This week in Hoosier History Highlights, for the week of Nov. 5:
1848 – Virginia Claypool Meredith was born in Fayette County. She operated Oakland Farms near Cambridge City and gained fame as a writer, speaker and professor. She was the first woman to serve on the Board of Trustees at Purdue University. Known as the “Queen of American Agriculture,” she encouraged women to pursue education and careers related to farm life.
1888 – Benjamin Harrison was elected President of the United States, defeating incumbent Grover Cleveland. Harrison, an attorney and grandson of President William Henry Harrison, did most of his campaigning from his home on North Delaware Street in Indianapolis.
1913 – Benjamin F. Bosse, mayor-elect of Evansville, was in Indianapolis to meet with Governor Samuel Ralston. The Indianapolis Star reported that Bosse told the governor that “he can bank on it that there is going to be one town in Indiana where there will be law enforcement during the next four years.”
1918 – World War I ended with the signing of an armistice at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month. More than 130,000 men and women from Indiana served in the war, which had started for the United States in April of 1917.
1940 – Robert Lee Brokenburr became the first African American to be elected to the Indiana Senate. An attorney in Indianapolis, he served five terms, authoring legislation which prohibited discrimination in education, employment and accommodations. He also helped create the Indiana Civil Rights Commission.
1973 – One of the largest fires in the history of Indianapolis started with a blaze at the old W. T. Grant Store on East Washington Street. It spread to 14 other buildings and destroyed 84 businesses.