Fountain County, Indiana

Fountain County is a county in Indiana, United States, about 30 miles southwest of Lafayette
along the Wabash River. It had a population of 16,479 at the 2020 census, an estimated 16,617 by
2024, and covers 395.66 square miles (1,024.8 km2) of land centred near 40°07′N
87°14′W.

Covington is the county seat; its postal code is 47932. Attica, 12 miles to the north, is the
county’s largest city. The county holds 2 cities, 6 incorporated towns and about 17 smaller
communities across 11 townships, and it runs on Eastern time. Its FIPS code is 18045.

Towns & Villages in Fountain County

Fountain County has 26 named places on the map: 2 incorporated cities, 6 incorporated towns,
1 census-designated place and roughly 17 unincorporated hamlets and crossroads with no municipal
government of their own. The table below marks incorporated places as City or
Town, the one CDP as CDP, and everything else as
Unincorp.

No confusable place-name pairs turned up in Fountain County — each hamlet sits in a
single township with no duplicate-name neighbor inside the county line.

Townships

ZIP Codes

• 47918 — Attica (also serves the Logan Township hamlets of Aylesworth, Centennial and
  Yeddo)
• 47932 — Covington (also serves most of Troy Township)
• 47987 — Veedersburg (also serves Stone Bluff and Harrison Lake)
• 47952 — Kingman (also serves Harveysburg)
• 47949 — Hillsboro
• 47969 — Newtown
• 47958 — Mellott (also serves Graham and Stephens Crossing)
• 47988 — Wallace

Silverwood, Cates, Coal Creek, Mackie and the other Davis and Wabash Township hamlets have no
post office of their own; mail there runs through the ZIP of the nearest town on a rural route.

Geography

The Wabash River crosses Fountain County from northeast to southwest, cutting the wooded
bluffs and bottomland that separate the county’s western third from its farmland-flat east. Coal
Creek, its main tributary, drains the southeast corner through Wabash and Fulton townships. Land
use is overwhelmingly agricultural — about 84 percent of the county is farmed, mostly corn
and soybeans on the till plains east of the river.

Fountain County borders five other Indiana counties. Warren County lies to the north;
Tippecanoe County to the northeast;
Montgomery County to the
east; Parke County to the south; and Vermillion County to the southwest,
across the Wabash River.

Demographics

The county’s population was 16,479 at the 2020 census, up to an estimated 16,617 by 2024.
Attica (3,036) and Covington (2,668) are the two largest communities, followed by Veedersburg
(2,098). Median household income was $62,542 in 2024, below Indiana’s statewide figure of
$69,500. Land area is 395.66 square miles, giving a density of about 42 people per square mile
— among the more sparsely settled counties in west-central Indiana.

Economy & Local Life

Manufacturing is the county’s largest employment sector, with about 1,925 workers, followed by
health care and social assistance (1,103) and retail trade (800), out of roughly 7,900 employed
residents. Agriculture underpins the rest of the local economy even though it employs fewer
people directly, with corn and soybeans the dominant crops on the county’s flat eastern
townships. The southwest corner around Silverwood and Wabash Township once held working coal
mines, including the now-abandoned mining settlement of Stringtown south of Covington; none
operate today.

Three school corporations serve the county: Attica Consolidated, Covington Community and
Southeast Fountain. Covington’s town square hosts the county’s best-known annual event, the
Apple Festival, each autumn.

History

Fountain County organized on April 1, 1826, carved from the Wabash New Purchase lands ceded
by the Potawatomi and Wea in 1818. It takes its name from Major James Fontaine of Kentucky, an
officer killed in Harmar’s Defeat in 1790 — an early clerical error dropped the “t” and the
misspelling stuck. Covington became the seat the same year, and its 1833 brick courthouse still
anchors the town square. The Wabash and Erie Canal reached Attica in 1847, briefly turning the
Wabash River towns into a shipping corridor for grain before railroads took over trade in the
1850s and 1860s. Covington’s most notable native son, Lew Wallace, went on to write the novel
Ben-Hur; two more U.S. Representatives, Jim Baird and John T. Myers, also came from the town.

Getting There

Interstate 74 crosses the southern half of the county, passing about half a mile south of
Covington; US Routes 41 and 136 and State Roads 28, 32, 55, 234 and 341 carry most of the rest of
the local traffic. No interstate reaches Attica directly — US 41 is its main highway north
to Lafayette.

• Lafayette, Indiana — about 30 miles northeast
• Danville, Illinois — about 13 miles west
• Crawfordsville, Indiana — about 28 miles southeast
• Indianapolis — about 70 miles southeast

The nearest commercial airport is Purdue University Airport in West Lafayette, with United
Express service to Chicago O’Hare. The nearest Amtrak station is in Crawfordsville, on the
Cardinal line.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Fountain County, Indiana?
It sits in west-central Indiana along the Wabash River, about 30 miles southwest of Lafayette and
70 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

What is the population of Fountain County?
16,479 at the 2020 census, an estimated 16,617 by 2024.

How big is Fountain County?
395.66 square miles of land (1,024.8 km2), plus 2.22 square miles of water.

What is the county seat of Fountain County?
Covington. Attica, 12 miles north, is the county’s largest city.

How many towns and villages are in Fountain County?
2 cities, 6 incorporated towns, 1 census-designated place and about 17 unincorporated hamlets
across 11 townships.

What ZIP codes cover Fountain County?
47918 (Attica), 47932 (Covington), 47987 (Veedersburg), 47952 (Kingman), 47949 (Hillsboro), 47969
(Newtown), 47958 (Mellott) and 47988 (Wallace).

Does Fountain County have an interstate?
Yes — Interstate 74 crosses its southern half, passing just south of Covington.

More counties in this state: Towns
and villages in Indiana.