lending library, the Owensville Carnegie Public Library. Economy Unlike Princeton and Fort Branch, Owensville's economy practically consists of a scant few family-owned business with only three exceptions: Goodlettsville, Tennessee-based Dollar General, Mount Carmel, Illinois-based Community Natural Gas, and Mount Vernon, Indiana-based Schultheis Insurance. The largest family-owned businesses in Owensville are Holder's Furniture and Holders Funeral Home (not owned by the same family). However, like Fort Branch, Owensville is largely surrounded by unincorporated subdivisions, primarily north of the town. The two largest employers of Owensville's residents are the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana plant located halfway between Princeton and Fort Branch, as well as Gibson Generating Station located 5.5 miles north-northwest of Owensville, as well two coal mines that opened up in 2008 and 2014, located 6 miles and 1 mile north of town respectively. Like the other communities in Gibson County, Owensville's prime economy is based on agriculture. The farms immediately around the town primarily produce corn, soybeans, strawberries, and wheat. Like many other communities along the Lower Wabash Valley, the surrounding Montgomery Township is particularly known for its watermelons, pumpkins, squash, cantaloupes, and zucchini, all heavily produced in the sandy bottom grounds located from the north to the southwest of the town. In addition, milo tends to be produced in place of corn in areas prone to flooding from the Wabash, Patoka, or Black Rivers or any of the other smaller creeks or streams that flow into them. Owensville High School, which merged with Fort Branch and Haubstadt high schools to form Gibson Southern, had the first high school gymnasium in Indiana with a glass backboard. One of those backboards is now in the Indiana High School Basketball Hall of Fame in New Castle, Indiana. Highways - local names Indiana State Road 65 - First, Brummitt, and Mill Streets from north to south Indiana State Road 165 - Brummitt Street west of Mill Street Indiana State Road 168 - Walnut Street east of Mill Street Notable people Max Armstrong, farm news radio and television broadcaster reporting on American and worldwide agriculture Valeska Suratt, silent film star, Broadway actress, Vaudevillian, early fashion icon References External links Town of Owensville, Indiana website Towns in Gibson County, Indiana Towns in Indiana Communities of Southwestern Indiana Evansville metropolitan area Populated places established in the 1790s