Indiana Trivia & Tidbits - Page 2

Looking for Indiana trivia? Try our list Indiana little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

—The first mass-produced RCA color television was manufactured in 1954 in RCA’s factory in Bloomington (pop. 69,291). The set had 1,012 parts, 36 vacuum tubes, 150 feet of wire and cost $1,000.

first appeared: 1/11/2009

—The state’s oldest commercial water-powered flour mill is Greenfield Mills in Howe, owned by the Henry Rinkel family since 1904.

first appeared: 12/29/2008

—A statue of a popular 1940s comic book hero, boxing champ Joe Palooka, stands near city hall in Oolitic (pop. 1,152). The statue was carved from Bedford (pop. 13,768) limestone to celebrate the centennial of the region’s limestone industry and was dedicated in 1948.

first appeared: 11/30/2008

—The nation’s largest indoor swimming pool venue is Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis’ Natatorium, with permanent seating for 4,700 spectators. U.S. Olympic Trial competitions have been held at the facility.

first appeared: 11/16/2008

—Founded in 1848 by antislavery advocates, the Eleutherian Institute became Eleutherian College in Lancaster, near Madison (pop. 12,004), and provided education for black students and women before the Civil War. An 1850s stone campus building is a National Historic Landmark.

first appeared: 11/2/2008

—Sameer Mishra, 13, of West Lafayette (pop. 28,778), won first place in the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling “guerdon,” which, appropriately, means “something that one has earned or gained.” Mishra earned $35,000, plus prizes.

first appeared: 10/19/2008

—In 1921, Elmer Cline of Taggart Baking Co. in Indianapolis needed a name for the company’s new 1.5-pound loaf of bread. Inspiration struck when he saw a balloon race and felt a sense of wonder at the sky filled with colorful balloons—and Wonder Bread was born.

first appeared: 10/5/2008

—Cathy and Eric Keesling, of New Castle (pop. 17,780), saved an abandoned kitten years ago by nursing her with an eyedropper. The cat, Winnie, returned the favor by saving the Keesling family in March 2007. Winnie meowed and nudged Cathy until she awoke, disoriented from carbon monoxide poisoning. Winnie was named 2007 “Cat of the Year” by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

first appeared: 9/21/2008

—Elwood Mead, born in 1858 in Patriot (pop. 202), headed the federal Bureau of Reclamation from 1924 to 1936 and was responsible for overseeing some of the nation’s largest reclamation projects, including construction of Hoover Dam.

first appeared: 9/7/2008

—Lunar footprints made by a moon boot led to the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette (pop. 28,778). Armstrong, who graduated from Purdue in 1955, became the first man to walk on the moon in 1969.

first appeared: 8/24/2008

—From 1927 to 1932, Ogden Dunes (pop. 1,313) boasted a steel and wood ski structure believed to be the nation’s tallest artificial ski jump at 240 feet high. The snow-covered jump was used for international competitions.

first appeared: 8/10/2008

—About 60 acres of old-growth beech-maple forest with trees up to 450 years old are preserved on the Hayes Arboretum grounds in Richmond (pop. 39,124).

first appeared: 7/27/2008

—Since the 1940s, Sagamore of the Wabash awards have been bestowed upon citizens for distinguished service to the governor or the state. Sagamore was used by the American Indian tribes of the northeastern United States to describe a lesser chief or a great man among the tribe to whom the true chief would look for wisdom and advice.

first appeared: 7/13/2008

—In 1816, delegates met in Corydon (pop. 2,715) to draft the state constitution and worked under an elm tree to escape the sweltering heat. The “Constitution Elm” died in 1925, but its trunk is preserved under a shelter.

first appeared: 6/29/2008

—Born in 1910, John Wooden played basketball at Martinsville (pop. 11,698) High School and led the team to the Indiana state title in 1927. Wooden, who went on to win 10 NCAA basketball championships as coach at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the 1960s and 1970s, was the first person to be inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.

first appeared: 6/15/2008

—Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell, 40, a native of Bloomington, has the rare distinction of being a classical music superstar. Along with his concert career, Bell has performed with Josh Groban, James Taylor and Sting. He was named an Indiana Living Legend in 2000.

first appeared: 6/1/2008

—In 1934, Dr. Joseph “Jasper” Stewart, a chiropractor in Shelbyville (pop. 17,951), was mentioned in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! as the “World’s Strongest Man.” He reportedly could lift two 250-pound anvils, one in each outstretched arm, and hold them for several minutes.

first appeared: 5/18/2008

—Carroll County (pop. 20,165) is named for Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Delphi (pop. 3,015) is the county seat.

first appeared: 5/4/2008

—Former basketball player Dick Barnett, born in 1936 in Gary, was inducted last year into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1957, Barnett helped Tennessee A&I State (now Tennessee State) University in Nashville win the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship.

first appeared: 3/9/2008

—Lafayette (pop. 56,397) native Brian Lamb, who helped launch C-SPAN in 1979, received a Presidential Medal of Freedom last year for elevating public debate and making government more accessible.C-SPAN delivers public affairs programming to most of the nation’s cable and satellite customers, Internet and radio listeners.

first appeared: 2/24/2008

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