This week in Indiana’s history …
1900 – Catharine Merrill died in Indianapolis. As a child, she had traveled by ox wagon with her father, State Treasurer Samuel Merrill, as he moved the state treasury from Corydon to Indianapolis. Trained as a nurse, she tended to soldiers at Camp Morton during the Civil War. She befriended and cared for naturalist John Muir when he was injured while living in Indianapolis. In later years, she was a professor at Northwestern Christian University, now known as Butler University.
1917 – The Indiana State Banner, designed by Paul Hadley of Mooresville, was officially adopted by the Indiana General Assembly. Hadley’s design won a competition sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The banner was designated as the State Flag in 1955.
1922 – Dedication ceremonies were held for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The interior walls and columns of the memorial were formed from Indiana limestone. In attendance at the dedication were delegates from Indiana, appointed by Governor Warren McCray. The group included former Governor Winfield T. Durbin, Colonel David Foster of Fort Wayne, Thomas Springer from Sullivan, John Higgins of Kentland, and Daniel Mustard from Anderson. Among those participating in the ceremony were President Warren G. Harding and Robert Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln.
1961 – Indiana artist Eugene Savage was commissioned to create a Statehouse mural for the House of Representatives. The “Spirit of Indiana” was completed in 1964 at a cost of $40,000.
1972 – Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, gave the commencement address at Butler University. He told the school’s 116th graduating class that “there is no absolute truth; it is what stands the test of experience that is truth.” At the time of his speech, it had been less than three years since Armstrong had taken “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
2005 – Danica Patrick became the first female driver to take the lead in the Indianapolis 500-mile race. The 23-year-old had qualified to start on the inside of the second row. She led the race three times for a total of 19 laps and finished fourth behind winner Dan Wheldon, Vitor Meira, and Bryan Herta. She was honored as Rookie of the Year. It was exactly 28 years before on May 29, 1977, that Janet Guthrie had become the first woman to drive in the Indy 500.