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Jennings County is divided into 11 Civil Townships as follows: Bigger, Campbell,
Center, Columbia, Geneva, Lovett, Marion, Montgomery, Sand Creek, Spencer
and Vernon.
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Jennings County was organized effective February 1, 1817.
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Ours is the only county in the United States to be named Jennings! --
thanks to Denise Shafer
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Vernon, the County Seat, was laid out in 1815 by Colonel John Vawter, and
the first settlers were himself and Achilles Vawter; by 1849 it had 35 brick
and 65 frame houses with 520 inhabitants.
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With a 2003 population of 319, Vernon is the smallest County Seat in Indiana.
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There were attempts to remove the county seat from Vernon, the geographical
center of the county, to North Vernon - the most populated city in the county.
One reason was that some taxpayers did not want to pay any more money on
renovating the courthouse which was built in 1859-61. Another reason was
to move it to the more populated town.
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On July 22, 1919, a special election was held to decide if the seat should
be removed. If the vote for removal was 60% or more, the change was to have
taken place. On that date, the vote for removal received 2,217 votes (59.6%)
and the vote for no removal received 1,512 votes (40.4%). However, there
was allegations of illegal balloting and 182 votes were in dispute. The case
was taken to court where it linger for 25 years, until in September of 1948
when Judge Fred S. Matthews declared that too much time had elapsed and there
was not enough witnesses to verify to the voter irregularity and declared,
"Vernon is and remains the county seat of Jennings County."
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Vernon can claim many firsts: The elevated railroad and underpass, known
locally as "the Arch", were the first west of the Alleghenies and are still
in use; it also was the first Indiana town to have a public playground; the
first all-woman jury trial, held on June 6th, 1921, just after the ratification
of the 19th amendment; the first woman's club, the "Clionian Society" established
before 1859.
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-- thanks to Cory Walker for these additional details about
Vernon!
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North Vernon was platted by Hagerman Tripp and Hiram Prather on June 24,
1854 and was incorporated in 1867. -- thanks to Denise
Shafer
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The Whitcomb Opera House or Whitcomb Hall was well known in this part of
Southern Indiana as place for social gatherings. It was built in North Vernon
in 1867 by E. S. Whitcomb. It housed political meetings, theatrical performances,
graduations, alumni banquets, dances and many other social events. It was
torn down in 1917 and stood on the property where the post office stands
today. -- thanks to Denise Shafer
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According to the Society of Indiana Pioneers, an individual was a pioneer
of our county if they resided here on or before December 31, 1825.
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Indiana automobile License Plates issued in Jennings County start with the
prefix 40 because it is the fortieth county in alphabetical listing.
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