2025 PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY ADVENTURE - WELCOME TO INDIANA BASKETBALL

 

I enjoyed another good stay at the Drury Inn & Suites in Indianapolis, Indiana. I am kind of on the Northside of Indianapolis and last night I looked at things to do this morning in the Indianapolis Area. 

I dropped several pins on my my Google of sites that I could visit before continuing my journey east.  This morning while I was having breakfast, I looked at the Traffic and quickly decided to pretty much stay away from the downtown area. 

I am only about 10-miles away from Crown Hill Cemetery and even though I have visited this cemetery before, there are a number of graves there that I still haven’t visited. So, after another good Drury Inn Breakfast, I headed off to Indianapolis’s largest and most historic cemetery.

Crown Hill is a privately owned cemetery that was established in 1863. Today it encompasses 555 acres and is the final resting place of more than 225,000 people. It is the third largest nongovernmental cemetery in the United States.

Crown Hill is the final resting place for individuals from all walks of life, from political and civic leaders to ordinary citizens, and a famous gangster. President Benjamin Harrison along with Vice Presidents Charles Fairbanks, Thomas Hendricks and Thomas Marshall are resting here.

But perhaps the cemetery’s most visited grave is that of the depression era gangster known at Public Enemy #1, John Dillinger.  

In a previous visit to Crown Hill, I stopped at the grave of President Benjamin Harrison, who served at the 23^rd President of the United States from March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1893. President Harrison is resting here with his two wives, Caroline and Mary.  He is also the Grandson of William Henry Harrison who served as the 9^th President, who served for only 30 day before becoming the first president to die in office.

There are three Vice President’s buried in Crown Hill Cemetery.  The first grave that I visited upon arriving at Crown Hill is that of Charles Warren Fairbanks who served as the 26th vice president of the United States from 1905 to 1909 under President Theodore Roosevelt serving from 1905 to 1909. Fairbanks was serving in the United States Senate.

Resting near the Grave of Charles Fairbanks, is the grave of Vice President Thomas Hendricks, who served as the 21^st Vice President under President Grover Cleveland.  Vice President Hendricks has one of the shortest terms as vice president, serving only from March 1886 until his death on November 25, 1885.

On November 24, 1885, Vice President Hendricks complained of feeling ill and went to bed early that evening. He passed away in his sleep in the early hours of November 25 at the are of 66.

Thomas Hendricks also served as the 16^th Governor of Indiana from January 13, 1873 – January 8, 1877

The third Vice President buried in Crown Hill is Thomas Marshall, who served as the 28^th Vice President from 1913 to 1921 under Woodrow Wilson. He also served as the 27^th Governor of Indiana from 1909 to 1913.

One of the more controversial figures buried here is Rober Irsay who was the owner of the Baltimore and later Indianapolis Colts. Irsay assumed ownership of the Baltimore Colts on July 13, 1972, and immediately became one of the more disliked owners in the NFL. Reports state that he was abusive to staff and players alike.

City officials and even Baltimore fans clashed with Irsay. This all came to a head when negotiations with Baltimore officials over improvements to Baltimore Memorial Stadium broke down. On March 27, 1984, Irsay accepted a deal from the City of Indianapolis and under the cover of darkness, moving vans backed up to the team’s Headquarters and moved the franchise to Indianapolis.

Robert Irsay was perhaps the most hated man in Baltimore, as his midnight move to Indianapolis left Baltimore without a NFL Team until another controversial move in 1996, when Art Modell Moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, naming the team the Baltimore Ravens.

After Robert Irsay died on January 14, 1997, ownership of the Colts Passed to his son, Jim who retained control of the team until his death on May 21, 2025. Jim Irsay is buried in this same cemetery, but during my Visit his grave had only a temporary Marker.

Just up the hill from Robert Irsay’s Grave is the tomb and monument to poet James Whitcomb Riley. There appeared to be some kind of memorial service being conducted, so I moved on so I wouldn’t intrude.

One of the Graves that I hadn’t visited during my previous trips to Crown Hill is the grave of Richard Gatling, the inventor of the Gatling Gun. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Gatling was living in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was here that he devoted himself to the perfection of firearms. In 1861, the same year the Civil War started, he invented the Gatling Gun. A year later, he founded the Gatling Gun Company, which was hugely successful.

While Richard Gatling is best known for the Gatling Gun, he was also quiet the inventor. After the success of the Gatling Gun, he patented inventions that improved toilets, bicycles, steam-cleaning of raw wool, just to name a few. He was elected as the first president of the American Association of Inventors and Manufacturers in 1891.

In his final years, Gatling moved back to St. Louis, Missouri, and form a new company for manufacturing his steam plows, and tractors. While in New York City to visit his daughter and to talk with his patent agency, Gatling died suddenly at his daughter's home on February 26, 1903.

Perhaps the most visited grave at Crown Hill Cemetery is that of Depression Era Gangster, John Dillinger, who was born here in Indianapolis. The site of his boyhood home, at 2053 Cooper Street is nothing but a vacant lot that is used as a community garden with a few picnic tables.

John Dillinger’s reign of terror during the years of the Great Depression made him the Number 1 target of J. Edgar Hoover and the F.B.I. In fact, his was listed as Public Enemy #1.

On Sunday, July 22, 1934, Dillinger accompanied Ana Cumpănaș who was also known as Ana Sage, to the Biograph Theater on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. Cumpanas, tipped off the F.B.I. that she and Dillinger would be at the Theater. She told the agents that they could recognize them because she would be wearing red.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. F.B.I. Agent Melving Purvis and his men observed Cumpanas and Dillinger enter the Theater. When the movie ended, Purvis stood by the front door and signaled Dillinger's exit by lighting a cigar. Both he and the other agents reported that Dillinger turned his head and looked directly at Purvis as he walked by. reached into his pocket and ran into a nearby alley. It was there in that alley that John Dillinger was fatally shot. The reign of public enemy #1 was finally over.

After visiting the Grave of John Dillinger, it was time to move on. There were a couple of sites in downtown Indianapolis that I wanted to visit. I kind of figured that morning traffic would be over and I could get downtown without too much of an issue.

Well, I was wrong. Many of the streets in the downtown area were red on Google Maps and there were several streets around the Capitol Building that were listed as closed due to protests.

Before you ask. I have no Idea what they were protesting and really could care less. All protesters are pure breed idiots, and I stay as far away from them as I can. Just as I was pulling out of the Cemetery I heard on the radio that protesters were attempting to shut down one of the Interstates. I ended up tweaking google map to route me around that problem area.

Finally, at 11:50 a.m. I pulled out of Crown Hill Cemetery and set my sights on Dayton, Ohio.

One of the things that I overlooked on Google Maps was a pin that I dropped in Knightstown, Indiana. So, while I was stopped at the Greenfield Indiana Rest Area I set my destination as the Hoosiers Gym in Knightstown.

The Hoosiers Gym is a combination Gym, Museum and Community Center that is famous for being the filming location of the 1986 Movie “Hoosiers,” that starred Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper.

In the movie, the gym was the home court of the Hickory Huskers which was a team based on the 1954 Indiana State Championship which was really won by the Milan High School Indians. 

In 1954, Milan had an enrollment of just 161 students, and they defeated the much larger Muncie Central in the Championship Game. This was known as the “Milan Miracle.”  In the movie the Hickory Huskers were coached by Gene Hackman and the gym in Knightstown was used at the Husker’s home court.

In 1966 school district built a new high school and gym and the old gym sat empty for the next 19 years. But in 1985 Hollywood came calling and restored the gym so it could be used in the movie.

Today, the Hoosier’s Gym is not only a historic venue that host close to 80 high school basketball games each year, but it is also a major tourist attraction.

When I arrived at the Hoosier’s Gym, I was greeted by a volunteer who was more than happy to take me on a little informal tour. He pointed out various sites that were prominently featured in the movie.  I was impressed that the Gym appeared just as it did in the movie.

On the way out of town, I stopped at Love’s Travel Center to make my hotel reservation for the night.  I had planned on returning to the Drury Inn & Suites in Dayton. When I attempted to make reservations I found that the hotel was sold out.

A couple of nearby Holiday Inn’s had rooms available, but they were over $200 a night. So I decided to just head east and see how far I could make it. Gallipolis, Ohio and Charleston West Virginia were my backup destinations.

It was a little after 3 p.m. when I arrived in Dayton and thanks to very light traffic I zoomed round the city and headed East on U. S. Route 35. I crossed the Ohio River at Point Pleasant at a little after 5:30 p.m.

It was here that I decided that if I didn’t get bottled up in Traffic on the West Virginia Turnpike, I would just head home.

Turnpike Traffic was not a problem and after a quick stop at Wendy’s in Beckley, I made the final push home arriving at 9:15 a.m.

What an adventure this was. Without a doubt the highlight of this little adventure was my Stop at Historic Auto Attractions. So much history in one place was a little overwhelming. I could have spent multiple days here and would love to go back.

I also enjoyed the Rutherford B. Hayes Historical Site and the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum. Finally, the Hoosier’s Gym in Knightstown was really more than I expected and was a great way to end this weeklong trip.

This was a longer day than I had anticipated. From Indianapolis to Home saw me drive 489 miles bringing the final total for this adventure to 1,979 miles.