Moment of Indiana History
Even as train travel faded in popularity, rail lines known for their dining, including the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, continued to offer full menus.
A forlorn rag doll found in an Indianapolis attic was rechristened with the names of two of James Whitcomb Riley's characters to become Raggedy Ann.
In the early 20th century, Muncie-born cartoonist Chic Jackson represented everyday Hoosiers—and the way they spoke--in the popular press.
The ranks of Indiana writers boast such venerable names as Kurt Vonnegut, Jessamyn West, James Whitcomb Riley and Theodore Dreiser. But one of the state’s best-selling authors to date bears little kinship with the traditions of satire, historical fiction, sentimental verse and gritty realism represented by those literary forbears.
Although he met his end in front of a Chicago movie house on July 22, 1934, the nation’s first Public Enemy Number One eventually found his way back home again to Indiana. Alongside Eli Lilly, James Whitcomb Riley, and President Benjamin Harrison, legendary gangster John Dillinger is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis .
On the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Oldfields – Lilly House and Gardens, is decorated in the style of Christmas in the 1930s, when the mansion was the new home of Indianapolis businessman and philanthropist Josiah Lilly.
As the days grow brisker and the leaves take on brilliant hues, many Americans of a certain generation are wont to characterize the season with an expression born in Indiana. “When the frost is on the punkin” is the opening phrase of a classic poem by James Whitcomb Riley.
A portrait of the Indiana Historical Commission in 1915 shows eight members, some bearded and most white-haired, in similarly cut three-piece suits. But it is the ninth commissioner that especially piques our curiosity. Barely peeking above the others’ shoulders is a woman of a certain age, in a broad-rimmed black hat. Having just begun serving on the commission when that portrait was made, Charity Dye used the appointment to play a major role in the state’s Centennial Celebration.
As the days grow brisker and the leaves take on brilliant hues, many Americans of a certain generation are wont to characterize the season with an expression born in Indiana. “When the frost is on the punkin” is the opening phrase of a classic poem by James Whitcomb Riley.
President Theodore Roosevelt called it “the most American thing in America.” With its passing, it’s been said, “the American middle class in the interior lost something valuable.” The Chautauqua movement brought religion, politics, culture and entertainment to small towns and rural outposts across the United States from the 1870s through the 1920s.
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