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 2020 census, the population was 15,439. The county seat is Newport. It was officially established in 1824 and was the fiftieth Indiana county created. Vermillion County is included in the Terre Haute metropolitan area. The county contains seven incorporated towns with a total population of about 9,900, as well as several unincorporated communities; it is also divided into five townships which provide local services. An interstate highway, two U.S. routes, and five state roads cross the county, as does a major railroad line.
History The first settlers in the area arrived in 1816, the same year that the state of Indiana was established. Vigo County was formed in 1818 and included the area that later became Parke and Vermillion counties. In 1821, Parke County was formed, and on January 2, 1824, the Indiana General Assembly created Vermillion County out of Parke County; the act took effect on February 1. The county seat was established at Newport later that year.Bowen 1913, p. 249.
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 same 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 completed building was used until January 29, 1844, when the building caught fire. It was repaired and served until 1868 when a third courthouse was built at a cost of $30,000; a west wing was added in 1903 at a cost of $28,000.Bowen 1913, p. 256. That building was struck by lightning early on the morning of May 27, 1923, and was largely destroyed by fire. Construction on the fourth (and current) 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, and the new courthouse was dedicated on June 11, 1925.
The Newport Hill Climb was first held in 1909. The event was started and stopped several times over the years, but the Newport Lions Club now runs the Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb; it has been held continuously since the 1960s and involves several hundred cars each year.
On January 26, 2017, the wooden grandstand at the Vermillion County Fairgrounds was destroyed by a massive fire. The wooden grandstand was built in 1933 as a WPA work project, and was the oldest wooden grandstand in Indiana. The Cayuga Fire Department said that the cause of the fire is suspicious.
Geography
Vermillion County is less than from east to west at its widest point, but it extends over from north to south. It shares a 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, respectively. 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, lies to the south. The county's western border is shared with the state of Illinois. To the northwest lies Vermilion County, Illinois; its county seat, Danville, is west of the northern border of Vermillion County. To the southwest is Edgar County; its county seat, Paris, is west of Vermillion County's southern border. The state capital of Indianapolis lies about to the east.
According to the 2010 census, the county has a total area of , of which (or 98.83%) is land and (or 1.17%) is water. The Vermillion River, for which the county was named, enters from Illinois to the west and crosses the county to empty into the Wabash River near Cayuga. Forests cover about 23% of the county, or about , and consist principally of deciduous hardwoods among which maple–beech and oak–hickory forests are the most common.
At a meeting of the board of commissioners on March 23, 1824 (the same year the county was formed), four townships were created: Clinton, Helt, Highland, and Vermillion. Later, Eugene Township was created out of portions of Highland and Vermillion; the north end of Highland Township became part of Warren County.Bowen 1913, pp. 252-253.
There are seven incorporated towns in Vermillion County. Cayuga is located near the confluence of the Vermillion and Wabash rivers, along State Road 63 just west of its intersection with State Road 234. Clinton is the largest settlement in the county with a population of about 5100, and lies further to the south along the Wabash River, between it and State Road 63; State Road 163 passes through the town to reach U.S. Route 41 on the east side of the river. Fairview Park is just north of Clinton; State Road 63 passes through the north end of the town. Dana is a small town just north of the intersection of U.S. Route 36 and State Road 71. Newport is located just east of State Road 63, a few miles south of Cayuga; it is the county seat, although it is one of the smallest towns in the county. Perrysville is also located along the Wabash River, on State Road 32 just east of its intersection with State Road 63. Universal is in the far southern part of the county, west of State Road 63.
In addition to the towns, there are also many unincorporated communities. Helt Township has more than any other township and includes the communities of Alta, Bono, Highland, Hillsdale, Jonestown, Saint Bernice, and Summit Grove. Clinton Township contains Blanford, Centenary, Klondyke, and Syndicate. Highland Township includes Flat Iron, Gessie, Rileysburg, and Tree Spring. Eugene Township, which contains Cayuga, has just one unincorporated community: Eugene, which is just north of Cayuga.
At least three other communities once existed in Vermillion County but have since become extinct: Quaker, Randall, and Toronto.
Climate
Vermillion County is in the humid continental climate region of the United States along with most of Indiana. Its Köppen climate classification is Dfa, meaning that it is cold, has no dry season, and has a hot summer. In recent years, temperatures in Newport have ranged from an average low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in 1994, and a record high of was recorded in 1988. Average monthly precipitation ranged from inches in February to inches in June.
Transportation passes from east to west through the north end of the county; U.S. Route 136 does so as well, about further to the north. U.S. Route 36 crosses the south part of the county on its way from Rockville to Chrisman, Illinois, passing just south of Dana.
runs from the state line through Perrysville and continues east toward Crawfordsville. runs the length of the county from north to south on its way to Terre Haute in the south; begins at State Road 63 near Newport and runs southwest, then south through Dana and Bono before ending at Blanford. There, runs east through Clinton to join U.S. Route 41 on the east side of the Wabash River. runs from the Indiana border through Cayuga, continuing east through Kingman in Fountain County.
CSX Transportation operates a railroad line running from Danville, Illinois to Terre Haute. This line runs most of the length of Vermillion County from north to south, passing through Rilesyburg, Cayuga, and Clinton before crossing the Wabash River. Another CSX line coming from Decatur, Illinois, enters the county from the west and meets the north–south line near Hillsdale. The Vermilion Valley Railroad passes through the very north edge of the county on its way from the Flex-N-Gate factory west of Covington to Danville, Illinois.
Airport The county has three small airports, the Clinton Airport, located in Clinton, Gessie Airport located in Gessie, and Universal Heli Port located in Universal. The Indianapolis International Airport is located about to the east.
Economy Vermillion County's economy is supported by a labor force of approximately 7,924 workers with an unemployment rate in December 2010 of 12.5%. Government jobs make up 13% of the county's employment. Manufacturing accounts for 12.4%, and construction 10%, while 8.5% of the county's jobs relate to farming.
Private employment by company The largest private employers in Vermillion County as of 2017 are as follows. This list excludes franchises, retail, and majority part-time employers.
Largest Fulltime Employers of Vermillion County (as of 2017) Rank Employer Number of Employees 1 White Construction 577 2 Elanco 460 3 South Vermillion School Corp 285 4 Union Hospital 160 5 International Paper 140 6 Duke Energy 120 7 North Vermillion School Corp 120 8 Scott Pet Products 54 9 National Gypsum 22 10 Scott Oil, Inc. 21 11 Hog Slat 18 12 Clinton Color Crafters 17 13 AC Grain 12
Education and health care The administration of public schools in Vermillion County is divided between two school districts, North Vermillion Community School Corporation and South Vermillion Community School Corporation, with each one taking different portions of the county. - Text list The North Vermillion district administers North Vermillion Junior-Senior High School and North Vermillion Elementary School, both located just north of Cayuga along State Road 63. The South Vermillion district administers schools located in Clinton, including South Vermillion High School, South Vermillion Middle School, and three elementary schools: Central, Ernie Pyle, and Van Duyn. It also manages the Parke Vermillion Education and Training Interlocal (PVETI) in Hillsdale.
There are no colleges or universities within Vermillion County, but there are several nearby. Indiana State University is a public four-year college in Terre Haute in neighboring Vigo County, about to the south of Newport. Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology, a smaller private college also in Terre Haute, specializes in teaching engineering, mathematics, and science. Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana has 23 campuses throughout the state; the nearest to Vermillion County is in Terre Haute.
The Vermillion County Public Library has branches in Cayuga, Newport, and Dana. In 1909 a Carnegie library was built in Clinton; it was expanded in 1947 and in 1953. In the early 1990s it was determined that an entirely new building was needed, and this was completed in 1994.
Union Hospital, located in Terre Haute to the south, operates a hospital in Clinton.
Notable people
Henry Dana Washburn was born in Vermont in 1832; in 1850 he moved to Vermillion County, studied law, and opened a practice in Newport in 1853. He served in the Civil War on the Union side as a lieutenant colonel and later as a general; after the war he was elected to the United States House of Representatives and served through 1869. In 1870 he headed an expedition which explored the area that later became Yellowstone National Park. He died 1871 in Clinton and is buried at Riverside Cemetery.
Claude Matthews was the governor of Indiana from 1893 to 1897. He was born in Kentucky in 1845; he moved to Vermillion County in 1867 and became a prominent farmer. He was elected Indiana Secretary of State in 1890, and governor in 1893. He died in 1898 in Indianapolis and is buried in Clinton; he was 52 years old.