1871 – Edward Eggleston published The Hoosier Schoolmaster, a novel about a teacher and his students in an early Indiana school. Eggleston, born in Vevay in Switzerland County, was a historian who wrote stories about pioneer life. His other books include The Hoosier Schoolboy, The End of the World, and Faith Doctor.
1888 – Vice President-Elect Levi Morton and his wife Anna arrived at Union Station in Indianapolis. They were taken by carriage to the home of President-Elect Benjamin Harrison where they had dinner and discussed the issues facing the new administration.
1921 – Stores and shops around the state were well-stocked with toys for Christmas. People’s Outfitting in Indianapolis advertised its line of the most popular toys for the holiday. They included a gyroscope top for 19 cents, a coaster wagon for $3.98, a doll carriage for $4.98, a pedal car for $5.98, and a Lionel electric train for $6.98.
1950 – A 19-year-old James Dean got his first paid acting job in a commercial for Pepsi-Cola. He had recently moved to California after graduation from high school in Fairmount, Ind.. He went on to a short but legendary career in Hollywood movies.
1958 – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to a crowd of 4,000 at Cadle Tabernacle in Indianapolis. The 29-year-old Baptist minister was welcomed to the city by Mayor Charles Boswell. King told the crowd, “If democracy is to live, segregation must die.”
1977 – A DC-3 crashed shortly after takeoff from the Evansville airport, killing all 29 aboard. The dead included Coach Bobby Watson and nearly the entire University of Evansville “Purple Aces” basketball team. Among others on board were university sports information director Gregory Knipping and sportscaster Marv Bates. The only player not onboard the flight, freshman David Furr, was killed in a car crash along with his younger brother Byron two weeks later, leaving the entire 1977 basketball team dead.
James Dean graduated from the Fairmount High School in Fairmount, Indiana in 1949.