Indiana Prevention Resource Center GIS in Prevention County Profiles Series, No. 4 Parke County, Indiana Barbara Seitz de Martinez, PhD, MLS, CPP, Project Director The Indiana Prevention Resource Center at Indiana University is funded, in part, by a contract with the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, financially supported through HHS/Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant. The IPRC is operated by the Department of Applied Health Science and The School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.

GIS in Prevention County Profile Series, No. 4 Parke County, Indiana Barbara Seitz de Martinez, PhD, MLS, CPP Project Director Project Staff: Ritika Bhawal, MPH Ryan Chopra, MPH Kyoungsun Heo, MPA Tuba M. Pervin Altay, MPH Indiana Prevention Resource Center Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of the Trustees of Indiana University or the Division of Mental Health and Addiction. Indiana University accepts full Responsibility for the content of this publication. ©2005 The Trustees of Indiana University. Permission is extended to reproduce this County Profile for non-profit educational purposes. All other rights reserved.

Parke County Map The maps and tables in this publication were prepared using PCensus for MapInfo and MapInfo Professional.

3. Geographic and Historical Notes Parke County is located in West Central Indiana and is bordered by the following counties: Fountain to the north, Montgomery to the northeast, Putnam to the east and southeast, Clay to the south, Vigo to the south and southwest, and Vermillion to the west. State Highway 59 and U.S. Highways 41 and 36 cross the county. Elevation is 500-750 feet. Except for some slightly sloping terrain along the northwest border, the county vacillates between nearly flat and moderately to steeply sloping terrains. The landscape features hickory and oak trees. The county pertains to three different land resource areas: the Indiana and Ohio Till Plain (the majority of the county); the Southern Illinois and Indiana Thin Loess and Till Plain (areas in the southeast); and the Central Mississippi Valley Wooded Slopes (some areas in the southwest). Parke county is in the Eastern Time Zone and observes DST. Average daily temperatures are 18٥/36٥ in January and 64٥/87٥ in July. Annual precipitation is about 40 and snowfall about 15-30 inches. Typically the first freeze of the season occurs first in the far north regions (October 10-15) and a few days later in the rest of the county (October 15-20). The last freeze usually occurs earliest in the southern half of the county (April 20-25) and a few days later in the northern half (April 15-30). The growing season lasts about 168-183 days. Agricultural activity is mainly in livestock, soybeans and corn for grain. A little less than two-thirds of the land is in farms and about two-thirds of that is in cash crops. Almost three-fourths of the cash income is from crops. Additional crops include hay and winter wheat. Popcorn is a special crop. Livestock include cattle/calves and hogs/pigs. Main natural resources include construction sand and gravel and forestland. Water resources include the Wabash River, a multitude of lake/reservoirs (including about 2 dozen Little Raccoon Lakes, Alma Like, Mansfield Reservoir, and Rock Fork Lake), and various streams (Sugar, Rush, Leatherwood, Big Raccon and Little Raccoon Creeks). Communities include the towns of Rockville, which is the county seat, Bloomingdale, Judson, Marshall, Mecca, Montezuma, Rockville, and Rosedale. Sources: Map from PCensus for MapInfo; Notes from Indiana Facts: Flying the Colors by John Clements, 1995.

Parke County The maps and tables in this publication were prepared using PCensus 7.06 for MapInfo and MapInfo Professional 7.0.

3. Location and Historical Notes Parke County is not a tobacco-producing county, according to the Strategic Development Group’s “Alternative Agricultural Strategy” (Bloomington, March 15, 2001) report, which is part of Governor Joseph E. Kernan’s “Recipient Final Reports for Office of the Commissioner of Agriculture Grant Programs” (http://www.in.gov/oca/grants/valueadd/VAFinalReports.html):

Don’t Know Your Block Group Number? 3. Parke County Block Group Maps Don’t Know Your Block Group Number? You can find it easily at the American Factfinder Web Site

Parke County Block Groups