TERRE HAUTE

city, seat (1818) of Vigo county, western Indiana, U.S. It lies on a 10-mile (16-km) square plateau above the Wabash River (whence its French name meaning high ground), 70 miles (113 km) west-southwest of Indianapolis. The site was once a place of rendezvous for Indian tribes, and nearby Fort Harrison, built in 1811, was frequently attacked by Tecumseh's Shawnees. Laid out in 1816, it became an important community on the Cumberland (National) Road (1835), the Wabash and Erie Canal (1849), and the Richmond Railroad (1852). Development of local bituminous coal deposits in 1875 plus several oil wells stimulated industrial growth. Miners organized early, and the city is remembered in labour history for militant union activity. The home of Eugene V. Debs, who organized the country's first industrial union (American Railway Union) in 1893, still stands. The city subsequently acquired highly diversified industries including the manufacture of chemicals, paper products, beverages, and phonograph records. Terre Haute is the seat of Indiana State University (1865) and RoseHulman Institute of Technology (1874). St. Mary-of-the-Woods College (1840) is 15 miles (25 km) north. Author Theodore Dreiser (An American Tragedy) and his brother, the composer Paul Dresser (On the Banks of the Wabash), were born in Terre Haute; the latter's birthplace is preserved as a state shrine and memorial. Inc. 1853. Pop. (1990) city, 57,475; Terre Haute MSA, 147,585; (1998 est.) city, 53,355; (1996 est.) Terre Haute MSA, 149,671.