Vigo County, Indiana

County: Vigo

State: Indiana

Lat/Long: 39.4667, -87.4000

Vigo County in western Indiana is bounded to the west by the state boundary with Illinois and contains 415 square miles. The county was created out of Sullivan County, Indiana in January 1818 and commissioners chose Terre Haute as the county seat shortly thereafter. Vigo County acquired additional territory from Sullivan County in 1819, then two years later Parke County was created out of the northern part of Vigo County. Between 1821 and 1822 a portion of Vigo County was temporarily granted to Putnam County. Vigo County was named for fur trader and Revolutionary War patriot ally Francis Vigo.

Merriam-Webster’s Geographical Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1997), 518-19, 1265; Joseph Nathan Kane, The American Counties (New York: Scarecrow Press, 1960), 264; “An Act for the Formation of a New County off of the County of Sullivan,” 21 January 1818, Special Acts, Passed and Published at the Second Session of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana (1818), 34-36; H. C. Bradsby, History of Vigo County, Indiana, with Biographical Selections (Chicago: S. B. Nelson, 1891), 285-88, 415-16; William W. Giffin, “Vigo, Joseph Maria Francesco,” American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 22:355-57.