Evansville

Evansville is a city in southwestern Indiana, situated along a crescent bend of the Ohio River. The place takes its name from officer Robert Morgan Evans, who helped survey the original town plat. USS LST 325 remains the last operational amphibious landing vessel of its class from the Second World War.

Hugh McGary Jr. purchased the riverside land in 1812 and laid out a pioneer flatboat trading post. The community developed as a regional trade port and county seat before Evansville received its city charter in 1847. The completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal during the 1850s connected the Ohio River to Lake Erie, bringing grain mills and packet boat lines. Manufacturing plants converted to wartime military output during the 1940s, constructing P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft and naval landing vessels. Floodwall construction following heavy river crests protected commercial districts and industrial zones along the waterfront.

Berry Global manufactures injection-molded plastic containers, tamper-evident beverage closures, flexible agricultural films, and engineered nonwoven fabrics used in medical garments and consumer packaging. Accuride Corporation fabricates forged aluminum wheel rims, heavy steel disc wheels, and machined wheel-end brake drums for commercial transport trucks and highway trailers. Escalade Sports manufactures tournament table tennis tables, residential basketball goal systems, billiard cues, and target archery equipment, and Mead Johnson Nutrition produces Enfamil infant milk formula and specialized pediatric nutritional drinks.

Bosse Field hosts professional baseball games for the Evansville Otters inside a covered brick grandstand constructed during the 1910s. The Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science features American paintings, historic riverboat artifacts, and an immersive domed planetarium overlooking the Ohio River. Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden cares for exotic animals across rolling hills anchored by the indoor Amazonia rainforest biosphere. The Old Vanderburgh County Courthouse displays ornate 19th-century Beaux-Arts stonecraft, featuring carved Indiana limestone pediments and an elaborate central copper dome.