Indiana Trivia & Tidbits - Page 8

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

The Quilters Hall of Fame in Marion (pop. 31,320) is in the former home of Marie Webster, author of the first book devoted solely to the history of quilts. The book was published in 1915.

first appeared: 6/27/2004

In the 1880s, Micajah Henley’s company manufactured 15,000 roller skates a week at his factory in Richmond (pop. 39,124).

first appeared: 6/20/2004

From 1886 to 1919, industrialist Andrew Carnegie built 1,679 public libraries across the United States. Indiana reaped the most with 164 libraries.

first appeared: 6/13/2004

Guests can relax at the Story Inn near Nashville (pop. 825), the state’s oldest bed and breakfast in an 1850s general store, where telephones, televisions, clocks and radios are banned.

first appeared: 6/6/2004

Ford Christopher Frick, born in 1894 in Wawaka, founded the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

first appeared: 5/30/2004

Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned the nickname “The Brickyard” because it was once paved with 3.2 million bricks. Only the start/finish line, known as the “yard of bricks,” is still exposed.

first appeared: 5/30/2004

Visitors can tune into 400 antique radios at the Indiana Historic Radio Museum in Ligonier (pop. 4,357).

first appeared: 5/23/2004

Racecar driver Tony Stewart began his career at age 7 behind the wheel of a go-kart in Columbus, Ind. (pop. 39,059). In 2002, he won NASCAR’s Winston Cup championship.

first appeared: 5/16/2004

Treasure hunter Mel Fisher, born in Hobart (pop. 25,363), searched 16 years before discovering the Atocha, a Spanish galleon lost in 1622 off the coast of Florida. The ship’s treasures, found in 1985, are valued at $400 million.

first appeared: 5/9/2004

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum was established in 1956 and gained National Historic Landmark status in 1987. About 75 vehicles are on display at all times, including the Marmon “Wasp,” which won the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911.

first appeared: 5/2/2004

Orville Redenbacher, born in 1907 near Center Point (pop. 292), puffed popcorn to gourmet status when he created Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popping Corn in 1971.

first appeared: 4/25/2004

Don Mattingly, six-time All-Star and nine-time Gold Glove winner for the New York Yankees between 1982 to 1995, was born April 20, 1961, in Evansville.

first appeared: 4/18/2004

Inspired by the beautiful sunrise over the Kentucky hills, John James Fredricksburg named his town Rising Sun (pop. 2,470) in 1816.

first appeared: 4/11/2004

Opened in 1818, the Madison-Jefferson County Library in Madison (pop. 12,004) was the first public library in the Northwest Territory. Twenty-five subscribers paid $5 yearly to borrow books.

first appeared: 4/4/2004

Indiana University’s greatest swimmer was Mark Spitz, who won seven gold medals in the 1972 Olympic games. No other Olympic athlete has won so many gold medals in a single year.

first appeared: 3/28/2004

Ball State University in Muncie is named after the Ball family, which once made Ball canning jars. (Another company makes them now.)

first appeared: 3/21/2004

The city of Gary was laid out in 1906 by U.S. Steel, and was named after the company’s board chairman, Elbert H. Gary.

first appeared: 3/14/2004

The Studebaker National Museum in South Bend celebrates 114 years of Studebaker history, from the company’s early covered wagons built in 1852 to the last car manufactured in 1966.

first appeared: 3/7/2004

The Raggedy Ann Stories were introduced to the world by cartoonist and illustrator John Gruelle of Indianapolis in 1918. The original doll belonged to Gruelle’s mother and was found in the attic by his daughter, Marcella, in 1914.

first appeared: 2/29/2004

Beanblossom, home to the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival, was named after a river that had been named after a person.

first appeared: 2/22/2004

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