Greencastle, Indiana

Greencastle is a city in Greencastle Township, Putnam County, Indiana, United States, and the county seat of Putnam County. It is located near Interstate 70 approximately halfway between Terre Haute and Indianapolis in the west-central portion of the state. The city is the home of DePauw University. The population was 9,820 at the 2020 census.

Greencastle was founded in 1821 by Ephraim Dukes on a land grant. He named the settlement for his hometown of Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Greencastle was a village or town operating under authority of the Putnam County commissioners until March 9, 1849, when it became a town by special act of the local legislature. Greencastle, Indiana, officially became a city after an election held on July 8, 1861. The first mayor of Greencastle was E. R. Kercheval, a member of the Freemason Temple Lodge #47. The city became the county seat of Putnam County.

John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster and bank-robber in the Depression-era United States. He was charged, but never convicted, with the murder of an East Chicago police officer whom he shot in the knee while fleeing the scene of his heist. John Dillinger's largest haul was at the Central National Bank in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1933 one of six banks he robbed in Indiana. In Our Past, Their Present: Historical Essays on Putnam County Indiana, John J. Baughman writes, "On Monday, October 23, 1933, four armed men entered the Central National Bank of Greencastle and escaped with $74,782.09 ($1.8 million in 2025). The Dillinger robbery became one of the major events of Greencastle history."

Greencastle has three historic neighborhoods – Old Greencastle, the Eastern Enlargement and the Northwood Neighborhood that were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

Greencastle is also home to 20 historical sites according to the National Register of Historic Places. These include The Appleyard, The Boulders house, Brick Chapel United Methodist Church, Courthouse Square Historic District, Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity house, East College of DePauw University, Forest Hill Cemetery, Richard M. Hazelett house, Alfred Hirt House, McKim Observatory, F.P. Nelson house, Old Greencastle Historic District, Lycurgus Stoner House, and William C. Van Arsdel house.

According to the 2010 census, Greencastle has a total area of 5.291 square miles (13.70 km²), of which 5.24 square miles (13.57 km²) (or 99.04%) is land and 0.051 square miles (0.13 km²) (or 0.96%) is water.

Humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Dfa"(Hot Summer Continental Climate).

As of the census of 2020, there were 9,820 people, 3,446 households, and 1,989 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,884.11 inhabitants per square mile (727.5/km²). There were 3,908 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 88.9% White, 1.8% African American, 0.2% Native American, 5.5% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 3.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.7% of the population.