Princeton

Small Town Breakdown

Princeton, Indiana is home to WNBA star Jackie Young, Gil Hodges Field, Lyles Station, and the best eats in Gibson County.

Fast Facts

📍LOCATION: Southwest Indiana

• Princeton is located near the center of Gibson County.

• U.S. Route 41 runs north-south through Princeton, leading south to Evansville and north to Patoka and Vincennes.

• State Road 64 runs east-west through town, leading east to Oakland City and west to East Mount Carmel near the Wabash River / Indiana-Illinois state line.

• 40 minutes north of Evansville

• 1 hour and 30 minutes south of Terre Haute

• 2 hours and 15 minutes southwest of Indianapolis

👥 POPULATION & RANKING

• 8,481 residents (as of 2024)

• Ranks as Indiana’s 95th-largest city

• Largest incorporated town/city in Gibson County

📏 LAND AREA

• 5.07 square miles

📅 FOUNDED

• Gibson County was established in 1813 from part of Knox County.

• It was named in honor of John Gibson, an officer in the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. Gibson also served as secretary of the Indiana Territory and twice served as acting governor.

• Princeton was settled in 1814 and named the county seat.

• It was named after Irish immigrant William Prince, who was a Gibson County Commissioner.

🏥 MAIN INDUSTRIES: Automotive Manufacturing, Manufacturing, Healthcare

• Toyota Boshoku Indiana manufactures automotive interior components for the Toyota Sienna and Toyota Highlander.

• Hansen Motor (Hansen Corporation) is an ElectroCraft company and serves as a global provider of application-engineered fractional-horsepower motor and motion products.

• Deaconess Gibson Hospital is a 25-bed critical access hospital that also has a 24-hour emergency department.

Start with the Star

One of the biggest names in women’s basketball calls Princeton home. Jackie Young, Indiana’s all-time leading scorer in boys and girls hoops with 3,268 career points, led Princeton Community to the 3A title in 2015, 72-44 over Tippecanoe Valley, behind a finals record 36 points on 15 made field goals. She led the state in scoring that season (32.4 points per game) and surpassed the 1,000-point mark with 1,003 points to become the first girl to reach that milestone and fifth player in Indiana high school basketball history to accomplish the feat.

She went on to play three seasons at the University of Notre Dame and helped the Fighting Irish to a 2018 national championship win over Mississippi State as a sophomore. The following year, Notre Dame lost in the title game to Baylor, 82-81.

After that defeat, Young declared for the WNBA Draft and was selected No. 1 overall by the Las Vegas Aces. The next summer, she won her first Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games in the 3-on-3 format, and added a second Olympic gold medal to her résumé in the 5-on-5 format at the Paris 2024 Games.

Ever since joining the WNBA, Young has been one of the league’s top players. She was named to the 2019 All-Rookie team and has been a WNBA All-Star each of the last four seasons (2022-25). She also won the 2022 Most Improved Player Award, was an All-WNBA Second Team member in 2023 and 2025, and has been a key contributor to the Aces winning WNBA championships in 2022, 2023, and 2025.

The book is far from finished on Young’s incredible career.

Best Bites

Donut Bank is a staple in southwest Indiana with 11 locations, including eight in Evansville, one in Newburgh, one in Princeton, and one across the state line in Henderson, Ky. You can’t go wrong with any of their pastries to go with a coffee or espresso, and they’re open seven days a week.

Port Side Coffee Company is a woman-owned coffee roastery, shop, and bakery in downtown Princeton. Stop for coffee, pastries, and a relaxed atmosphere.

American Table Family Dining has locations in Princeton, Washington, and Vincennes. They’re known for homestyle cooking, low prices, and hearty portions. Guests love their breakfast, tenderloin sandwich, and country fried steak.

The most established restaurant of them all in Princeton? Dick Clark’s Family Restaurant. It has been around since 1946, when Richard “Dick” Clark opened an ice cream and short orders shop next to his uncle’s grocery store, Sutton’s Grocery. The restaurant evolved to feature steaks, spaghetti, homemade pizza, sandwiches, beer, wine, and of course, ice cream. Here’s the full scoop on Dick Clark’s.

Historic Field Named After Baseball Hall of Famer

You can catch a ballgame at the historic Gil Hodges Field, included in the Heartland Historic Baseball Trail and located near Lafayette Park.

The field was named for Princeton native and former Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Gil Hodges who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022 after receiving 12 of 16 votes by the Golden Days Era Committee.

The eight-time National League All-Star (1949-55, ‘57) and three-time Gold Glove winner (1957-59) was on the Dodgers’ World Series-winning teams in 1955 and 1959 and managed the New York “Miracle” Mets to a 1969 World Series title.

Downtown Square and Shopping

The heart of Princeton is its historic courthouse square and the Gibson County Courthouse that was built in 1886 and exemplifies the Romanesque Revival architecture of the nineteenth century. The surrounding streets are perfect for walking and local shopping at places like OTM Boutique & Bow Co., Sassy Sunflower Boutique, and Bealls Outlet.  

County Fair

The Gibson County Fair is one of Indiana’s oldest continuously operating county fairs (it’s been going for 170 years!) and features carnival rides, livestock shows, concerts, and all the classic fair food you can handle in early July.

Tiger Bites

• Princeton Community High School‘s mascot is the Tigers, and they have won two IHSAA state championships in school history.

  • Girls basketball won the most recent in 2015, but boys basketball secured the school’s first state title in 2009, defeating Rochester 81-79 in double overtime to win the 3A championship and complete a perfect 29-0 season, just the 11th perfect season by a championship team in IHSAA history. It was also just the fifth of six boys basketball state championship games all time that went to two or more overtimes. Princeton boys basketball also made state appearances in 1934 and ‘35, losing in the first round to Hartford City and Rushville, along with semifinal defeats in 1965 and 1983 to Indianapolis Washington and Connersville.

• The historic Severns Bridge was built in 1908 and is named for John Severns, Sr., who was the first white settler in Gibson County. He, his wife and five children settled along the south bank of the Patoka River, 2.5 miles north of Princeton where he ran a ferry boat.

• Lyles Station Historic Schoolhouse & Museum stands as one of the last remaining African American settlements in Indiana. It was settled in the early 1800s and has a Heritage Classroom that provides students the opportunity to experience a day in the life of school children in the early 1900s.

Home to women’s basketball sensation Jackie Young and the birthplace of Baseball Hall of Famer Gil Hodges, Princeton swings big with fame, history, and good vibes.

Check out Nate’s breakdown of Princeton ⬇️