Shelbyville, Indiana

History

In 1818, the land that would become Shelbyville was ceded to the United States by the Miami tribe in the Treaty of St. Mary's. Also in 1818, the backwoodsman Jacob Whetzel and a party cut a trail through this "New Purchase" from the Whitewater River at Laurel due west to the White River at Waverly. This trail became known as Whetzel's Trace and was the first east–west road into the New Purchase of central Indiana. Whetzel's Trace was cut just 4 mi north of the site of Shelbyville and proved important in the settlement of Shelby County.

Shelbyville was platted in 1822. Shelbyville was named in honor of Isaac Shelby, the first and fifth Governor of Kentucky and soldier in Lord Dunmore's War, the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. The town incorporated January 21, 1850.

The Shelbyville post office has been in operation since 1823.

The city charter received at that time was destroyed in the City Hall fire on January 1, 1928.

A railroad was built connecting Shelbyville to Indianapolis in the late 1830s, the first railroad in the state; it was later expanded to connect to Madison and Jeffersonville.

Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 crashed on September 9, 1969, near Fairland. Nearly 30 of the 83 people killed were never identified and were buried in a mass grave in Shelbyville.

John Hamilton House, Lora B. Pearson School, Porter Pool Bathhouse, Shelbyville Commercial Historic District, Shelby County Courthouse, Shelbyville High School, and West Side Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Grover Museum features a "Streets of Old Shelby" exhibit.

Horseshoe Indianapolis (owned by Caesars Entertainment) opened in 2009.

Geography

Shelbyville is located in Central Indiana and within the Indianapolis metropolitan area. It is 26 mi southeast of Downtown Indianapolis. The city is at the fork of the Little Blue and Big Blue Rivers.

According to the 2010 census, Shelbyville has a total area of 11.845 sqmi, of which 11.56 sqmi (or 97.59%) is land and 0.285 sqmi (or 2.41%) is water.{{cite web |access-date=2015-07-29 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213051129/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/G001/1600000US1869318 |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |url-status=dead

Climate

Shelbyville has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa) experiencing four distinct seasons.

|Jan record high F = 74 |Feb record high F = 77 |Mar record high F = 87 |Apr record high F = 93 |May record high F = 98 |Jun record high F = 102 |Jul record high F = 108 |Aug record high F = 103 |Sep record high F = 102 |Oct record high F = 92 |Nov record high F = 82 |Dec record high F = 82

|Jan avg record high F = 59.2 |Feb avg record high F = 63.5 |Mar avg record high F = 73.5 |Apr avg record high F = 80.7 |May avg record high F = 87.0 |Jun avg record high F = 91.9 |Jul avg record high F = 92.3 |Aug avg record high F = 92.2 |Sep avg record high F = 90.8 |Oct avg record high F = 83.2 |Nov avg record high F = 70.8 |Dec avg record high F = 61.6 |year avg record high F = 94.6

|Jan avg record low F = -0.8 |Feb avg record low F = 4.5 |Mar avg record low F = 14.9 |Apr avg record low F = 27.0 |May avg record low F = 37.5 |Jun avg record low F = 48.9 |Jul avg record low F = 53.6 |Aug avg record low F = 51.6 |Sep avg record low F = 41.4 |Oct avg record low F = 29.2 |Nov avg record low F = 19.5 |Dec avg record low F = 7.5 |year avg record low F = -3.9

|Jan record low F = -25 |Feb record low F = -20 |Mar record low F = -5 |Apr record low F = 12 |May record low F = 25 |Jun record low F = 36 |Jul record low F = 38 |Aug record low F = 36 |Sep record low F = 28 |Oct record low F = 15 |Nov record low F = -4 |Dec record low F = -24

|access-date = March 8, 2023 |access-date = March 8, 2023

Demographics

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 19,191 people, 7,682 households, and 4,848 families living in the city. The population density was 1660.1 PD/sqmi. There were 8,658 housing units at an average density of 749.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 91.9% White, 1.9% African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 3.2% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.1% of the population.

There were 7,682 households, of which 34.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.6% were married couples living together, 13.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.9% were non-families. 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.00.

The median age in the city was 35.9 years. 25.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.2% were from 25 to 44; 24.8% were from 45 to 64; and 13% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.8% male and 51.2% female.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 17,951 people, 7,307 households, and 4,654 families living in the city. The population density was 2023.0 PD/sqmi. There were 7,930 housing units at an average density of 893.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 95.28% White, 1.58% African American, 0.15% Native American, 1.16% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.90% from other races, and 0.91% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.91% of the population.

There were 7,307 households, out of which 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.3% were non-families. 30.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.96. In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.2% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 31.6% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $36,824, and the median income for a family was $46,379. Males had a median income of $34,550 versus $24,331 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,670. About 6.1% of families and 9.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.8% of those under age 18 and 11.6% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture

Shelbyville has a public library. It is one of three branches of the Shelby County Public Library system.

Education

Shelbyville Central Schools consists of Shelbyville Senior High School, Shelbyville Middle School, and three lower grades / elementary schools in neighborhoods: Coulston Elementary, Loper Elementary, and Hendricks Elementary.

St Joseph Elementary School is a private / parochial school, associated with the St Joseph Roman Catholic Church.

Until 1870 (five years after the American Civil War and midway into the Reconstruction era for the emancipated Southern slaves, now called freedmen), no public education was provided for Shelbyville's black residents. In that year, the state of Indiana required communities to provide free public education for all children, similar to that already available in most Eastern states since the 1840s, but allowed the various towns and counties to choose whether they would be racially integrated as in the North, or segregated as in the South where the enactment of a series of discrimination laws marked the start of the "Jim Crow" era from the 1880s. In the Midwest region town of Shelbyville, schools were racially integrated at the high school level but segregated in the lower elementary grades until 1949, five years before the landmark unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education in May 1954 to outlaw legal segregation.

Notable people

• Sandy Allen (1955–2008), world's tallest living female (7 ft)
• Bucky Barnes, a fictional character from the Marvel Comics universe, was born in Shelbyville.
• Ovid Butler (1801–1881), an abolitionist, chancellor, and namesake of Butler University, practiced law in Shelbyville from 1825 to 1836.
• William Garrett (1929–1974), Indiana Mr. Basketball, led Shelbyville HS basketball team to state high school basketball championship in 1947.
• Ken Gunning (1914–1991), basketball player for Indiana Hoosiers and head coach at Wichita State University
• Thomas A. Hendricks (1819–1885), 21st Vice President of the United States under Grover Cleveland in 1885
• Victor Higgins (1884–1949), painter
• John W. Hill (1890–1977), founder of PR firm Hill & Knowlton in Cleveland in 1927
• Marjorie Main (1890–1975), actress
• Charles Major (1856–1913), novelist
• Edna Parker (1893–2008), oldest living person at the time of her death at age 115
• Mike Phipps (born 1947), NFL quarterback for the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears.
• James Pierce (1900–1983), silent film actor
• Kid Quill (born 1994), recording artist
• Mike Sexton (1947–2020), professional poker player and commentator. Inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2009.
• Waldo E. Sexton (1885–1967), entrepreneur
• Wilbur Shaw (1902–1954), three-time Indianapolis 500 winner in 1937, 1939, and 1940
• W. Roland Stine (1940–2003), educator and politician
• Bob Zimny (1921–2011), NFL football player for the Chicago Cardinals. Won the 1947 NFL Championship.

References

References

1. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau.
2. "U.S. Census website". [[United States Census Bureau]].
3. {{GNIS. 2395864
4. "Census in Indiana".
5. Wilson, George R.. (December 2015). "Early Indiana Trails and Surveys". The Society of Indiana Pioneers.
6. (1887). "History of Shelby County, Indiana: From the Earliest Time to the Present, with Biographical Sketches, Notes, Etc.". Brant & Fuller.
7. (23 October 2000). "Indiana Trivia". Thomas Nelson.
8. Chadwick, Edward H.. (1909). "Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana". B.F. Bowen.
9. "Shelby County". Jim Forte Postal History.
10. [http://www.shelbynews.com/news/article_41604d8c-378a-11e4-a4aa-0019bb2963f4.html Residents recall deadly plane crash near London]
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12. (2011-12-23). "National Register of Historic Places Listings". National Park Service.
13. "U.S. Census website". [[United States Census Bureau]].
14. "Locations". Shelby County Public Library.
15. (2006). "Getting Open The Unknown Story of Bill Garrett and the Integration of College Basketball". Indiana University Press.
16. Johnston, Rich. (February 17, 2025). "If You Live In Shelbyville Get Out Before Doctor Doom Comes To Town".
17. Jennings, Collier. (March 26, 2025). "'Thunderbolts: Doomstrike' #2 pushes Bucky Barnes to his limits".