Hendricks County (pop. 145,448) is west of Indianapolis and Marion County. It has been growing steadily since 1950, when its population was 24,594.
It’s the only Hendricks County – named for William Hendricks (1782-1850), who was governor of Indiana when the county was formed. His nephew Thomas was also governor, and later vice president of the United States.
Gov. William
The county seat of Hendricks County is the town of Danville (pop. 9,001).
Hendricks County Courthouse (1915)
The old county jail and sheriff’s residence (1866) is now the Hendricks County Historical Museum.
It was a jail until 1974.
The Royal Theater in Danville (1914) is still showing movies.
The neo-Tudor facade dates from the ’20s.
Danville once was the home of Central Normal College, which focused on training teachers. It was briefly a private school called Canterbury College, until it closed in 1951 because of bankruptcy.
Downtown Danville has an “Andy Griffith Show”-themed restaurant called the Mayberry Cafe. The show runs on TVs inside.
Police car parked permanently outside
The town of Brownsburg (pop. 21,285) is the home of the Lucas Oil Raceway (1960), which has a seating capacity of 30,000. The facility has a 4,400-foot dragstrip, a .68-mile oval, and a 2.5-mile road course.
Formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park
The town of Plainfield (pop. 27,631) got its name from the early Quakers (“plain people”) who settled in the area.
Plainfield Interurban Depot (1907)
Indiana had one of the country’s largest systems of interurban trains in the early 1900s; the 400-mile Terre Haute, Indianapolis, and Eastern Traction Company served Plainfield.
Map of Indiana interurbans in 1920s
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