1821     The first state prison was authorized by the Indiana Legislature.  The facility was established on Market Street in Jeffersonville.  Prisoners were committed to hard labor.  Within 20 years, the prison was too small, and another was built in Clarksville.  Pictured:  Indiana Historical Marker in Clarksville.

1882     The Indianapolis News reported that hundreds of people had gone to Union Depot to see the first installation of electric lights.  The brilliance of the scene amazed those who passed through the building.

1895     Indiana attorney Helen Gougar was admitted to the Tippecanoe County Bar.  On the same day, she argued before the Tippecanoe County Superior Court that the Indiana Constitution did not specifically prohibit women from voting.  The Court ruled against her, and she later appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court.

1927     George Taliaferro was born in Tennessee, but his family moved to Gary, Indiana, where he graduated from Gary Roosevelt High School.  He became a star football player and attended Indiana University where he played halfback, quarterback, defensive back, and kicker.  He led the Hoosiers to an undefeated Big Ten Conference championship.  He became a professional player and the first African American drafted by the National Football League.

1942     The Von Trapp Family Singers were on stage at the English Theater on the Circle in Indianapolis.  Baron Von Trapp introduced his wife Maria and seven of their ten children who were on the tour.  The family sang many old songs from their Austrian homeland.  The Indianapolis Star said the program was “pleasantly nostalgic of the days when large families gathered around the home organ on winter’s nights.”

1982     Renowned conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein arrived at Indiana University to begin a six-week residency at the School of Music.  “I’m very happy to be in Bloomington,” Bernstein said.  “Even the cold weather should stimulate the creative work . . . I have come here to do.”

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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.

(317) 233-5293
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     Which United States President gave a political speech at Tomlinson Hall in Indianapolis on January 8, 1915?

A.  Theodore Roosevelt

B.  Woodrow Wilson

C.  Warren Harding

Answer below

     “The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who, in their grueling travels across trackless lands in prehistoric times, looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space, at full speed, above all obstacles, on the infinite highway of the air.”

—Wilbur Wright (1867 – 1912)

     Born in Millville, Indiana, he and his brother Orville put the world into the air.

Answer:  B. Woodrow Wilson