1862     Near Frederick, Maryland, Sergeant John Bloss and Corporal Barton Mitchell of the 27th Indiana Civil War regiment found three cigars wrapped in paper.  Further investigation revealed that the document was Special Order 191, containing valuable battle plans from Confederate General Robert E. Lee.  The Indiana soldiers sent the paper through channels to Union General George B. McClellan who immediately saw its strategic value in the upcoming battles at South Mountain and Antietam.

1905     Cornett Wood was born in Indianapolis.  After graduating from Shortridge High School and attending the John Herron Art Institute, he went to California where he became an animator for Walt Disney.  He helped create such classics as  “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Pinocchio,” “Dumbo,” and “Fantasia.”  He later went to the Warner Brothers studio where he joined the animation staff for “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies.”

1927     WOWO in Fort Wayne became one of the pioneer stations for the new CBS radio network.  It was one of 16 high-powered broadcasters selected to unite a signal pattern which would cover most of the nation.  The station, which went on the air in 1925, was started by Chester W. Keen, owner of the Main Auto Supply Company.

1943     Governor Henry F. Schricker encouraged Hoosiers to participate in a statewide “Constitution Day.” He said that the document, signed in 1787, has endured “as the bulwark of national life” and that it was more precious at this time “because millions of Americans have taken up arms to defend it against destruction by Axis forces.”  A special broadcast of the event was carried over 17 radio stations in the state.  Over 75,000 copies of a special newspaper entitled “We the People” were distributed throughout the state.

1952     General Dwight D. Eisenhower, campaigning for President, began a whistle-stop campaign at Indiana Harbor in Lake County.  The tour, which included United States Senators William Jenner and Homer Capehart, traveled to Fort Wayne, Warsaw, Gary, La Porte, Plymouth, and South Bend.

2006     Dorothy Stratton died in Lafayette at the age of 107.  She had served as the first full-time Dean of Women at Purdue University and, during World War II, was the first female officer in the United States Coast Guard.  In 2010, the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton was christened by First Lady Michelle Obama, who called Stratton “one of the most extraordinary women to serve our nation in uniform.”

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Indiana Statehouse Tour Office

Indiana Department of Administration

Visitors are welcome at the Indiana Statehouse Monday through Saturday.  For more information, please contact the tour office.

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Indiana Quick Quiz

1.  Name the author whose home in Geneva, Indiana, is called “Limberlost.”

2.  What do Mike Pence, Thomas Marshall, and Thomas Hendricks have in common?

3.  Bobby Plump played for what high school basketball team?

Answers Below

HOOSIER  QUOTE  OF  THE  WEEK

” I left politics to Papa.”

– – – Maude Brown Schricker  (1886-1970)

Her husband, Henry Schricker, served two terms as Indiana Governor.  With regard to the quote, her daughter Margaret said, “Make no mistake about it.  Mother was a born politician.  She just moved so naturally and quietly that she didn’t know her own power.”

Did You Know?

     Eric Holcomb is the 51st Governor of Indiana.  However, there are only 49 men who have served as the state’s chief executive.  There are two governors who each served two non-consecutive terms and are therefore counted twice.  The first is Isaac Gray, who was lieutenant governor under James D. Williams, the state’s 17th governor.  When Williams died in office in November of 1880, Gray finished the two months of the term, thereby becoming governor number 18.  Albert Porter was elected governor in 1881.  After Porter’s term was complete, Isaac Gray was elected to his own four-year term and is counted again, this time as governor number 20.  A half-century later, Henry Schricker won the 1940 election to become governor number 36.  In those years, Indiana governors were limited to one term, so Schricker left office in 1945 when Ralph Gates won the election.  Four years later, Schricker returned, this time as the state 38th governor.

ANSWERS:  1.  Gene Stratton- Porter  2.  Each was an Indiana governor who went on to become Vice President of the United States 3.  Milan High School