Jefferson County is a county located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sov ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th st ...

. As of 2020, the population was 33,147. The county seat is Madison.

History

Jefferson County was formed on February 1, 1811, from Dearborn and Clark Counties. It was named for

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...

, principal draftsman of the

Northwest Ordinance The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio and also known as the Ordinance of 1787), enacted July 13, 1787, was an organic act of the Congress of the Con ...

and

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United St ...

from 1801 through 1809. Jefferson County was one of Indiana's first counties, and many important early Hoosiers came from Madison, including

William Hendricks William Hendricks (November 12, 1782 – May 16, 1850) was a Democratic-Republican member of the House of Representatives from 1816 to 1822, the third governor of Indiana from 1822 to 1825, and an Anti-Jacksonian member of the U.S. Senate from ...

. Throughout the early history of the state, Madison was one of the leading cities competing with Vincennes, and later New Albany, to be the largest city in the state. The county fell into economic decline after the American Civil War, as industry began to shift from southern Indiana to the northern part of the state. On the evening of May 20, 2009, the county courthouse caught fire. The fire began in the steeple of the courthouse, which was under reconstruction for Madison's bicentenary. The roof of the dome had just been painted gold. Fire departments from across southern Indiana and northern Kentucky arrived to put out the fire which burned for several hours, destroyed much of the inside of the building and the county records. The fire forced the evacuation of the nearby county jail, and effectively shut down the downtown area of the city. It was later determined the fire was accidentally started by workers who were welding on the metal roof dome. The tallest waterfall in Indiana, Fremont Falls, is located in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Geography

According to the 2010 census, the county has a total area of , of which (or 99.38%) is land and (or 0.62%) is water. Jefferson County makes up the Madison, IN Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Cities and towns

* Brooksburg *

Dupont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

* Madison (primary city)

Census-designated places

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Te ...

* Deputy *

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces the ...

Townships

* Graham *

* Lancaster * Madison * Milton * Monroe * Republican * Saluda * Shelby * Smyrna

Adjacent counties

* Ripley County (north) * Switzerland County (east) * Carroll County,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to ...

(southeast) * Trimble County,

(south) * Clark County (southwest) * Scott County (west) * Jennings County (northwest)

Major highways

Sources: National Atlas, U.S. Census Bureau * U.S. Route 421 *

Indiana State Road 3 State Road 3 (SR 3) in the U.S. state of Indiana is a discontinuous state highway running through eastern Indiana from near the Ohio River to near the Michigan state line. The southernmost terminus is at SR 62 in Charlestown, and the ...

Indiana State Road 7 State Road 7 in the U.S. State of Indiana is located in southeast Indiana. It runs from northwest-to-southeast connecting the cities of Columbus and Madison. Route description SR 7 begins at Main Street in Madison, of which it then travel ...

Indiana State Road 56 State Road 56 in the U.S. state of Indiana is a route that travels the south central part of the state from west to east. Route description The western terminus of SR 56 is near Hazleton at U.S. Route 41. SR 56 heads northeast to Ha ...

Indiana State Road 62 State Road 62 (SR 62) in the U.S. state of Indiana is an east–west route that travels from the Illinois state line in the southwest corner of Indiana to the Louisville, Kentucky area, then northeast toward the Cincinnati, Ohio area. ...

Indiana State Road 250 State Road 250 (SR 250) in the U.S. State of Indiana is a secondary route that runs from U.S. Route 50 (US 50) in Brownstown eastward toward the Ohio River at State Road 156 (SR 156) in Patriot in southeast Indiana. Towns inclu ...

* Indiana State Road 256 * Indiana State Road 356 * Indiana State Road 362

National protected area

Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in southeast Indiana, United States, near Madison, Indiana. The refuge is the largest of Indiana's three National Wildlife Refuges ( M ...

(part)

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in Madison have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in December 1989 and a record high of was recorded in July 1954. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in September to in May.

Government

The county government is a constitutional body, and is granted specific powers by the

Constitution of Indiana The Constitution of Indiana is the highest body of state law in the U.S. state of Indiana. It establishes the structure and function of the state and is based on the principles of federalism and Jacksonian democracy. Indiana's constitution is su ...

, and by the

Indiana Code The Indiana Code is the code of laws for the U.S. state of Indiana. The contents are the codification of all the laws currently in effect within Indiana. With roots going all the way back to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the laws of Indiana ha ...

. County Council: The county council is the legislative branch of the county government and controls all the spending and revenue collection in the county. Representatives are elected from county districts. The council members serve four-year terms. They are responsible for setting salaries, the annual budget, and special spending. The council also has limited authority to impose local taxes, in the form of an income and property tax that is subject to state level approval, excise taxes, and service taxes. Board of Commissioners: The executive body of the county is made of a board of commissioners. The commissioners are elected county-wide, in staggered terms, and each serves a four-year term. One of the commissioners, typically the most senior, serves as president. The commissioners are charged with executing the acts legislated by the council, collecting revenue, and managing the day-to-day functions of the county government. Court: The county maintains a

small claims court Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and go by different names in different jurisdictions. For example, it may ...

that can handle some civil cases. The judge on the court is elected to a term of four years and must be a member of the Indiana Bar Association. The judge is assisted by a constable who is also elected to a four-year term. In some cases, court decisions can be appealed to the state level circuit court. County Officials: The county has several other elected offices, including

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transl ...

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jur ...

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and a ...

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

, recorder,

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is c ...

, and circuit

court clerk A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court, administer oaths to wit ...

Each of these elected officers serves a term of four years and oversees a different part of county government. Members elected to county government positions are required to declare

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

affiliations and to be residents of the county. Jefferson County is part of Indiana's 6th congressional district and is represented in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

by Republican

Luke Messer Allen Lucas Messer (born February 27, 1969) is an American politician and lobbyist who represented Indiana's 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party. Bo ...

. It is also part of

Indiana Senate The Indiana Senate is the upper house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Senate is composed of 50 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. Senators serve four-year terms ...

district 45 and is split between

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House me ...

districts 66, 67 and 69.

Politics

Demographics

As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

, there were 32,428 people, 12,635 households, and 8,456 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 14,311 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 95.2% white, 1.7% black or African American, 0.7% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.9% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 2.3% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 23.5% were German, 15.4% were American, 12.9% were Irish, and 11.2% were

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. Of the 12,635 households, 31.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.5% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.1% were non-families, and 27.2% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.90. The median age was 39.7 years. The median income for a household in the county was $47,697 and the median income for a family was $52,343. Males had a median income of $42,629 versus $30,475 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,278. About 10.2% of families and 15.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 22.1% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over.

Education

All Jefferson County residents five years and older are eligible to obtain a free library card from the Jefferson County Public Library in Madison. The public school system in Jefferson County is Madison Consolidated Schools.

References

External links

Madison-Jefferson County Public Library
{{Authority control Indiana counties 1811 establishments in Indiana Territory Indiana counties on the Ohio River Populated places established in 1811