Morgan County, Indiana

Morgan County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 66,689. Its estimated 2005 population was 69,778. The is. Morgan is one of seven counties contiguous to Marion County, and is located between Indianapolis, in Marion County, and Bloomington, located in Monroe County. Two state highways, State Roads 37 and 67, carry large numbers of daily commuters between the two larger communities.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,060 (409 ). 1,053 km² (406 sq mi) of it is land and 8 km² (3 sq mi) of it (0.71%) is water. Morgan County is bisected by the White River Valley; the community has taken an interest in recent years in protecting the river as an asset, seeking to develop parks and greenways along the White River and initiating an annual river clean up day in the spring.

The county also is home to large areas of land that were not glaciated during the last ice age. The river valley and contributing watersheds, along with the non-glaciated hills, results in a topography unlike the rest of the metropolitan Indianapolis area. County residents are proud of the scenic terrain, and in recent years have established a county park system and a bike/pedestrian trail system plan to provide protection and access to the amenities. An annual five mile run ("Run to the Future", June 10, 2006) is held as a fundraiser for the path system endowment.

Adjacent counties

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History
Morgan County was formed in 1822. It was named for Gen., who defeated the British at the in the. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, mineral springs in Martinsville gave rise to several spas, and the nickname of the Martinsville High School athletic teams has subsequently been the Artesians. Settlers in Morgan County in the early nineteenth century came predominantly from southern states. The Mooresville area and surrounding communities received large numbers of southern Quakers, driven to migrate because of their opposition to slavery. , a Mooresville resident, was the designer of the current, as well as a locally prominent water color artist in the early twentieth century. The county courthouse, built in the 1850's, is the oldest in central Indiana.

County government took several steps forward in the 2000's, creating a new Plan Commission, re-instituting a county economic development organization, and establishing the county's first Park and Recreation Board between 2000 and 2004. Morgan County also was the first county in the metropolitan Indianapolis region to establish a smoking ban ordinance for restaurants, taking that step in 2004. Other communities in the region soon followed Morgan County's lead.

A County Achievement Award from the Association of Indiana Counties in 2006 was the third award from the group given to Morgan County in a ten year span, adding to 1997 and 2003 awards.

In 2006 Morgan County was the first in the central Indiana region to offer a prescription drug discount program to its residents at no charge to individuals, helping residents save an average of 20% on prescriptions. Also during 2006, Morgan and Hendricks Counties became the first in Indiana to develop neighboring and co-related TIF (Tax Increment Financing) districts for economic development activity.

Morgan County has developed a new thoroughfare plan that is integrated with the Mooresville thoroughfare plan, and also recently completed a new capital improvement plan. Both activities are preludes to a new comprehensive plan being developed for the county.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 66,689 people, 24,437 households, and 19,036 families residing in the county. The was 63/km² (164/sq mi). There were 25,908 housing units at an average density of 25/km² (64/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 98.59%, 0.07% or , 0.22% , 0.25% , 0.02% , 0.16% from , and 0.69% from two or more races. 0.73% of the population were or  of any race. 35.1% were of, 22.1% , 10.9% and 10.3%  ancestry according to.

There were 24,437 households out of which 36.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.20% were living together, 8.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.10% were non-families. 18.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the county the population was spread out with 27.20% under the age of 18, 7.70% from 18 to 24, 30.60% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 10.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 98.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $47,739, and the median income for a family was $52,851. Males had a median income of $39,701 versus $26,311 for females. The for the county was $20,657. About 5.30% of families and 6.60% of the population were below the, including 7.30% of those under age 18 and 9.90% of those age 65 or over.