Terre Haute's history reaches back to the early 1800s with the construction of Fort Harrison as a permanent settlement within Indian territory. The city grew up primarily around industry and river traffic on the Wabash River. The growth of the railroads and a short-lived oil boom contributed to the city's prosperity, but the decline of both, along with the Depression, resulted in the city becoming a model of Midwestern urban decay up through the 1980's. Recent mayors have worked hard to reverse this image, and have begun making gains in turning the city back around. http://wikitravel.org/en/Terre Haute