Kirjahaku

Discover the vibrant history of Elwood, Indiana, endearingly termed the Heart of Hoosierland. Elwood is a resourceful town and a vibrant example of Midwestern values.In 1852, Elwood, Indiana, was a tiny settlement located in Pipe Creek Township of Madison County. Its residents sustained their meager lifestyle as farmers, lumberers, and merchants, but the nation's westward migration was on its way, bringing railroads, people, opportunities, and growth. Nothing bolstered the city's expansion like the 1886 discovery of a seemingly endless reserve of natural gas throughout East Central Indiana. The cheap and plentiful fuel ushered in a new industrial-based economy that prospered greatly. Unfortunately, the gas supply was not infinite, and by the early 1900s, many towns, such as Elwood, were struggling to survive. Elwood, however, reinvented itself and bloomed again.

Author Janis Thornton reveals the stories of a day in Indiana like no other.Palm Sunday 1965 started as the nicest day of the year, the kind of weather that encouraged Hoosiers to get out in the sun, fire up the grill, hit the golf course, or roll down their car windows and take a leisurely drive. That evening, however, throughout northern and central Indiana, the sky turned an ominous black, and storms moved in, quickly manifesting as Indiana's worst tornado outbreak. Within three hours, twisters, some a half-mile wide, ripped through seventeen counties, devastating communities and leaving death and destruction in their wake. When the tornadoes were finished with Indiana, 137 people were dead, hundreds were injured, and thousands more were forever changed.