1892 – Janet Flanner was born in Indianapolis. She became a journalist and, in 1916, was the first movie critic for the Indianapolis Star. She moved to Europe and for nearly 50 years held the post of Paris correspondent for The New Yorker magazine.
1901 – Former President Benjamin Harrison died of pneumonia at his home on Delaware Street in Indianapolis. President William McKinley attended funeral services at the local Presbyterian Church. The 23rd President lay in state at the Indiana Statehouse before burial at Crown Hill Cemetery.
1913 – The Indiana Legislature adopted the official state song. The members selected “On the Banks of the Wabash Far Away.” Written in 1897 by Paul Dresser of Terre Haute, the tune was one of the most popular of its era.
1933 – Banks across Indiana began to reopen after having been closed for a week. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had declared a “bank holiday” that shut down the banking system in response to a month-long run by nervous depositors.
1959 – A small plane carrying the Kingston Trio was forced to land in a field near Goshen. Unhurt, the singers called a cab and rushed to the University of Notre Dame in time for their performance. The group had recently won a gold record for “Tom Dooley.”
2008 – Barack Obama, running for his first term, attended a campaign rally at Plainfield High School. He told the crowd, “This is your campaign. This is your chance to make your mark on history.”