VINCENNES, vin-sPne. The. county-seat of Knox County, lad., 117 miles southwest of In dianapolis; on the Wabash River. and on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and Saint Louis, the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern. the Evans ville and Terre Haute, and the Indianapolis and Vincennes railroads (Map: Indiana. B 4). It has Vincennes University (non-sectarian). Saint Rose Female Academy. a public library, and the Cathedral Library. Other points of interest are the house occupied by William Henry Harrison. while Territorial Governor, and the old legisla tive hall, the Catholic Cathedral, the court-house, city ball, Government building. Vincennes Sana torium. and Harrison Park. In the vicinity are several Indian nimmds. Vincennes is in a coal mining, lumbering, and agricultural region, and manufactures novelties, jewelry, sewer pipe, stoves, glass. paper, furniture, tools, bridge work, spokes, handles, etc. The government, under the charter of 1867, is vested in a mayor chosen every two year. a unicameral council, and subordinate officials, the majority of whom are elected by the council. Population, in 1890, 8853; in 1000,
10.249.
Vincennes is built on the site of the principal village, Chip-kaw-kay, of the Piankashaw In dians. A fort was erected here by the French about 1702, and a regular settlement was estab lished soon afterwards. which was called 'Au Post' or The Post' until about 1736. Subse quently the name 'Vinsenne,' given in honor of Francois Morgan de Vinsenne. an early com mandant. gradually came into use. This name was finally changed to Vincennes. The British occupied the place in 1763; Col. George Rogers Clark captnH•ed it for Virginia early in 1779. and Virginia ceded it to the United States in 1783. It was the capital of Indiana Territory from 1801 to 1810, and was chartered as a city in 1856. It is the oldest permanent settlement in the State. Consult: Law, The Colonial History of Vincennes (Vincennes, 1858:: Founding of Post Vin in Magazine of Au, rn. History, vol.
xxii.: and Powell, Historic Towns „.1 the Western States (New York, 1901).