Spencer

Formed January 10, 1818 (24^th county)

Spencer County (19,814), Rockport (1,991), Santa Claus (2,593)

The Neo-Classical masonry building was erected in 1920.  It is on a square at Main, 2^nd, Walnut, and 3^rd streets.  Indiana State Highway 66 is 11 blocks northwest of the location.  Elmer E. Dunlap and Company provided the courthouse designs.  There was an 1863 courthouse also in Rockport, the only county seat.  The county was created on January 10, 1818 from parts of Perry and Warrick counties as the 24^th county.  It is named for Battle of Tippecanoe hero Spier Spencer.  He is also the namesake for the county seat of Owen County.  The county seat is named for a local rock formation. 

Spencer 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 and a prosecutor serve Spencer County (judicial.) The county is in southern Indiana on the Ohio River border with Kentucky.  The county center is 8.6 miles Northeast of Rockport nearer Chrisney.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Dubois and Perry counties and Kentucky and Warrick County. 

The area of the county is 397 square miles.  It is 46 out of 92 in the state.  It ranks 74 out of 92 in population in the state.  It has a density of 49.9 persons per square mile making it 77 out of 92 in the state.  Spencer County has 40.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 64 cuts the extreme northern part of the county east to west from Perry County to Warrick County.  United States Highway 231 enters the county from the north, Dubois County, and exits south into Kentucky.  The county is shaped like a lazy letter J.  Rockport is located in the southwest quarter of the county on the Ohio River.  Santa Claus is in the northern quarter of the county.  Rockport is the county seat and Santa Claus is the largest city.  Rockport is 10.1% of the county population while Santa Claus is 13.1% of the county population.

Santa Claus