Southwestern Indiana is an 11-county region of southern Indiana , United States located at the southernmost and westernmost part of the state. As of the 2010 census, the region's combined population is 474,251. Evansville , Indiana's third-largest city, is the primary hub for the region, as well as the primary regional hub for a tri-state area that includes Kentucky and Illinois . Other regional hubs include Jasper , Vincennes , and Washington . Although part of a Midwestern state, this region's culture and language, like much of the rest of Southern Indiana , is somewhat more aligned with that of the neighboring Upland South (such as Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas), rather than the Midwest; the area is Midwest with a Southern influence, rather than Southern with a Midwest influence.
25-495: The Warrick County School Corporation ( WCSC ) is the second largest public school-governing body in Southwestern Indiana , and the 27th largest in the state. It is responsible for providing education to the second largest county in the area, Warrick County ; its boundaries are that of the county. The WCSC has two high schools, two middle schools, one junior/senior high school, and ten elementary schools. Its headquarters
50-580: A change back to Eastern Time. The resulting chain reaction resulted in all of the former Eastern Time counties, along with two Central Time counties, Gibson and Spencer, petitioning for a change to Eastern Time. On September 20, 2007, after only 15 months and only one winter on Central Time, the DOT returned only five of the eight applicants to the Eastern Time Zone. Gibson, Perry, and Spencer counties did not have enough support to be placed there. However, three of
75-566: A river. About 80% Knox County's boundaries are dictated by either the Wabash or the White River and its West Fork, essentially making the county a river peninsula. Additionally, over half of the area is located within the Wabash Valley seismic zone along with neighboring Southeastern Illinois . Southwestern Indiana has clusters of separate towns of varying sizes and layouts. Vincennes is laid out in
100-472: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Southwestern Indiana Southwestern Indiana's topography is considerably more varied and complex than most of Indiana, from large tracts of forest, marshes, rolling fields, large flat valleys in the west and south, to several chains of low mountains, high hills, and sharp valleys towards the north and east. Every county in Southwestern Indiana
125-575: Is a winding two-lane road in the eastern half of the region which becomes a four-lane road in the western half, near Washington, before joining US 41 in the bypass around Vincennes. It intersects with I-69 just east of Washington. It leaves Indiana on the Red Skelton Bridge. [REDACTED] U.S. Route 150 Coterminous with US 50 from Vincennnes to Shoals , it breaks off and heads eastward while US 50 continues northeast. [REDACTED] U.S. Route 231 This now mostly new four-lane road serves
150-573: Is bounded by a river at one point, whether it be the Wabash River along the west, the Ohio River along the south, the White River , dividing the six northern counties between its two forks, or other smaller rivers. More than 50% of the boundaries of Daviess , Knox , Perry , Posey , and Spencer Counties are dictated by a river or a creek. Just under 50% of Gibson and Pike counties are dictated by
175-630: Is geared towards the Central Time Zone, where Owensboro, Kentucky , and Spencer County, and the Huntingburg area's largest employers, AK Steel and Holiday World , are located. Jasper, though, stated that the majority of its business activity is aimed at the Eastern Seaboard and that returning to the Eastern Time Zone would be in the best interest of the county. The final result was that Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, and Pike counties returned to
200-748: Is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Evansville except for Perry County and Spencer County's Harrison Township , which are in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis . Southwestern Indiana makes up realtor region 12 in Indiana, while nine of the counties make up Economic Growth Region 11 with Daviess and Martin in Region 8. In addition, the southern third of Southwestern Indiana exists within the Ohio River Valley American Viticultural Area ,
225-680: Is located at 300 East Gum Street in Boonville, Indiana . WCSC was in one of the three Indiana counties of the Gibson-Pike-Warrick Special Education Cooperative , along with Gibson and Pike , but now operates its special education independently. (A) Castle: 5A in football, 4A in all other classed sports. Boonville: 4A in football, 3A in all other classed sports. 38°03′08.2″N 87°16′18.0″W / 38.052278°N 87.271667°W / 38.052278; -87.271667 This Indiana school-related article
250-434: Is young from a geologic standpoint. The river formed on a piecemeal basis beginning between 2.5 and 3 million years ago. The earliest Ice Ages occurred at this time and dammed portions of north flowing rivers. The Teays River was the largest of these rivers, and the modern Ohio River flows within segments of the ancient Teays. The ancient rivers were rearranged or consumed by glaciers and lakes. The vineyard soils of
275-570: The French quadrangular, while Jasper and Princeton are laid out in a standard grid. Evansville is laid out in both modes of survey, with its downtown being mapped out from the river and the rest of the city being laid out in the standard grid. Southwestern Indiana, like most of Southern Indiana as a whole contains several of the oldest counties in Indiana, including Knox County, the states's oldest county. In addition, four other area counties; Gibson, Perry, Posey, and Warrick, predate Indiana's statehood and
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#1732885149467300-681: The 1800s, wine was expensive, so non-trellised vines succumbed to fungal diseases. Horses could farm the narrow ridges, but tractors could not. Tobacco farming became profitable. And as in many other states, Prohibition in the United States destroyed the Ohio wine industry, which has struggled to recover. The Ohio River is a climatic transition area as its water runs along the periphery of the humid subtropical climate and humid continental climate thereby being inhabited by fauna and flora of both climates. The hardiness zones are 6b and 7a. The Ohio River
325-581: The Central Time Zone. Not even a month after the change, people began to complain about some of the same problems that people who lived in the original Central Daylight Time counties had been complaining about for years. Most prevalent was the complaint that the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center had become a "time island". The workers' union of the base subsequently petitioned the Martin County Commissioners to repetition for
350-420: The Eastern Time Zone on November 4, 2007, once again dividing Southwestern Indiana. 38°30′N 87°0′W / 38.500°N 87.000°W / 38.500; -87.000 Ohio River Valley American Viticultural Area The Ohio River Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area centered on the Ohio River and surrounding areas . It is the second largest wine appellation of origin in
375-567: The United States (only the Upper Mississippi Valley is larger) with 16,640,000 acres (26,000 sq mi) (67,300 km ) in portions of the states of Indiana , Kentucky , Ohio and West Virginia . The area is mostly planted with hybrid grapes like Baco noir , Marechal Foch , Seyval blanc and Vidal . Of the Vitis vinifera found in the area Cabernet Franc , Cabernet Sauvignon , Chardonnay , Petit Manseng and Riesling are
400-613: The area also contains Pike County, the first county created after statehood. The youngest county, Martin, was created in January, 1820, was the state's 30th county overall of the states's 92 counties. In addition to various media definitions, Southwestern Indiana is also defined by most Indiana state agencies, as well as various commercial and economic regions, as an entire area. All of Southwestern Indiana's counties are in Indiana's 8th Congressional District as of 2013 . Most of Southwestern Indiana
425-491: The eastern half of the region. The route is in a process of relocation, as a new four-lane road is under construction from Rockport to Greene County, where it will intersect with Interstate 69. From 1966 to 2006, the five southwesternmost counties—Gibson, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick—observed Central Daylight Time . The six northern and eastern counties—Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, Perry, and Pike, since 1982—observed year-round Eastern Standard Time as did much of
450-425: The first Catawba grapes in Ohio. Others soon planted Catawba in new vineyards throughout the state and by 1860, Catawba was the most important grape variety in Ohio. At this time, Ohio produced more wine than any other state in the country, and Cincinnati was the most important city in the national wine trade. Of the 570,000 gallons of wine that were produced each year in Ohio, 200,000 came from Brown County . In
475-562: The five counties, Daviess, Knox, and Pike, had little support either, but "convenience of commerce" was given as the reason for their time changes, despite commute patterns into Evansville and the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana plant in Gibson County, the region's largest employer. In Dubois County, a heated disagreement between Huntingburg and Jasper occurred over the topic. Most of Huntingburg's industry and economy
500-667: The highway approaches Crane and leaves the area into Greene County. [REDACTED] U.S. Route 41 US 41 extends from Miami, Florida to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan . This four-lane highway serves the western half of the region. US 41 goes through the city of Evansville, becoming six lanes between the Lloyd Expressway and Diamond Avenue. It bypasses Princeton and Vincennes before continuing north towards Terre Haute . [REDACTED] U.S. Route 50 US 50 extends from Baltimore, Maryland , to Sacramento, California . It
525-547: The most common. The AVA size was decreased by approximately 1,530 square miles when the Indiana Uplands AVA was established in 2013 composed of the bordering area in Indiana . The Ohio River Valley AVA is the birthplace of American viticulture. Wine has been produced in Ohio since 1823 when Nicholas Longworth planted the first Alexander and Isabella grapes in the Ohio River Valley . In 1825, Longworth planted
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#1732885149467550-656: The primary artery of east-west traffic since entering service around 1983. While relatively flat in Posey, Vanderburgh, and Gibson counties, its terrain becomes hillier as it passes through the 25.5-mile (41.0 km) stretch in Warrick County. By the time it approaches U.S. 231 , the hills and valleys are sharper, transitioning into the low mountainous conditions found in Perry County as the highway leaves into Crawford County. [REDACTED] Interstate 69 The newer interstate in
575-611: The region, this stretch of I-69 provides interstate access to Bloomington and Indianapolis. Like I-64, the terrain around Evansville is relatively flat, but becomes hillier in northeastern Gibson County, and becomes progressively hillier through Pike County. The stretch of I-69 in Daviess County between Washington and Elnora is actually flatter than the stretch in Vanderburgh County, while containing some hilly sections south of Washington, but becomes very hilly northeast of Elnora as
600-602: The rest of the state. In 2006, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels pushed through legislation for all Indiana counties to observe Daylight Timeon Eastern Time onto Eastern Daylight Time . This action threw both Southwestern and Northwestern Indiana into chaos as counties started to debate whether to return to the Central Time Zone or remain in the Eastern Time Zone and start observing daylight time. This resulted, on April 2, 2006, in all of Southwestern Indiana being in
625-479: The second-largest wine appellation in the United States . The Ohio River Valley AVA occupies all of Perry, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh , and Warrick Counties, nearly 90% of Gibson County, and portions of Pike and Dubois Counties in Southwestern Indiana. (T) - Establishment Date - Indiana Territory County [REDACTED] Interstate 64 The older interstate in the region, this stretch of I-64 has been
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