Community Profile

Summary

Evansville has a long and rich history, with evidence of people living at sites in and around Evansville for over a thousand years! The city has a rich German heritage brought by immigrants in the 1800s, and continues to celebrate Germania Maennerchor Volksfest each August. Evansville was named one of 100 Best Communities for Young People in 2005, is home to the oldest operating library in Indiana which opened in 1885, and has several natural areas such as Eagle Slough and Harmonie State Park. In August 2016, Mayor Lloyd Winnecke took the Mayors' Monarch Pledge. One month later we took the Community Wildlife Habitat Pledge for Vanderburgh County, sponsored by the Southwest Chapter of the Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society. We have many partners in our habitat pledge work: the Master Gardeners, Wesselman Nature Society, the Vanderburgh County Soil and Water District, the Natural Resources Conservation Services, the local Creation Care organization, and of course the Indiana Wildlife Federation. We also have support from the local media, some local plant retailers, and both the University of Evansville and the University of Southern Indiana. Last year, we collaborated with our partners and the Clean Water Indiana Grant to assist in planting nearly 50 acres of pollinator seeds, which include native milkweed and nectar plants for Monarch butterflies.