coolest February, and the wettest December. Floods, major storms, and tornados are relatively infrequent, but do occur. Economics The economic base is mostly manufacturing, followed by retail and health care. Little remains of the old industrial base. There are fewer than 600 union employees in the town. The closure of the Visteon plant in 2007, resulting in loss of over 900 jobs was a chief contributing factor in the town reaching the brink of bankruptcy in Mar. 2014. The largest employers are Stant, Walmart, and Howden Roots (formerly Roots/Dresser), followed by various retail establishments and schools. Wayzata Home Products Connersville, a unit of 6 Square Cabinet Co. based in Minnetonka, Minnesota,. began production in March 2014, but has since closed. The mean house price in 2012 was $67,000, and the median household income $29,000 (versus $47,649 for all of Indiana). Primarily due to loss of unionized manufacturing jobs and labor, the population of Connersville has been declining since the 1960s. The unemployment rate in Connersville and surrounding Fayette County is among the highest in the state, and has been for most of the last decade and even longer. In 2018, it ranged around 5%. A significant portion of workers in Connersville are employed in Shelbyville, Greensburg, and other outlying towns with better local economies. The city is the economic center of a micropolitan statistical area of the same name. It is also part of Richmond-Connersville, IN Combined Statistical Area. Government Connersville is a chartered city under the state of Indiana, with an elected mayor, clerk/treasurer, and 7-member city council. Five council members are by district, and two are at-large. City government consists of eight departments: Mettel Field/Airport, EMS/First Aid, Fire, Parks & Recreation, Police, Street, Connersville Utilities (water, sewer, storm drains), and Transfer Station & Recycling. Each department is headed by a full-time salaried department head. Courts and jails are located in the city but administered by the county. History Connersville is named for settler John Conner, older brother of William Conner, an early Indiana settler and politician. There was also, at least through 1795, Connerstown, a small Shawnee village near Lancaster, Ohio, named for John's father, Richard Conner. Whitewater Valley and pre-European inhabitants The Whitewater River Valley running north-south through eastern Indiana and southwestern Ohio was created by the Late Wisconsin Glaciation ending 13,600 years ago. Fayette County was at the southern fringe of the glaciation at that time.