Hoosier History Highlights: June 5 - June 11

This Week in Indiana History

1816 - The Indiana Constitutional Convention was held in Corydon. The 43-member assembly elected Jonathan Jennings as president and William Hendricks as secretary. Among its provisions, the document they produced forbade slavery and made public education a state responsibility. The convention concluded by the end of June and copies of the Constitution were sent to President James Madison and Congressional leaders. Jennings and Hendricks both went on to serve as governors of the new state.

1842 - Former President Martin Van Buren visited Indianapolis. He stayed at the Palmer House Hotel and paid a visit to Governor Samuel Bigger at the Statehouse. The next day he attended a church service led by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher at the Second Presbyterian Church. As Van Buren continued west on the National Road to Plainfield, his carriage hit an obstacle and overturned. The Ex-President was tossed into the mud. Legend has it that the accident was arranged by citizens unhappy with his failure to support funds for the improvement of the road. Not seriously injured, Van Buren continued west to Terre Haute where he was met with a reception at the Prairie House Hotel.

1909 - Indiana Governor Thomas Marshall issued a proclamation urging Hoosiers to observe Flag Day. In his announcement, the governor said, “The flag should ripple in every breeze and over every home on June 14. Its unfurling should not be an empty ceremony, but it should quicken the heartbeat, strengthen the patriotic resolution and give glad cheer and good courage to the loyal men and maidens of Indiana.” Many Hoosier cities had been celebrating Flag Day for several years. The holiday received national endorsement by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916.

1912 - Members of the Women’s Franchise League took an automobile tour of Hamilton County. Yellow streamers reading “Votes for Women” waved as the members distributed flyers and made speeches in Nora, Carmel, Westfield, and Noblesville, where children decorated the car in pink and white peonies, roses, and lilacs. The Indianapolis Star reported that the women returned home “tired, triumphant, dusty, and delighted.”

100 Years Ago

1922 - The Standard Oil Company of Indiana, with hundreds of gas stations throughout the state, advertised its high-grade Red Crown blend at 24.8 cents per gallon. The company, stating that it made 18 kinds of gasoline, said the Red Crown brand “starts easily, gets away quickly, accelerates smoothly, and develops tremendous power and speed.” In today’s dollars, the price would be a little over $4.00 per gallon.

1959 - Indiana Congressman Charles Halleck was on the cover of Time Magazine. The Jasper County Republican, minority leader of the United States House of Representatives, had recently won another victory for the Eisenhower Administration. The magazine said that Halleck had given his party “its most effective legislative leadership in years, and in the process spotlighted one of the most professional of personalities among the battle-scarred old pros in Congress.”

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HOOSIER QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Beyond the nine great walnut trees of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, a venturesome child would come upon Meridian Street, with its handsome residences, spacious lawns, ornate iron fences, brick sidewalks, and cedar-block paving. On Meridian Street there were expensive carriages, Victorias with well-groomed horses, polished brass, and shining harness. The ladies who rode in them carried parasols, wore high-necked flowing dresses, feathers and plumes, kid gloves, and smiles. The coachmen were aloof and proud.”

- - - Charlotte Cathcart (1877 - 1964)

Charlotte Cathcart lived nearly her whole life in the same block on North Pennsylvania Street in Indianapolis. She was an eyewitness to the people and places of the growing capital city. At age 85, she began writing down a history of her life and her neighborhood. The result was a book entitled Indianapolis from Our Old Corner, published by the Indiana Historical Society in 1965.

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Indiana quick quiz

Fill in the blanks with the correct words in this familiar song.

Back home again in Indiana,

And it seems that I can see

The gleaming ___________, still burning bright,

Through the ____________ for me.

The new-mown ________ sends all its fragrance

Through the fields I used to roam.

When I dream about the _______ on the _________,

How I long for my Indiana home.

Answer

candlelight, sycamores, hay, moonlight, Wabash

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ABE MARTIN SEZ:

"Think twice before you speak, or better still, jest keep on thinkin’"

Kin Hubbard, Abe Martin Hoss Sense and Nonsense, Bobbs Merrill Company, Indianapolis, 1926

This article originally appeared on Evening World: Hoosier History Highlights: June 5 - June 11