Place Information
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Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2000, the population was 37,629. The county seat is Crawfordsville.
History
Montgomery County was formed in 1823. It was named in honor of Richard Montgomery, an American Revolutionary War general killed in 1775 while attempting to capture Quebec City, Canada, in the Battle of Quebec The first county election was held in Mar 1823. 61 people voted in that first election. The first three county commissioners were elected -- William Offield, James Blevins and John McCollough -- who then ordered that the first jail and courthouse be built. CourthouseThe current Montgomery County courthouse in Crawfordsville was the first courthouse designed by George W. Bunting of Indianapolis; it is one of six of his Indiana courthouses still standing. Bunting had served as a colonel in the Confederacy during the Civil War before establishing himself in Indianapolis; General Lew Wallace, who was on the Union side during the War and was a resident of Montgomery County, spoke at the dedication of the cornerstone in 1875. The building was constructed by McCormack and Sweeney of Columbus at a cost of $150,000, and was completed in 1876. The cornerstone contains an embedded copper box of memorable items, including the key to the old courthouse and a Henry VIII coin. The original courthouse had been built in 1823. It was erected of "good hewed logs...twenty-six feet long; two stories high" In 1825 a contract was issued to Henry Ristine to cut trees and pick up chips from under the courthouse to that "hogs would not find a comfortable place in which to make their beds". Timeline
Population History
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