Small Town Breakdown: Linton, Indiana
Linton is a Greene County town of about 5,100 people in southwest-central Indiana, with deep coal-mining roots and a big small-town personality. It is roughly an hour and 40 minutes southwest of Indianapolis, an hour west of Bloomington, 50 minutes south of Terre Haute, and a little over two hours northwest of Louisville. Locals are the Miners, the strip-pit lakes left behind by the mines are full of fish, and every Fourth of July the town throws what is billed as Indiana’s largest Independence Day parade.
For this Small Town Breakdown we headed from the county seat of Washington in Daviess County over to Linton. Here is the history, what to do, and who put this little town on the map.
The History of Greene County and Linton, Indiana
Greene County was formed in 1821 from part of Sullivan County and named for General Nathanael Greene, commander of the southern theater in the American Revolutionary War, who helped force the British army to retreat to Yorktown. Bloomfield was designated as the county seat. Linton was founded in the 1830s by John Wines, who first sold goods there in 1831 and returned to open a general store in 1837. The town did not get its name until 1850, when it was laid out by Hannah Osborne and Isaac Coddington. Coal mining drove a population boom, and today the surface mines around Linton have become strip-pit lakes that are great for fishing. In the 1920s, the town reportedly had at least 35 bars and 35 churches.
As of the 2020 census, Linton had 5,133 residents, making it the largest of the seven incorporated towns and cities in Greene County.
Things to Do In or Near Linton, Indiana
Freedom Festival is Linton’s weeklong celebration of the community, built around the Fourth of July. Expect carnival rides, live bands, a horse pull, bed races, the Little Miss and Little Mister Linton contest, and fireworks. It all builds to what is billed as Indiana’s largest Independence Day parade on the Fourth of July, which draws around 40,000 people. Check the festival’s current dates before you plan a trip.
The Marsh Madness Sandhill Crane Festival, held each February since 2010, celebrates the spring migration of sandhill cranes, whooping cranes, and waterfowl to the 9,000-acre Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area. It includes wetland driving tours, educational exhibits, art displays, and family nature activities.
Redbird Off-Road State Recreation Area, near the town of Dugger, packs 1,400 acres of trails for Jeeps, trucks, ATVs, dirt bikes, and side-by-sides, plus room for mountain biking, hiking, fishing, camping, and mushrooming. It was Indiana’s first state-owned area set aside for off-road vehicles, with about 50 miles of marked trails. A trail-use permit is required to ride.
Places to Eat in Linton, Indiana
Start your day with a coffee and a sandwich at Francisco De Borja Coffee. For lunch or dinner, you can’t go wrong at Goosepond Pizza, serving pizza, breadsticks, calzones, and salads topped with homemade “quackers.” Do geese quack or honk? Either way, we’re intrigued.
Sportsman Pub on Main Street is the go-to dive bar in town for cold ones and surprisingly great food. The steak sandwich is Get IN. approved.
Famous People from Linton
David Butler was born near Linton on Dec. 15, 1829. He became the first governor of Nebraska, serving from 1867 to 1871, and remains the only Nebraska governor to be impeached.
Dorothy Mengering was born in Linton on July 18, 1921, and married Harry Letterman. One of her three children was David Letterman, and she became a familiar face to Late Night and Late Show viewers as a frequent guest.
Though he was born in nearby Bloomfield, Elmer Oliphant became a multi-sport star at Linton High School after transferring there as a junior. He captained the track and field squad to an IHSAA championship in 1910 and was an all-state football end. He went on to earn seven varsity letters at Purdue University in football, baseball, track, and basketball, the first Boilermaker to letter in four major sports, and still holds Purdue’s single-game scoring record of 43 points against Rose-Poly in 1912 (five touchdowns and 13 of 13 extra points). At West Point he won 11 letters and set the Army record for touchdowns in a single game (6), and he is credited with creating the intramural sports system used today. He has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (1955), the Indiana Football Hall of Fame (1975), the Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame (1997), and the Army Sports Hall of Fame (2004).
Linton-Stockton High School Championships
Linton-Stockton High School has won four state championships, three of them in the last decade and one back in the early 1900s. Boys track and field took the 1910 IHSAA title thanks to Elmer Oliphant, and the school waited more than a century for the next one until the football team won a 1A championship in 2016. The Miners’ girls basketball team then won back-to-back 2A championships in 2020 and 2021 and returned to the state finals in 2023.
