This week in Indiana’s history …
1825 – The first session of the Indiana General Assembly convened in the new state capital of Indianapolis. The seat of government had moved from the original capital of Corydon. The Marion County Courthouse served as the home for the state legislature until the new Statehouse opened in 1834.
1864 – Alvah C. Roebuck was born in Lafayette. He became a watchmaker who lived in Hammond. He joined Richard Warren Sears to open the Sears and Roebuck Department Stores across the country.
1874 – Carl Fisher was born in Greensburg. He became an entrepreneur who built the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, inspired the Lincoln National Highway, and pioneered the development of Florida.
1910 – A statue of Lew Wallace was unveiled in Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol. Indiana Governor Thomas Marshall, Poet James Whitcomb Riley, and Lew Wallace, Jr., were among those who attended the ceremony.
1951 – Brenda Gail Webb was born in Kentucky. At the age of four, her family moved to Wabash, Ind. The younger sister of singing star Loretta Lynn, she began a career of her own and, as Crystal Gayle, has had at least 20 number-one records.
2017 – The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument on the Circle in Indianapolis was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of Interior. Dedicated in 1902, it is the largest of the more than 200 Civil War Memorials in the nation.