River Mile: 493

Population: 5,129

U.S. Census Profile

Samuel C. Vance founded Lawrenceburg in 1802, giving the fledgling town after his wife’s maiden name. The town was established as the seat of Dearborn County the following year by Gov. William Henry Harrison, who named it after then Secretary of War Gen. Henry Dearborn. Through the 19th century, the town was an important center of the river trade for all southeastern Indiana. The Whitewater Canal was completed in 1843, and river and canal trade dominated the area’s economy until the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad was built in the 1850s.

The town was devastated by severe floods in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially by the Great Flood of 1937. Nevertheless, the town retains several historically important buildings, including the Dearborn County Courthouse, the Vance-Tousey House, the Daniel S. Major House, the Hamline Chapel United Methodist Church, and others in its downtown historical district.