| Official Name: | Central Barren, Indiana |
| Mapsize: | 150px |
| Pushpin Map: | USA Indiana Harrison County |
| Pushpin Label: | Central Barren |
| Pushpin Label Position: | left |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Harrison County |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Indiana |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Harrison |
| Subdivision Type3: | Township |
| Subdivision Name3: | Morgan |
| Coordinates: | 38.3642°N -86.0964°W |
| Elevation Ft: | 791 |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP code |
| Postal Code: | 47161 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank Info: | 18-11872[1] |
| Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
| Blank1 Info: | 432350 |
Central Barren is an unincorporated community in Morgan Township, Harrison County, Indiana.
The Harrison County barrens were so named by the early settlers for the lack of timber coverage. They were large tracts of prairie-like land, with only grass and small bushes. For the first decades of settlement, no one would live on the barrens because they were considered too far from the timber needed to build homes, fires, fences, and other necessities. The barrens were also swept by annual field fires, which would burn off most of the growth. As settlement expanded and farming grew in the early nineteenth century, settlers began to discover that because of the fires, the barrens were among the most fertile farmlands in the state, and they quickly filled with landholders. As settlement increased, the settlers were able to stop and prevent the wild fires that hindered forest growth and by the start of the 20th century, much of the barrens that were uninhabited began to grow up in Forrest, as it has remained until modern times.[2]
A post office was established at Central Barren in 1890, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1905.[3]