Indiana

Lanesville became a town on December 11, 1817--exactly one year after Indiana became a state. The town grew as people built businesses with the abundant resources that were available. Meanwhile, Franklin Township was developing into one of the best farming communities in the southern part of the state. Farmers took great pride in their homesteads, and many families still farm the land that gave life to so many generations before them. They worshiped in their churches, they built the schools that educated their children, and they prospered.

Local author Jane Simon Ammeson leads a tasty tour of historic Region restaurants.

A wonderful diversity of flavors has defined Northwest Indiana as a dining destination from its early days to the present. Now almost a century old, Teibel's pan-fried fish carries on the tradition of "perch palaces'? like the now lost Phil Smidt's. Pierogis have been a staple at the Cavalier for decades. So great was the demand for frog legs at Vogel's that they used to raise their own. The same dish has remained on the menu at the Town Club since opening in 1947. Serving Northwest Indiana-style, crisped-edge hamburgers, Miner-Dunn and Schoops both survived the onslaught of fast food chains and continue on today.

The river was the lifeblood of the Potawatomi Indians who fished its waters and canoed home to camps along the shores. They were followed by pioneer hunters and trappers lured by plentiful wildlife. Early settlers harnessed the river's energy to run saw- and gristmills. Later the Tippecanoe attracted weekend and summer visitors from the city looking for some quiet fishing and peaceful reflection. Pulaski County was established in 1839. Dotted with quaint towns, family farms, and locally owned businesses and light industry, the county has been shaped by a heritage of hard work, simple pleasures, neighborliness, and a determined self-sufficiency that comes of relative isolation. It is a rich and increasingly rare bucolic prospect--nourished by a vigilant river.

The point at which Trail Creek collides with Lake Michigan has always been a source of pride for the city's residents. However, it was not until 1959 that an agency was created to protect and maintain the city's interests at the lakefront. Michigan City Marinas chronicles the agency's efforts to realize the potential of one of Lake Michigan's most magnificent ports. The people, events, and other government agencies that helped shape the future of the marinas are explored along with the Michigan City Port Authority's tenacious oversight of the resources and facilities that are still in use today.

Postcard photographers traveled the length and breadth of the nation snapping photographs of busy street scenes, documenting local landmarks, and assembling crowds of local children only too happy to pose for a picture. These images, printed as postcards and sold in general stores across the country, survive as telling reminders of an important era in America's history. This fascinating new history of Muncie, Indiana, showcases more than two hundred of the best vintage postcards available.

From being known as ""The Heathen Town Four Miles Away"" to becoming a booming factory town, discover Anderson, Indiana through the centuries.

The city of Anderson is named after Chief William Anderson, whose Indian name was Kikthawenund, meaning ""making a noise"" or ""causing to crack."" Early settlers referred to the area as Anderson Town, while the Moravian missionaries called it ""The Heathen Town Four Miles Away."" It later became Anderstown before the Indiana State Legislature shortened the name to Anderson in 1844. In the spring of 1887, natural gas was discovered in the city. Several industries came to the area, leading to a population explosion. Anderson soon became a ""factory town,"" with General Motors building plants throughout the city. The success of the automobile factories attracted entrepreneurs and made Anderson the economic center of Madison County. From the 1940s through the 1970s, downtown Anderson had its share of family-owned businesses as well as national chain stores like J.C. Penney, Sears & Roebuck, and Montgomery Ward. Today, it remains filled with a rich heritage and continues to grow in a new economic market.

Indianapolis Social Clubsprovides nearly 200 rare vintage photographic memories that capture the heart, soul, and history of the clubs.

More than banquet halls, golf courses, and swimming pools, social clubs were a haven for businessmen, politicians, and community leaders, offering respite from public scrutiny.

Defining Indianapolis, the clubs were stoic agents of power and segregation, providing clear historical snapshots of Hoosier pomp and circumstance. The clubs did more than produce Olympic swimmers, world-class golfers, and tennis professionals; they were Indianapolis's multigenerational playgrounds. There were the politics and business dealings at the Columbia Cluband the Indianapolis Athletic Club, the golfing, tennis, and formality of Woodstock, Meridian Hills, and other country clubs, and the family fun in the sun at Riviera, Devon, and Olympia. These organizations offered more than magical summers with family and friends; they were the places to be seen

Take a journey through the history of Pendleton, Indiana with local author David Humphrey.

Named after Thomas Pendleton, one of the town's early settlers, Pendleton, Indiana, was established in 1820. With a ford on Fall Creek, the falls provided waterpower for mills and influenced migration to areas north of Pendleton.

The emergence of natural gas in Madison County led to the establishment of several glass factories, a tile plant, and other manufacturing sites, including the Motsinger Device Manufacturing Company and Fall Creek Cannery. Early entrepreneurs of Pendleton included Thomas McCartney, who built the first mill at the falls; Palmer Patrick, a colorful merchant; and Homer Motsinger, owner of Motsinger Device Manufacturing Company.

After the mills along Fall Creek were removed, the area became known as Pendleton Park, a tourist attraction that brought visitors from surrounding states. Falls Park, as it is known today, remains one of the most picturesque sites in Madison County, Indiana and is a mainstay for the Pendleton community.

With the 200th anniversary of Pendleton on the horizon, the town continues to progress in a positive fashion, while keeping the historical aspect of the community alive.

The little town on the hill grew as many settlers found the flat, fertile prairie lands surrounding the town ideal for farming. The construction of the Michigan Road just a few years prior had opened up settlement in New Carlisle and the surrounding Olive Township. The railroad built in 1852 ensured success of the town as it bypassed other rival towns causing them to fade into obscurity. The images in this book give a glimpse into the small-town life of New Carlisle and the surrounding areas such as the communities of Hamilton and Hudson Lake that played such an important part of the community's rich heritage.

The river itself carried the first travelers upstream to the short portage to the Mississippi watershed and the West. In the early 1800s, the Wabash and Erie Canal was started to provide a more reliable and even passage. Many came to work on it and settled, hacking out farmsteads from the dense, swampy forest. A canal lock nearby made a natural stopping and shipping point. In 1856, the Wabash Railroad superceded the canal with rapid all-weather transport and commerce flourished. The old canal towpath became a road, intersecting in the middle of the community with the Lincoln Highway, bringing in the automobile era. The local commuter age was born in the early 1900s with the interurban railroad from Lima, Ohio, to Fort Wayne, Indiana, providing hourly, fast service for jobs and shopping. This small, tree-lined city still shows clear marks of the ages and stages of transportation history that have given it life and form. Now greenway trails trace the old Indian paths along the river.

Including images from St. Joseph, Marshall, and Elkhart Counties, Bremen and North Central Indiana is a testament to the spirit of America's early German settlers. Like most villages and towns in early 19th century America, Bremen consisted of the wares of everyday life: businesses, schools, religion, and families. Pictured here in over 200 vintage images are those earliest institutions, including the town's largest employer at the turn of the century, Wright's Wood Bending Factory, the area's first school building of 1835, views of unpaved downtown Bremen and its bustling inhabitants, and the origins of the annual "Fireman's Festival," which is still celebrated today.

The Panama Canal was underway and the nation was growing, opening opportunities for those who would dare to dream and turn their hard work into reality. For Thomas J. Armstrong, it was a new position as head keeper of the Michigan City Light Station. This new title offers a glimpse into Michigan City maritime history, from the storm of 1913 that left the lighthouse practically buried in ice, to the capsizing of the Eastland on its way to Michigan City, one of the worst marine disasters in the history of the Great Lakes. The light would guide mariners until its relocation to the Michigan City Lighthouse Museum in 1980, where it is on display today.Michigan City Lighthouse is a collection of over 200 vintage photographs and postcards dated from 1909 through 1920, taken by lighthouse keepers Fred Dykeman, Thomas Martin, and Thomas Armstrong.

Colonel Abel Pepper, who oversaw the removal of the Native Americans in the 1830s, was influential in the establishment of the new county. As a citizen of Rising Sun, he and his wife donated land and money to the building of the courthouse. The courthouse, built in 1844, is the oldest courthouse in continuous use in Indiana. This photographic documentation of Ohio County, Indiana, covers the years at the close of the 1800s to the present. Rising Sun, the county's seat, was home to J.W. Whitlock, a name familiar to many raceboat fans. Included are photographs of Whitlock and his famous Hoosier Boy, the Empire House Hotel, the 1937 flood, the electric chair made by Smith Riggs, and the steamboats Cincinnati and Louisville seen daily at the turn of the twentieth century. Also featured is the Laughery Club, located on an island in the Ohio River. Though small, Ohio County could throw a big party as demonstrated by the 1940 and 1950s regattas, and the 1964 sesquicentennial of the founding of Rising Sun.

Are you aware that the Southern Railway once used half of the railroad tunnels in the state? Indiana's first railroad, built in Shelbyville, was only a mile long, but in 1847, completion of a major steam railroad from Madison to Indianapolis made the state's capital a center of transportation. Unlike canals, railroads could be built just about anywhere. Southern Indiana's quickly growing network of rail lines was able to haul tons of goods at low cost, and enabled settlers to travel great distances in a single day. Railroad Depots of Southern Indiana takes the reader on a journey through the towns and cities that shape Indiana's railroad lore. Images depict regional rail history from the inner workings of now demolished depots to one of the oldest "short lines" in Indiana. Through more than 200 vintage photographs, author David E. Longest documents locomotives, rail equipment, the moving of stock, depots, rail stations, and freight houses, and finishes with a tour of the rail museums and excursions that still allow tourists and aficionados to "ride the rails."

This book is a chilling collection of the ghostly legends and lore of historic Madison, Indiana.

Beautifully preserved mid-nineteenth-century buildings grace the streets of Madison, Indiana, providing a concrete connection to the past. But a more ethereal, ghostly link flits about these streets when night descends. Restive spirits linger here, like the extra that may join you mid-slumber at Whitehall Bed-and-Breakfast, a residual from the Civil War hospital that was once nearby. Feel the ghostly chill of a mob bootlegger who stops by the Broadway Tavern around last call and learn of the myriad ghosts that flutter here in search of something. Dive into the shadows of Madison on this chilling journey with Virginia Jorgensen.

The pictures and correspondence in this work come from personal scrapbooks compiled by alumnae while they were students and years after they graduated. They reveal the growth of tradition and memories in the lives of Saint Mary's students over the decades. During the mid- 1930s many women left letters tucked between the stones of the Avenue's front gate each night for the gentleman across the road at Notre Dame. During their senior year in 2004, three best friends turned off the first-floor lights in Le Mans Hall and said goodnight to Sister Madeleva and Mother Angela on their way up to second floor library. These priceless memories capture moments in time that were enjoyed by only a few, but now can be treasured by all.

The strong European roots of these Dubois County towns are evident in soaring churches and the nearby Monastery of the Immaculate Conception. German traditions passed down by immigrants from the Black Forest and Bavaria have earned Jasper the title of the "Nation's Woodworking Capital," while Scotch and Irish heritage are also woven into the fabric of the region. These divergent influences have created architecturally and historically significant towns proud of their past and ready to embrace their future.

It was incorporated as a town in 1862. The county seat grew more rapidly when the railroads came to town before the Civil War. Then the town grew large enough to become a city in 1909, and a mayor was elected. The area around the city became a tourist destination in the 1920s after dams created the twin lakes--Shafer and Freeman--and Ideal Beach was conceived. It was renamed Indiana Beach in the 1950s and became the largest entertainment park in the state. In 1974, a devastating tornado roared through downtown Monticello, killing eight people and destroying a large part of the city. However, the people of Monticello banded together to reconstruct a stronger community. Today the city of Monticello is a thriving, progressive community growing in population and size. About a million tourists come to the area each summer to relax and have fun.

When a young man from the Netherlands by the name of Jacob Munster opened Munster's General Store, complete with a small U.S. Postal Station in the back, more residents populated the area, and the "Town of Munster" was founded in 1907. Munster, Indiana is a photographic tour of the places, people, and events that have shaped the Town of Munster from the 1850s onward. Nearly 250 historically significant images capture the town's growth from a simple farming community to the bustling town it is today.

The year was 1844, and scores of pioneers from the eastern and southern areas of the United States were migrating to the nearly impenetrable virgin forests of Indiana's newly established Tipton County, named for two-term Indiana senator and revered warrior Gen. John Tipton.

Displacing all but a fraction of the Miamis who once dominated the bountiful Indiana Territory, the white settlers cleared the land, built homes, and farmed the rich soil. Soon, the expanding railroads arrived, ushering in a cultural and economic boon with jobs, innovation, and an end to the settlers' isolated lifestyle. Despite the change, Tipton Countians remained loyal to their pioneer values, and future generations included war heroes, outstanding scholars, prominent athletes, and a president of the United States. Today, the spirit of the early pioneers endures throughout Tipton County, home to some 16,000 Americans who, like their ancestors, proudly hail their Hoosier heritage