Forty years ago – in 1969 – Hollywood
released a major movie that was partially filmed at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway. The plot focused on an ambitious race driver
determined to win the Indianapolis 500; a major movie star played
the main character. The character’s wife in the movie was played by
the actor’s wife in real life. Several long, tracking shots in the
movie depict the thousands of spectators at the infield during the
race.
Question: Name the 1969 movie.
The Call-in Number for the correct
answer is: (317) 788-3314
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Last Week's Mystery
In the 1870s and ‘80s, several distinguished
Indiana painters who were members of the Hoosier Group, including
T.C. Steele, traveled overseas to study art in a major European
city. In addition to Steele, Hoosier Group artists William Forsyth,
Ottis Adams, and Otto Stark also studied about the same time in the
European city with master artists there.
Question: Name the European city.
Answer: MUNICH, Germany. By the1880s,
T.C. Steele was establishing a reputation as a prominent portrait
painter in Indianapolis. Impressed with Steele’s talent, wealthy
Hoosier benefactors, including Herman Lieber and members of the
Fletcher family, offered to send Steele and his family to Munich to
study for two years. The Steeles, who enjoyed Munich, ended up
staying for five years before returning to Indianapolis in 1885.
Hoosier History Facts
Oldest Indianapolis City Park - Garfield
Park
Garfield
Park on the Southside generally is considered to be the oldest park
in the Indianapolis park system, but it initially had a different
name. Garfield Park traces its beginnings to 1873, when the city
purchased the land – then totaling 98 acres -- from civic leaders
who had created a harness racetrack on the site. The park initially
was known by the name used for the racetrack, but was it renamed in
tribute to President James A. Garfield after his assassination in
1881. The initial name of Garfield Park was Southern Park. In the
decades after its renaming, Garfield Park became popular for its
pagoda, which served as the focal point for dances, as well as for
its sunken gardens, which opened in 1916, and its conservatory.
Today, Garfield Park also includes the MacAllister Center for the
Performing Arts.
Polk’s Best Jersey Milk - Milk
Bottles
In 1905, a major milk company,
Polk’s Best Jersey Milk, based
in Indianapolis built a very unusual-looking headquarters and
bottling plant on the near-Northside. The corners of the company’s
entrance were shaped like giant milk bottles and was located at E. 15th
Street and Lewis Street. Founded by Civil War veteran James Polk,
the company had a slogan – “Polk’s milk – always ahead” – that was
framed around a cow’s head. Although Polk’s became the state’s’
largest milk company, it began experiencing financial problems
during the 1950s because of competition from large food chains. The
bottling plant was torn down in the 1960s, but the milk company’s
old stables still stand. The stable building, where Polk kept its
delivery horses are now are part of a maintenance complex for
Indianapolis Public Schools. This made the building
an eye-catching landmark for more than 55 years, until it finally
met the wrecking ball in the 1960s. The company had been founded in
1893 by a Greenwood resident who was a Civil War veteran.
Rev. Jim Jones, founder of the Peoples
Temple
Today, there is a vacant lot at the corner of 10th and Delaware
streets. However, in 1899 the esteemed architectural firm of
Vonnegut & Bohn built a synagogue on the site for the Indianapolis
Hebrew Congregation. After the congregation moved farther north, the
former synagogue building became a very different house of worship
in the late 1950s and early ‘60s. Its preacher--Rev. Jim Jones,
founder of the Peoples Temple--eventually became a
household name after moving from Indianapolis.
In the late 1950s and early ‘60s, Rev. Jones oversaw a racially
integrated Christian congregation in the former synagogue building
at 10th and Alabama. He also began a social ministry, operating a
soup kitchen and providing nursing care for the elderly. Jones, who
had been born in 1932 in Lynn, Indiana, eventually cast himself as a
prophet and convinced more than 140 church members to resettle in
California. In the 1970s, he established Jonestown, a commune in
Guyana, where he convinced his followers to join him in drinking
cyanide-laced Kool-Aid in a mass ritual. Jones became notorious for overseeing
the 1978
mass murder-suicide in Guyana, South America, during which more than
900 of his followers died, including several who had begun attending
his services in Indianapolis.
The Conner Brothers - Hoosier Pioneers
William Conner’s and his older brother John
were Hoosier pioneers. Like William, John was born in Ohio, grew
up in Michigan, and began trading furs with Native Americans in the
Indiana wilderness. While William Conner of Conner Prairie fame, set up a trading post and
cabin on the White River near what became the town of Noblesville,
John Conner went on to plan a town elsewhere in Indiana, Connersville, a town
named in John Conner’s honor. He headed southeast in the Indiana
Territory while his brother William settled in what became Hamilton
County. According to a story told by John Conner’s granddaughter, he
was building his cabin – it didn’t even have a roof or floors yet –
when a wagon of immigrants drew up and asked to be directed to
Connersville. Laughing, Conner replied, “My friend, you are right in
the heart of town.”
Like his brother, John Conner seized business opportunities. In the
1820s, as the new state capital of Indianapolis was being developed,
he opened a dry goods store here. He died a few years later in 1826.
Serious Consideration Given to Abandoning
the 500 Mile Race
When the Indianapolis 500 was suspended
during World War II, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway greatly
deteriorated due to neglect. After the war ended, weeds were growing
in the racetrack. Serious consideration was given to abandoning the
500 Mile Race and converting the Speedway into a housing
subdivision. However, a famous Hoosier convinced Terre Haute
millionaire Tony Hulman to buy the Speedway in 1945, and the
Indianapolis 500 went on to even greater glory than before the war.Race driver Wilbur Shaw, a three-time winner of the Indianapolis
500 persuaded Tony Hulman to
buy the Speedway. Wilbur Shaw, who was born in Shelbyville in 1902, started out as a teenage errand-boy in Gasoline
Alley. As a driver, he won the race in 1937, 1939, and 1940, making
him the first to earn back-to-back wins. Shaw almost captured a
fourth 500 victory in 1941, the final race before World War II. He
was in the lead when a wheel hub broke off on his Masuerati, causing
an accident.EventuallyWilbur Shaw became American’s
premiere racing promoter. He was killed in 1954 in a private plane
crash in northeastern Indiana.
Hoosier Songwriter John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp was so captivated by "HUD"
(1963), a movie starring Paul Newman, that he named one of his children after
the actor’s character.Mellencamp, who was born in Seymour
and lives near Bloomington, has said the dialogue in the movie, for
which Newman was nominated for an Academy Award, influenced the
lyrics of several
of his songs. Mellencamp and his wife, Elaine, gave the name “Hud”
to their oldest son. Fourteen-year-old Hud Mellencamp recently made
headlines by winning a division title in the Indiana Golden Gloves
boxing tournament. The match featuring Hud, who boxes for the Indy
Police Athletic League, was held at the Tyndall Armory in
Indianapolis.
Barack Obama’s Hoosier Ancestry & Tipton County Farmhouse
The Victorian-era home, known as the
Dunham House, was built
on land homesteaded by Jacob Dunham (1795-1865), whose descendants
eventually settled in Kansas, where Ann Dunham grew up. Obama – accompanied by wife
Michelle and their daughters Malia and Sasha – visited last May
during the presidential primary campaign. The last Dunham to live
in the farmhouse, Hazel, died in 1969. Jacob Dunham was Obama’s
great-great-great-great-grandfather.
“The Lady in Red” - Anna Sage and John
Dillinger
In July 1934, authorities caught up with –
and killed – “Public Enemy No. 1”, Hoosier-born bank robber John
Dillinger, when he emerged with two women friends from a movie
theater in Chicago. One of the women, Anna Sage of East Chicago,
Ind., had tipped off federal agents they would be watching a movie
at the Biograph Theatre. When Dillinger and his companions emerged
from the Biograph, a shoot-out ensued in the 101-degree heat, and
the outlaw was killed. Anna Sage became known as “The Lady in Red”,
but she always claimed she was not wearing a red skirt that
fateful night.
Anna Sage, a
Romanian immigrant, was a former brothel owner in East Chicago. She
had two reasons for tipping off federal agents about Dillinger: She
wanted the $10,000 reward, and she also hoped to ingratiate herself
with authorities because she was about to be deported as an
undesirable alien. Anna Sage always claimed that she wore an orange
skirt on the night Dillinger was killed, even though she has gone
down in history as “The Lady in Red.” Anna Sage eventually received
only about half of the $10,000 reward, and authorities did deport
her to Romania. She died in Europe after World War II.
Purdue University - “The Mother of
Astronauts.”
Almost all of the native Hoosiers who have
become astronauts – from Gus Grissom to David Wolf – have attended
Purdue University, which bills itself “The Mother of Astronauts.”
Joe Allen,who was
born in Crawfordsville in 1937 and graduated from Crawfordsville
High School, was the only Hoosier astronaut who did not attend
Purdue. After his years at DePauw and Yale, he was chosen by
NASA as an astronaut-scientist in 1967, the same year that Gus
Grissom was killed. As an astronaut, Joe Allen flew on two space
missions, including a spectacular salvage mission in 1984 during
which he rescued a stranded satellite by flying over to it with a
jet backpack. After 18 years with NASA, Joe Allen left the space
agency in 1985 to become CEO of a private business based in Houston,
Texas, that deals with space exploration.
Caroline Scott Harrison, First Lady from
Indiana
Caroline Scott Harrison, the only First Lady
from Indiana, started
the china collection for the White House, which continues to this
day.
Mrs. Harrison began the collection during the presidency of her
husband, Benjamin Harrison, who was elected in 1888. As a tribute,
the portrait painting of her is displayed near the China Room in the
White House.
Mrs. Harrison died in the White House of tuberculosis in 1892, two
weeks before her husband lost his bid for re-election. Thousands of
Hoosiers watched the First Lady’s funeral procession to Crown Hill
Cemetery.
Pioneer Hoosier Automaker Elwood Haynes
Elwood Haynes, still remembered today as a
pioneer in the auto industry, was born in Portland, Indiana in 1857,
but moved to Kokomo during the area’s natural gas boom in the early
1890s. The Hoosier inventor is credited
with creating one of the very first gasoline-powered cars in
America. During a test run in 1894, the “horseless carriage”
reached a top speed of about 7 miles per hour. To avoid scaring
horses on city streets, the test run was conducted in a rural area
near Kokomo, which was the inventor’s adopted hometown. He built
automobiles in Kokomo until the 1920s. His pioneer auto is on
permanent display at he Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.
For a variety of reasons – including Haynes’ refusal to budge from
the luxury car market – his auto company went bankrupt in 1924,
throwing 400 workers out of jobs. Haynes died the next year.
Local Roots for Academy Nominated Actor
Greg Kinnear
Greg Kinnear was an Oscar
nominee for his performance in “As Good As It Gets” (1997), a movie
that won lead acting Academy Awards for Jack Nicholson and Helen
Hunt. His family owned a vending business in Logansport, where
he was born in 1963. When the future actor was 9 years old, his
father became a diplomat and the family moved overseas.
Greg’s
teenage years were spent in Beirut, Lebanon, and Athens, Greece. He
launched his career as a TV personality, hosting cable and
late-night talk shows. Then, Sydney Pollack cast him as Harrison
Ford’s kid brother in the remake of “Sabrina” in 1995. Greg Kinnear’s other movies have included “You’ve Got Mail” (1998) with
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan; “Auto Focus” (2002), and “Little Miss
Sunshine” (2006).
Largest Natural Lakes in Indiana
The largest natural lake in Indiana is Lake
Wawasee, which is located near the town of Syracuse in northeastern
Indiana. A spring-fed lake, Lake Wawasee is 3,060 acres in size.
The second largest natural lake in Indiana Lake Maxinkuckee near Culver
in north-central Indiana.
With a name from the Potawatomi Indians who once were the
predominant tribe in northern Indiana, Lake Maxinkuckee covers1,864
acres. During the winter, residents of Marshall County and visitors
frequently ice-fish at the lake, where the most common catch is
blue-gill. The campus of Culver Military Academy is located on the
lake, which has an average depth of 24 feet.
The largest man-made lake in the state is Lake Monroe near
Bloomington.
Lincoln Stops in Indianapolis on the Way
to His Inauguration
When he was en route to Washington DC for
his inauguration in 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln delivered
a speech in Indianapolis that made national headlines. Speaking from
a balcony at the Bates House hotel, Lincoln spoke out in definitive
terms about the need to preserve the Union as hundreds of Hoosiers
cheered. His speech had a national impact because it was Lincoln’s
first major policy statement as a president-elect. The Bates House,
which was built in the early 1850s, was considered the city’s finest
hotel, as befit the president-elect. The hotel stood at the
northwest corner of Washington and Illinois streets until 1901, when
it was razed.
The Claypool Hotel replaced
the Bates House at the NW corner of Washington and Illinois – a
location that, interestingly, has been a hotel site for most of city
history. When the posh Claypool Hotel opened in 1903, some accounts
described its lobby as the largest in the country. For decades, the
Claypool was regarded as one of the most elegant hotels in the
Midwest, with a dazzling array of distinguished, overnight guests
who included Eleanor Roosevelt, Gene Autry and Jack Benny. It closed
two years after a fire in 1967.
Today, the NW corner of Washington and Illinois is the site of the
Embassy Suites and Claypool Grille.
Major Taylor (Velodrome, A World-Class
Bicycling Track)
Hoosier native Major Taylor became an
American and world champion bicycle racer, dominating the sport
during its first peak in popularity 100 years ago.
Throughout his life, Major Taylor
refused to compete on Sundays because of a promise to his mother “to
lead an upright Christian life.” For example, in 1899 – after
winning the world sprint championship – Major Taylor turned down a
$10,000 offer to race in Europe because the competitions were to be
on a Sunday. Two years later, though, he toured Europe with the
promise there would be no Sunday racing. “The Ebony Streak” became
hugely popular, particularly in France.
Major Taylor met kings and queens of Europe, but his wealth and fame
were fleeting. Because of the abrupt decline in the popularity of
bicycle racing – along with financial mistakes and other problems --
Major Taylor was poverty-stricken when he died in 1932 and buried in
an unmarked pauper’s grave in Chicago. Years later, the Schwinn
Bicycle Company paid for a bronze monument and organized a belated
memorial service attended by many of the country’s top athletes.
Indiana’s oldest continuously operating tavern, Located on its
original site
Founded in 1850, the Slippery Noodle has endured many name changes
and scandals. It was built on South Meridian Street as a roadhouse
called The Tremont House. Before the Civil War, it may have been a
stop on the Underground Railroad.
In the 1860s, its name was changed to the Concordia House, then to
the German House. Because of anti-German sentiment during World War
I, the German House became Beck’s Saloon. During the Great
Depression in the 1930s, it was known as Moore’s Beer House; that’s
when gangster John Dillinger patronized the bar with his cronies.
Eventually, a bordello operated upstairs. After two patrons
quarreled over a woman – one patron pulled a knife and stabbed the
other to death -- the place shut down.
It’s reputation was restored in 1963 when it was purchased by the
parents of current owner Hal Yeagy; they christened it The Slippery
Noodle. Today, The Noodle is a tavern and restaurant that’s
nationally known for blues music.
Indianapolis, Our State's Capitol
In 1820, a group of Hoosier powerbrokers met
to hash out a new location for our state capital. Corydon, which had
been serving as the capital since Indiana achieved statehood in
1816, was judged to be too far south for statewide convenience. They eventually settled on the undeveloped lowlands and
swamps that became the city of Indianapolis, chosen for its location
smack in the center of the state. The
site of the meeting
was the log cabin of William Conner of
Conner Prairie fame, where he lived in 1820, and was
located on the White River near Noblesville. The group of state leaders, including the
governor, also met under a tree on Conner’s property. Conner hoped
the state capital would be in the Noblesville area. However,
surveyors advised the powerbrokers that the future Indianapolis site
was precisely in the Hoosier state’s center.
Kentucky Fried
Chicken
Even
though he named his fabulously successful business Colonel Harland Sanders actually was born in Clark
County, Indiana.
Crest Toothpaste
In 1956, Crest hit the market of a
product used every morning in homes across the country. The new
brand became enormously popular – and remains so today. It’s made by
Proctor and Gamble, which is not based in Indiana.
However, the Proctor and Gamble product contains ingredients – or
compounds – patented by three researchers at Indiana University.
Jewish History in Indiana
The legendary Gimbels department store based
in Manhattan had its roots with merchant Adam Gimbel of Vincennes.
Vera Bradley Bags
Vera Bradley, which designs and makes
cotton-quilted handbags, travel bags and an expanding array of other
products. The business was founded by two neighbors in 1982 in Fort
Wayne, Pat Miler and Barbara Baekgaard, who named the business after
Barbara’s mother in 1982. Within three years, sales of Vera Bradley
products had reached $1 million.
Later this month, Pat Miller and Barbara Baekgaard will be named
Living Legends by the Indiana Historical Society.
Hoosier Hysteria Begins
In Crawfordsville at a YMCA in 1894 the
first basketball game in Indiana was played. The Crawfordsville team
beat a team from Lafayette by the score of 45 to 21. Basketball
quickly became popular across Indiana.
The very first official basketball game ever
was played two years earlier, in 1892, at a YMCA in Springfield,
Mass. The inventor, James Naismith, set up a peach basket in which
players scored points with their shots.
Indianapolis 500
There’s a fascinating “flaw” in the 1969 official photo of
front-row qualifiers for the Indianapolis 500 The “flaw” in the
photo concerns Mario Andretti, who went on to win the 500-Mile Race
that year.
It’s actually not Mario in the official
photo of front-row qualifiers for the 1969 race. Instead, his
identical twin brother, Aldo Andretti, posed as Mario for the photo.
Also, who left racing to become an Indianapolis businessman (as well
as the father of current driver John Andretti), didn’t want to pose
as his twin. But Mario insisted.
A few days before the photo session, Mario
had endured a fiery crash. He was burned on his upper lip and didn’t
want to be photographed that way. So he prevailed on his twin
brother to pose alongside the two other front-row drivers for the
official photo. The ruse was kept a secret initially, but word
eventually leaked out to racing enthusiasts.
Celebrity Marriages in Indiana
In June 1993, the city of Marion, Indiana, found itself in the
national news because of an unexpected event that occurred there.
Movie star Julia Roberts married singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett at
St. James Lutheran Church in Marion, Indiana, after a three-week
courtship. They eloped and married in Marion because Lyle Lovett was
on a concert tour; his next performance was at then-Deer Creek Music
Center near Noblesville. Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett announced
their divorce less than two years later, in March 1995.
Hoosier Civil War History
During the Civil War, a greater percentage of young men and
teenagers of military age from Indiana fought in “Mr. Lincoln’s
Army,” the Union Army, than any other state except one. Delaware was
the only state that had a greater percentage of young men in the
Union Army.
Did you know the Circle Theatre on Monument
Circle was considered one of the most lavish silent movie palaces
west of New York when it opened in 1916? Listen to three generations
discuss Indy's Crown Jewel, The Circle Theater, on our August 16,
2008 show
Dave L. Smith, former host of
WISH-TV’s popular When Movies Were Movies
series, Chris Gahl, our "Roadtripper" and Nelson Price talk about
the impact of the Circle Theater on the Circle City.
Listen to our April 5, 2008 Sears Kit Homes
show with Guest Paul Diebold of the State DNR
Caller Shares with our guest Paul about a
Kit Home with an indoor/outdoor fish pool.
Listen to
Survival Tales from the the
Blizzard of January 1978 on it's 30th anniversary, January 16, 2008
Craig Widener, former Chief
Operating Officer of the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Red
Cross, shares how the city opened its Red Cross Shelter to stranded
Greyhound passengers.
Caller Talks About Being Stranded at
Omalia's Grocery Store in Carmel.
Hoosier History Live! Celebrated its First Year
on the Air!
Peggy Sabens of the
Meridian Street Foundation, Host Nelson Price, Chris "The
Roadtripper" Gahl, and Producer, Molly Head blow out their First
Year Birthday Cake Candles presented to them by the Meridian Street
Foundation
The party for Hoosier History
Live! at the
Morris-Butler House was sponsored by the Historic Landmarks
Foundation of Indiana on Abe's 200th Birthday, February 12th
Artists Who Stayed Here: Their Challenges in Making It
The Indiana State Museum is touting a new exhibition as the
first major one ever to explore the challenges that have confronted
artists who opt to remain in the Midwest. According to fine arts
curator Rachel Perry, the exhibit, titled
Making It in the Midwest: Artists Who Chose to Stay
“brings together an important array of historical works, many of
which are in private collections and have not been seen publicly for
decades.”
Rachel is the author of a lavishly
illustrated book about some of the most illustrious artists who
stayed. Her book, T.C. Steele and the Society of Western Artists,
1896-1914(IU Press), examines the legendary Steele and his
painting techniques as well as his role as a catalyst for Brown
County’s art colony. (Fun fact: Rachel knows that scenic turf well.
She’s a long-time resident of rural Brown County.) The exhibit
features about 50 paintings from the Society of Western Artists,
which formed in the late 1800s to bring greater attention to works
created in the Midwest. They organized annual exhibitions that
attracted national notice. Even so, Rachel notes, “Hoosier artists
today continue to struggle to build their careers and sustain their
artistic passions while remaining in Indiana.” (Photo Courtesy:
Indianapolis Museum of Art)
Digging Up History: Madam Walker Home, Ransom Place & Two-Story Outhouse
What artifacts are buried at the site of Madam Walker’s
long-demolished house? What about at the former sites of homes built
in the late 1800s in the near-Westside neighborhood known today as
Ransom Place? And what about a legendary (or notorious) two-story
outhouse that “serviced” low-income, multi-family dwellings as
recently as the 1940s? Every summer, an archaeological dig overseen
by Paul Mullins has tackled each of those questions. Paul, an
associate prof of anthropology and director of IUPUI’s archaeology
field school was Nelson’s studio guest and explored the
fascinating excavations into Hoosier history that his students
undertake.
This summer, Paul & crew are in the midst of a much-publicized dig
in the 600 block of N. West Street to find artifacts linked to the
home and office of Madam Walker. Experts think Madam Walker, who
died in 1919, may have been the first African-American woman to
become a millionaire as a result of her hair care and beauty
products. The daughter of former slaves, Madam Walker was born in
the Deep South in 1867, just two years after the Civil War. She
moved to Indianapolis in 1910 to launch her company; initially,
Madam and her husband, C.J. Walker, lived in a rental house. By May
1911, she had become sufficiently prosperous to buy a spacious,
two-story house that had been built in the 1870s by a white couple
from New Hampshire. (More than 150 guests attended the Walkers’
housewarming party. A harpist entertained, and the home was
decorated with palms.) Since May 2009, Paul and his IUPUI students have
been digging on the site of the Walker residence, which was razed in
the mid-1960s.
A few summers ago, Paul and his students excavated in the 900 block
of California Street, searching for artifacts related to homes built
in the 1870s for working-class, multi-ethnic families. Paul
emphasizes that, until about 1920, the near-Westside was much more
diverse than people realize, with many German, Irish and Greek
immigrants living in the neighborhood. Hundreds of these homes were
later demolished, particularly as IUPUI developed. Today, the
Ransom
Place Historic District is, he says, “the only surviving remnant” of
what had been a densely populated residential area.
And then there’s the two-story outhouse, a photo of which is
featured in many Indianapolis history books, including Nelson’s
Indianapolis Then and Now(thanks to his collaborator, photo
historian Joan Hostetler). Serving multi-family households living in
poverty and ignored by many city leaders, the unusual privy was
located on property that’s now part of the IUPUI campus. The privy
stood in the 400 block of University Boulevard (it was called Agnes
Street until being renamed in the 1980s), today the site of IUPUI’s
new Campus Center.
A few summers ago, well before the Campus Center construction, Paul
and his students went digging to find artifacts related to the
outhouse. He says determining the precise locations of outhouses is
relatively easy. That’s because generations of people tended to use
privies as makeshift Dumpsters, tossing mounds of trash in them.
Paul & crew found everything from a “lucky” coin popular in the
1930s to Milk of Magnesia bottles, Jergens hand lotion, and animal
bones.
Nelson spoke to Paul about the insights these digs have revealed
about our culture from earlier eras as well as, including the
amazing life of Madam Walker. By the way, she spent the final two
years of her life based in the New York City area, dividing her time
between a Harlem townhouse and an Irvington-on-Hudson mansion. (Her
home on West Street continued as her company’s office for many
years.) Artifacts excavated this summer become the property of the
Madame Walker Theatre Center, which is located on Indiana Avenue
just north of the dig site. (Photos Courtesy of IUPUI Anthropology
Department)
At 90 P.E. MacAllister of MacAllister
Machinery Co. Reflects Indianapolis's Civic History
In July 90-year-old Indianapolis business leader and
philanthropist P.E. MacAllister
will be named a Living Legend by the Indiana Historical Society.
Mr. MacAllister will join an illustrious class of Legend inductees
that also will include Indiana Pacers commentator Bobby “Slick"
Leonard, who coached the team during its triumphant era in the
bygone ABA league; Olympics organizer Anita DeFrantz, a Shortridge
High School graduate who won a bronze medal as a rower in the 1976
Montreal Olympics, then became an attorney and rose to the top ranks
of the International Olympics Committee; and shopping mall magnates
Herb and Mel Simon. (Photo to the left: P.E. & Chris
MacAllister)
Anticipating the Living Legends gala
(for which Nelson serves on the selection/organizing committee), Mr.
MacAllister visited Hoosier History Live! to reflect on the state
where he’s had a tremendous impact as a civic leader.
Now
chairman of the board of MacAllister
Machinery Co., which was founded by his father in 1945
during the post-World War II business boom, Mr. MacAllister has
focused his civic interests on everything from the Indianapolis
Opera Company to public parks, hospitals, Scottish heritage
groups, and efforts to honor veterans. (Mr. MacAllister served in
the U.S. Army air Corps during World War II.) Nelson tapped into his insights on an array of civic and historical
topics from his vantage point of 90 years.
(Photo to the right: father and
son, P.E. & E.W. MacAllister)
Kitchen History & The Hoosier Cabinet
Pioneer kitchens. Indiana as a hub of furniture making in the 1800s
because of its dense hardwood forests. And the debut, marketing,
explosion in popularity, and eventual decline of the Hoosier
Cabinet, an innovative piece of furniture manufactured in Henry
County from the 1890s through the 1930s that “came to alter the
course of kitchen history”, as a new book puts it.
All
of these aspects of our heritage are explored in
The Hoosier Cabinet in Kitchen History (IU Press)
written by Nancy Hiller, a Bloomington cabinetmaker. A social
historian and the owner of NR Hiller Design Inc.,
Nancy joined Nelson in studio to explore how settlers initially
arrived in the Indiana Territory – primarily on foot, with their
wagons filled with cooking pots and other supplies, unlike the
popular image, as her book puts it, of “a horse-drawn version of a
ride we might enjoy in an SUV on Interstate 70 today.” From there,
Nancy and Nelson will explore the development of kitchens and the
way women’s work lives evolved, along with the marketing of the
Hoosier Cabinet as a revolutionary “step-saver”. According to
Nancy’s book, more than 2 million had been sold by 1920, meaning
Hoosier Cabinets (which eventually were produced by non-Indiana
businesses as well as by the Hoosier Manufacturing Company based in
Albany and New Castle) could be found in one in ten American homes.
Their appeal rapidly declined in the 1930s – Nancy and Nelson will
discuss why – but Hoosier Cabinets remain treasures for collectors
and many kitchen lovers. Nancy still recalls her mother’s delight at
discovering one in the Miami city dump in the 1960s.
St.
Joseph Neighborhood in Indianapolis History
Following on the heels of our shows about other historic
Indianapolis neighborhoods -Woodruff Place,
Herron-Morton Place, and the North Meridian Mansions – is an
exploration of diverse, urban
St. Joseph Neighborhood on downtown Indy’s near-Northside.
Our
studio guests were two well-known leaders of the neighborhood,
both long involved in historic preservation: photographer Garry Chilluffo,
president of the St. Joseph Historic Neighborhood Association
(and, not so incidentally, Nelson’s collaborator on the ever-popular
Indianapolis Then and Now book), and artist
Leah Orr, who has won many awards for her work as a social
activist and her historic research. An activist for the homeless, Leah has lived for nearly 30 years
in St. Joseph, which is roughly bounded by Fort Wayne
and Central avenues, Pennsylvania Street and I-65.
A mixed-use neighborhood that includes everything from Civil War-era
cottages, turn-of-the-last-century row houses, and historic
commercial buildings, St. Joseph has residential
architecture that spans almost the entire history of
Indianapolis, from Italianate and Queen Anne to Renaissance Revival.
As the neighborhood has pulled itself out of a decline in the
mid-20th Century, its colorful recent history has included crusades
for historic preservation. (Leah once stopped a bulldozer in
action!) Esteemed for his architectural and commercial photography,
Garry has visually documented much of the neighborhood he calls
home.
Playwright James Still on William Conner’s Legacy & Interpreting History
The
dramatic story of Hoosier pioneer William Conner, of
Conner Prairie
fame, has been told in many ways, but which interpretation is
correct? And who gets to make the historic call, not only with
Conner’s life but with the presentation of any slice of our past? We
at Hoosier History Live! were thrilled to be able to call in a big gun to
tackle these and other challenges about history, Indiana Repertory Theatre’s
playwright-in-residence James
Still, whose new drama,
Interpreting William, runs through May 31 and grapples
with similar themes.
Although James didn’t grow up in Indiana and
isn’t based here full-time – he grew up in Kansas, where his dad was
a high school history teacher, and he now lives on the West Coast –
James certainly qualifies as an honorary Hoosier (and an Indiana
history expert!) by now. The central character in Interpreting
William is a contemporary historian on deadline who is
confronted by mysteries in the complicated personal life of Conner
(1777-1855). The play is James’ ninth IRT production. Many of them,
including his acclaimed adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s The
Gentleman from Indianaand last year’s Looking Over
the President’s Shoulder, have touched on Hoosier historical
figures.
Nelson spoke with James about the challenges in interpreting history, how
to capture an audience’s interest in it, and his take on Conner, who
stayed here while his first wife (a Lenape, or Delaware, Indian) and
their six children were “re-settled” to the West. (Conner then
married a white woman, with whom he had 10 more children.) In
Interpreting William, the historian character is confronted
with challenges after visiting Conner Prairie, the interactive
outdoor history park, which has partnered with the IRT for James’
play.
Speedway Founder Carl Fisher’s Colorful Life
Amid
the hoopla about the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway Hoosier History Live! explored the life
of flamboyant entrepreneur Carl Fisher
who lead a group of partners that developed the racetrack in 1909 as
a way to spotlight the automobile, then in its infancy. A master
showman, Fisher (1874-1939) even competed in the first race at the
Speedway, a hot air balloon competition in which Fisher piloted an
entry titled “Indiana.”
Nelson was joined in studio by public
historian Glory-June Greiff, an expert on sculptures and
monuments across the state (they are the subject of her book
Remembrance, Faith & Fancy published by the Indiana Historical
Society Press), as well as the roller-coaster career of Carl Fisher,
who opened one of the state’s first auto showrooms and co-founded
Prest-O-Lite Storage Battery Company. His influence stretched far beyond founding
the Speedway. From his beginnings as a teenage bicycle salesman
(despite being half-blind since birth, Fisher undertook high-wire
stunts in downtown Indy to promote his merchandise), he eventually
transformed a Florida mangrove swamp into one of the Sunshine
State’s first resorts, Miami
Beach. Glory-June and Nelson also discussed Fisher’s
lavish mansion, now a landmark on the Marian College campus;
his marriage to a much-younger woman who sought his help when her
house caught fire, and his role as an organizer of the Lincoln
Highway. Along the way, Carl Fisher made a fortune – and had
lost almost all of it by the time he died.
Bluegrass Music Heritage in Indiana
Even though Indiana may not be the primary state associated with
bluegrass, its heritage here has been rich, deep, and includes a
hugely popular annual festival that every June turns tiny Bean
Blossom in scenic Brown County into heaven for devotees of the
music. Who better to share folklore about the links between
Hoosiers, bluegrass music, and its legendary “father,” Bill
Monroe, than WICR-FM’s own Cary Allen Fields, host of The Fields of Bluegrass
Radio Hour featured on the popular Friday Night Folk show,
and Col. James Peva, author of
Bean Blossom: Its People and Its Music, a visual history
of the town that’s been a site for bluegrass performances ever since
1940. Col. Peva also is the official historian for the Bill Monroe Music Park.
Cary is a guitarist/bassist/singer who writes for Bluegrass
Now magazine. They will shared insights about Monroe
(1911-1996), whom Cary first met as a young boy.
The festival in
Bean Blossom, the
longest continuously running bluegrass festival in the
world, celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2006. Col. Peva, a
retired colonel for the Indiana State Police and an associate
professor emeritus at IU, has attended every festival since its
inception.
Befriending Bill Monroe when he hired
him to play at a pistol match banquet, Col. Peva originated the
campaign for a commemorative postage stamphonoring Monroe a few years
ago.
County Courthouses with Architect Jim Kienle
Nelson explored the architectural gems known as
“the magnificent 92”: the majestic courthouses that dominate
town squares across Indiana. His guest,
Indianapolis architect and historic preservationist ,Jim Kienle,
is known for his award-winning restoration work. Jim, president of James T. Kienle & Associates, is in the midst of restoring
the Orange County Courthouse in Paoli; built in 1850, it is the
state’s second oldest courthouse in continuous use and is seen
annually by thousands of travelers who visit the nearby resort
hotels in French Lick and West Baden. As the lavishly illustrated book
Magnificent 92(IU Press, 1991) puts it, Hoosier towns
“seemed to compete with one another for splendor and expense” in
constructing their courthouses during the 1800s and early 1900s.
Wine and Winery Heritage in Indiana
Substituting as host (Nelson was out of
town) was the Wine Maven herself, Jill Ditmire.
Jill is an Omnimedia Wine Specialist who shares her wine wit and
wisdom in print, radio and television. She is an AWS Certified Wine
Judge and owner of Mass Ave Wine Shoppe in downtown Indianapolis.
Her guests were Tia Agnew and Brett Canady, owners
of New Day Meadery in Elwood, Indiana, who make hand crafted honey
wines, as well as Jim Bulter, author of
Indiana Wines: a History ( I.U. Press).
According to Jim's book, a Frenchman from Switzerland named James
Dufour arrived in America in 1796, looking for land for a colony of
'vinedressers.' The group first settled in Kentucky, but then
purchased land in the Indiana Territory on the north bank of the
Ohio River. In the town they called Vevay, the Swiss winegrowers
successfully produced America’s first commercial wines.
Greencastle Town History
On our rotating series of town histories – Hoosier History Live!
has explored Greenfield, Clark County, Madison, and Sheridan – on
this show Nelson was joined by Greencastle civic leader and
historian Jinsie Bingham, a seventh-generation Greencastle
Putnam County resident, who is a broadcasting executive. Her parents inadvertently (and innocently!) figured in
John Dillinger’s infamous robbery of a Greencastle bank in 1933
during which he escaped with the largest heist of his criminal
career.
The bank building still stands, along with
several other historic structures on or near Greencastle’s town
square. Nelson spoke with Jinsie about early pioneer settlements
in the Greencastle area and the role of the National Road; the
town’s great fire of 1874; the Putnam County Courthouse and its
distinctive sculpture of a World War I doughboy; the legendary
Monon Bell rivalry between DePauw in Greencastle and Wabash
College in Crawfordsville, and the area’s extensive nature park.
There’s also a new Putnam County Museum; Jinsie is a board member of
the museum as well as an inductee in the Indiana Broadcasters Hall
of Fame. She owns Radio Greencastle and served as the first woman
president of the Greencastle Rotary Club.
On the
Greencastle's website is a free six-part
“Our Town” video (a WTIU production)
Quirky Characters from Indiana
The 19th state has produced its share of cult figures. We
explored two of them: Humorist/author/radio personality Jean Shepherd
from Hammond (best remembered for the holiday movie favorite “A
Christmas Story”), and William
Dudley Pelley, a right-wing political extremist of the 1930s
and ‘40s (he founded a group known as the Silver Shirts) who also
became a well-known psychic and believer in the occult. Pelley spent
his final years in Noblesville and is buried there. What do Shepherd
and Pelley have in common, aside from being (to borrow a word used
by our studio guest) curmudgeons?
Well, our guest, IRT actor John
Guerrasio, is an expert in both of these quirky
characters. John grew up in New York City listening to Shepherd’s
late-night radio monologues about his Hammond boyhood, tales that
are said to have influenced top humorists such as Jerry Seinfeld. “A
Christmas Story”(1983) was drawn from a bestselling book
titled “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash” by Shepherd,
who died in 1999 after years of semi-seclusion.
In
addition to researching Shepherd, John has spent years working on a
screenplay about Pelley (1890-1965), who sympathized with the
Nazis and served a stint in federal prison for sedition
during World War II. That prison stint interrupted his life in
Noblesville. After his release from prison, Pelley focused on his
enterprise as a psychic, conducted séances in his Noblesville
garage, and sent material about the occult to followers around the
country.
Hallie Bryant on Harlem Globetrotters History
This March, with the state in the midst of “March Madness,” Hoosier
History Live! took a fresh perspective on basketball history
courtesy of a studio guest who has been a star at just about every
level of the game, including high school (Attucks) and college (IU).
Recently honored by the Harlem Globetrotters as the 28th player to
be inducted into the team’s Ring of Legends during a game at Conseco Fieldhouse, Hallie Bryant
shared with us about the links between Hoosiers and
the world-famous team that combines athleticism with entertainment.
Amazingly, Hallie was one of four teammates
from Attucks High School’s remarkable Class of ’53 who ended
up touring the world as
Globetrotters. In Hallie’s case, it meant traveling to 82
countries during 13 barnstorming seasons as a player and another 14
in public relations.
Launched on the Southside of Chicago
(despite the “Harlem” in the name) in the late 1920s, the
Globetrotters have had links to Hoosiers almost from the beginning.
Following Hallie’s triumphs as a star player at IU (he co-captained
the team in 1957 and set what was then a school record for free
throws), the NBA offered limited opportunities, particularly for
black players – but the Globetrotters were a showcase.
Today, as he enjoys a series of accolades
(his jersey, along with those of other former stars from Attucks and
Washington high schools, was retired during half-time celebrations a
few weeks ago), Hallie is a popular motivational speaker,
businessman, and the author of Hallie’s Comet:
Breaking the Code a self-help book that draws on his
rich experiences, including those that we will explore with the
Globetrotters.
Queen Victoria wasn’t a Hoosier, but the way she reacted to the
death of Prince Albert in 1861 eventually affected Indiana
residents. She set the standard for strict guidelines of mourning
etiquette that dictated everything from the bereaved’s apparel to
the way coffins were displayed – and how the deceased were
photographed.
Our studio, Sheila Riley,
an expert on Victorian-era mourning customs, who also is
director of collections at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis,
spoke with Nelson about all aspects of Victorian-era folklore about
death and mourning, from social behavior to jewelry.
For more information visit the National Museum of Funeral History
in Houston, which Shelia says has an extraordinary collection of
artifacts related to mourning.
A Political Trailblazer for Hoosier Women: Marge O’Laughlin
She began running for public office after leaving her husband
and taking their seven children with her. The youngest child was 2
years old. From those unlikely beginnings more than 40 years ago, Marge
O’Laughlin eventually rose in the 1980s to attain what was then
the highest-ranking political office ever for a woman in Indiana.
And when popular “Marge O” won re-election as State Treasurer in
1990, she was the top vote-getter on the state GOP ticket.
“Marge O” joined Nelson in studio to explore
the challenges, influences, and strategies for success that have
been part of her eventful life, from her days at Shortridge High
School in the late 1940s (she and future US Sen. Richard Lugar
were fellow cellists in the orchestra) to stints as a Northside
housewife, Marion County clerk, Supreme Court clerk, and,
eventually, the official in charge of state investments as Indiana’s
treasurer. The political pioneer once told Nelson, “I’m a great one for the art of the possible.”
Oscars Heritage & Indiana
Are you assuming there’s no Hoosier connection to the
Academy Awards. To the contrary, there’s a deep Oscar heritage with
Hoosiers, which we explored with two well-known movie experts: Jeff Sparks, president and founder of the widely praised Heartland Film
Festival, and Bonnie Britton, former movie critic for
The Indianapolis Star. Their “Oscars & Indiana” fodder
included the 50th anniversary of the “Best Picture” winner of 1959,
Ben Hur, which was based on the spectacularly
successful novel by Lew Wallace
of Crawfordsville. Ben Hur won 11 Oscars, which set a
record then.
Bonnie, Jeff and Nelson also discussed
the parallels between the posthumous nomination for Heath Ledger and
those for
Fairmount’sJames Dean, who had been killed in a car crash
before he was nominated for East of Eden and Giant.
Then there are the four Academy Awards won by the late filmmaker
Robert Wise, who grew up in Winchester and Connersville; he went
on to direct The Sound of Music, West Side Story, and
an astonishing array of other hits.
And speaking of anniversaries, it’s been 30
years since the 1979 release of
Breaking Away, which won an Academy Award for the late
screenwriter Steve Tesich, who grew up in East Chicago and
based the movie on his experiences as an IU student. Other previous
Oscar winners with Hoosier connections include actor Karl Malden,
composer Hoagy Carmichael, and actress Anne Baxter.
Fox Lake, One of the Few Resorts in the
Country for African-Americans during the 1930s and 1940s
During the 1930s and 1940s, an era when African-Americans were
prohibited from buying property at popular lakeside resorts in
northern Indiana and elsewhere, a group of Hoosiers decided to
create their own summer community near Angola in the state’s
far-Northeastern corner. So began the fascinating story of tranquil
Fox Lake, one of the few resorts in the country then for
African-Americans. Fox Lake
is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Nelson’s studio guests, two
Indianapolis-area natives for whom Fox Lake became their summer home
throughout their childhood and teenage years, were Joanna Flowers,
an administrator for state government who now takes her
grandchildren to the family cottage that her parents built in 1948,
and Edwyna Ratcliff, whose family never owned property at Fox Lake,
but who began accompanying friends to the resort when the secluded
community didn’t even have electricity yet. As Fox Lake grew,
attracting African-American residents from Chicago, Detroit and
various cities in Ohio, the resort eventually included a clubhouse
that featured dances and performances by well-known musicians, a
restaurant, a pier, and tennis courts.
Lincoln in Indiana: Youth Speak Out
This is considered the “Year of Lincoln” across the
country because of his 200th birthday on February 12. To
highlight the character-shaping and life-impacting events that
happened during his often-overlooked years in the new Hoosier state
(Abe moved to the southern Indiana wilderness with his family in
1816, the same year we became a state), Nelson called on some young
people – and their well-known teacher -- who have been immersing
themselves in Lincoln and Indiana lore.
Nelson’s guests were Andrea Neal,
his former colleague (and fellow Hoosier history lover) at The
Indianapolis Star, where she was editor of the editorial pages.
These days, Andrea is a history teacher at St. Richard’s
Episcopal School in Indianapolis, which has been named one of
the state’s
“Lincoln Bicentennial Schools”by the federal bicentennial
commission for the 200th birthday. He spoke with Andrea and her two
students, who joined her in studio, about a candlelight vigil in
which they plan participate on the eve of the birthday. Mostly,
though Andrea and two eighth graders at St. Richard’s, Courtney
Burke and Caroline Tucker, explored on the air young
Abe’s eventful years as Hoosier (his family didn’t move to Illinois
until he was 21), which included everything from the death of his
beloved mother, adjustments to a stepparents and step-siblings, as
well as his beginnings as a young speechmaker and his masterful use
of humor.
Vintage Photos of African-American Daily Life
As Hoosier History Live! saluted Black
History Month we focused on a treasure trove. More than
700,000 historic photos, many never seen in public, were
in the private collection of the late New York eye surgeon, Dr.
Stanley Burns.
Nelson’s studio guest
Modupe Labode
an assistant professor of museum studies and history at IUPUI was
assigned to sift through these thousands of images to create the
exhibit
“Shadows and Substance: African-American Photographs from the Burns
Archive”
that opened January 19, 2009 at the
Indiana State Museum,and covers African-American life from the
1840s through the 1960s. The Burns Archive Website:
www.burnsarchive.com
Town History of Madison, Indiana
Hoosier History Live! focused on the heritage of the scenic town
on the Ohio River that was the Hoosier state’s leading city for much
of the first half of the 1800s. Our guide was studio guest
Wayne Sanford a Madison enthusiast who frequently gives lively
presentations about various aspects of the town, including its
famous Lanier Mansion as well as the impact of railroads on the
city, where the downtown area (a grand total of 133 blocks) has been
designated one of the largest national historic landmarks in the
entire country. Expect to see the spotlight shine a lot in upcoming
months on the town that’s a historic gem. Madison incorporated in
1809, meaning next year is its 200th anniversary; celebrations
galore are planned.
www.historicmadisoninc.com
Jewish History in Indiana
Trent Pendley president of the Indiana Jewish Historical
Society, a Porter County writer,
jeweler and historian talked about the various waves of Jewish
immigration to the state, including Indiana’s firsts Jewish
settlers, as well as areas in the state where Jews were forbidden to
buy property. According to Peopling Indiana: The Ethnic
Experience (Indiana Historical Society Press, 1996), about 80
percent of the state’s Jewish population today lives in the
Indianapolis metro area, the northwest Indiana metro area, South
Bend, Fort Wayne, and Evansville, in that order. But did you know
that smaller Wabash, Indiana, once had a thriving Jewish community?
According to The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (IU Press,
1994)Jews have comprised about 2 percent of the Hoosier capital’s
population for most of the city’s history. Trent, an IU grad, is the
author of an in-depth article, “Jewish History of Indiana Dunes
County, 1830-1950,” featured in the Indiana Jewish History
journal from the Indiana Jewish Historical Society.
Cemetery History in Indiana
Cemeteries have a rich history in
Indiana and have been in
the news recently with the move of tombstones and human remains from
a mid-1800s cemetery in the Castleton area of Indianapolis to
Crown Hill
Cemetery to allow for the widening of I-69 near its
interchange with I-465. Our studio guest, Jeannie Regan-Dinius
of the Indiana
Division of Natural Resourceshelped oversee the reburial.
Nelson spoke with Jeannie about the history of Crown Hill
(the country’s third largest cemetery) and its predecessor, Greenlawn Cemetery, which was located near White River and prone to
flooding. We also discussed magnificent Green Hill Cemetery near Bedford
that has unforgettable, personalized monuments created by
generations of stone cutters in the community.
Scottish Heritage in Indiana
Dr. Lee
Cloe a charter member – and secretary emeritus – of the Scottish Society of Indianapolis was our guide, as we will explore why
Scots immigrated to Indiana, where they settled, the jobs they
undertook, and their contributions to Hoosier culture.
Silent Movie Stars & Theaters in Indiana
Circle
Theatre on Monument Circle was considered one of the first
silent movie palaces west of New York when it opened in 1916. One of the top stars of the silent screen, Monte
Blue, grew up in an orphanage in Knightstown, Indiana and that Rudolph
Valentino’s leading lady in the movie that shot him to stardom was a
native of Vincennes.
David L.
Smith, a Ball State Professor Emeritus, former host of WISH-TV’s
popular “When Movies Were Movies” series, and author of the
definitive book Hoosiers in Hollywood
(2006, Indiana Historical Society Press) explored Hoosier
connections to silent movie stars and theaters. You can visit Dave's website at
www.whenmoviesweremovies.com
Corydon & Historic African-American Schools
A wooden, one-room schoolhouse called the
Corydon Colored
School opened in 1891 for the education of black children
and teenagers in southern Indiana. Today, the restored Leora
Brown School one of Indiana’s oldest buildings used to educate
African-Americans, is the setting for tours as well as discussions
about segregation, slavery and historic preservation.
The key figure who organized a
community-wide restoration of the historic school is Maxine Brown the great-niece of Leora Brown. Maxine,
whose ancestors settled in far-southern Indiana during the early
1800s, named the restored school after her great-aunt, who attended
the Corydon Colored School as a girl, obtained a college education,
and then returned to teach at the segregated school for 26 years
until it closed in 1950.
Bush Stadium History
When Bush Stadium was built on W. 16th Street in 1931 it was
considered one of the country’s best minor-league baseball parks.
As the long-time home of the Indianapolis Indians as well as
various teams in the old Negro leagues Bush became much loved
and served as the historic setting for the movie Eight Men Out
(1988) which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.
Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana has placed the
empty stadium on its list of 10 Most Endangered Places in the
state. Mark
Dollase, Landmark’s vice president of preservation services, said Bush barely escaped demolition by a potential developer last
year.
Elvis's Last Concert
Among the Hoosiers who attended Elvis Presley’s final
concert on June 26, 1977 – 31 years ago this month – were
two reviewers Zach Dunkin
who pioneered local rock n’ roll coverage with his
Rock
Pile column in the old Indianapolis News (he gave The
King’s concert at Market Square Arena a devastating review), and
Rita Rose who then was a concert reviewer for The
Indianapolis Star. After Elvis’ performance in a gold and white
jumpsuit at MSA he stopped touring and died two months later.
For months Zach (who now is a travel
writer for The Star) received hate mail for his blistering
review, although he helped organize the group that lobbied for the
display commemorating the final Elvis concert at the site of MSA,
which was imploded in 2001.
Rita who retired from The Star
last year, now has written a cover story for The Indiana Historical
Society's Publication Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History that
includes interviews with an assortment of the 18,000 people in the
audience that fateful night. Their reactions to The King may vary,
but, as Rita puts it in her retrospective, “one thing is abundantly
clear; Elvis will never leave the building. Even if the building . .
. is no longer standing.”
Read Rita Rose's cover story published by
The Indiana Historical Society's magazine Traces of Indiana and
Midwestern History in the Spring 2008 issue
Here
On
May 3rd, Nelson’s guest Speedway native Chuck Bennett, a teacher at
Speedway High School steered us through Speedway’s heritage. He
lives in a historic house that once was the home of the city’s
original platter. In a strange twist of fate, Mr. Bennett’s front
door even came from the Allison Mansion, the home of International
Motor Speedway co-founder James Allison.
Speedway’s was as a “horseless” town after
the first 500-Mile Race was launched in 1911. The first competitive
race at the track occurred two years earlier in 1909. That race
involved hot air balloons, not cars, with Speedway co-founder Carl
Fisher among the contestants.
Last year, Mr. Bennet taught history at
Speedway Junior High School and supervised his students as they set
up a Website about the town’s historical neighborhood. To see aerial
photos of the town taken decades ago as well as photos of historic
homes as they look today
click here
Mr. Bennett suggests the following Websites
for exploring the heritage of the town and racetrack:
Garfield
Park on the Southside generally is considered to be the oldest park
in the Indianapolis park system, but it initially had a different
name. Garfield Park traces its beginnings to 1873, when the city
purchased the land – then totaling 98 acres -- from civic leaders
who had created a harness racetrack on the site. The park initially
was known by the name used for the racetrack, but was it renamed in
tribute to President James A. Garfield after his assassination in
1881. The initial name of Garfield Park was Southern Park. In the
decades after its renaming, Garfield Park became popular for its
pagoda, which served as the focal point for dances, as well as for
its sunken gardens, which opened in 1916, and its conservatory.
Today, Garfield Park also includes the MacAllister Center for the
Performing Arts. 
In 1905, a major milk company,
Polk’s Best Jersey Milk, based
in Indianapolis built a very unusual-looking headquarters and
bottling plant on the near-Northside. The corners of the company’s
entrance were shaped like giant milk bottles and was located at E. 15th
Street and Lewis Street. Founded by Civil War veteran James Polk,
the company had a slogan – “Polk’s milk – always ahead” – that was
framed around a cow’s head. Although Polk’s became the state’s’
largest milk company, it began experiencing financial problems
during the 1950s because of competition from large food chains. The
bottling plant was torn down in the 1960s, but the milk company’s
old stables still stand. The stable building, where Polk kept its
delivery horses are now are part of a maintenance complex for
Indianapolis Public Schools. This made the building
an eye-catching landmark for more than 55 years, until it finally
met the wrecking ball in the 1960s. The company had been founded in
1893 by a Greenwood resident who was a Civil War veteran.
The Victorian-era home, known as the
Gahl, and Producer, Molly Head blow out their First
Year Birthday Cake Candles presented to them by the Meridian Street
Foundation
The Indiana State Museum is touting a new exhibition as the
first major one ever to explore the challenges that have confronted
artists who opt to remain in the Midwest. According to fine arts
curator Rachel Perry, the exhibit, titled
A few summers ago, Paul and his students excavated in the 900 block
of California Street, searching for artifacts related to homes built
in the 1870s for working-class, multi-ethnic families. Paul
emphasizes that, until about 1920, the near-Westside was much more
diverse than people realize, with many German, Irish and Greek
immigrants living in the neighborhood. Hundreds of these homes were
later demolished, particularly as IUPUI developed. Today, the
And then there’s the two-story outhouse, a photo of which is
featured in many Indianapolis history books, including Nelson’s
Indianapolis Then and Now (thanks to his collaborator, photo
historian Joan Hostetler). Serving multi-family households living in
poverty and ignored by many city leaders, the unusual privy was
located on property that’s now part of the IUPUI campus. The privy
stood in the 400 block of University Boulevard (it was called Agnes
Street until being renamed in the 1980s), today the site of IUPUI’s
new Campus Center.
will be named a Living Legend by the
Now
chairman of the board of
All
of these aspects of our heritage are explored in
Our
studio guests were two well-known leaders of the neighborhood,
both long involved in historic preservation: photographer
The
dramatic story of Hoosier pioneer William Conner, of
Nelson spoke with James about the challenges in interpreting history, how
to capture an audience’s interest in it, and his take on Conner, who
stayed here while his first wife (a Lenape, or Delaware, Indian) and
their six children were “re-settled” to the West. (Conner then
married a white woman, with whom he had 10 more children.) In
Interpreting William, the historian character is confronted
with challenges after visiting Conner Prairie, the interactive
outdoor history park, which has partnered with the IRT for James’
play. 
Amid
the hoopla about the 100th anniversary of the opening of the
Even though Indiana may not be the primary state associated with
bluegrass, its heritage here has been rich, deep, and includes a
hugely popular annual festival that every June turns tiny Bean
Blossom in scenic Brown County into heaven for devotees of the
music. Who better to share folklore about the links between
Hoosiers, bluegrass music, and its legendary “father,” Bill
Monroe, than WICR-FM’s own Cary Allen Fields, host of
Jill is an Omnimedia Wine Specialist who shares her wine wit and
wisdom in print, radio and television. She is an AWS Certified Wine
Judge and owner of Mass Ave Wine Shoppe in downtown Indianapolis.
Her guests were Tia Agnew and Brett Canady, owners
of New Day Meadery in Elwood, Indiana, who make hand crafted honey
wines, as well as Jim Bulter, author of
In
addition to researching Shepherd, John has spent years working on a
screenplay about Pelley (1890-1965), who sympathized with the
Nazis and served a stint in federal prison for sedition
during World War II. That prison stint interrupted his life in
Noblesville. After his release from prison, Pelley focused on his
enterprise as a psychic, conducted séances in his Noblesville
garage, and sent material about the occult to followers around the
country.
Are you assuming there’s no Hoosier connection to the
Academy Awards. To the contrary, there’s a deep Oscar heritage with
Hoosiers, which we explored with two well-known movie experts: Jeff Sparks, president and founder of the widely praised