Vincennes, city in southwestern Indiana, seat of Knox County, on the Wabash River, opposite Illinois. Vincennes is an industrial center in a coal-mining and farming area. Major manufactures include steel, wood, and plastic products. Vincennes is the oldest non-Native American community in Indiana and the home of Vincennes University (1801; now a junior college), the first land-grant college in the old Northwest Territory, and the Simon Bruté Library, the oldest library in Indiana. Other points of interest include Grouseland (1803-1804), the home of William Henry Harrison, first governor of Indiana Territory who went on to become the ninth president of the United States; the territorial capitol building (1800); the Old Cathedral (1826); the Old French Cemetery; and George Rogers Clark National Historical Park.
A French trading post was established here before 1727 and was fortified about 1732 by the French-Canadian explorer François Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes. The settlement was ceded to the British in 1763 and was seized by U.S. forces under George Rogers Clark in 1779. Vincennes served as the capital of the vast Indiana Territory from 1800 to 1813 and was incorporated as a city in 1856. Population 20,857 (1980); 19,859 (1990); 18,701 (2000).Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Vincennes Information info
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