By Elkhart County Historical Museum
South of the County Courthouse on Main Street is Goshen’s business district. This area was developed in the first decade of the 20th century as “the most modern block in Goshen.” The Jefferson block was anchored by Newell’s, originally built as a…

By Elkhart County Historical Museum
The Gutierrez Mexican bakery was home to the Louis Simon Clothiers beginning more than one hundred years ago. It was a staple of Goshen’s Jewish community that established itself in the mid-1800s with a small concentration of Jewish families,…

By Elkhart County Historical Museum
The County Home facility was built on this site in 1886 to provide housing for those who were unable to support themselves. The Indiana Constitution mandated that counties, when able, should build a facility “to provide one or more farms to be an…

By Historic Madison, Inc.
Much of what makes Madison a popular tourist destination is the impressive and abundant historic architecture. For this, Madison owes a significant debt of gratitude to the architect and builder, Francis Costigan. He oversaw construction of the…

By Historic Madison, Inc.
Madison was officially surveyed by Colonel John Paul in 1809. Surveying was intended to establish the town boundaries to mark out where white settlers could establish homes and churches. Some early settlers to Madson practiced the Catholic faith and…

By Historic Madison, Inc.
The Madison, Indianapolis & Lafayette Railroad (MI&L) was first conceived in 1836 when Indiana state legislators included it as part of the Internal Improvement Act. Indianapolis, the new state capitol, was in the early stages of becoming a…

By Historic Madison, Inc.
Could Jeremiah Sullivan ever imagine how important he and his family would become? Or that his house would jumpstart a nationally recognized preservation movement?” In 1816 twenty-three year old Jeremiah Sullivan joined a rising flood of…

By Historic Madison, Inc.
If a town’s Main Street is often the heart of the community, then Madison has one of the biggest hearts in the United States. Its Main Street stretches two miles and spans 90 feet. The core of Madison’s National Historic Landmark District, urban…

By Historic Madison, Inc.
The Shrewsbury-Windle House is an 1849 Greek Revival masterpiece designed by the renowned architect & master builder, Francis Costigan. Built of brick, stone and wood, it is an example of design, high quality craftsmanship, and preservation.…

By Historic Madison, Inc.
Almost untouched since the day it closed in 1972, the Ben Schroeder Saddletree factory is the nation's last intact 19th century shop where craftsman built the inner workings of saddles. Sawdust from the last run of saddletrees and the internal…

By Gail Karns
In October of 1847, Henry Ward Beecher, the popular Presbyterian minister, came to Madison to visit friends. Riding the very first train from Indianapolis to Madison, a huge crowd gathered at the station to celebrate this new rail line. Beecher…

By Jenny Kobiela-Mondor
Just a few years after the closure of the Auburn Automobile Company and its related companies, collectors were interested in acquiring Auburns, Cords, and Duesenbergs. In 1955, the ACD Club was formed, and by 1957, club members had started to visit…

By Eckhart Public Library
In the early 1970s, the people of Auburn, Indiana started voicing concerns about the automotive heritage of Auburn and the site of the building that housed the old Auburn Automobile Company that existed. A non-profit organization called Auburn…

By Jenny Kobiela-Mondor
One of the most important events of the classic car culture of Auburn is the annual classic car auction. Started in 1971 by Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival leaders Del Mar Johnson, John Martin Smith, and Jack Randinelli, and auctioneers Russell…

By Sarah Adams
Americans eagerly embraced the automobile in the 1920s as mass-production made them more available at lower costs. The number of registered cars increased from 8 million in 1920 to almost 18 million in 1925. Indiana specifically saw one car for…

By Jenny Kobiela-Mondor
Auburn manufacturers often had to change their focus to stay relevant in the competitive world of manufacturing. Few instances demonstrate this as well as the 50-year history of the Double-Fabric Tire Company and Auburn Rubber Company in Auburn. The…

By Thomas Irwin
If you think back on early American automobiles, what comes to mind? Ford? General Motors? Chrysler? If you are a car fanatic, you might know Auburn or Duesenberg. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, automobiles manufactured by the Auburn, Cord,…

By Eckhart Public Library
The foundation for Auburn’s buggy and automobile heritage was set by Charles Eckhart. A man with business sense, knowledge of carriage making, and a desire to see his adopted home become a better place, by the end of his day, he made many…

By Eckhart Public Library
W. H. Kiblinger founded the Kiblinger Company in 1887 to manufacture buggies. He was a Civil War veteran, farmer, and businessman who ran the company until his death in 1894. Upon his death, the company was purchased by W. H. McIntyre and S. C.…

By Diane Stepro
Before you, stands one of Clark County’s historic African American churches, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal. In the 19th Century, numerous African American churches were established to serve the spiritual needs of people fleeing the South in…

By Diane Stepro
You are standing near an old red brick building. This is what remains of Taylor High School, a remnant of the age of racial segregation in Clark County. According to the paper “Taylor High: A History Lost but Not Forgotten” in 1872, Jeffersonville,…

By Diane Stepro
You are standing before the site of one of the homes inhabited by George and Mollie Dinning and their children. One winter night, a mob forced Mollie Dinning and her children to abandon their farm in Simpson County, Kentucky, ill-clad and robbed of…

By Diane Stepro
At Charlestown Cemetery in Clark County the mutilated bodies of three lynched men are buried. On a Saturday in November of 1871, the family of Cyrus Park, a white farmer who lived near Henryville, Indiana, was murdered. Using the Parks' own axe, the…

By Diane Stepro
The Jeffersonville Township Public Library occupies the space that was once Jeffersonville’s train railroad switch yard. In 1854, Obediah Buckner visited the ticket office of the Jeffersonville Railroad, once located near here, expecting to purchase…

By Diane Stepro
You are standing next to the Lewis and Clark Handshake statue by sculptor Carol Grende. The sculpture and the annual Handshake Festival at Falls of the Ohio State Park celebrate the moment when Lewis and Clark began their famous expedition in the…

By David Pfeiffer
In the mid-twentieth century, Hougland Packing Company was one of the largest manufacturing companies in Franklin, Indiana. From 1922 to 1953, this plant canned a variety of produce morning, noon, and night making it an agricultural and…