Posey

Formed November 11, 1814 (13^th county)

Posey County (25,213), Mount Vernon (6,495)

A classic County Capitol courthouse for Posey County built in 1876 on a square at 3^rd, Main, 4^th, and Walnut streets.  Indiana State Highway 62 is 4^th Street.  This facility is made of red brick using the designs of Levi S. Clarke and J. A. Vrydagh.  The building was renovated in 1961.  The county was established on November 11, 1814 from Warrick County as the 13^th county.  Blackford (1815), Springfield (1817), and Mount Vernon (1825) have all been the county seat.  The county is named for Revolutionary War hero General Thomas Posey.  The county seat is named for the estate of President George Washington.  It is also the source name for the county seat of Jennings County.  Posey County was the birthplace of 1 Indiana Governor, Alvin P. Hovey. 

Posey County government consists of a sheriff, an auditor, a clerk, a coroner, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 7 Council Members (legislative.)  A Circuit Court Judge, a Superior Court Judge, and a prosecutor serve Posey County (judicial.) The county is in southeast corner of Indiana on the Ohio River border with Kentucky and the Wabash River border with Illinois.  Evansville, Indiana is immediately to the west of the county.  The county center is 5.2 miles North of Mount Vernon nearer Solitude.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Gibson and Vanderburgh counties and Kentucky and Illinois. 

The area of the county is 410 square miles.  It is 35 out of 92 in the state.   It ranks 61 out of 92 in population in the state.  It has a density of 61.5 persons per square mile making it 63 out of 92 in the state.  Posey County has 35.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 64 crosses the northern part of the county east to west from Vanderburgh County to Illinois.  The county is shaped like a small letter q.  Mount Vernon is on the southern river border.  Mount Vernon is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 25.8% of the county population.  The county is pronounced POE-SEE.  This county is in the Evansville Metropolitan Statistical Area.