City of Greensburg history

The following year, Decatur County was created by the General Assembly and named after Commodore Stephen Decatur, a naval hero from the War of 1812.

In 1818, the federal government acquired large tracts of land from the Delaware Indian Tribe via the signing of a treaty known as the New Purchase.

Colonel Thomas Hendricks was among the first to purchase some of this land and acquired four eighty-acre tracts in 1820.

Hendricks and her four pleasant daughters), and on June 14, 1822, the official name of the county seat was chosen and would forevermore be known as Greensburg, Indiana.

The original two-story brick courthouse was constructed in the center of the courthouse lawn in 1827.

Following the pattern of many Indiana towns, development within the community boomed after the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and St Louis Railroad was completed in 1853.

Abraham Lincoln chose Greensburg as one of his few stops en route to his inauguration in 1861. It was also during this period, in 1874, that Greensburg constructed its first City Hall.

Wit the coming of the Pennsylvania Railroad and bituminous coal mining, Greensburg by 1885 was growing, prospering, and bustling with commercial activity.

Interurban service began in 1907 and linked Greensburg to Indianapolis.

Seton Hill College, formerly St Joseph's Academy, became a four-year women's institution in 1918.