Marion is a city in Grant County

Grant County, Indiana

Grant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 70,061. The county seat is Marion. Important paleontological discoveries dating from the Pliocene epoch have been made at Pipe Creek Sinkhole in Grant County.-Geography:According to the 2010...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The population was 29,948 as of the 2010 census. The city is the county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Grant County

Grant County, Indiana

Grant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 70,061. The county seat is Marion. Important paleontological discoveries dating from the Pliocene epoch have been made at Pipe Creek Sinkhole in Grant County.-Geography:According to the 2010...

. It is named for Francis Marion

Francis Marion

Francis Marion was a military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War. Acting with Continental Army and South Carolina militia commissions, he was a persistent adversary of the British in their occupation of South Carolina in 1780 and 1781, even after the Continental Army was driven...

, a Brigadier General

Brigadier General

Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...

 from South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

 in the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

.

The city is the home of Indiana Wesleyan University

Indiana Wesleyan University

Indiana Wesleyan University is a private, evangelical Christian, liberal arts university located in Marion, Indiana that is affiliated with the Wesleyan Church denomination...

, the largest evangelical Christian university in the Midwest

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

 and largest private university in Indiana. Since 2003, former Olympic skater Wayne Seybold

Wayne Seybold

Wayne Seybold was an American pair skater. He competed with his sister Natalie Seybold. The duo captured a pair of silver medals at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics...

 has been Marion's mayor. Marion is also noted for being the birthplace of legendary actor James Dean

James Dean

James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...

 and famed cartoonist Jim Davis

Jim Davis (cartoonist)

James Robert Davis is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the comic strip Garfield, which he signs as Jim Davis. He has also worked on other strips: Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat, U.S. Acres and a strip about Mr...

, though both were raised in nearby Fairmount

Fairmount, Indiana

Fairmount is a town in Fairmount Township, Grant County in the east central part of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 2,992 at the 2000 census. It is ninety kilometers northeast of Indianapolis...

.