Hoosier History Live

It may be easy to unfurl a flag, but there sure are a lot of twists in the story of how the current Indiana state flag became the official symbol. At one point, even the Stars and Stripes (a k a the American flag) was the official flag for the Hoosier state.

The backstory about the state flag and several untold, related stories are described in a new book, The Indiana Flag: Who Really Designed It?. The author, Morgan County resident David Reddick, will be Nelson's studio guest to dig into the history that he's unearthed about the blue and gold flag with the torch and 19 stars. (Refresher history tidbit: In 1816, Indiana became the 19th state to enter the country.)

Also during our show, David Reddick will share insights about the life and career of Paul Hadley (1880-1971), the watercolor artist from Mooresville credited with designing the state flag. According to folklore, Hadley won a contest sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1916. The actual story is more complicated, David Reddick says.

It may be easy to unfurl a flag, but there sure are a lot of twists in the story of how the current Indiana state flag became the official symbol. At one point, even the Stars and Stripes (a k a the American flag) was the official flag for the Hoosier state.

The backstory about the state flag and several untold, related stories are described in a new book, The Indiana Flag: Who Really Designed It?. The author, Morgan County resident David Reddick, will be Nelson's studio guest to dig into the history that he's unearthed about the blue and gold flag with the torch and 19 stars. (Refresher history tidbit: In 1816, Indiana became the 19th state to enter the country.)

Also during our show, David Reddick will share insights about the life and career of Paul Hadley (1880-1971), the watercolor artist from Mooresville credited with designing the state flag. According to folklore, Hadley won a contest sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1916. The actual story is more complicated, David Reddick says.

A rotating series on Hoosier History Live delves into the ethnic heritage of (and immigration to) Indiana. We have explored dozens of ethnic heritage groups, ranging from shows about Ukrainian immigration and Scottish heritage to the state's early Mexican heritage and the Arab heritage in Indianapolis. Many of the immigrants and refugees become U.S. citizens at naturalization ceremonies held at various venues.

This time, we will explore the topic from a different perspective: that of a federal judge who oversees many of the naturalization ceremonies. Judge James Sweeney of the U.S. District for Southern Indiana will be Nelson's studio guest to share insights about an aspect of his job that he considers among the most rewarding: officially making Indiana residents new American citizens.

What has been the homeland for the most immigrants at Judge Sweeney's naturalization ceremonies since he began his stint on the federal bench in 2018? He plans to share the answer during our show, as well as offer other observations about naturalization ceremonies that he's overseen. (The U.S. District for Southern Indiana includes a wide swath of central and southern Indiana, stretching from the Indianapolis metro area, Kokomo, Terre Haute and Richmond to Evansville, Bloomington and New Albany.) According to court officials, 1,333 residents of the district have been naturalized as U.S. citizens so far in 2023, with a total of 1,850 projected by the end of the year. The number declined during the Covid pandemic, when naturalization ceremonies were unable to be held for a few months. (In 2020, only 925 residents of the district were naturalized, compared to 2,286 in 2018.)

It's a creepy chapter of Indiana's history, but probably appropriate to explore during the season known for all things ghastly. Graverobbing in central Indiana had been an "open secret" for decades before several arrests in 1902 and subsequent trials drew national attention, according to Chris Flook, a public historian and senior lecturer at Ball State University's department of media.

Rings of graverobbers in Indianapolis and Hamilton County had been plundering small cemeteries in the Hoosier capital city and rural cemeteries. They sold corpses to various medical schools that were desperate for cadavers. (These medical schools predated the formation of – and were unaffiliated with – the I.U School of Medicine.) Chris Flook, who will be Nelson's studio guest, describes the grisly conspiracies in a new book, "Indianapolis Graverobbing: A Syndicate of Death".

Key figures in the graverobbing rings included Rufus Cantrell, an itinerant African American preacher known as the "King of the Ghouls", and his competitor, Hampton West, a white, former Confederate soldier who was based in Hamilton County. They were hired to ransack cemeteries by the medical schools, including the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons, that sought cadavers to use in training students. In his book, Chris Flook describes the impact of racism in the arrests and trials of the conspirators.

"Racism played a decisive role in how the participants were adjudicated", Chris notes. "The Black graverobbers received a disproportionate amount of blame and punishment for a criminal conspiracy created, managed and maintained by white doctors at some of the medical schools."

A controversy about religion divided churches, communities and even families in southern Indiana during the early 1800s. The conflict among Baptists even affected the church that young Abraham Lincoln attended with his family in what is now Spencer County.

Our guest Randy Mills, a retired distinguished professor at Oakland City University in southern Indiana, has researched and written about the fights, which involved missionaries sent to the then-Western frontier (which included Indiana) from the East as well as foreign and domestic missions. According to Randy Mills, a Midwest historian, some historians suspect the bickering that impacted Little Pigeon Baptist Church, which young Abe Lincoln attended, may have caused the future president to avoid formal religious affiliations later in life.

"At the heart of the bitter conflict was a frontier preacher named Daniel Parker whose violent preaching against mission efforts split churches, communities and families," Randy Mills says. In an article that he wrote for Indiana Magazine of History, Randy Mills noted the feud among congregations was triggered by the arrival in the frontier of a Baptist missionary, John Mason Peck, from New England.

Some of their creations are gone, with parking lots or modern structures currently on the sites. But some of the distinctive work of historic Indiana architects still stands in the town of Madison, the city of Evansville and historic neighborhoods in Indianapolis including Herron-Morton Place and Woodruff Place.

The Indiana Album and various partners are creating an online resource with biographical information about Indiana's architects and the buildings they designed, which ranged from houses and churches to theaters, hotels and a basketball arena.

Some of the structures designed by Indiana's first prominent architect, Francis Costigan (1810-1865), are now museums in Madison, the scenic town on the Ohio River where he was based for much of his career. Other Costigan-designed houses are still private residences. So are homes designed by Indianapolis-based architect Louis H. Gibson (1854-1907), who wrote two books about house planning and design, including Convenient Houses (1889), a guide for people of modest means to build their homes.

Snicker if you must, because that's an understandable reaction to an annual tradition in Northwest Indiana. At the Pierogi Drop every New Year's Eve in the city of Whiting, a 10-foot tall version of the dumpling associated with Polish cuisine is dropped into a boiling cooking pot at the stroke of midnight. And in the summer, the Pierogi Fest in Whiting sometimes draws more than 350,000 enthusiasts.

Also in Lake County, a historic former courthouse in Crown Point was known for decades as a "marriage mill". Hollywood celebrities like silent movie star Rudolph Valentino, sports icons such as Muhammad Ali and Joe DiMaggio and other notables trekked to Crown Point for speedy weddings. No waiting periods, residency requirements or blood tests were required then. Now known as the Old Lake County Courthouse, the former "marriage mill" structure, which was built in 1878, is a tourist destination that houses a museum and distinctive retailers, including antique shops as well as merchants who sell vinyl records and vintage clothes.

The clothes won't be needed at two rival clubs, one of which dates to the 1930s in the city of Roselawn. The Sun Aura Club (which has had several names during its colorful history) and the Ponderosa Sun Club are nudist colonies. A third such club also flourishes in Northwest Indiana: The Lake O' The Woods Nudist Colony can be found in Valparaiso.

Following up last week's show about the lavish French Lick Springs Hotel, Hoosier History Live will focus on the southern Indiana town's other claim to national fame. French Lick, of course, is the hometown of the basketball superstar often called "Larry Legend". He also became known as "The Hick from French Lick".

Larry Bird persevered through significant challenges in his youth (including an impoverished family and a tragedy) to become one of the greatest players in NBA history. Before that, he was a sensational player at Springs Valley High School, then reaped national fame at Indiana State University. After his playing career, he coached the Indiana Pacers, lifting the team to unprecedented success, then served in top management for the organization. His triumphs also include playing on America's Dream Team One in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics (the first time NBA players were permitted in the Olympic games), even though he was in excruciating pain.

Our guide as we explore Larry Bird's life and career will be veteran sports journalist Mark Montieth, currently a sports columnist for the Indianapolis Business Journal. As the former Pacers beat reporter for the Indianapolis Star, Mark covered all three seasons the team was coached by Bird, who took them to their debut in the NBA Finals in 2000. Mark has a trove of podcast interviews with (and stories about) Indiana sports notables at markmontieth.com He has been a previous Hoosier History Live guest, including on a show in 2017 about the early years of the Pacers in connection with one of his books, Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indiana.

There's a significant connection between a lavish resort hotel in southern Indiana and an Irish immigrant who became the mayor of Indianapolis as well as a powerful political boss in the early 1900s. There's also a connection to a major amphitheater that was dedicated at Riverside Park in the summer of 2021 in honor of the colorful former mayor, who was known as the "father of the Indianapolis park system".

The French Lick Springs Hotel wasn't always lavish. In the 1840s, a modest hotel was built on the property in Orange County that's long been touted for its mineral springs that are said to have healing qualities.

It took colorful Thomas Taggart (1856-1929), who bought the French Lick hotel after his three terms as Indianapolis mayor, to make it a showplace known for its spas, gambling, gardens, gourmet dining and distinguished guests. By then, Taggart, a Democrat, was a nationally known political boss. He eventually bought a summer home for his family on Cape Cod at Hyannis Port, where their next-door neighbors were the famous Kennedy family.

Who knows if the soil is rich at the site that's now White River State Park? Regardless, the history of the site near downtown Indianapolis that's now a 250-acre cultural campus certainly can be described as rich and mighty colorful.

Beginning as a fishing ground for Native Americans and encompassing a long era in which the area was industrial, bleak and unappealing, the White River State Park site today has an array of enticements to attract visitors, including an amphitheater for popular concerts. The park includes a portion of the Central Canal, where gondola rides are available, and there are promenade pedestrian walkways. (The portion of the Central Canal west of the West Street bridge is considered part of White River State Park.)

The White River State Park campus also includes Military Park, which was the setting for the first Indiana State Fair in 1852. Later, Military Park was a training ground for Civil War soldiers.

To share insights about the White River State Park site, then and now, Nelson will be joined in the studio by Jake Oakman, executive director of the park. Before his current post, Jake was a speechwriter for Gov. Eric Holcomb and communications director for Visit Indiana. Today, the White River State Park campus has become one of Indiana's most-visited attractions.