This week in Indiana’s history …
1827 – Presbyterian minister John Finley Crowe established Hanover College in southern Indiana south of Madison on a bluff overlooking a bend in the Ohio River. The school started in a 16 by 18 log cabin with six students enrolled for the first session. Hanover is the oldest private college in Indiana.
1869 – Mark Twain, still early in his lecture career, made two appearances in Indiana within a week. He was on stage at Hamilton’s Hall in Fort Wayne and two days later was on the bill at the Metropolitan Theater in Indianapolis. He received distinctly different reviews in the two cities.
1890 – President Benjamin Harrison welcomed Alice Sanger as the first female ever to work on the White House staff. She had earlier worked as a stenographer at Harrison’s law firm in Indianapolis. She handled much of the correspondence for both the President and the First Lady, Caroline Harrison. She had one of the first typewriters ever used at the White House. Historians consider her appointment an early step in the employment of women in government.
1916 – The Indianapolis Star reported plans for a new theater in the city. Designed by the firm of Rubush and Hunter, it would have the largest stage in town and the finest pipe organ in the Midwest. Today the Circle Theater is home to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
1929 – Cole Porter’s “Wake Up and Dream” opened on Broadway. It was an early success for the composer from Peru, Ind. In a career that lasted 50 years, he became a musical legend, creating a series of hit shows on the Great White Way, many of which found their way to the movie screen. His songs form the basis of the American Songbook, including “Night and Day,” “Begin the Beguine,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” and “I Get a Kick Out of You.”
1986 – Poet Arthur Mapes died in his hometown of Kendallville. Among his works is “Indiana,” adopted in 1963 as the official state poem. In 1977, he received standing ovations at the Indiana Statehouse when he read his poem in both chambers of the Legislature.