Drive-in restaurants -- so popular during the 1950s and 60s -- are moving toward extinction in twenty-first-century America. We recommend a beloved example still operating on the west side of Indianapolis with 53 years (and more than a few million tenderloins) under its belt. The Mug ‘n Bun at 5211 West 10th Street has succeeded by not fixing what isn’t broken. Continue reading

Most drive-ins went out of business in the wake of cable TV and multiplex theaters, leaving only about 400 in existence in the U.S. Indiana has about 20 drive-ins, including the Holiday Drive-In in Reo, a survivor from 1955. Continue reading

Spencer’s Tivoli Theatre, pretty much a wreck after 14 years of vacancy, reopened in style this spring, thanks to a total restoration contributed by Cook Group, Inc. on behalf of its Spencer plant employees. Returned to its 1920s splendor, the movie theater also got an addition that allows it to host weddings, events, meetings and reunions—and provides rental revenue to support the landmark. Continue reading

No,not the singer who did the halftime show at Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis in 2012. That Madonna wouldn’t be born for another 30 years. The Madonna of the Trail statue, in the southwest corner of Glen Miller Park on US 40 in Richmond commemorates an earlier feisty, pioneering woman. Continue reading

Molds bring to mind spectacular jello salads, but in Gary, Indiana, actual houses sprang from molds. In 1906, Thomas Edison developed a way of constructing homes by pouring a concrete mixture into a single mold for the facades, roof, stairs, walls, and other parts of a house. Edison marketed the idea as a low-cost means of building affordable housing for the working class. Continue reading

The daily grind takes on a literal meaning May through October at Bonneyville Mill on the Little Elkhart River. It’s a sensory experience: you can hear and feel the giant grist stones vibrate under foot, see and smell the freshly ground buckwheat, corn, rye and wheat. Continue reading

Rock gardens and grottos are a long-standing Roman Catholic tradition, especially in Europe. Religious shrines dot the U.S. map, too, often tucked away in lesser-known locales. Many of these shrines employ natural materials like stones, shells, and bones as examples of “God-made” beauty. The Providence Home Geode Grotto in Jasper shows how one devoted designer went kind of wild with local materials. Continue reading

As you drive west over the Eighth Street bridge into downtown Anderson, you may notice an oddly shaped structure resembling an empty salad bowl. You are looking at one of the very few remaining pools in America designed by engineer Wesley Bintz. Continue reading

Huntington's picturesque Sunken Gardens are a perpetual favorite among city residents and couples seeking a romantic spot for proposals and nuptials. The storybook-like site near downtown Huntington got its start when civic leaders decided to turn an eyesore into something beautiful. Continue reading

No one can say for sure how Dearborn County Bridge #15 acquired the more dramatic name “Lost Bridge.” Stand on its steel deck, however, where it crosses Laughery Creek on Bells Branch Road, and you feel like you are somewhere far, far away. Continue reading

Even if you’ve lived in Indiana all your life, you may not be aware that Purdue University is BIG in entomology. That’s the study of insects. In fact, this weekend marks the Bug Bowl Centennial Celebration of entomology at Purdue, an annual extravaganza enlarged in honor of the milestone with an insect art exhibit, tours and a production of “The Insect Play,” a 1921 work in which all but two characters are insects. Continue reading

If you’re fascinated by history, science, medicine, or architecture -- with a touch of the macabre -- you’ll , love the Indiana Medical History Museum. The museum on Indianapolis’s near-west side offers a captivating glimpse into the formative stages of scientific psychiatry and modern medicine. Continue reading

Although “doughboy” entered the English language in the 1840s during the Mexican-American War, it’s most frequently applied to World War I infantrymen. Indiana native Ernest Moore Viquesney immortalized the foot soldier in a statue called "Spirit of the American Doughboy," casts of which you can find throughout the U.S. Continue reading

“They don’t build them like they used to.” No, they don’t, and some might say, thank goodness. We like our air conditioning, after all. When it comes to movie theaters, however, nearly everyone will concede the loss represented by the multiplex, where the only visual attraction is what appears on the screen. If the multiplex is the only sort of movie theater you’ve experienced, take a trip to The Lerner in Elkhart to see what you’ve missed. Continue reading

There’s a lovely limestone monument to Thomas Taggart in Indianapolis’s Riverside Park. Or rather, you can tell it once was lovely. The fountain doesn’t work and a tall chain-link fence surrounds the twenty-pillared limestone colonnade to protect the public from falling stone. Some tribute for a man who left such an indelible mark on his city, state and nation. Continue reading

Seven floods and a bypass could not sink the Medora Covered Bridge, the longest historic covered span in the United States. While you can’t drive over it any more, walking or biking through the resonant span is really a better way to appreciate the sight, sound and artistry of the 1875 bridge over White River in Jackson County. Continue reading

With its roof curved like hands folded in prayer, St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church cuts a striking silhouette in Gary’s Tolleston neighborhood. Inside, bowed wood beams support a ceiling of red cedar in a sanctuary that invites quiet contemplation. This was the first “home of their own” for the African-American congregation of St. Augustine's, who were not welcome in the established Episcopal church in Gary. Continue reading

Vevay is a charming river town. Plan a getaway -- and check what’s happening at the Historic Hoosier Theater. Continue reading

If you’re searching for an unusual place to take your sweetie for Valentine’s Day, consider the Olympia Candy Kitchen in Goshen, where you can spin on a stool at the long counter and watch a real soda fountain at work. The place has been in business since 1912, and visitors say they can taste the history in a bite of the Olympia’s signature candy and sandwiches. Continue reading

Part library, part museum, part memorial to a Utopian dream, the Workingmen’s Institute in New Harmony offers a unique glimpse of early nineteenth-century history and one man’s commitment to the power of knowledge. Continue reading

If you’re intrigued by industrial landmarks, you must visit Kokomo Opalescent Glass. The company has been making colored sheet glass since 1888, in the same place and pretty much the same way today as it did in the beginning, which makes for a fascinating tour. Think fiery furnaces, glowing globs of glass, Dickensian tools -- very cool. Continue reading

If you’ve ever cooked your Thanksgiving turkey in a black oval roaster flecked with gray specks, there’s a good chance you’re using an item made by Columbian Home Products. For the last century, this manufacturer has created porcelain on steel pans and other specialty cookware in a historic plant in downtown Terre Haute. Continue reading

If you’re in need of new footwear, or in the mood to chat with a friendly parrot, take yourself to Stout’s Shoes in downtown Indianapolis, in business in the same location and owned by the same family since 1886. Continue reading

You’d think that being second-biggest in the world at anything would confer a certain amount of status; prestige, even. But a hard-times story in Anderson puts that supposition to bed. The second-largest high school basketball arena in the world sits empty of everything but memories and memorabilia, a mute time capsule depicting better days. Continue reading

Beans have famously been called the musical fruit. If that’s the case, then The N.K. Hurst Company, a family business on the near south side of Indianapolis, is a concertmaster, broadcasting a constant bean symphony to a grateful nation for nearly three-quarters of a century. Continue reading