Moment of Indiana History
podcasts Archive
January 29, 2007
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Crossroads of America
Although it’s certainly not the geographic center of the continental United States, the state of Indiana has nonetheless played the role of “The Crossroads of America”.
January 22, 2007
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Sam Bass
While John Dillinger might be considered Indiana’s most notorious gangster, and the Reno gang of Seymour credited with having invented the train robbery, a different Hoosier miscreant may have left the largest footprint on American folklore. Before astronaut Virgil “Gus” Grissom put Mitchell on the map, the small town’s best-known native son was undoubtedly Sam Bass.
January 15, 2007
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Martinsville and Diversity
The brutal murder of a young African-American woman during the civil rights era has long fueled one small Indiana town’s reputation as a hive of racist hatred.
January 8, 2007
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Women in the Indy 500
Women drivers had a slow on-ramp into the racing world of the Indy 500. Janet Guthrie blazed the trail in 1977, changing the traditional invitation, “Gentlemen, start your engines,” to something more inclusive.
December 25, 2006
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Ball Brothers Glass
Firms such as the Indiana Glass Company devoted its plant to the production of pressed and blown decorative glass. The Kokomo Opalescent Glass Company became a principal supplier of stained glass to the New York studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany and John LaFarge. The Root Glass Company designed and produced the original Coca-Cola bottles. The glass brand that, quite literally, became a household name was Ball.
December 18, 2006
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Robert Indiana
Artist Robert Indiana is most often associated with the New York pop-art movement of the 50’s and 60’s but was born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana.
December 11, 2006
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What’s a Hoosier?
Whether traveling or back home, people from Indiana are used to seemingly endless speculation about their nickname, Hoosier.
December 4, 2006
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Gentry Brothers Circus
Before recording artists and Oscar-winning films celebrated Bloomington, Indiana, the city already occupied an important position in entertainment history.
November 27, 2006
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Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus
Peru, Indiana served as home base for some of the greatest shows on earth in an era when the circus industry relied heavily on rail travel.
November 20, 2006
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Eleutherian College
One of the three major routes for slaves escaping north through Indiana passed through Jefferson County, on the Ohio River.
