Evansville, IN

Angel Mounds preserves evidence of a permanent Mississippian settlement near Evansville that lasted from about AD 1000 to 1400, while Indigenous cultures had inhabited the wider area for millennia. Founded in 1812, Evansville grew on a meander of the Ohio River as a steamboat port; the Louisville and Nashville Railroad completed a river bridge there in 1887. The Vanderburgh County seat counted 118,414 residents in 2020. Victory Theatre is a 1,950-seat home for the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. The Evansville Museum contains Indiana’s oldest planetarium, and Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden, opened in 1928, occupies a 50-acre park with about 200 species.