Facts about Indiana....Are these REALLY true??

KAYJAY

April 17, 2009 by KAYJAY

0 votes

My boss sent me these fun facts about the state of Indiana today and some of them don’t feel right to me…is Crown Hill Cemetary seriously the largest in the U.S? Seems like cemetaries in Arlington would be larger… I dunno. Check them out!

Tomato juice was first served at a French Lick Indiana, hotel in 1925.

The first tomato juice factory was also in French Lick, IN.

The world’s largest orchid species collection is found at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

The first regulated speed limit (20 – 25 mph!) was initiated on Indiana roads in 1921.

The steepest railroad grade in the world is in Madison, Indiana.

An average of 400 funnel clouds are sighted each year in Indiana.

The city of Gary, Indiana, was built on soil brought from the bottom of Lake Michigan through suction pipes.

There are only two Adams fireplaces in the United States. One is in the White House and the other in the Diner Home in Indiana

Josie Orr, wife of former Indiana Governor Robert Orr, flew bombers and cargo planes during World War II.

The Indianapolis Methodist Hospital is the largest Hosp ital in the Midwest.

One of the first complete bathrooms in Indianapolis was in the home of Hoosier poet, James Whitcomb Riley.

The career of Dorothy Lamour (famous for the Bing Crosby-Bob Hope Road Movies) was launched in Indianapolis.

Aviatrix Amelia Earhart was once a Professor at Purdue University.

Crown Hill Cemetery ( Indianapolis ) is the largest cemetery in the U.S.

The library in Fort Wayne , Allen County , Indiana, houses one of the largest genealogy collections in America.

Wabash, Indiana, was the first electrified city in the U.S.

Pendleton, Indiana, was the site of the first hanging of a white man for killing Indians.

The Courthouse roof in Greensburg , Indiana has a tree growing from it.

The world’s first transistor radio was made in Indianapolis.

Clark Gable and wife Carole Lombard (born in Fort Wayne, IN ) honeymooned at Lake Barbee near Warsaw, Indiana .

The American Beauty Rose was developed at Richmond, Indiana .

Elkhart, Indiana , is the band instrument capitol of the World.

Frank Sinatra first sang with the Tommy Dorsey band at the Lyric Theater in Indianapolis.

Purdue Alumnus, Earl Butz, served as the Secretary of Agriculture.

U.S. 231 is the longest highway in Indiana (231 miles).

Johnny Appleseed is buried at Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The singing McGuire Sisters spent their childhood summers at the Church of God Campground in Anderson, Indiana.

The mai n station of the Underground Railroad was in Fountain County, Indiana.

There are 154 acres of sculpture gardens and trails at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

La Porte County is the only county in America having 2 functioning court houses. (I think we can add Vanderburgh and Elkhart Counties in with that also.)

Nancy Hanks Lincoln is buried in Posey County, Indiana.

Crawfordsville, Indiana ( Montgomery County ) is the only site in the world where crinoids are found. (What is a crinoid, you ask? A form of deep-water marine life that looks something like a starfish.)

Pendleton, Indiana, was the site of the ‘Fall Creek Massacre’. A museum housing 3500 artifacts of pioneer heritage now exists on that site.

St. Meinrad Archabbey is located in Spencer County and is one of only two Archabbeys in the U.S. and seven in the world. (Abbey Press is a n operation of the Archabbey.)

A Buzz Bomb (German – WWII), believed to be the only one on public display in the nation, can be found on the Putnam County Courthouse lawn in Greencastle.

Roberta Turpin Willett was born in Indiana.

James Dean was born and is buried in Indiana.

The world’s tallest woman (Sandy Allen) lived in Indiana.

Red Skelton was born in Vincennes, Indiana.

May West and Claude Akins were from Bedford, Indiana.

The inventor of the television, Philo T. Farnsworth, lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Forrest Tucker was from Pendleton, Indiana .

You can’t ship wine to Indiana. (So how does it get here?)

Bob Greise is from Evansville, Indiana and was quarterback at Purdue University in West Lafayet te, IN.

Toni Tenille (of The Captain and Tenille) is from Indiana.

Oprah Winfrey built her residence in N/W Indiana.

Florence Henderson is from Indiana.

The much sought-after Hoosier Cabinets are an Indiana product.

90% of the world’s popcorn is grown in Indiana.

The Jackson Five are from Gary, Indiana.

The birthplace of the automobile, the pneumatic rubber tire, the aluminum casting process, stainless steel and the first push-button car radio was in Kokomo, Indiana.

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8 comments

Nate
Nate, April 17, 2009
0 votes

the one about the hanging of a white man in Pendleton is correct, there is a plaque in a cornfield confirming that.

The tree growing out of a courthouse is real. Go to the town’s website and they have a picture. It’s pretty cool

Ben Neff
Ben Neff, April 17, 2009
0 votes

I checked a couple of them.

The Crown Hill Cemetery one is false according to Wikipedia, which says it’s the third largest U.S. cemetery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cro...

Crown Hill Cemetery, located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, is the third largest cemetery in the United States at 555 acres (2.2 km²). It contains 25 miles (40 km) of paved road, over 150 species of trees and plants, over 185,000 graves, and services roughly 1,500 burials per year. It sits on the highest geographic point in Indianapolis.

Crown Hill Cemetery was dedicated on 1 June 1864 both to provide for the large number of American Civil War soldiers from Indiana who had died in the war as well as to provide for the crowding problems in the small 25 acre (101,000 m²) cemetery for the growing city of Indianapolis. The first burial took place the next day on June 2, 1864 for a young mother named Lucy Ann Seaton, who died of consumption. Previously a private farm outside the city limits, Crown Hill Cemetery is a popular picnic location and today is well known for the stunning view of downtown Indianapolis from “The Crown.”

Wabash, Indiana was not only the first electrified U.S. city, but the first electrically lighted city in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabash

Wabash may refer to multiple places in the United States of America:

Wabash may also refer to:

Here’s a Greensburg Courthouse roof picture:



joe.shearer
joe.shearer, April 17, 2009
0 votes

I was also going to confirm the Greensburg tree story. My dad used to work there, so I spent some time there as a teenager and saw the tree in person. Rumor has it a bird ate a seed, then pooped it out on the roof, and whamo…

KAYJAY
KAYJAY, April 17, 2009
0 votes

Makes me wonder how many apple trees I’ve planted from pooping in the woods while camping…

really makes me wonder.

Nate
Nate, April 18, 2009
0 votes

don’t ever ask anyone around there how the tree gets water, trust me, they will get this smarmy looking grin on there face and tell you “from the spring in the clock” then laugh their asses off.

Apparently that’s the town joke.
anyway I also started wondering about my “gifts to the world” while camping. I bet over the years I have planted a frickin plethora of different fruit trees around the state.

To hell with my carbon footprint, I have already paid in full.

bigwheeler
bigwheeler, April 18, 2009
0 votes

Amelia Airhart not only taught at Perdue her last fateful voyage actualy began there.

Little known clark Gable fact. He spent a year in Indiana after his wife died in an unfortunate plane crash. It was to film at the Track with Barbara Stanwyck. The owner at the time gave him a Jaguar which he used around town. The jag is now in possession of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.

Mrs Hanks is also an ancestor of Tom Hanks the famous actor.

Cinema’s two best bad boys James Dean and Steve McQueen are both Hoosier products. I live less than two miles from McQueen’s birthplace in Beech Grove.

The exact location of "Johnny Appleseed’s grave is unknown. There is a festival dedicated to him in the states oldest park established as Johnny Apleseed park in 1840. There is a festival in his honour every year at the park.

I would also follow up your popcorn comment with two agricultural icons of the state.

The Red Gold company and Orville Redenbacher are both Indiana natives.

I raise your Sinatra with a Louis Armstrong fact. Louis Armstrong began every live set of his career with a jazz version of the song Back Home Again in Indiana.

Victory33
Victory33, April 20, 2009
0 votes

Tallest woman is legit…I saw that sasquatch on the East side a few times. She lived near Warren high school. We also had the America’s oldest woman for a little while out in Shelbyville.

The first ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise’ restaurant was in Indianapolis.

Elvis’s last concert was in Indianapolis.

Jim Jones of the Jonestown Massacre was from Indiana and went to Butler and IU.

jhwest
jhwest, September 14
0 votes

Well, I happen to think you referencing taking a crap in the woods is absolutely hilarious lol =]

come check me out at flickr.com/jhwest .. leave a comment “does the pope sh*t in the woods” so I know it’s you ;-)

Jason

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