With the new century came a steady increase in streetcar service and automobile ownership, accompanied by the growth of bridges, brick streets, and paved roads and highways. By the 1920's, the 3-C (Cleveland to Columbus to Cincinnati) Highway was paved between Mount Vernon and Columbus.

     
   The Roaring Twenties, the stock market crash, the depression, World War II and the post-war baby boom dominate this 25-year period.

   There are so many stories to tell! 

     In March, 1950, Fredericktown marked the 100th anniversary of its incorporation. With the middle of the nineteenth century also came the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in June of 1950, and the loss of 18 Knox Co. servicemen before its end. Radio broadcasting began in 1951 with WMVO-FM, and its AM service went on the air in 1953. Mount Vernon's new library was dedicated in 1952, and our telephone company offices suffered a devastating fire in 1953. Mount Vernon celebrated its Sesquicentennial in 1955. The Mount Vernon Bible College opened in Bangs in 1957, the year that Pitkin's Market closed. And in 1959, winter snow and rain resulted in one of our biggest floods of the twentieth century.

     The last quarter of the 20th century saw much growth and change in Knox County . In 1976, Fred Lorey and our Historical Society published his excellent history of Knox County during the
U. S. Bicentennial year, the year that our Pittsburgh Plate Glass Works closed. Record cold weather in 1977 and the blizzard of 1978 were big news. In 1979, Betty Winand became Mount Vernon 's first woman Mayor, and Bert Moore was among those taken hostage in Iran, to be released in 1981 after 444 days in captivity.