Crossroads Of America

LAUREN WITHERS

THE

ROADS

CROSS F

O

AMERICA

TORREY RATAY

THE PAST IS PROLOGUE. Shakespeare The Tempest

In 2016, Indiana will become the nineteenth state to celebrate a bicentennial. Over the past years the state has identified fourteen official aspects that make Indiana unique. They range from the flag, to a song, and a slice of pie! Our class project has included two more that we hope will be proposed, voted on and become part of what makes Indiana great!

The Visual Communications Design spring 2015 class at Purdue has undertaken the research, writing, and design of 16 books that document and celebrate these historic symbols of Indiana.

Dennis Y Ichiyama, FAAR Professor of Visual Communications Design February 2015

FORWORD

MILE

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The United States of America was founded on July 4, 1776. In comparison to other countries and cultures such as Egypt that was founded in 3150-3000 B.C., we are a very young country with a growing culture that was established over two hundred and thirty nine years ago since our founding fathers wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence. Majority of the fifty states that make up the United States of America were founded even later making certain parts of the U.S. much older than others. Over time, each state adopted specific mottos to represent something about that state.

Throughout the next sixteen pages we are going to focus primarily on Indiana’s state motto and what exactly is it, the route it took to adopt this motto, and how it effects Indiana.

N A M I N G T H E C RO S S ROA D S Indiana on a map may not seem like the obvious choice for a motto like ‘Crossroads of America’ as geographically it is not in the center. It all started with nineteenth century pioneers traversing the land with their mule drawn packet boats floating along the Wabash and Erie Canal. These waterways were being used as a conduit for the French pelt traders between Canada and Louisiana with covered wagons following beside on the Old Pike. The Old Pike was a clearing through the forest from Maryland to Illinois.

This very path was paved and then renamedww the Historic National Road, today known as Route 40, which extends from Maryland to San Francisco. A new route appeared in 1920, perpendicular to Route 40, extending from Chicago to Miami.

They met at an intersection in Terra Haute, Indiana making this small town the center of travel drawing people from all over the nation from the 1920’s to 1967 when Interstate 70 opened.

This was only the beginning of the actual naming of Indiana as ‘The Crossroads of America’.

03

Evansville Courier

T H E C RO

H E L P E N C A P S U L AT E I N D I A N A In the 1930’s J. Roy Strickland ran a column in the Evansville Courier, a southern Indiana newspaper, called Paragraphy. Strickland’s article sparked the idea for Indiana to enact a state motto. He called out to the citizens of Evansville asking them to send in their ideas about what our motto, the thing that is supposed to reflect our character as citizens of this state, should be. He then sent those suggestions along to the Indiana General Assembly. He documented that he received three hundred and twenty four suggestions in just two or three short weeks.

People obviously had felt the need for a motto just as Strickland had and came together to decide upon a motto for our state.

Strickland then compiled these suggestions into a list and provided them to the State Legislature. They then formed a committee of five indivuduals, three from the House and two from the Senate, and on March 2, 1937 and they picked ‘The Crossroads of America’.

S S ROA D S

March 12, 1930

Crossroads sign; Terre Haute, IN 2015

CROSSROADS:

opening doors for Indiana

Indiana is nowhere near the middle of the U.S. yet it is a very prominent location for travel, transportation of goods, and water access for states and traders that are not necessarily located near water. The Indiana Department of Administration has even stated, “The Crossroads of America’ signifies the importance of waterways, railroads, highways and other transportation facilities in the state, viewed by as many as some of the finest in the nation.”

Prior to the establishment of roads, Indiana was considered a stopping point for those traveling west. As time passed, Indiana’s growth in the farming industry became a notorious feature of the state.

These growing industries within Indiana in combination with the development of roadways has opened many doors for Indiana’s future as ‘The Crossroads’.

MOTTO

A SHORT SENTENCE OR PHRASE CHOSEN AS ENC APSULATING THE BELIEFS OR IDEALS GUIDING AN INDIVIDUAL, FAMILY, OR INSTITUTION

MILE

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The Crossroads of America has been the adopted motto for the state of Indiana since the year 1937. These three words are used to describe the importance of the Indiana roadways to the United States in more than just travel. US 40 & US 71 have become major routes for expanding industries, communication, goods, and much more. Without the ‘Crossroads of America’ the convenience of travel would not be what we know today.

Indiana’s motto in comparison to the other fortynine states of the U.S. seems to be the one of few with a representation and historical derivation of an institutional idea. Many of the other state mottos are not necessarily a representation of what that state has to offer but rather a belief or meaningful phrase.

Indiana is among the few that declares what it has to offer as a state. This characteristic being a roadway system that is the heart of many roads linking the country together both north and south as well as east and west.

For example, take Ohio’s motto “With God all things are possible.” This has a religious focus and does not really represent Ohio as a state. It may be something that is a belief but not a true representation of a prominent quality of the state. Another example more similar to Indiana’s motto could be Montana, “Oro y plata” (gold and silver) or Tennessee, “Agriculture and Commerce.”

These two examples are clear representations of these states and give people who may not know much about the state some knowledge from the motto versus the religious and uplifting quotes or phrases.

MILE

3

THE FUTURE OF THE CROSSROADS

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Indiana has invested billons of dollars on the future transportation routes for the state in hopes of maintaining the motto it has come to adopt. Nearly tweleve billion dollars has gone towards the building of new roads and roadway improvements alone. These upgrades have increased efficiency and created thousands of new jobs for Indiana Hoosiers. In addition, working on extending existing roadways is also underway. Expansions to Interstate 69, the NAFTA Superhighway, will allow many local industries to broaden their trades and companies cross-continentally.

These improvements to Indiana’s roadways substantially accelerates the state’s economy, but also works to improve incomes and opportunities for Indiana residents. Roadways have become Indiana’s main source of support for manufacturers and distributors across the state. Without constant improvements and upgrades to our roadways there would be no growth and far fewer opportunities for all those invested in Indiana. Roadways alone have paved the path for Indiana’s future as the Crossroads of America.

With these sixteen books we extend our best wishes to Indiana and a hearty “HAPPY BICENTENNIAL BIRTHDAY”

Lindsay Boivin & Payton Drake, Indiana Poem Erica Lang & Carla Certeza, Indiana Slogan Jacob Ullrich & Brooke Featherston, Indiana Pie Torrey Ratay & Lauren Withers, Indiana Motto Katelyn McDonough & Michelle Marqueuling, Indiana Nickname Whitney Emberton-Jones & Stephanie Morales, Indiana River Chris Costadakis & Zhaoyu Zhang, Indiana Flag Sarah Gladden & Molly Eber, Indiana Stone Brooke Sauer & Jess Emery, Indiana Tree Noelle Itin & Patricia Pitcher, Indiana Rifle Lucia Vaughan & Emily Sterneman, Indiana Song Morgan Enzinger & Alex Santos, Indiana Bird Megan Perry & Danielle Whitis, Indiana Flower Jordyn Knott & Stephen Houston, Indiana Seal Erin Rhody & Brianna Ruiz, Indiana Fruit* Cory Wonderley & Allie Bowes, Indiana Fish* *currently not official

BIBLIOGRAPHY IMAGES

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/images/ splash.htm?scope=images/VAC3073 http://www.gratisography.com http://www.demilked.com/free-paper-texturesbackgrounds/ http://martex.info.pl/blog/mam-chorobelokomocyjna-czy-powinnam-zglosic-kierowcy/

RESOURCES

https://www.connerprairie.org/EducationResearch/Indiana-History-1800-1860/Traveland-Transportation http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/indianapolis/ introessay.htm http://specials.tribstar.com/terrehautestop40/ stories/crossroads.html http://thisisindiana.angelfire.com/ crossroadsofamerica.htm http://www.netstate.com/states/mottoes/ in_motto.htm

AC K N OW L E D G E M E N T S Dennis Ichiyama, Professor K. Lynia Coates, Xerox Services Anthony Hayden, Xerox Services Mom & Dad, Parents