JEFFERSONVILLE, a city and the county-seat of Clark county, Indiana,
U.S.A., situated on the N. bank of the Ohio river, opposite Louisville,
Kentucky, with which it is connected by several bridges. Pop. (1890),
10,666; (1900), 10,774, of whom 1818 were of negro descent and 615 were
foreign-born; (1910 census), 10,412. It is served by the Baltimore &
Ohio South-western, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis, and
the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis railways, and by three
inter-urban electric lines. It is attractively situated on bluffs above
the river, which at this point has a descent (known as the falls of the
Ohio) of 26 ft. in 2 m. This furnishes good water power for
manufacturing purposes both at Jeffersonville and at Louisville. The
total value of the factory product in 1905 was $4,526,443, an increase
of 20% since 1900. The Indiana reformatory (formerly the Southern
Indiana penitentiary) and a large supply dépôt of the United States army
are at Jeffersonville. General George Rogers Clark started (June 24,
1778) on his expedition against Kaskaskia and Vincennes from Corn Island
(now completely washed away) opposite what is now Jeffersonville. In
1786 the United States government established Fort Finney (built by
Captain Walter Finney), afterwards re-named Fort Steuben, on the site of
the present city; but the fort was abandoned in 1791, and the actual
beginning of Jeffersonville was in 1802, when a part of the Clark grant
(the site of the present city) was transferred by its original owner,
Lieut. Isaac Bowman, to three trustees, under whose direction a town was
laid out. Jeffersonville was incorporated as a town in 1815, and was
chartered as a city in 1839.
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