Editing Fort Branch, Indiana (section)

==Economy==

Like Princeton, Fort Branch is also largely a blue-collar town although of somewhat smaller size. For a long time the town's largest employer was the [[Emge Foods]] processing and packing plant, still located along the southwest portion of the town. When the plant closed in May 1999, it had been in operation for nearly 90 years.

As the Emge plant was starting to close, Toyota announced that it would be building a manufacturing facility on a patch of farmland located halfway between Fort Branch and nearby Princeton. While most of the suppliers for the new Toyota plant are located closer to Princeton, most of the population gains from employees moving closer to work moved into either Fort Branch, or into [[Haubstadt, IN|Haubstadt]] or [[Owensville, IN|Owensville]].
[[File:In-168.JPG|thumb|right|[[Indiana State Road|Indiana]] [[Indiana State Road 168|168]] between [[Owensville, Indiana|Owensville]] and Fort Branch. The Emge plant is visible in the distance as it looked in 2007.]]

Recently, [[Vincennes University]] announced plans to build an advanced manufacturing education facility just south of Fort Branch along U.S. 41 to provide such education to an area becoming more diverse in manufacturing methods. This is expected to provide a major boost to lifestyle in the Fort Branch-Haubstadt Area. Ground Broke on the new facility on October 23, 2009.  The facility opened in August 2011.

On June 18, 2010, a fire started at the former [[Emge Foods]] plant. By June 22, the fire had destroyed the vacant meat processing plant portion of the complex but was put out. Fire departments from three counties battled to control the fire, dealing with the unstable structure of the 100+-year-old building and the 95+-degree temperatures that occurred during the five-day period the fire burned.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wilson |first=Mark |url=http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/jun/22/town-reels-from-plant-fire/ |title=Crews attempt to reach 'hot spots' at Emge plant fire » Evansville Courier & Press |publisher=Courierpress.com |access-date=January 23, 2013}}</ref> As of February 2014, only the smokestack remains of the plant, with the remains being demolished along with the original water tower between September 2013 and January 2014. As of December 2014, there are no known plans for the future of the property.