All Stories | Discover Indiana

Manufacturing was not the only type of business that took advantage of Richmond’s rail facilities. Wholesale houses sprang up in the vicinity of the Union Depot, and the largest ones even had their own rail spurs to offload material into their…

Hoosier Drill, American Seeding Company, & International Harvester

Hoosier Drill Company, 1858-1903 Hoosier Drill company began manufacturing agricultural equipment in Milton, Indiana in 1858. In the 1870s, the bustling city of Richmond enticed the company to move by offering rail facilities that were much better…

Union Depot & Pennsylvania Depot

Richmond, Indiana became a railroad hub in the Pennsylvania Railroad system with major arteries leading toward Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Chicago, Dayton, and Cincinnati. This meant that companies could use the railroads to easily ship goods produced…

Richmond Baking & Gaar, Scott Co

Gaar, Scott & Co. 1836-1911 Most of the mills in Wayne County were powered by streams, but some took advantage of the many springs available locally. Gaar, Scott & Co. was Richmond’s first major manufacturer with a national reach. It began…

The Starr Piano Company

By Sue King, Morrisson-Reeves Library & Ariana Cieslak

By the 1870s, more business flowed toward Richmond, Indiana. In 1872, George Trayser, a renowned piano maker from Germany who had previously maintained factories in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, and had been awarded several U.S. patents for his…

Whitewater Gorge and the National Road

White colonizers traveled to what would become Wayne County, Indiana after being enticed by the US government with promises of land to settle and abundant natural resources. They encountered fertile farmland, easily available building material -…

Richmond Corn Mill & Hoosier High Point

Located near the northern edge of Wayne County, enthusiasts who call themselves Highpointers (highpointers.org) can drive directly to the highest point in Indiana, 1,257 feet above sea level and only steps away from a county road. From there,…

George Brehm's Childhood Drawings

By As told by David Heighway

Vincennes City Cemetery

The Vincennes City Cemetery is made up of three sections of land named “Greenlawn,” “Fairview,” and “Memorial Park.” Greenlawn, dating all the way back to 1788, is recognized as being the oldest public cemetery in the state of Indiana. It was once…

Vincennes Union Depot

You are now looking at what remains of a once grand structure that was one of the main hubs of activity in the city. In the early 1850s, with the persistence of people like Abner T. Ellis, the railroads arrived in Vincennes to the absolute delight…

Terrace Gardens

“Terrace Gardens” was once one of the hottest and most popular entertainment venues in Vincennes. It was the dream of a man named Earl Conrad. Opened in 1930, its design was inspired by George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Terrace Gardens was situated…

Gimbel Corner

You are now standing on the corner where one of the world’s largest department store empires began. Adam Gimbel was a Jewish man who came to the US from Bavaria (in what is now Germany) and arrived in New Orleans around 1830. At the age of…

Old Cathedral’s Bruté Library

Who is Bishop Simon Bruté? He was a brilliant man whose remains are interred in a crypt beneath the altar in the Old Cathedral behind you. Bruté was born and raised in Rennes, France in 1779. He studied in France and became a medical doctor during…

Abner T. Ellis House

The Greek Revival House was constructed for Abner T. Ellis in or around 1838. He lived in the home until his death in 1864. Over the years Ellis wore many hats. He had been a probate judge, a borough president, state senator, and an early proponent…

Bonner-Allen House

The “Bonner-Allen House,” located at 505 Main Street, was built around 1842 in the Federal or Greek Revival architectural style. Most of Vincennes’ citizens to this day refer to this architectural gem as “Gardner’s Funeral Home.” David S. Bonner is…

McGrady-Brockman House

In 1859 Major Charles P. McGrady, former president of the Vincennes Gas Light Company and railroad contractor, had the home built in Gothic Revival architectural style. In the mid 1860s the home was sold to Joseph Pollock, who then had it remodeled…

Pearl City

The name “Pearl City” originated sometime between 1900 and the early 1930s, when the mussel fishing industry here sparked a “pearl rush.” This stretch of the Wabash River was once filled with people, mostly squatters, who lived in tents, shanties,…

Streetcars

This unassuming corner is the former site of the Vincennes Streetcar Barns. For over fifty-five years this area was hustling and bustling with activity and played an important role in the evolution of transportation within the community. Streetcars…

Hagedorn's

There was a time when Evansville’s west side was known as Independence and every corner on Franklin Street was home to a saloon. Originally part of the town of Lamasco platted in 1837, the neighborhood west of Pigeon Creek grew up independently…

The Hornet's Nest

The Hornet’s Nest is located in Scott Township in an old community once called Earle, named after John Earle, an Englishman who had come to the area around 1828. Brant and Fuller’s 1889 History of Vanderburgh County said that the Earle community was…

Darmstadt Inn

The Darmstadt Inn has been a staple in Scott Township in northern Vanderburgh County since the early 20th century. Darmstadt Community The community around the inn, Darmstadt, was founded in 1822, shortly after the founding of Scott Township in…

Nisbet Inn

By Vanderbugh County Historical Society

Transportation and trade routes often had a major impact on these small communities. They connected them to the wider world. When routes shifted, small communities just as easily were isolated. When the Evansville, Mt. Carmel, & Northern Railway…

St Joe Inn

St. Joseph Community 1820s -1840s In the early 1820s, that area that became home to t he St. Joe Inn was known as the Henson Settlement after early white settler-colonizers David and Jesse Henson.The Inn dates back to 1836 and is located in the…

Hilltop Inn