Editing Vermillion County, Indiana (section)

==History==
The first settlers in the area arrived in 1816, the same year that the state of Indiana was established. Vigo County was formed in 1818 and included the area that later became Parke and Vermillion counties. In 1821, Parke County was formed, and on January&nbsp;2, 1824, the Indiana General Assembly created Vermillion County out of Parke County; the act took effect on February&nbsp;1. The county seat was established at Newport later that year.<ref>Bowen 1913, p. 249.</ref>

The county was named for the southbound [[Vermilion River (Wabash River tributary)|Vermilion River]], which flows nearby. The name is spelled in the French/Commonwealth English style with a double letter "l", in contrast to the American English spelling of the adjacent [[Vermilion County, Illinois]]. This is one of only a few cases in the United States in which a county borders a county with the same name in another state.<ref>{{cite book
  |title=Indiana Place Names
  |last1=Baker
  |first1=Ronald L.
  |last2=Carmony
  |first2=Marvin
  |publisher=Indiana University Press
  |year=1975
  |location=Bloomington, Indiana
  |page=170
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.howderfamily.com/blog/adjacent-county-same-name-different-state/|title=Adjacent Counties, Same Name, Different States|last=Circle|first=Twelve Mile|date=May 16, 2010|website=Twelve Mile Circle|language=en-US|access-date=May 20, 2019}}</ref>

[[Image:Vermillion County Courthouse 1868 to 1923.jpg|thumb|left|The county courthouse which served from 1868 to 1923]]
The first courthouse was a frame building. The contract was awarded in June 1824 for $345{{#tag:ref|A $345 capital expense in 1824 would be roughly equivalent to $229,000 in 2009.<ref name="Williamson">Williamson, Samuel H. (April 2010).  ''Seven Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1774 to present''. [http://www.measuringworth.com MeasuringWorth]. Calculations made using Nominal GDP Per Capita, a measure of capital intensivity, using "the 'average' per-person output of the economy in the prices of the current year." This is a measure of the amount of capital and volume of labor required to reproduce the work over varying production methods, but assuming that money represents a proportion of the economy.</ref>|group="n"}} and was to be completed by the following November; it was used for county business until a brick building could be constructed. The brick courthouse was contracted in 1831; the completed building was used until January&nbsp;29, 1844, when the building caught fire. It was repaired and served until 1868 when a third courthouse was built at a cost of $30,000;{{#tag:ref|A $30,000 capital expense in 1868 would be roughly equivalent to $6,410,000 in 2009.<ref name="Williamson" />|group="n"}} a west wing was added in 1903 at a cost of $28,000.<ref>Bowen 1913, p. 256.</ref>{{#tag:ref|A $28,000 capital expense in 1903 would be roughly equivalent to $4,000,000 in 2009.<ref name="Williamson" />|group="n"}} That building was struck by lightning early on the morning of May&nbsp;27, 1923, and was largely destroyed by fire. Construction on the fourth (and current) courthouse began that same year; Halbert Fillinger and John Bayard were the architects. The stone building was constructed by Jasper Good of Columbus at a cost of $358,707, and the new courthouse was dedicated on June&nbsp;11, 1925.<ref>{{cite book
  |last = Counts
  |first = Will
  |author2=Jon Dilts
   |title = The 92 Magnificent Indiana Courthouses
  |publisher = Indiana University Press
  |year = 1991
  |location = Bloomington, Indiana
  |isbn = 978-0-253-33638-5
  |pages = 172–3
}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|A $350,000 capital expense in 1925 would be roughly equivalent to $21,000,000 in 2009.<ref name="Williamson" />|group="n"}}

[[Image:REO at 2009 Newport Hill Climb 2.png|thumb|left|An REO leaves the hill climb starting line]]
The Newport Hill Climb was first held in 1909. The event was started and stopped several times over the years, but the Newport [[Lions Clubs International|Lions Club]] now runs the [[Newport, Indiana#Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb|Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb]]; it has been held continuously since the 1960s and involves several hundred cars each year.<ref>{{cite news
  |title=Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb marks 100th anniversary of its first race
  |url=http://tribstar.com/local/x546420583/Newport-Antique-Auto-Hill-Climb-marks-100th-anniversary-of-its-first-race
  |first=Howard
  |last=Greninger
  |newspaper=[[Tribune-Star|Terre Haute Tribune-Star]]
  |date=October 2, 2009
|access-date=February 9, 2011
}}</ref>

On January 26, 2017, the wooden grandstand at the Vermillion County Fairgrounds was destroyed by a massive fire. The wooden grandstand was built in 1933 as a WPA work project, and was the oldest wooden grandstand in Indiana. The [[Cayuga, Indiana|Cayuga]] Fire Department said that the cause of the fire is suspicious.<ref>{{cite web|author1=[[Associated Press]]|title=Massive fire destroys oldest grandstands in Indiana|url=http://cbs4indy.com/2017/01/27/massive-fire-destroys-oldest-grandstands-in-indiana/|publisher=[[WTTV|WTTV CBS]]|access-date=December 18, 2017|date=January 27, 2017}}</ref>