HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – Spencer County, Indiana has connections to both a former president’s boyhood home, as well as an amusement park.
According to Indiana’s government website, Spencer County was named for the Battle of Tippecanoe hero Spier Spencer. Rockport is the county seat.
Former president Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home was in Spencer County, where he also once operated a ferry for James Taylor. According to the Indiana Historical Bureau (IHB), notable people from Spencer County include James Gentry Senior and David Turnham. IHB says Gentry employed Abraham Lincoln to help transport merchandise by flatboat to New Orleans, and the Lincoln family spent its last night at Gentry’s home before leaving for Illinois in 1830. IHB officials say Turnham was a friend of Abraham Lincoln. IHB says Turnham loaned Lincoln Revised Laws of Indiana, and after Lincoln’s assassination he provided information to historians about Lincoln’s youth.
According to the Spencer County Economic Development, the county is known for manufacturing, tourism and agriculture. The organization says the county has natural resources and transit accessibility.
According to the United States Census Bureau, as of the 2020 census, the population of Spencer County was 19,810.
This is the seventh of a weekly twenty-one-part series that will help educate about each of the counties in the Eyewitness News viewing area. Check in every Tuesday at 9 a.m. for the next one! Last week’s story can be found here.
