Evansville, settled in 1839, developed as an important agricultural trade center. Log cabins, farms, and small industries were built, and the population grew from less than 10 families in the beginning to nearly 5,000 people in 2009. Then and Now: Evansville is a unique look at how the community has changed from the 1900s to today. Ruth Ann Montgomery, author of Images of America: Evansville for Arcadia Publishing, is Evansville s historian. John Ehle, an Evansville resident for many years, has conducted interviews with local veterans and those who lived through the Great Depression.