u/iangrichardson

Not going to lie, not sure whether to file this under politics or history, because it's actually both. So I shall put it in politics.

It’s been 175 years, and during that entire time Article 1, Section 17 has been one of the most rock solid, absolute backbones of the Indiana Constitution’s body. Since the ink dried in the winter of 1851, it has stood as a rigid, black-and-white declaration of pretrial rights. It hasn’t budged, it hasn’t changed, it was never compromised!

Now, in 2026, voters are being asked to take a scalpel to it.

https://www.indytheindianaconstitution.com/the-archives/the-winds-of-change-a1-s17 explores what that means for the future of Article 1, Section 17, and what it could mean for the people of Indiana.

The Ohio River was a thick thread of liquid night under the midnight horizon, but to the thousands who stared across it from the banks of Kentucky, it was a proverbial Jordan. Crossing it was like stepping from the explicit horror of the human bondage into a fragile, precarious version of freedom.

Today's Article explores Indiana's Underground Railroad.

Early Hoosiers were an ambitious lot. So ambitious they over-extended their credit and almost left the state insolvent. Leading to a whole new constitution being ratified.

To read more please visit the blog post. A Little a Lot: How One Project Made Indiana Insolvent.

Let us start from the beginning. To understand the nature of the beast, you must understand how the beast was raised. Indiana was a free state in the sense that it wouldn’t allow slavery (on the books). However, like all pretty veneers, there is often rot hidden beneath.

Indiana was never much of a nice place for African Americans. Racial tensions flared through most of it's history. This article explores that shadow that looms over the ghosts of the past.

A Free State? - Indy the Indiana Constitution

Slave Registry, Indiana Territory, Knox County, 1805-1807, p. 1, McGrady-Brockman House.

I spend a lot of my time researching our 1851 state constitution, but sometimes I stumble down a historical rabbit hole that is just too good not to share. I just published a bonus article over on The Archives about a massive anomaly in Indiana’s 19th-century infrastructure.

When we talk about early Indiana logistics, it’s usually the Wabash and Erie Canal or the electric interurban networks. But just off the Mississinewa River, the town of Peru built a completely different kind of empire on steel rails. For over half a century, it was the winter nerve center for America’s traveling entertainment industry.

A few wild facts from the era:

• Escaping the Mud: Local stable owner Ben Wallace moved his circus to the Peru and Indianapolis Railroad in the 1880s, bypassing terrible country roads and building a national logistical machine.
• The Winter City: By the 1920s, Peru housed over 50 elephants (who were put to work plowing snow and shunting railcars!), hundreds of big cats, and over 150 specialized railcars in the local yards.
• The Monopoly: The Peru operation grew into the American Circus Corporation, managing five national circuses. It was so dominant that John Ringling traveled to Indiana and bought them out for $1.7 million in 1929—just six weeks before the stock market crashed.

You can check out the full piece, featuring some great vintage 1898 poster art, right here: 🔗Peru: The Circus Capital

Does anyone from Miami County have family stories or connections from when the winter quarters were in full swing? I'd love to hear them!

Originally named St. Joseph Memorial Hospital, Ascension St. Vincent Kokomo, is an amazing example of poetic justice for Midwestern history. It is a tale of patient endurance, a buried medal, and economic collapse that completely inverted a project built entirely out of malice.

Full Story in link provided.

The term “Red Summer” was coined by a civil rights leader and NAACP field secretary by the name of James Weldon Johnson. It refers to a bloody wave of white-supremacist terrorism and racial riots that swept across more than 30 American cities between April and November of 1919.

This is my first history post on this sub. I have more on the blog site, but won't flood you. One a day okay?

https://www.indytheindianaconstitution.com/the-archives

I ask because I recently started writing short and long form history blog posts. I would love to share the history I am digging into. However, I am not sure if this would be the appropriate sub and if any of you would even want me to.