Interesting facts about Indiana

indiana flag

Indiana is a U.S. state located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America.

It is bordered by Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north, Ohio to the east, Kentucky to the south and southeast, and Illinois to the west.

As of April 2018, the population of Indiana was estimated to be 6,699,629. It is the 17th most populous state in the United States.

Indiana is the 38th largest state in the United States in terms of total area with 94,321 square kilometers (36,418 square miles).

The state has a maximum dimension north to south of 400 kilometers (250 miles) and a maximum east to west dimension of 233 kilometers (145 miles).

Indianapolis is the capital and most populous city of Indiana. In 1821, Indianapolis was founded as a planned city for the new seat of Indiana’s state government. The city was platted by Alexander Ralston and Elias Pym Fordham on a 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) grid adjacent to the White River.

indianapolis

Indiana forms part of the east-central lowlands that slope downward from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River. Most of the state’s surface was modified by glacial action, leaving a vast quantity of excellent soil material and extensive deposits of sand, gravel, glacial till, and loess. The more-eroded southern part of the state gives way to the central plain, an extremely fertile agricultural belt with large farms, and then to the mostly flat glacial lake basin and moraine (rocky glacial debris) region of northern Indiana.

The average altitude of Indiana is about 230 meters (760 feet) above sea level.

The highest point in the state is Hoosier Hill in Wayne County at 383 meters (1,257 feet) above sea level.

hoosier hill

Indiana has 3 national park and 27 state parks.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is a unit of the National Park System. It was authorized by Congress in 1966. The national lakeshore runs for nearly 40 kilometers (25 miles) along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, in Chesterton, Indiana. The park contains approximately 6,100 hectares (15,000 acres).

indiana dunes national lakeshore

Eagle Creek Park is the largest park in Indianapolis, and one of the largest municipal parks in the United States. The park features 570 hectares (1400 acres) of water and 1580 hectares (3900 acres) of dry land. The activities available in the park include sailing, windsurfing, bird watching; hiking, swimming, fishing, biking and walking.

eagle creek park

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Lake Michigan is shared, from west to east, by the U.S. states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.

lake michigan

The Indianapolis Museum of Art lies to the north of the city center in a spacious park. It is the ninth oldest and eighth largest encyclopedic art museum in the United States. The permanent collection comprises over 54,000 works, including African, American, Asian, and European pieces.

indianapolis museum of art

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is the world’s largest children’s museum. It is located at 3000 North Meridian Street, Indianapolis. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It is 43,950 square meters (472,900 square feet) with five floors of exhibit halls and receives more than one million visitors annually. Its collection of over 120,000 artifacts and exhibit items is divided into three domains: the American Collection, the Cultural World Collection, and the Natural World Collection.

childrens museum of-indianapolis

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Notre Dame, Indiana is a Roman Catholic church on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, also serving as the mother church of the Congregation of Holy Cross in the United States. The neo-gothic church has 44 large stained glass windows and murals completed over a 17-year period by the Vatican painter Luigi Gregori. The basilica bell tower is 66 meters (218 feet) high, making it the tallest University chapel in America.

basilica of the- sacred heart in notre dame

The United States’ most celebrated car race, the legendary Indianapolis 500, is run on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 7 miles northwest of downtown Indianapolis. It is only used for this race and two others; the Brickyard 400 NASCAR Race and the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. The circuit, a 2.5 mi. oval, was originally designed as an automobile test track, but the first 500 mi. race in 1911 was so successful that it became a regular fixture.

indianapolis 500

The history of human activity in Indiana, a US state in the Midwest, began with migratory tribes of Native Americans who inhabited Indiana as early as 8000 BC.

Tribes succeeded one another in dominance for several thousand years and reached their peak of development during the period of Mississippian culture.

The first European known to have visited Indiana was French Explorer Rene’-Robert Cavalier sierur de La Salle, in 1679.

Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th U.S. state on December 11, 1816.

indiana flag map

The state’s name means “Land of the Indians”, or simply “Indian Land.”

“The Crossroads of America” is the official motto of the U.S. state of Indiana. The state has more miles of Interstate Highway per square mile than any other state. The Indiana state Motto, can be traced back to the early 1800s.

More than 100 species of trees are native to Indiana. Before the pioneers arrived more than 80% of Indiana was covered with forest. Now only 17% of the state is considered forested.

Bedford is known as the “Limestone Capital of the World” because of its large limestone quarries that are around the area.

limestone

A resident of Indiana is officially known as a Hoosier.

Baseball was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The very first professional game had played in Fort Wayne on May 4, 1871.

In August of 1987, more than 4,000 athletes from 38 nations met in Indianapolis for the Pan American Games after both Chile and Ecuador reneged as host due to financial reasons.

Indiana Jones, a fictional character created by George Lucas, was born in New Jersey, raised in New Mexico and Utah, worked in Illinois and Connecticut and traveled to Egypt, Nepal, India, China, Austria, Italy, Germany, Turkey, and Peru, but never set foot in Indiana!