Jasper, Indiana

 city, county seat

www.jasperindiana.gov/
www.jasperin.org/
Founded - 1830
Incorporated as a Town - 1866
Incorporated as a City - 1915
Population: 2004 - 13,200 (approx.)

Jasper is a city in Dubois County, Indiana, United States. The population was 12,100 at the 2000 census. The city has been the county seat of Dubois CountyGR6, since 1830, succeeding Portersville. In 1970 the school system of Ireland, a hamlet west of Jasper along State Route 56, was consolidated into that of Jasper [1]. On November 4, 2007, Jasper will return to Eastern Time Zone, a move that has been met with much delight with Jasper's residents, but has angered neighboring Huntingburg, who made the push for Central Time.

Supercentenarian Minnie Kearby, once the oldest resident of Indiana, was perhaps one of Jasper's best-known residents; born in Ireland, Indiana on April 14, 1893, she moved to a Jasper care facility in November 2004. She died the following winter. It is also the hometown of Major League Baseball player Scott Rolen of the St. Louis Cardinals. The current Catholic Archbishop of Indianapolis, Daniel Buechlein O.S.B., also hails from Jasper.

The town of Jasper is a regional center in southwestern Indiana. It is noted for its heavily German Catholic ancestral roots. Jasper has often been dubbed the "Wood Capital of the World", boasting a very large number of furniture companies. Its citizens are regarded as hardworking and maintain a high status lifestyle. In a town with only 12,000 people, its daytime population can reach 50,000. It has an unemployment rate that hovers around 2.5 percent, making it one of the lowest in the state. Furthermore, despite its location in the southern hills and lowlands region, Dubois County is first in the state among agriculture output including hogs and corn.

In 2005, Jasper was ranked in the top ten best places to live in the US, by Relocate America, a national realty relocation firm, which consults and helps clients find desirable places across the country to live. Jasper was previously ranked in the top 25 in Norman Crampton's 1992 book 100 Best Small Towns in America.