Muncie [key], city (1990 pop. 71,035), seat of Delaware co., E Ind., on the White River; inc. 1854. It is a trade, processing, and manufacturing center. The city is in a fertile agricultural area with dairying and soybean, fruit, corn, oat, and vegetable crops. Machinery, electronic equipment, plastics, glass, motor vehicle equipment, and metal goods are among the many manufactures. The town was first established by the Delaware and named for one of their tribes. In 1818 the land passed by treaty to the U.S. government. Industrialization came after the discovery (1886) of natural gas in the county. Muncie is the seat of Ball State Univ. It is the city pictured in the classic sociological community studies by Robert and Helen Lynd, Middletown (1929) and Middletown in Transition (1937).
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