Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)'s photos

A section specifically for the Civil War and the Spanish-American War indicating that 210,497 Hoosiers fought for the Union in the Civil War and 24,416 died.

E-scooter use in the area around the monument seemed to be a mix of illegal and legal but dangerous. There were people riding on the sidewalk and crosswalks, but people riding around the circle in the street were actually more dangerous. I drove around the circle for just a short distance and then quickly exited because of people worse that the guy in this picture – riding, correctly, on the street but sometimes 2 or 3 persons deep and so close to moving cars that I expected to see an accident.

As I noted in my picture introducing this visit to Indianapolis, when I lived in Indiana 30+ years ago, downtown Indianapolis was a dead zone other than during the week when office workers were downtown. I was surprised at how lively it was on the visit on a Saturday. There are restaurants and shops around the monument and on the streets leading into the circle, and the restaurants had outdoor areas (something you wouldn’t have seen in the ‘80’s) filled with customers. It definitely didn’t give a sense of “left behind” that is expected in a state that voted 56.5% for Trump – but then Marion County (Indianapolis) voted 58% for Clinton. Yet again, evidence of the need to focus on rural areas.

This sculpture on the west side of the monument is two sculptures above a large fountain/pool. “The Return Home” sculpture in the lower portion portrays the returning soldier being met by family. The sculpture above is called Peace and “..represents the homecoming of the victorious troops, the happy reunion of families, and the peaceful emblems of labor.” Most significant to me (zoom to the upper center of the picture): In the center, the figure of Liberty holds the flag with the Shield of Union, while at her feet a freed slave lifts up his broken chains.” Source: www.indianawarmemorials.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Pocket-Brochure.pdf

The monument is a memorial to the Hoosiers (people of Indiana) who fought in the wars from the Revolutionary War, through the Civil War (for the Union), to the Spanish-American War. There was an international competition in 1885 for the design of the monument and the design was awarded to a German designer from Berlin. The cornerstone was laid in 1889 and the monument was dedicated in 1902. In my previous views of the monument from 30+ years ago, I somehow had not appreciated how complex was the statuary around the base, or how huge it is. Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldiers%27_and_Sailors%27_Monument_(Indianapolis) www.in.gov/iwm/2335.htm

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the center of Indianapolis. I was in Indiana for graduate school at Indiana University (Bloomington) in the early 1980’s (later pictures) and thus was in Indianapolis fairly often since it was the nearest big city. In those days the downtown was fairly dreary because downtown shopping had died out (as it had everywhere) and thus the streets were empty except for people working in the nearby office buildings. Because of that, I basically ignored downtown in those days and thus didn’t really appreciate how spectacular was the monument in the very center of the city. Things have changed dramatically in the 30+ years since I was in the area, which helps highlight the size and complexity of the monument. More about the monument in later pictures, but this is the only picture I could get of the overall monument. It is possible to ride an elevator to the upper level, which gives a panoramic view of the flatness of central Indiana; the monument is only 15 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty. The figure at the top of the monument, referred to as “Victory,” is characterized as a “marriage of the classical Greek Victory image (a sense of action and triumph; adorned with flowing drapery) with the American image of Liberty with its torch symbolizing the light of civilization and its sword symbolizing justice.” Source: www.in.gov/iwm/2439.htm

Like a surprising number of other cities in Indiana, the old downtown area seemed to be holding on fairly well. The building to the left houses a coffee house, the colorful building on the right was erected in 1884 and now houses a Mexican restaurant. The fact that it is a Mexican restaurant marks a change, though I don’t know how rapid! When I lived in Indiana in the early 80’s, there were no Mexican restaurants in any of the areas that I explored, and it was a ‘cultural’ revolution when a Taco Bell opened in Bloomington in the early 80’s!

Built as a high school in 1892, “Old Stoney” is now administrative offices for the city of Frankfort.

Another view of the canal village area.

The process of getting funding to build the original Wabash & Erie canal were seemingly like just about every other major project in history, the outcome of a variety of political dynamics – these are well-described on the link below. In a much abbreviated form, the canal was built because New York had been successful with building the Erie canal. The aim was for the canal to link from Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio to the Ohio River at Evansville, Indiana. Once completed, it would be possible to ship items from New York City to Buffalo via the Erie Canal, then across Lake Erie to Toledo, then down the Wabash & Erie to Evansville, and then via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to St. Louis and New Orleans. The green map in the picture shows the planned Wabash & Erie. Construction of the canal began in 1832 and in 1843 there was a grand opening for the stretch from Toledo to Lafayette, Indiana, which is about 20 miles southwest of Delphi. Since Lafayette was the northernmost point on the Wabash River that was navigable by steam boats, that in itself was a success (the Wabash connects to the Ohio west of Evansville) The portion from Lafayette to Evansville was completed 10 years later, in 1853. Most of the canal ran along the Wabash river but not as part of it, except near Delphi. The map on the left side of this picture shows the canal in the Delphi area. The canal was important in bringing new commerce to the relatively new state of Indiana (granted statehood in 1816) but due to how it was constructed (mostly wood, where canals in other states used stone) and due to damage from floods and freezes, the canal was very expensive to maintain. Just thirty years after the opening of the section from Toledo to Lafayette, the efficiency of the expanding railroad networks made the canal no longer supportable, and it closed in 1874. Source: www.wabashanderiecanal.org/history-of-the-canal

Delphi is home of the longest, publicly accessible, water-filled remaining portion of the Wabash & Erie Canal. The canal portion seen here is derived from the original, though when the canal was revived to create the current park, even this portion was just a weed-clogged ditch. The water that is in the canal now comes from the quarries of a nearby limestone company. The structures around the park (other than the bridge) are replicas or original buildings moved to the park from other locations. The main goal of the park is to provide education about the historic canal, and it appears to accomplish that. More specifics about the canal in an adjacent picture. Source: www.wabashanderiecanal.org/history-of-canal-park

Across from the State Theatre, in a small pocket park, a 14 foot tall statue titled “The Dancers”. The statue is part of an effort to develop an arts district to revitalize downtown Logansport (see the Cass County link). The local paper, the Pharos-Tribune, has an interesting story on the local creation of the statue; a story that is itself a testament to the value of maintaining small town papers! Unfortunately, there was no material available on the street near the statue (or in front of the theater) to clue an observer into the efforts of the arts district. I didn’t discover until researching at home that there were more sites that would have provided some perspective on Logansport’s past. Logansport Pharos-Tribune: www.pharostribune.com/news/local_news/article_6108b21e-90b0-506f-ad6f-a2d1e7ee1564.html Cass County: www.visit-casscounty.com/pop-up-trail/the-dancers

There was a portion of downtown Logansport that looked to be at least somewhat commercially active around the historic State theatre. Per Cinematreasures and the preservation society’s links (below), the State opened in 1940 and continued to operate as a movie theater until 2012; the theater is now operated by the non-profit State Theatre Preservation Society as a live performance venue. From the preservation society’s webpage, one gets the impression of a dedicated set of individuals trying to maintain the theater and revive downtown Logansport, but having relatively limited resources. For example, one of the tasks they describe as needed is to remove all of the tile, fix the brick work behind it, and then clean and rehang the tile. cinematreasures.org/theaters/14220/photos/136387 www.statetheatrelive.com

After South Bend I headed south down the center of the state towards Bloomington. One of my interests is the history of the use of canals and rivers for transportation, so my plans were to see what I could find about the Wabash & Erie Canal. I would be visiting Delphi (later pictures) which has a park on the canal, but the canal had been important for Logansport and that was on my way to Delphi, so I stopped there. I could not find any remaining indicators of the canal in Logansport, but it did add to my thoughts about the visible effects of the economy in Indiana. The older center city part of Logansport did not seem to fit with what I saw in many other parts of the state, it did not show signs of being commercially successful and, as indicated by this picture, there were a number of buildings that looked abandoned.

I know, this looks like a classroom/administrative building. Well, it’s also a 77,000+ seat stadium. I’ve never seen such integration of classroom/administrative space with a stadium, but it is – you can see the curve of the stadium between the buildings on the right side of the picture. Per the link below, that stadium was built with 54,000 capacity in 1930, with multiple renovations later. In 2014 the university decided to expand the stadium capacity including adding premium stadium seats, and to add 750,000 square feet of classroom, research, and performance space by adding 8-story buildings on three sides of the stadium. Source: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_Stadium

I don’t recall a university with such large open spaces in the center of campus.

Inside the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame university.

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame university, consecrated in 1888.