Посей округы: Индиана штатының тарихы мен географиясы

County in Indiana, United States

Posey County is the southernmost, southwesternmost, and westernmost county in the U. S. state of Indiana. Its southern border is formed by the Ohio River, and its western border by the Wabash River, a tributary to the Ohio. As of 2020, the population was 25,222. The county seat is Mount Vernon. Posey County is part of the Evansville, Indiana metropolitan statistical area. The Ports of Indiana Mount Vernon, on the Ohio River, is the seventh largest inland port complex in the nation. Mechanization of dock technology has altered the number of workers at the port, but Posey County is still the seventh largest internal port in the United States, based on the tons of materials handled. Grain from the Midwest is among the products shipped.

After the American Revolutionary War, Posey County was originally considered part of the Northwest Territory, organized in 1787 by the new United States. As part of the Indiana Territory, it was organized in November 1814 from Gibson and Warrick counties. It was named for Revolutionary War Gen. Thomas Posey, who was then serving as Governor of the Territory. Mount Vernon was designated as the county seat in 1825. Its port on the Ohio River continues to be integral to the economy of the state and county. Like other parts of southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, Posey County was first settled by people from the Upper South, many of whom arrived via the Ohio River. Farming was the primary development at first. In the mid to late 19th century, the county received many German immigrants. The river port had rougher areas of vice, and a higher population of single men, as was typical. African Americans were among the men who worked on ships and at the port. Posey County was the site of the largest recorded lynching of African Americans in Indiana's history. In October 1878, a white mob lynched seven black men in the span of a few days. No one in the mob was prosecuted, and at each court session for the next three years, the prosecutor asked the judge to "set the case over to the next session". A grand jury was called to investigate the mob action, but with an election pending for the prosecuting attorney, no one was ever indicted. Following years of research, Posey County judge Jim Redwine wrote a novel, Judge Lynch! (2008), based on the events. Redwine sometimes lectures on the riot, inviting his audience to imagine how they would have acted and stressing the injustice done to the African Americans who were denied the right to a fair trial. According to the 2010 United States Census, the county has a total area of 419.32 square miles (1,086 km2), of which 409.57 square miles (1,061 km2) (or 97.67%) is land and 9.75 square miles (25 km2) (or 2.33%) is water. Posey county lies at the tripoint of Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 25,910 people, 10,171 households, and 7,442 families in the county. The population density was There were 11,207 housing units at an average density of The racial makeup of the county was 97.2% white, 0.9% black or African American, 0.3% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.4% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.0% of the population. Of the 10,171 households, 32.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.4% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 26.8% were non families, and 23.3% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.97. The median age was 41.6 years.

Posey County Judge James M. Redwine wrote a novel, Judge Lynch! (2008), based on the 1878 lynchings of seven African American men in Mt. Vernon.