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Indiana Historical Bureau

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Indiana Historical Bureau

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07/04/2026

Happy Independence Day! As we celebrate America’s 250th, we want to thank everyone who has helped preserve our state and nation’s history over the years! We are thankful to all those who have applied for or sponsored markers, attended dedications, or helped survey or repaint markers! Learn about some of the people, places, events, and organizations that have helped shape Indiana and the U.S. at https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/find-historical-markers-by-county/indiana-historical-markers-by-county/

Photo taken at the dedication of the Major George Slaughter state historical marker in Charlestown (Clark County) last month.

07/01/2026

Reminder! There's still one week left to submit an application for the 2026-2027 Indiana state historical marker cycle!

Learn more about the process and download copies of the application at: https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/apply-for-a-marker/

06/26/2026

Registration is now open for the Indiana Constitutional Symposium, a special event commemorating the 175th Anniversary of the Indiana Constitution of 1851, organized by the Indiana Archives and Records Administration.

📅 Thursday, November 5, 2026
📍 Indiana State Archives -- New Downtown Location – 350 W. Ohio Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202
✏️Register now at https://forms.gle/eB2TPLM384EeE1n49

The symposium will bring together legal professionals, judges, historians, educators, students, and community partners for a daylong program of lightning talks, roundtable discussion, workshops, student essays, and a keynote speech delivered by Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush.

Visit the symposium website for additional details including the Call for Participation: https://bit.ly/4tDudGJ

We hope you will join this milestone commemoration of Indiana's constitutional heritage.

Partners include the Indiana State Archives, Indiana University McKinney School of Law, the Indiana Law Review, the Indianapolis Bar Association's Rule of Law Committee, the Indiana State Bar Association, the Indiana Historical Bureau, the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, and the Quill Project (Pembroke College, Oxford and Utah Valley University).

06/25/2026

Thank you to Washington County Historian Jeremy Elliott and Dean Ratts, Sandi Woodward, Sara Day, Bonita Purlee, Susan Lloyd, Dan Neel, Tony Maranto, and Marko Simic for repainting several Indiana state historical markers in Washington County this spring! The refurbished markers include the Early Quaker Meetinghouse, Illinoian Glacier Boundary, and Morgan’s Raid.

06/22/2026

While we were in Charlestown last weekend for the dedication of the new Major George Slaughter historical marker, we had the chance to visit several of our other historical markers in the area, including ones commemorating Jonathan Jennings, Mary Garrett Hay, “Colonel” Harland Sanders, and Fern Grove and Rose Island Resorts.

Indiana’s first governor (1816-1822) Jonathan Jennings died at his farm in Charlestown in 1834 and is buried in Charlestown Cemetery. According to historian Carl Kramer, the first governor, who was then only thirty-two years old, faced the daunting challenge of “placing Indiana on a sound financial footing, implementing a court system, and developing rudimentary educational and internal improvements systems..." Jennings resigned as governor with only months left to serve in his second term and returned to Congress where he served several terms.

The Mary Garrett Hay marker, installed in 2021, is located just a few blocks from the new Major Slaughter marker and examines Hay’s instrumental work in the women’s suffrage movement. She was born in Charlestown in 1857, became involved in the WCTU and women’s suffrage movement in Indiana by the late 1800s, and helped organize the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

The state marker for the Birthplace of Col. Harland Sanders was installed just off I-65 in Henryville in 1987 and notes that Sanders (1890-1980) was the founder of KFC. A new marker, dedicated near Sanders’ family farm in 2023, expands on his life and career.

The Fern Grove and Rose Island Resorts marker is located at the entrance to Charlestown State Park and commemorates the popular Ohio River recreation area. During World War II, the land became part of the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant.

IHB is currently working on our biennial marker survey. If you pass by Indiana state markers in your daily travels, please share photos with us so we can update our records!

06/17/2026

We’re happy to share that our Dr. John Shaw Billings marker has been replaced and reinstalled! A marker commemorating Dr. Billings was first installed in 1966 at the southwest corner of SR 250 and Lake Geneva Rd./Allensville Rd. near Allensville in Switzerland County. It was damaged and replaced with an updated marker on the northwest corner, featuring two-sided text in 2018 thanks to Switzerland County Historian Janet Hendricks, the Switzerland County Historical Society, and the Switzerland County Junior Historical Society. The marker was damaged in a vehicular accident a few years ago. We’re thrilled to have the new replacement completed and relocated to the grounds of the Switzerland County Historical Museum near the Lella Trafelet marker. Thank you to the Switzerland County Historical Society and Museum for their help with funding the replacement and INDOT for installing the marker!

Innovative doctor and librarian John Shaw Billings was born in Allensville in 1838. As a Civil War surgeon, he established field hospitals at the Battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He transferred to the Surgeon General’s Office and developed a comprehensive library that revolutionized medical research. In the 1870s, he helped compile the Index Catalogue and Index Medicus, the forerunner to databases like MEDLINE. Billings’s experience treating and transporting wounded Civil War soldiers made him an innovator in hospital design. He planned the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and in so doing reflected his novel ideas about medical education, hygiene, and sanitation. Billings served as the first director of the New York Public Library (1896-1913). Among his many accomplishments, he also devised more efficient systems to tabulate vital statistics for the U.S. Census.

Learn more about Billings with our Untold Indiana Blog at https://bit.ly/3ypAyuC.

Marker photos are courtesy of the Switzerland County Historical Society; image of Dr. Billings is courtesy of the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives; and image of the Surgeon General's Library with Billings sitting at the center table, is courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Collections.

06/16/2026

Over the weekend, a new state marker commemorating Revolutionary War soldier Major George Slaughter was dedicated in Charlestown. During the American Revolution, Slaughter was captain of the 8th Virginia Regiment and was promoted to major with the 12th Virginia. He later served with Gen. George Rogers Clark. He died in Charlestown in 1818.

This is the 18th state historical marker to be installed in Clark County and the third in the last five years, joining markers for “Colonel” Harland Sanders and women’s suffrage leader Mary Garrett Hay.

We want to thank marker applicant George “Al” McLean, Jr., the eighth great-grandnephew of Maj. Slaughter, for spearheading this project. We’d also like to recognize the McLean family, Gabe Neville, the Indiana Society, Sons of the American Revolution, Culpeper Sons of the American Revolution, the Indiana Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the City of Charlestown for their support of the marker and planning the program.

06/04/2026

We want to thank students at Orleans High School and their art instructor Dr. Leah Morgan for repainting the Freeman’s Corner historical marker! We’d especially like to recognize seniors Callie Alston and Liberty Irwin for all their work on the project and 9th graders Briley Terrell and Jason Foley for their assistance. Thank you also to Orange County America 250 Chairman Robert Henderson for coordinating the effort to refurbish Orange County’s state markers as part of the America 250 celebration and town employees in Orleans for temporarily removing and reinstalling the marker.

The marker is located on the north side of Orleans, on Highway 37 near the waterworks and where the old 1915 water tower was once located. The marker was originally erected by the Indiana Sesquicentennial Commission in 1966. Nearby is also the original historic stone marker preserved designating the significance of Freeman’s Corner placed by the Lost River Chapter of the D.A.R. in 1935.

Learn more about Freeman's Corner and how the survey system defined Indiana's landscape at: https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/freemans-corner-250-feet-east/

05/29/2026

Reminder! IHB is currently accepting applications for new state historical markers for the 2026-2027 marker program. The deadline to submit an application is July 8, 2026.

State historical markers commemorate significant people, businesses, organizations, and institutions, as well as notable events in Indiana history. Topics must demonstrate statewide significance and be supported with primary source documentation.

Learn more about the application process and topic eligibility through our Marker Guidelines at: http://bit.ly/3L8HfZo

Learn more and download copies of the application at: https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/apply-for-a-marker/

05/20/2026

The new Lt. Col. William Swaim marker that was dedicated over the weekend is now the third state marker to be installed in Wells County. Other markers there include one installed in 2001 commemorating botanist and Indiana's first state forester Charles Deam and a marker installed in 2019 commemorating the Kingsland Interurban Wreck of 1910.

IHB is currently working with volunteers to survey all of our state markers across Indiana. If you come across a marker in your travels, please send us photos or a note on its condition at [email protected].

Read more about the Kingsland Urban Wreck at: https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/find-historical-markers-by-county/indiana-historical-markers-by-county/kingsland-interurban-wreck/

Photo of Charles Deam courtesy of Indiana Memory and the Frank M. Hohenberger Photograph Collection via Indiana University's Digital Collections.

Address

140 N Senate Avenue, Rm 130
Indianapolis, IN
46204

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday	8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday	8am - 4:30pm
Thursday	8am - 4:30pm
Friday	8am - 4:30pm

Website

http://www.in.gov/history

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