- Some of these fun facts might surprise you!
Why share Indiana fun facts? Because today is November 16th which is National Indiana Day. Whether you’re from Indiana or just know the state, here are all the facts!
- Baseball was basically born in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The first professional baseball game happened in this city in May 4th, 1871. - Indiana’s capital, Indianapolis, is an art scene filled with theaters and galleries.
- Indianapolis hosted Elvis Presley’s last concert in the Market Square Arena in 1977. He died three months later.
- Indiana is known as The Hoosier State.
- Jim Nance, the football player, is from Indiana.
- Mustaches are illegal in Indiana, that is, if the mustached person has an addiction toward kissing people.
- Santa Claus, Indiana, receives over one half million letter and requests at Christmas time.
- Garfield, the cartoon cat, found his first home in Indiana. Jim Davis was from Marion, Indiana.
- Syvanus F. Bower of Fort Wayne, was the inventor of the world’s first real gasoline pump.
- People from Indiana are known as Hoosiers or Indianians. Do you know this as one of the Indiana fun facts?
- No other county anywhere in Indiana, or anywhere else in the world, has more covered bridges than Historic Parke County. The park holds 32 covered bridges in the county alone. This is why Indiana is known as the “Covered Bridge Capital of the World.”
- The first theme park ever built was in Santa Claus, Indiana, on August 3, 1946. This was almost a decade before Disney.
- Indiana was admitted into the union on Wednesday December 11th, 1816.
- The name “Indiana” stands for Land of the Indians. Today, Less than 8,000 Native Americans live in the state today.
- Renee Fleming, the opera singer, is from Indiana.
- Orville Redenbacher mainly comes from Indiana, along with a shocking 90% of
the world’s popcorn. Redenbacher was from the state, too, born in Brazil, Indiana. This could be the most delicious of all the Indiana fun facts. - Martinsville, Indiana was home of the first goldfish farm, originally built in 1899.
- The highest point in Indiana is at Hoosier Hill with an elevation of 1,257 feet.
- Lewis and Clark started their explorations in Fort Vincennes in Indiana.
- In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Indiana was nicknamed the “Mother of Vice Presidents,” because 10/13 elections between 1868 and 1916, there was at least one candidate on the ballot from Indiana.
- Raggedy Ann dolls came from Marcella Gruelle out of Indianapolis. She created the doll back in 1914.
- October 6, 1866 was the first train robbery ever in history. It happened in Jackson County Indiana. The Reno Brothers made off with $13,000.
- Wabash Indiana became the first city in the United States to use electric streetlights in 1880
- The Coca-Cola bottle design all started in Terre Haute, Indiana. This is one of the best of the Indiana fun facts.
- Indiana is divided by more than one time zone. Currently, most of the state is on eastern time, but six counties near Chicago and six near Evansville are still on central time.
- The community of Newport, know known as Fountain City, was considered the
“grand central station” if the infamous Underground Railroad. - Gary, Indiana, was home to Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five.
- In 1934, John Dillinger escaped from Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana by holding up the security guards with a pistol. The thing is, it wasn’t a real pistol, but rather a pistol carved out of a wooden block.
- Indiana is home to the “world’s largest Christmas tree,” an honor it’s held since 1962. This huge tree is called the Circle of Lights in Indianapolis and has a total of 52 strands of garland and a total of 4,784 lights.
What do you think of these Indiana fun facts? Do you want to see more articles like this?