* The first rapid fire gun was patented by Richard Gatling from Indianapolis in 1862.

* The first automatic headlight dimmer was developed in Anderson in 1952.

* The winning time of the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911 was 6 hours, 41 minutes and 8 seconds by driver Ray Harroun.

* John Dillinger was from Mooresville, Indiana.

* Nineteen-eighteen was the year an outgoing, likable, six-foot-tall basketball player named Charles H. “Chuck” Taylor made the Indiana High School All-State Team. Chuck was a Columbus born athlete and later a sports broadcaster. He developed a high top sneaker known as “Chucks” that were created by Converse. They were the official shoe for the Rolling Stones revival tour.

* The first diesel powered tractor was produced in Columbus, Indiana in 1930.

* The debut of singer Frank Sinatra was in Indianapolis at the Lyric Theater February 2, 1940 appearing with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.

* McCormick’s Creek was Indiana’s first State Park.

* The original plans of Jeffersonville City were drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

* One of the nation’s first electric inter-urban lines was opened between the towns of Brazil and Harmony.

* Elkhart, Indiana is the band instrument capitol of the World.

* The library in Fort Wayne, Indiana houses one of the largest genealogy libraries in America.

* Notre Dame played its first football game in 1887. They would go on to win 11 national championships.

* Theme parks were invented in Indiana. The world’s first theme park opened on August 3, 1946, in Santa Claus, Indiana. Santa Claus Land opened a full nine years before Mr. Disney opened his park in California. Today, Santa Claus Land is called Holiday World, and includes The Raven – voted the #1 Wooden Coaster on the planet in 2000. Holiday World continues to be owned and operated by the same family that got it all started more than half a century ago.

* There’s only *one* Santa Claus Post Office in the world. And it’s in Indiana! Since May 21, 1856, the little post office in Santa Claus, Indiana, has faced a blizzard of holiday mail each December as folks send their mail to get the special Santa Claus, Indiana, postmark.

* Abraham Lincoln grew up in Indiana. From the time he was 7 until he reached 21, he and his family lived on a farm in what is now Lincoln City, Indiana, in Spencer County. There’s a national park, a state park, and even an outdoor drama in his honor.

* The remains of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, President Abraham Lincoln’s mother, rest in a peaceful pioneer cemetery in Lincoln City, Indiana. She died in 1818, when Abraham was nine years old.

* Tomato Juice was first served at a French Lick Hotel.

* A German Buzz Bomb from WWII, believed to be the only one on public display in the Nation, can be found on the Putnam County Courthouse lawn in Greencastle.

* The world’s first transistor radio was made in Indianapolis.

West Baden Springs Hotel and the French Lick Spa

French Lick, Indiana is the city. Try Google and you

can get a picture of the DOME. The West Baden Springs hotel was a great place for movie stars and gangsters until

the Great Depression. After the stock market crash, the

owner sold the hotel to the Jesuit priests who made it

a monastery for 20+ years. When times got tough

for the monks – they sold it – it was falling down and going

to ruins until the Indiana Renaissance Commission decided to save it…historical commission or something like that.

It has been reborn – now has a casino on a man-made lake between the French Lick Resort and Spa and the West Baden Springs Hotel. Ski Paoli is down the road. And to the person who responded there’s nothing to do in Indiana. Get away from the computer loser and go see. You might be amazed!

Championship Team. Indiana HOOSIERS.”

http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/indiana_room/trivia.html

Indiana Facts and Trivia

http://www.thehighschoolgraduate.com/editorial/MI/indiana.htm

http://www.qsl.net/kb9st/Indiana_Trivia.htm

Lots of facts on each site…too much to list!