This week in Indiana’s history …
1867 – The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home opened in Knightstown. The institution became home to not only disabled military veterans, but also their widows and children. The facility is now the base for the Indiana National Guard Hoosier Youth Challenge Academy.
1883 – Calla Harrison became the first woman to graduate from Hanover College. Women had attended classes at Hanover as early as 1869, but she was the first to graduate with a diploma. She went on to serve as a missionary in Japan and later worked with Japanese immigrants in Hawaii.
1906 – The new Army post in Indianapolis was officially named for President Benjamin Harrison, who had died five years earlier. The designation came at the suggestion of Harrison’s son, Russell, and the approval of President Theodore Roosevelt, who had worked in the Harrison administration. The official announcement came from Secretary of War William Howard Taft.
1930 – The official dedication ceremony was held for the Evansville Municipal Airport. The facility was built on 260 acres along Highway 41. Concrete runways were 100 feet wide and 1,200 feet long. Over 3,000 people came to the opening ceremonies to view air races, parachute drops, and other demonstrations.
1947 – The Wilking Music Store in Indianapolis advertised the Emerson Model 537 console radio-phonograph. It was one of the first on the market to have both AM and FM bands. FM was brand new technology which offered static-free high-fidelity sound. The Model 537 had 11 tubes and could play both 10-inch and 12-inch records. The sale price was $299.95, which is over $3,000 in today’s dollars.
1964 – A private plane carrying Indiana Senator Birch Bayh and his wife Marvella crashed into an apple orchard in Southampton, Mass. Bayh pulled fellow Senator Edward Kennedy from the wreckage. Bayh and his wife were not seriously injured. Kennedy suffered a broken back. Pilot Edwin Zinny and Kennedy aide Edward Moss were both killed.