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Parke County was organized January 9, 1821 becoming effective April 2, 1821,
and is divided into 13 Civil Townships as follows: Adams, Florida, Greene,
Howard, Jackson, Liberty, Penn, Raccoon, Reserve, Sugar Creek, Union, Wabash
and Washington.
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Formation of Parke County -- at one time, all of Indiana was considered "Knox"
County ... in 1817 Sullivan County was formed from Knox sealing its northern
boarder making all land north, which had previously been known as Knox, simply
non-county area. In 1818 the northern portion of Sullivan County was ceded
to Vigo County and in 1821 the southwestern corner of Parke County was formed
from Vigo while the northeastern was taken from the New Wabash Purchase;
a small portion of the northwest corner was actually part of the non-county
area. In 1824 all Parke County land west of the Wabash River was ceded to
Vermillion County, however, land that had belonged to Putnam and Montgomery
was added to the county giving it the area we are familiar with today.
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Rockville wasn't always the County Seat.
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The first County Seats were temporarily located at Roseville and
Armiesburg.
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Rockville was named the County Seat in 1823 and first settled in that year
by General Patterson and Judge McCall. No county buildings were erected until
1826, when a log Court House was built, which served the dual purpose of
a temple of justice and a house of worship. By 1849 Rockville contained a
flourishing County Seminary, a Female Seminary, two printing offices publishing
weekly newspapers, five churches, and 1,000 inhabitants.
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Parke County is generally considered the "Covered Bridge Capital of the World"
because of the 30 structures still standing.
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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, 1830.
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Indiana automobile License Plates issued in Parke County start with the prefix
61 because it is the sixty-first county in alphabetical listing.
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