codes, add-on codes, or add ons. But initial attempts to promote use of the new format met with public resistance. For Post Office Boxes, the rule is that each box has its own ZIP+4 code. However, there is no rule, so the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box. It is common to use add-on code 9998 for mail addressed to the postmaster,9999 for general delivery, for a unique ZIP Code, the add-on code is typically 0001
6.
DeWitt Clinton
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DeWitt Clinton was an American politician and naturalist who served as a United States Senator and was the sixth Governor of New York. In this last capacity, he was responsible for the construction of the Erie Canal. Clinton was the leader of New Yorks Peoples Party and was a rival of Martin Van Buren. Clinton believed that improvements could transform American life, drive economic growth. He heavily influenced the development of New York State and the United States, DeWitt Clinton was born on March 2,1769, the second son born to James Clinton and his wife Mary DeWitt. He began his education at Princeton University, and then transferred to Kings College, Kings was renamed Columbia University, and Clinton was the first to graduate under the schools new name. He was the brother of George Clinton, Jr. who served in Congress, the half-brother of James G. Clinton, who served in Congress. He became the secretary to his uncle George Clinton, who was governor of New York. Soon after, he became a member of the Democratic-Republican Party and he was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1798, and of the New York State Senate from the Southern District in 1798–1802 and 1806–1811. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1801 and he was a member of the Council of Appointments in 1801–1802 and 1806–1807. He won election by the New York State Legislature to the U. S. Senate seat left vacant by the resignation of John Armstrong, Jr. and served from February 9,1802 to November 4,1803. He resigned, unhappy with living conditions in newly built Washington and he served as Mayor from 1803 to 1807,1808 to 1810, and 1811 to 1815. While serving as Mayor, he organized the New-York Historical Society in 1804 and was its president and he also helped re-organize the American Academy of the Fine Arts in 1808, and served as its president between 1813 and 1817. He was a Regent of the University of the State of New York from 1808 to 1825, Clinton was also elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1814, and served as its vice president from 1821 to 1828. In 1816 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts, from 1810 to 1824, he was a member of the Erie Canal Commission. He was among the first members, appointed in 1810, who projected and surveyed the route to be taken, after 1816, he became the driving force during the construction of the canal. In 1811, the death of John Broome left a vacancy in the office of Lieutenant Governor of New York. In a special election, Clinton defeated the Federalist Nicholas Fish, Clintons uncle, George Clinton, had attempted to challenge James Madison for the presidency in 1808, but was chosen as the partys vice presidential nominee instead
7.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
8.
Italian Americans
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Italian Americans are an ethnic group comprising Americans who have full or partial ancestry from Italy, especially those who identify with that ancestry, along with their cultural characteristics. Italian Americans are the fourth largest European ethnic group in the United States, about 5.5 million Italians immigrated to the United States from 1820 to 2004. Immigration began in earnest during the 1870s, when more than twice as many Italians immigrated than during the five previous decades altogether. The 1870s were followed by the greatest surge of immigration, which occurred in the period between 1880 and 1914 and brought more than 4 million Italians to America. This period of large scale immigration ended abruptly with the onset of the First World War in 1914 and, except for one year, further immigration would be greatly limited by a number of restrictive laws passed by Congress in the 1920s. Approximately 84% of the Italian immigrants came from Southern Italy and Sicily, after unification, the Italian government initially encouraged emigration to relieve economic pressures in the South. After the American Civil War, which resulted in over a million killed or wounded, immigrant workers were recruited from Italy. In the United States, most Italians began their new lives as manual laborers in Eastern cities, mining camps, Italian Americans gradually moved from the lower rungs of the economic scale in the first generation to a level comparable to the national average by 1970. By 1990, more than 65% of Italian Americans were managerial, professional, the Italian-American communities have often been characterized by strong ties with family, the Catholic Church, fraternal organizations and political parties. Today, over 17 million Americans claim Italian ancestry, third only to Brazil with 31 million, and Argentina, Italians and their descendants in America have helped to shape the country and, in turn, have adapted to it. They have gained prominence in politics, sports, the media, the arts, the culinary arts. Italian navigators and explorers played a key role in the discovery, exploration, christopher Columbus, the explorer who first reached the Americas in 1492–1504, was Italian. Another notable Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, who explored the east coast of South America between 1499 and 1502, is the source of the name America. Englands claims in North America were based on the voyages of the Italian explorer John Cabot, in 1524 the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to map the Atlantic coast of todays United States, and to enter New York Bay. In 1539, Marco da Nizza, explored the territory later became the states of Arizona. In the 17th century, Henri de Tonti, together with the French explorer LaSalle, De Tonti founded the first European settlement in Illinois in 1679, and in Arkansas in 1683. With LaSalle, he co-founded New Orleans, and was governor of the Louisiana Territory for the next 20 years and his brother Alphonse de Tonty, with French explorer Antoine Cadillac, was the co-founder of Detroit in 1701, and was its acting colonial governor for 12 years. Spain and France were Catholic countries and sent many missionaries to convert the native population, included among these missionaries were numerous Italians
9.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
10.
Wabash River
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From the dam near Huntington, Indiana, to its terminus at the Ohio River, the Wabash flows freely for 411 miles. Its watershed drains most of Indiana, the Wabash is the state river of Indiana, and subject of the state song On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away by Paul Dresser. As the Laurentide ice sheet began to retreat from present day Northern Indiana, the eastern or Erie Lobe sat atop and behind the Fort Wayne Moraine. Meltwater from the glacier fed into two streams, which became the St. Joseph and St. Marys Rivers. Their combined discharge was probably the source of water for the proglacial Wabash River system. Around 11,000 years ago the waters of Lake Maumee became deep enough that it breached a sag or weak spot in the Fort Wayne Moraine. This caused a catastrophic draining of the lake which in turn scoured a 1 to 2 mi wide valley known as the Wabash-Erie Channel or sluiceway, the Little River flows through this channel and U. S.24 traverses it between Fort Wayne and Huntington. The valley is the largest topographical feature in Allen County, Indiana, when the ice melted completely from the region, new outlets for Lake Maumees water opened up at elevations lower than the Wabash-Erie Channel. While the St. Joseph and St. Marys Rivers continued to flow through the channel, now a low-lying, probably marshy bit of terrain lay in between. It is not known for certain when, but at some point in the distant past the St. Joseph and St. Marys Rivers jumped their banks and flooded the marshy ground of the Fort Wayne Outlet. The discharge of this flood was enough to cut across the outlet. This meant that when the waters receded, the sluiceway was permanently abandoned by the two rivers. As a result of capturing both, the Maumee was converted from a minor creek to a large river. Once again, river waters flowed through the Fort Wayne Outlet, following this event, the branch of the Wabash River that originates along the Wabash Moraine near Bluffton became the systems main course and source. For part of its course the Wabash follows the path of the pre-glacial Teays River, the name Wabash is an English spelling of the French name for the river, Ouabache. French traders named the river after the Miami-Illinois word for the river, waapaahšiiki, meaning it shines white, pure white, the Miami name reflected the clarity of the river in Huntington County, Indiana where the river bottom is limestone. The Wabash was first mapped by French explorers to the Mississippi, although the Wabash is today considered a tributary of the Ohio, the Ohio was considered a tributary of the Wabash until the mid-18th century. This is because the French traders traveled north and south from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico via the Wabash, it served as a vital trade route for North American-French trade
11.
Parke County, Indiana
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Parke County lies in the western part of the U. S. state of Indiana along the Wabash River. The county was formed in 1821 out of a portion of Vigo County, according to the 2010 census, the population was 17,339, an increase of 0. 6% from 17,241 in 2000. It has a density of about 39 inhabitants per square mile. The county contains six incorporated towns and many unincorporated communities and it is divided into 13 townships which provide local services. Routes and five state highways pass through or into the county, Parke County has 31 covered bridges and describes itself as the Covered Bridge Capital of the World. It is the site for the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival which has held in October each year. This area had been occupied for thousands of years by succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples, the first European settlement of the western area of Indiana along the Wabash River was by French-Canadian colonists, who founded Vincennes in 1703. After the Seven Years War, France ceded its territory in North America to Great Britain, in 1811 the Shawnee chief Tecumseh rallied several tribes to try to expel the European-American settlers from the area. When General William Henry Harrison took an army from Vincennes to the Battle of Tippecanoe in late 1811 to fight with the Indians, Cicott had traded with Indians up and down the Wabash River, starting around 1801. The trail taken by Harrisons army, on its way to and from the site in Tippecanoe County. The settlement of Armiesburg in Wabash Township was so named because Harrison and his army crossed the Raccoon Creek, formed on January 9,1821 from a portion of Vigo County, Parke County was formed by an act approved by the state legislature. It was named for Captain Benjamin Parke, who commanded a troop of light Dragoons at the Battle of Tippecanoe, Parke was elected as a delegate of Indiana Territory to the U. S. Congress. In 1821, he was appointed as U. S. District Judge for Indiana, first located at Roseville, the county seat was relocated to Armiesburg. In 1822, the county settled on Rockville as the permanent location, the state act had called for construction of county buildings to start within one year of the countys formation, but in the event, it did not start until 1824. The first courthouse was completed on the Rockville town square in 1826, the log structure doubled as a church. In 1832 the log building was replaced by a structure, which served for more than 40 years until 1879. The architects for this building were Thomas J. Tolan and his son Brentwood of Fort Wayne, they designed seven Indiana courthouses, as well as several in Ohio, Iowa, Illinois and Tennessee. Construction of the courthouse at Rockville was completed in 1882 at a cost of about $79,000, items deposited in the cornerstone included documents of the towns history, postage stamps, several varieties of grain grown in the county, coins, and photographs
