JEFFERSONVILLE, a city of southern Indiana, U.S.A., on the Ohio river, opposite Louisville, Ky. ; the county seat of Clark county. It is served by the Baltimore and Ohio, the Big Four, the Interstate Public Service company (electric), and the Pennsylvania railways, and by river packet lines. The population was 10,098 in 1920 (14% negroes) and 11,946 by the Federal census of 1930. It is attractively situated on bluffs above the river, which here falls over 26ft., furnishing abundant water-power. There are railroad car works, employing over r,000 men, a large soap and perfume plant, and sundry other manufacturing in dustries, with a total output in 1927 valued at over $5,000,000.
An army supply depot is located here. In the river opposite Jeffer sonville was formerly Corn Island (now completely washed away), from which Gen. George Rogers Clark started (June 24, 1778) on his expedition against Kaskaskia and Vincennes. Ft. Finney (later called Ft. Steuben) was built on the site of the present city in 1786, but was abandoned in 1791. Permanent settlement began in 1802, when a town was laid out, which was incorporated in 1815 and chartered as a city in 1830.