In August 1860, at a site beside the Charlestown Road on the northeast side of New Albany, African Americans gathered to celebrate the emancipation of slaves in the West Indies a quarter-century before. Speaking before the group, a Reverend Kelly…

Believed to be the oldest African American church in New Albany, Bethel African American Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church has been a pillar of black life and culture in southern Indiana for more than 150 years. Founded in 1848, the church became…

During the nineteenth-century, residents of New Albany made strong commitments to religious education. Two women’s seminaries, DePauw College for Young Ladies and Anderson Female Seminary, illustrate the importance that citizens ascribed to the…

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St. Mary of the Knobs Catholic Church exemplifies the enduring strength of Roman Catholicism in southern Indiana. In the 1820s, Catholic priests began visiting several families in Lafayette Township, six miles north of New Albany, to celebrate…

Born in New Albany on July 20, 1892, Joseph Elmer Ritter is the best known of the religious leaders with roots in New Albany. Ritter served as Archbishop of St. Louis from 1946-1962 and as a Cardinal from 1962-1965. During that time, he advocated…

Loop Island Wetlands is a walking and nature park southeast of downtown New Albany. Located on the Ohio River west of Silver Creek, the site supported industrialization during the late nineteenth century. In 1878, George Moser, a German immigrant,…

Rather than run a local orphanage, Catholic churches in much of Southern Indiana sent children to large orphanages elsewhere. In America, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish organizations vied to prevent people from leaving their flocks and to recruit…

Early settlers to southern Indiana encountered American Bison in large numbers. The most prominent overland path through the area was the Buffalo Trace, a cluster of trails running from the prairies of Illinois to salt licks in northern and central…

The Ohio River has supported human life since people first settled along its banks thousands of years ago. Groups that survived on agriculture used the river to irrigate their crops. The river supplied water for drinking, washing, and a host of…

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…

The Robert E. Lee is among the best-known steamboats built in New Albany. Completed in 1866 for Captain John W. Cannon, the Robert E. Lee cost $230,000 and was designed to be the fastest and most luxurious steamboat on the western rivers. Its…

The current West Baden Springs Hotel was constructed from 1901-1902, but the site was used for hotels prior to this incarnation. The earliest hotel in West Baden Springs was constructed on this site in 1845. With the arrival of the Louisville, New…

The Camp Atterbury Veterans Memorial was dedicated in August 1992 to mark the 50th anniversary of Camp Atterbury, a military camp built to train soldiers. It serves to honor the loyalty and bravery of the men and women who were trained, deployed, or…