Парк округі: Индиана штатының тарихы мен көпірлер елі

County in Indiana, United States

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 2020 census, the population was 16,156. The county seat is Rockville. It has a population density of about The county contains six incorporated towns and many unincorporated communities. It is divided into 13 townships which provide local services. Two U. S. Routes and five state highways pass through or into the county, along with one major railroad line. Parke County has 31 covered bridges and is widely acknowledged to be the 'Covered Bridge Capital of the World'. It is the site for the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival which has been held in October each year. Parke County is included in the Terre Haute, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area.

This area had been occupied for thousands of years by 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 turn, after the American Revolutionary War, the Crown ceded this territory east of the Mississippi River to the new United States, including land it did not control, which was occupied by Native American nations. 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, Zachariah Cicott served as a scout. Cicott had traded with Indians up and down the Wabash River, starting around 1801. The trail taken by Harrison's army, on its way to and from the battle site in Tippecanoe County, passed through the area that later became Parke County. The settlement of Armiesburg in Wabash Township was so named because Harrison and his army crossed the Raccoon Creek and camped near there on their way to the battle. Formed on January 9, 1821, from a portion of Vigo County, 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 county's 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 brick structure, which served for more than 40 years until 1879, when it was demolished for replacement by a new stone courthouse. The architects for this building were Thomas J. Tolan and his son Brentwood of Fort Wayne; they designed seven Indiana courthouses, as well as two in Ohio, and one each in Iowa and Illinois. (The firm also designed the Rockville sheriff's resident and jail, as well as others in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa 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 town's history, postage stamps, several varieties of grain grown in the county, coins, and photographs. A dedication ceremony took place on February 22, 1882, the anniversary of George Washington's birthday. The clock and bell were added later at a cost of about $1,500. The Wabash and Erie Canal was completed through the area around 1850 and ran through Parke County on the east side of the Wabash River. It served several communities along the banks of the river until it was discontinued in the 1870s.

Parke County lies in western Indiana about halfway between the state's north and south borders. It is bordered by Fountain County to the north; Montgomery County to the northeast; Putnam County to the east; Clay County to the south; and Vigo County to the southwest. The county's western border is defined by the Wabash River; on the west side of the river lies Vermillion County, beyond which is the state of Illinois, less than 5 mile (8 km) from Parke County's northwestern corner. The state capital of Indianapolis lies about 60 mile (97 km) to the east. The entire county is within the drainage area of the Wabash River. North of Rockville, the gently undulating land is glacial till resulting from Wisconsinan glaciation. The Shelbyville moraine divides this from the nearly level Illinoisan till plain in the south part of the county. Turkey Run State Park is located in northern Parke County. It was set aside as one of Indiana's first state parks and consists of of land. The county also contains a portion of Shades State Park, a park about 5 mile (8 km) northeast of Turkey Run; the majority of Shades is located in Montgomery County. According to the 2010 census, the county has a total area of 449.98 square miles (1,165 km2), of which 444.66 square miles (1,152 km2) (or 98.82%) is land and 5.32 square miles (14 km2) (or 1.18%) is water. U. S. Route 41 enters from Fountain County to the north and intersects U. S. Route 36 in Rockville; it goes southwest toward Clinton before continuing south to Vigo County and Terre Haute, Indiana. Indiana State Road 47 begins at U. S. Route 41 in the northern part of the county and goes east into Montgomery County, veering north to Crawfordsville. Indiana State Road 59 enters from Clay County to the south and runs north through the eastern part of the county until it terminates at Indiana State Road 236, which runs east from U. S. Route 41. Indiana State Road 163 runs for less than a mile in Parke County, crossing the river at Clinton and terminating at U. S. Route 41 in the far southwest corner of the county. In the far northwestern corner, Indiana State Road 234 enters from Cayuga and runs for less than a mile to Lodi before going north and leaving the county. A small portion of a major CSX Transportation railroad line passes through the southwest corner of the county, entering from Clinton to the west, then going south toward Terre Haute. Another CSX line enters the far southeastern corner of the county on its way from Terre Haute to Indianapolis.

In recent years, average temperatures in Rockville have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1994 and a record high of was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in July.

The county's first newspaper was called The Wabash Herald and was published beginning in 1829. After being sold and renamed several times, it was successively called The Rockville Intelligencer, The Olive Branch, The Parke County Whig and The Rockville Republican. Several other papers came and went; as of 1912, several newspapers were published in the county: the Republican, the Tribune, the Montezuma Enterprise, and the Bloomingdale World, as well as papers printed in Rosedale and Marshall. The original Wabash Herald continues and since 1977 has been called the Parke County Sentinel.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 17,339 people, 6,222 households, and 4,389 families residing in the county. The population density was There were 8,085 housing units at an average density of The racial makeup of the county was 96.1% white, 2.3% black or African American, 0.4% American Indian, 0.2% Asian, 0.4% from other races, and 0.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.2% of the population. Of the 6,222 households, 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.4% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.5% were non families, and 24.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 2.97. The median age was 41.3 years.