Connersville is a city in Fayette County, east central Indiana, United States, 66 miles (106 km) east by southeast of Indianapolis. The population was 13,481 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of and the largest and only incorporated town in Fayette County. The city is in the center of a large rural area of east central Indiana; the nearest significant city is Richmond, 26 miles (42 km) to the northeast by road. Connersville is home to the county's only high school. The local economy relies on manufacturing, retail, and healthcare to sustain itself. However, there has been a consistent decline in both employment and population since the 1960s, placing it among the least affluent areas in the state, as indicated by measures such as median household income and other economic indicators.
The city is among the oldest cities in Indiana and the former Indiana Territory, having been established in 1813 by its namesake, John Conner.
Connersville is like the American industrial Rust Belt darling that imploded, not to say that it was the only one. From its origins as a fur trading post belonging to John Conner and platted in 1813, it grew up to be this unlikely industrial giant, with operations varying from air turbines to furniture and buggies. When the automobile age arrived, it became known as "Little Detroit" for all the inputs it had on automobile manufacturing there, including as a provider of components for major auto production centers nearby. This all translated into about 150 years of light industry for Connersville up until 1990, when deindustrialization that was all too common for Rust Belt towns hit home. Connersville's industrial scene largely collapsed, and the city nearly fell into bankruptcy by 2014.
Despite the spate of impoverishment these days, you can still find some interesting things to do here.
