Location: SW corner of courthouse lawn, Vernon. (Jennings County, Indiana)
Installed: 2003 Indiana Historical Bureau, Town of Vernon, Jennings County Parks & Recreation, and Jennings County Tourism Bureau
ID# : 40.2003.1
Text
Side one:
Vernon platted 1815. Jennings County formed by Indiana General Assembly 1817; Vernon named county seat 1817. Madison-Indianapolis Railroad reached Vernon 1839; masonry arch, elevating track over Pike Street, remains. Vernon still operates under its amended 1851 incorporation by General Assembly authorizing a mayor and local elections in March.
Side two:
Vernon listed as Historic District in National Register of Historic Places 1976. Many structures built before 1900, some from 1820s through 1840s. Fire October 13, 1859 destroyed homes and businesses on Pike Street opposite Court House Square. Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, and composite architectural styles blend into a historic mosaic.
Keywords
Historic District, Neighborhoods, and Towns, Early Settlement and Exploration
Annotated Text
Vernon platted 1815.(1) Jennings County formed by Indiana General Assembly 1817;(2) Vernon named county seat 1817.(3) Madison-Indianapolis Railroad reached Vernon 1839;(4) masonry arch, elevating track over Pike Street, remains.(5) Vernon still operates under its amended 1851 incorporation by General Assembly authorizing a mayor and local elections in March.(6)
Vernon listed as Historic District in National Register of Historic Places 1976.(7) Many structures built before 1900, some from 1820s through 1840s.(8) Fire October 13, 1859 destroyed homes and businesses on Pike Street opposite Court House Square.(9) Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, and composite architectural styles blend into a historic mosaic.(10)
Notes:
(1) Alice Bundy, "Jennings County in the Frontier Period, " Indiana Magazine of History, 32 (1936): 370, 377.
(2) George Pence and Nellie Armstrong, Indiana Boundaries: Territory, State, and County (Indianapolis, 1967) 506.
(3) "Jennings County in the Frontier Period, " 377; Indiana Boundaries, 506.
(4) George S. Cottman, editor, "Internal Improvements of Indiana, " Indiana Magazine of History, 3 (1907): 155-56; Richard S. Simons and Francis H. Parker, Railroads of Indiana (Bloomington & Indianapolis, Ind., 1997), 9.
(5) National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form, 1976, Description, 2; Indianapolis Star Magazine, November 21, 1976, p. 48; Jennings County Interim Report (Indianapolis, 1989), 65-66.
(6) Local Laws of the State of Indiana (Indianapolis, 1851), pp. 3-11; North Vernon Plain Dealer, March 1, 8, 2001; Chester A. Batchelor, comp., Charter of the Town of Vernon, Jennings County, Indiana (Vernon, Indiana, 1 1909). According to Here Is Your Indiana Government (2001-2002 edition), 229, Vernon is the only town (of 451 towns) in the state that operates with a mayor.
(7) Historic Indiana, 1999-2000 (Indianapolis, 2000), 28.
(8) National Register Form, Description, 4; Vernon: An Indiana Town, 1968, Indiana Junior Historical Society booklet (Indianapolis, 1968); Jennings County Interim Report, 60-71.
(9) New Albany Daily Ledger, October 14, 1859; Indianapolis Daily Journal, October 15, 1859; Jennings County Interim Report, 20, 64, 68.
(10) National Register Form, Description, 2, 4.