Context

Historical Background & Critical Points Timeline

1804

The land containing Rushville and a majority of Central Indiana was opened for settlement following the 1819 Treaty of St. Mary’s and the sale of it began after the establishment of a land office in Brookville the following year. This prompted settlers of varying backgrounds to arrive rapidly by way of the Ohio River and the Cumberland Gap.

1820s

William B. Laughlin, an early settler and the original owner of the land that became Rushville, gave 25 acres to be used or sold for the creation of a new town, in addition to 45 acres by Zachariah Hodges. The 1821 Enabling Act passed by the Indiana Legislature made for the creation of a new county in what was formerly part of Delaware County. The new county and the town were officially established in 1822, and both named after Dr. Benjamin Rush, a well-known Philadelphia doctor and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. At creation, a Board of Commissioners set the framework for the new county government, established townships within, and selected Rushville as the seat of justice. The densely forested land was surveyed and cleared for the development of a public square and surrounding streets including Rush to the north, Perkins to the east, Noble to the south, and Main to the west. As the seat of justice, a courthouse was the first public building, completed in 1823, located on the eastern side of the square. The rest of the grid patterned streets, named after some of the first county commissioners, began to fill with log cabins, stores, and taverns. Poorly drained dirt roads spotted with tree stumps and cattle and hogs running lose comprised the early environment of the town. The trades introduced at Rushville’s beginning were blacksmithing, wagon production, cabinet construction, shoemaking, milling, and tanning. Because it lacked coal and iron resources, industrial growth and manufacturing was minimal and instead the rich soil contributed to the dominance of agricultural enterprise in Rushville, enabled in large part by Brookville Road which extended from Indianapolis to Cincinnati via Rushville. Other early roads leading to and from Rushville cut diagonally across the county, leading to other nearby towns. These roads also allowed corn made into whiskey to sell beyond the local market and to be brought to larger cities.

1830s

The construction of the Erie Canal lowered freight costs and products from the east coast arrived more easily to Rushville and the surrounding region. The whitewater canal was also constructed and aided in transportation of goods, and was accessible via Whetzel Trace. The canal was only in operation for a few years, however, until the earliest railroads emerged in the region.

1840s

The population began dropping as farms increased in size and people moved west for cheap land opportunities and to vote against slavery in newer states. Corn, wheat, and oats became leading crops, and agricultural began improving with the incoming of newer machinery and enhanced transportation methods. Rushville also began emerging as a wholesale merchant to Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, and Chicago.

1850s

The first railroad through Rushville arrived in the early 1850s as the R & S railroad, linking with Shelbyville, and a lateral branch of the Madison and Indianapolis (M & I) Railroad. Rail connection linked Rushville directly with important trade routes, including the Ohio River. While the population continued to decrease, access to the railroad network influenced a period of sustained economic growth in the town, and a transformation from self-sufficiency to commercial economy.

1860s

The Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Indianapolis (C H & I) Railroad was completed and linked Rushville by train to both Indianapolis and Cincinnati. This sparked a decline of trade via the Ohio River as Rushville’s primary market.

1870s-1890s

Poor roads around Rushville began to pull other Rush County towns economically toward the centers of neighboring counties. This included a pull of nearby Milroy to Greensburg of Decatur County, Moscow to Shelbyville of Shelby County, and Carthage to Knightstown of Henry County. This encouraged a surge of road improvements. Rushville also gained connection to a new railroads during this time as well, including the Vernon, Greensburg, and Rushville (V G & R) Railroad, the New Castle and Rushville (N & R) Railroad, the Cincinnati, Wabash, Michigan (C W & M) Railroad. Many of the railroads reorganized nearing the turn of the century, and Rushville became a truly integral part of the national market system. Later during this period Rushville saw a drop in corn yields and a shortage of plant food, so its agricultural industry shifted to include production of legumes, tobacco, soybeans. Wheat, oats, and rye remained in high demand, as well as meat and dairy processing. Rushville transformed from a town to a city during this growth, aided by the expansion of manufacturing, initiated by the furniture manufacturing of Innis, Pearce and Company, the first non-agricultural manufacturer in Rushville.

1900s-1920s

The first couple decades of the Twentieth Century brought dramatic growth to Rushville, complemented by the electrification of rail from Indianapolis to Cincinnati. By the 1920s Rushville was a destination of all main roads throughout the county and was connected by four railroads and an interurban line. The automobile also began to change patterns of travel in, to and from Rushville.

1930s

Since the late 1930s Rushville saw many physical changes as businesses, professions, and people left the downtown district of the city.

1972

Sesquicentennial

Rushville: Re-Imagine, Re-Invest, Re-Discover, a Stellar Rushville

Population

Rushville's population grew by a mere 1.3% from 1980 till 2015, a change less dramatic than the population loss of Rush County as a whole (-13.3%), and substantially less of an increase than the state of Indiana (+20.6%) in the same timeframe.

Poverty

Poverty rates in Rushville have more than doubled (+116.5%) over the last three and a half decades, much more than the poverty rates within the county (+63%) and state (+59.8%).

Income

Unlike the entire state of Indiana which experienced a subtle increase, median household income in Rushville has fallen by 17.3% since 1980, more than the drop within Rush County (-7.6%).

Rushville: Socioeconomic Characteristics of Decline

Population
    1980
  2015
% Change

Race/Ethnicity 2014 (%)
White
Black
Other

All Persons Below Poverty (%)
    1980
    2014a
% Change

Median household income
    1980b
    2014
    % Change

Rushville
6,113
6,192
+1.3%

94.7%
2.5%
2.7%

10.3
22.3
+116.5%

$42,226
$34,942
-17.3%

Rush County
19,604
16,991
-13.3%

97.2%
0.9%
1.9%

10.8
17.6
+63.0%

$48,837
$45,121
-7.6%

Indiana
5,490,224
6,619,680
+20.6%

84.4%
9.1%
6.5%

9.7
15.5
+59.8%

$47,974
$48,737
+1.6%

Source: 1970 Census of Population, PC(1)-C1 "General Social and Economic Characteristics", table 182. 1980 Census of Population, PC80-1-C1 "General Social and Economic Characteristics", table 245.U.S. Census Bureau, Census 1980 Summary Files 1 and 3. U.S. Census Bureau, 2010-2014 American Community Survey Table DP03. U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts, 2016. Data derived from Population Estimates, American Community Survey, Census of Population and Housing, State and County Housing Unit Estimates, County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, Economic Census, Survey of Business Owners, Building Permits. STATS Indiana, using data from Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau. Minnesota Population Center. National Historical Geographic Information System: Version 2.0. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota 2011.

a. Poverty figures for 2014 were the most recent data estimations from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2010-2014 Table DP03 estimations provided for the specific geographic area.

b. The Median Household dollar amounts reported for 1980 are values that have been converted to constant 2014 dollars according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, available at www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm.

Housing Stock

The majority of structures in Rushville, approximately 40%, were constructed predating 1939. With an aged housing stock, new construction has also been lacking since the economic recession and hasn't yet returned to pre-recession rates.