Plymouth, Indiana

Plymouth is a city in Marshall County, Indiana, United States. The population was 10,033 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Marshall County. Plymouth was the site of the first retail outlet of defunct U.S. retailer Montgomery Ward in 1926.

Geography
Plymouth, Indiana is located at °N, °W (41.343894, -86.312544), along the Yellow River.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.0 square miles (18.1 km²), of which, 7.0 square miles (18.0 km²) of it is land and 0.14% is water.



Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,840 people, 3,838 households, and 2,406 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,414.0 people per square mile (545.9/km²). There were 4,100 housing units at an average density of 589.2 per square mile (227.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 80.80% White, 0.63% African American, 0.45% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 6.19% from other races, and 1.43% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.99% of the population.

There were 3,838 households out of which 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.3% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.3% were non-families. 31.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.1% under the age of 18, 12.4% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 93.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $34,505, and the median income for a family was $41,447. Males had a median income of $30,444 versus $21,293 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,417. About 10.4% of families and 13.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.9% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over.

History
September 1838 - A sordid story in Plymouth, the Potawatomi Trail of Death begins. The Trail of Death was a forced march of the Potawatomi tribe, at the time led by Chief Menominee, from a location near Plymouth to Osawatomie, Kansas. More than 40 of the more than 850 tribal members died on the march.

July 1982 - Five firefighters were killed when their fire truck overturned while responding to a call. The truck crashed on a curve near West School on state road 17. They were driving a tanker truck. When they made the turn, the water in the truck shifted which caused the truck to break through a road barrier.

Plymouth High School
2008 - Plymouth High School is awarded the Bronze Award from US News and World Report. Also, PHS was named one of Indiana's Best Buy Schools by the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce.

Speech
The Plymouth High School Speech Team has been successful on both the state and national levels. The team was the overall Indiana High School Forensic Association's state champion in 1997, as well as five consecutive years from 2000 to 2004, and also in 2009. As the champions, the team won the Ralph Lawson Trophy. The team also won the Class "AA" state championship each year from 1997 to 2004 and 2006 to 2009.

On the national level, Plymouth students regularly compete at the National Forensic League's national tournament. Plymouth students have claimed national championships in Original Oratory in 2002, Duo Interpretation in 2004, and Prose Reading in 2005. In 2007, Head Coach David McKenzie was awarded the National Forensic League National Coach of the Year.

Athletics
In 1977 Plymouth High School won the State Football Championship. Pete Buchanan from the 1977 team went on to play college football at Notre Dame.

In 1982 Scott Skiles led Plymouth High School to the boys basketball state championship with a 75-74 double overtime victory over Gary Roosevelt High School.

On March 24, 2007 Plymouth won the Indiana Class AAA boys' basketball championship. Plymouth beat Evansville Bosse in a 72-61 victory. Head coach Jack Edison would be named National High School coach of the year.

On March 1, 2008 Plymouth won the Indiana Class AAA Girls' Basketball Championship. The Lady Pilgrims defeated Indianapolis Chatard 47-46 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.