New Albany, Indiana

City of New Albany, Indiana
City
Location in the state of Indiana
Country	United States
State	Indiana
County	Floyd
Government
• Mayor	Doug England (D)
Area
• Total	14.8 sq mi (38.3 km2)
• Land	14.6 sq mi (37.9 km2)
• Water	0.2 sq mi (0.4 km2)
Elevation	449 ft (137 m)
Population  (2000)
• Total	37,603
• Density	2,570/sq mi (992.4/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP codes	47150-47151
Area code	812
FIPS code	18-52326Template:GR
GNIS feature ID	0440013Template:GR
Website	www.cityofnewalbany.com

New Albany (Template:Pron-en) is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River opposite Louisville, Kentucky. In 1900, 20,628 people lived in New Albany; in 1910, 20,629; in 1920, 22,992; and in 1940, 25,414. The population was 37,603 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Floyd CountyTemplate:GR. It is bounded by I-265 to the north and the Ohio River to the south, and is considered part of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area. The mayor of New Albany is Doug England, a Democrat, whose current term is set to expire on January 1, 2012.

History

The land of New Albany was officially granted to the United States after the American Revolutionary War. The territory had been captured by George Rogers Clark in 1779. For his services Clark was awarded large tracts of land in Southern Indiana including most of Floyd County. After the war Clark sold and distributed some of his land to his fellow soldiers. The area of New Albany ended up in the possession of Col. John Paul.

Early history

A Carnegie library in New Albany

New Albany was founded in July 1813 when three brothers from Albany New York—Joel, Abner, and Nathaniel Scribner—arrived at the Falls of the Ohio and named the site after their home. They purchased the land from Col. John Paul. New Albany was platted by John Graham on the land owned by the Scribner brothers. In 1814 Joel and Mary Scribner built their home in New Albany, the Scribner House still stands today.

New Albany was incorporated as a town in 1817 as part of Clark County. In 1819, three years after Indiana was admitted as a state, New Albany became the seat of government for newly established Floyd County. A courthouse was finally built in 1824. New Albany was incorporated as a city in 1839. It would remain one of the largest cities in the mid-west for the next 50 years.

Boom town

The steamboat industry was the engine of the city's economy during the mid-19th century. At least a half-dozen shipbuilders were in operation and turned out a multitude of steamboats and packet boats including the Robert E. Lee, the Eclipse, and the A.A. Shotwell. Shipbuilding was accompanied by a wide range of ancillary business including machine shops, foundries, cabinet and furniture factories, and silversmith shops. Its second largest business was the American Plate Glass Works. By 1850, New Albany was the largest city in Indiana due to its river contacts with the South. New Albany's size and economic influence overshadowed all of its neighboring cities, including Louisville.

In 1853 the New Albany High School opened, the first public high school in the state. The original school was built at the corner of West First Street and Spring Street. New Albany would also be the first in the state to create a consolidated school district several years later.

Before the Civil War. Over half of Hoosiers with over $100,000 lived in New Albany making it by far the wealthiest part of the state.

Ashbel P. Willard, Governor of the State of Indiana and a native of New Albany, dedicated the Floyd County Fairgrounds in 1859. That year the Indiana State Fair was held in New Albany. During the Civil War the fairgrounds were converted to become Camp Noble and used as a muster point for the area's regiments.

In 1862 Abraham Lincoln established one of the first seven National Cemeteries in New Albany for burying the many war dead.

A new larger courthouse was built in 1865 which was used until the 1960s when the current City-County courthouse was constructed, also the first in Indiana.

Town Clock Church was used as the New Albany stop in the Underground Railroad. The Town Clock Church, now the Second Baptist Church, was an Underground Railroad station.

During the American Civil War the trade with the South dwindled, and after the War much of Indiana saw New Albany as too friendly to the South. The city never regained its stature, remaining a city of 40,000 with only its antebellum/early-Victorian “Mansion-Row” buildings to remind itself of its boom period. New Albany’s robust steamboat industry ended by 1870, with the last steamboat built in New Albany named, appropriately, the Robert E. Lee.

During the second half of the 19th century New Albany experienced an industrial boom despite the collapse of the steamboat industry. The advent of the railroad created economic opportunity for the city as a pork packing and locomotive repair center. A bridge was built across the River in 1886 providing a rail and road connection with Kentucky. American Plate Glass Works opened in 1865 which employed as many as 2,000 workers. When the factory relocated in 1893 New Albany lost a large part of its population and went into economic decline.

20th century

In the early 20th century, New Albany became a center of plywood and veneer, and its largest employer was the New Albany Veneering Company. By 1920, New Albany was the largest producer of plywood and veneer in the world with other producers including Indiana Veneer Panel Company and Hoosier Panel Company.

Interstate 64 came through New Albany in 1961 and led to the construction of the Sherman Minton Bridge. The project cost 14.8 million dollars. The bridge was named for US Senator and later Supreme Court Justice Sherman Minton who was a native of nearby Georgetown and practiced law in New Albany. The bridge was named the "most beautiful long-span bridge of 1961" by the American Institute of Steel Construction.

Charles Allen Prosser lived in New Albany for much of his life. Charles Allen Prosser School of Technology was named in honor of his accomplishments as the "Father of Vocational Education." In the mid and late 20th century, New Albany became an innovator in using electronic media in education. New Albany High School, a public school, started WNAS-FM in 1949, which is the nation's oldest continuously operating high school radio station. In the late 1960s, Slate Run Elementary School started WSRS, a non-licensed student-produced closed circuit television service for its classrooms, one of the nation's first in an elementary school.

Ohio River flood

Main article: Ohio River flood of 1937

In January 1937 a terrible flood affected New Albany and the region. New Albany, like the other river towns, had no flood walls and no methods of regulating the river. The Ohio River rose to 60.8 feet at New Albany leaving most of the town under 10 or more feet of water for nearly three weeks. The flood would be the worst disaster to ever befall the city.

After the flood New Albany was the first city in the region to begin construction on massive flood walls around the city. New Albany's flood walls would serve as examples for those that would later be constructed around Louisville and Clark County.

Notable people

• Charles M. La Follette, member of Congress, was born in New Albany.
• George W. Maher - early 20th century Prairie School style architect
• Sherman Minton, United States Supreme Court Justice (1949-1956), was born in nearby Georgetown, Indiana, and practiced law in New Albany. He is buried in the city's Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery. The I-64 double-decker bridge that crosses the Ohio River between New Albany and Louisville, Kentucky, is named for him.
• Shanda Sharer, girl who was tortured and burned to death by four other people.
• Fuzzy Zoeller, PGA golfer - 1979 Masters Champion and 1984 U.S. Open Champion
• Mike Wolfe, Pro Bowler on the PBA Tour, winner of the Earl Anthony Classic
• Rob Conway, Former WWE "Superstar" - Wrestler
• Larry Feathers, Author and Puppeteer
• Joseph Cardinal Ritter
• Four Reno Gang members were lynched in the New Albany Jail by masked vigilantes from Jackson County in 1868
• Charles Allen Prosser - the Father of Vocational Education - C. A. Prosser School of Technology, also in New Albany, is named in his Honor.
• Mike Sodrel- The former congressman of Indiana's 9th district.
• Edwin Hubble - Astronomer and namesake of the Hubble Space Telescope was a physics and Spanish teacher and basketball coach at New Albany High School during the 1913-1914 academic year.
• Dr. Guy L. Grant (1891-1973)- One of the founders of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, was born here.
• John M. Stotsenburg - United States Army colonel killed in the Philippine-American War.
• John MacLeod, college basketball and NBA coach
• George Engle (1932-1983) Artist, Teacher, Founding member of the Kentucky and Indiana Guilds of Artists

Attractions

The Culbertson Mansion in New Albany

New Albany's Main Street features a large collection of late 19th century mansions from the city's heyday as a shipbuilding center. The centerpiece is the Culbertson Mansion, a three-story French Second Empire Style structure, which is today an Indiana state memorial.

Every October, the downtown area of New Albany is host to the Harvest Homecoming festival, one of the largest annual events in the state. Festivities begin on the first weekend of October, but the main part, consisting of midway rides, shows, and booths lining the downtown streets, lasts from Thursday-Sunday of the second weekend in October.

Geography

New Albany is located at 38°18′07″N 85°49′17″W (38.301935, -85.821442).Template:GR

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.8 square miles (38.3 km²), of which, 14.6 square miles (37.9 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (1.15%) is water.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 37,603 people, 15,959 households, and 10,054 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,571.1 people per square mile (992.4/km²). There were 17,098 housing units at an average density of 1,169.1/sq mi (451.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.00% White, 12.93% African American, 0.31% Native American, 0.42% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.67% from other races, and 1.62% from two or more races. 1.36% of the population is Hispanic (Hispanics can be of any race).

There were 15,959 households out of which 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.5% were married couples living together, 16.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.0% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.88.

In the city the population was spread out with 24.0% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 88.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $34,923, and the median income for a family was $41,993. Males had a median income of $31,778 versus $24,002 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,365. About 11.4% of families and 13.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.6% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.

See also

• List of mayors of New Albany, Indiana
• List of cities and towns along the Ohio River
• New Albany High School
• Indiana University Southeast

External links

• City of New Albany, Indiana website