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Terre Haute, Indiana

Encyclopedia : T : TE : TER : Terre Haute, Indiana

 

Terre Haute (IPA: [ˈtɛɹ.ʌ ˌhəʊt]) is a city in Vigo County, Indiana near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 60,614. The city is the county seat of Vigo County[Geographic references#6GR6]. Its current Mayor is Kevin W. Burke and its zip codes are in the range of 478xx.

Terre Haute is also the title of a novel by Will Aitken.

Contents

Geography

Terre Haute is at [39°28′11″N, 87°23′23″W] (39.469586, -87.389762)[Geographic references#1GR1], alongside the eastern bank of the Wabash River in western Indiana.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 83.1 km² (32.1 mi²). 80.9 km² (31.2 mi²) of it is land and 2.2 km² (0.9 mi²) of it (2.68%) is water.

The city of Terre Haute has been called "The Crossroads of America" because it is located at the intersection of the two major roadways: the National Road and U.S. 41 (locally, "third street"). Terre Haute is located 77 miles southwest of Indianapolis and within 185 miles of Chicago, St. Louis, Louisville, and Cincinnati.

In the early 1970s, Interstate 70 was built, and the community's major shopping area moved south to the interchange. U.S. 40 still runs through the downtown area as of 2005, but the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) plans to transfer the route number to Indiana State Road 46 and Interstate 70 through the Terre Haute area once the new Indiana State Road 641 bypass is completed, with the old route, Wabash Avenue, passing into city and county hands.

In addition to the downtown business district and the south side, there are several other smaller business districts in the City. The first suburban shopping area was Twelve Points, on the northeast side of town; later, Idaho Station developed near Seventh Street and Lockport Road. In the post-WWII era, auto-centered shopping developed on the east side at Meadows. Plaza North is another important shopping area in the northern city neighborhoods. For more than 150 years Terre Haute has been the self-proclaimed capital of the Wabash Valley.

The physical geography of the city is dominated by the Wabash River, which forms the western border of the city. The city itself lies on a high, flat plain that rarely floods. Small bluffs east side of city mark the edge of the historic flood plain. Lost Creek and Honey Creek drain the northern and southern sections of the city, respectively. In the late 1800s (particularly during the Terre Haute Oil Craze of 1889), several oil and mineral wells were productive in and near the center of the city but those have not been tapped for many years.

History

Vigo County Courthouse
Enlarge
Vigo County Courthouse

The name of the city is derived from the French phrase terre haute (pronounced /tɛʁ ot/ in French), meaning “high land,” and was used by the French explorers in the area in the early 18th century to describe the plateau-like rise of the land next to the Wabash River (See French colonization of the Americas). During "Tecumseh's War" in 1811, the construction of Fort Harrison during an expedition led by William Henry Harrison marked the known beginning of a permanent population of European-Americans—a Wea village called Weautano (also known as "Rising Sun" and "Old Orchard Town") already existed near the fort. The fort was defended from a British-inpired attack by an estimated 600 Native Americans during the Battle of Fort Harrison on September 4, 1812 by Captain Zachary Taylor. The orchards and meadows kept by the local Wea populations became the site of present-day Terre Haute, a few miles south of Fort Harrison. Before 1830, the few remaining Wea had departed under pressure from white settlement.

The village of Terre Haute, then a part of Knox County, Indiana was platted in 1816. Its early identity came as an agricultural and pork-packing center and as a port on the then-navigable Wabash River for steamboats and other river-craft. Between 1835 and late 1839, Terre Haute was headquarters for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under Major Cornelius A. Ogden during the construction of the National Road. As a result a number of West Point graduates and other highly educated people located in the town. Wealthy Terre Haute entrepreneur Chauncey Rose built The Prairie House, a fancy hotel, in 1838 primarily to accommodate those families. In 1855, the name of The Prairie House was changed to the Terre Haute House.

The anticipation of the arrival of the Wabash and Erie Canal, the longest manmade body of water in the western hemisphere, also brought prosperity to the community. The canal finally reached Terre Haute in October 1849 but, founded by Chauncey Rose, the Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad began operations between Terre Haute and Indianapolis in February 1852. The name of the Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad (West of Indianapolis) soon was changed to the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad and it became the operating company of the Vandalia Railroad System. The community quickly gained the reputation as a transportation hub.

In 1832, Terre Haute became a town and, in May 1853, elected to become a city. After the American Civil War, it was an industrial and mining center with iron and steel mills, hominy plants and, late in the 19th Century, distilleries, breweries, coal mines and coal operating companies. Business boomed. Terre Haute's Famous "Four-Cornered" Race Track was the site of more than 20 world harness racing records and helped trigger the city's reputation as a sporting center. The bustling economy led to several institutes of higher education — Saint Mary-of-the Woods Institute (now Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College), John Covert's Terre Haute Female College, Indiana State Normal School (now Indiana State University), Rose Polytechnic Institute of Technology (now Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) and Coates College for Women — culture and a reputation in the arts, and a tradition of strong union activity which resulted in hosting a two-day conclave beginning on August 3, 1881 of the National Trade Union Congress, renamed the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the U.S. and Canada. In 1886, the Federation was renamed the American Federation of Labor. The city also produced labor leader Eugene V. Debs.

The city also developed a reputation for being "wide open", with gambling and a well-developed "Red Light District" that was not fully eliminated until urban renewal of the riverfront in the 1960s. During the second decade of the 20th Century, Terre Haute was rocked by political scandal and that reputation persisted for several decades. In 1955, Terre Haute was labeled Sin City by the monthly magazine, Stag. Although Terre Haute has had different nicknames ("The Crossroads of America," for one), "Sin City" seemed to be its most popular moniker for several decades.

Prohibition had a major impact on the city's economy, closing several distilleries and all but one brewery, which reduced its payroll by 70% and converted to produce root beer. It also affected the four large glass manufacturing firms. Two eventually closed. The Root Glass Company survived, primarily because it secured the patent for the Coca-Cola bottle in 1915. Two of the distilleries were sold to Commercial Solvents Corporation, which acquired the rights to produce acetone from Chaim Weizmann in exchange for royalties. While some aspects of the economy seemed to be boom in the mid-1920s, the owners of a downtown hotel, the Terre Haute House, decided to demolish their existing building and erect a grand edifice befitting such a modern city as Terre Haute, and in 1928, the new Terre Haute House opened, attracting the wealthy—famous and infamous alike—to its luxurious splendor. No less of a figure than Al Capone is rumored to have been a guest in the new hotel's early years. The beloved hotel, which closed in 1970, has been the subject of repeated debate in the community. It was recently sold by a prominent local family to a local developer, who demolished it and subsequently sold the property to Dora Brothers Hospitality group, which intends to build a new hotel on the site, Hilton Garden Inn: Terre Haute House, thus maintaining the history of a hotel on the intersection of 7th and Wabash.

Eventually, however, the coal mines were spent, the importance of the railroads declined, the town was labeled a "bad labor town" following the Terre Haute General Strike of 1935 and the city began a decline from which it has never fully recovered. Although some remnants of its glory days remain and Terre Haute is home to some national events, it was recently called "A Model of Stagnation" by The Indianapolis Star. The community also is known for the June 11, 2001, execution of Timothy McVeigh at the Terre Haute Federal Penitentiary for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Historical figures who called Terre Haute their birthplace or home include:

Terre Haute's history is the subject of a weekly public radio program based in Bloomington, Indiana, called "Hometown with Tom Roznowski," which describes various aspects of Terre Haute in the summer of 1926. "Terre Haute: Queen City of the Wabash," by Vigo County Historian Mike McCormick, is a concise history of the city published in November 2005 by Arcadia Publishing Company.

Transportation

Airports

Highways

In addition, U.S. Highway 40 provides east-west access to, through and from Terre Haute and U.S. Highway 41, provides north-south access to, through and from Terre Haute.

Transit

Education

Terre Haute is home to Indiana State University, a public university with a student population just over 11,000. The Princeton Review has named ISU one of the nation’s “best value” undergraduate institutions. The Princeton Review has also placed ISU on its “Best in the Midwest” list of colleges and universities. The private engineering school Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is located just east of the city, and is consistently rated one of the top engineering schools in the nation. The vocational schools of Ivy Tech State College and Indiana Business College are also located in the city. Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, a four-year, private Catholic women's college is north of West Terre Haute, Indiana.

Terre Haute is served by the Vigo County School Corporation.

Other facts

In 1998, Reader's Digest magazine named Terre Haute one of the 50 best places to raise a family. This honor was bestowed after a statistical and demographic review of 301 metropolitan areas throughout the U.S.

Terre Haute is a familiar address to many as it is home to the Columbia House mail-order club. It also is the home of Sony DADC.

The original curved Coca-Cola bottle was designed and first produced by the Root Glass Company, which was based in Terre Haute. In the mid-1990s, Coca-Cola honored this part of its past by introducing a short-lived Coke bottle-shaped can that was sold only in Terre Haute and one other city.

Terre Haute is the location of a large Federal prison which is the location of the United States Government's Death Row. Timothy McVeigh was put to death at Terre Haute in 2001 for carrying out the Oklahoma City Bombing.

The city is known to have one of the highest per-capita number of restaurants in the nation, many of which are chain restaurants. There are several exceptional restaurants in the city which are unique to Terre Haute.

Terre Haute is also home to the CANDLES HOLOCAUST MUSEUM [link]. CANDLES stands for Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiment Survivors and is the creation of a survivor from that deadly period of history - Eva Mozes Kor of Terre Haute. Her museum attracts visitors from around the world and is completely Ms. Kor's gift of her memories and her mission to never allow the world to forget what happened in that evil place during those dark years. In 2003 the CANDLES museum was burned down in an arsonist attack by a young neo-nazi. After several charity drives by different organizations in town, it has now been rebuilt, but several pieces of irreplacable art and artifacts were destroyed.

Terre Haute has been designated a "Tree City" by the National Arbor Day Foundation.

External links

The city

The history

College pages

Maps and aerial photos

State of Indiana

Regions
Michiana | Nine-County Region | Northern Indiana | Northwest Indiana | Southern Indiana | Wabash Valley
Largest cities
Anderson | Bloomington | Carmel | Columbus | East Chicago | Elkhart | Evansville | Fishers | Fort Wayne | Gary | Goshen | Greenwood | Hammond | Indianapolis | Jeffersonville | Kokomo | Lafayette | Lawrence | Marion | Merrillville | Michigan City | Mishawaka | Muncie | New Albany | Noblesville | Portage | Richmond | South Bend | Terre Haute | Valparaiso | West Lafayette
Counties
Adams | Allen | Bartholomew | Benton | Blackford | Boone | Brown | Carroll | Cass | Clark | Clay | Clinton | Crawford | Daviess | De Kalb | Dearborn | Decatur | Delaware | Dubois | Elkhart | Fayette | Floyd | Fountain | Franklin | Fulton | Gibson | Grant | Greene | Hamilton | Hancock | Harrison | Hendricks | Henry | Howard | Huntington | Jackson | Jasper | Jay | Jefferson | Jennings | Johnson | Knox | Kosciusko | Lagrange | Lake | LaPorte | Lawrence | Madison | Marion | Marshall | Martin | Miami | Monroe | Montgomery | Morgan | Newton | Noble | Ohio | Orange | Owen | Parke | Perry | Pike | Porter | Posey | Pulaski | Putnam | Randolph | Ripley | Rush | Saint Joseph | Scott | Shelby | Spencer | Starke | Steuben | Sullivan | Switzerland | Tippecanoe | Tipton | Union | Vanderburgh | Vermillion | Vigo | Wabash | Warren | Warrick | Washington | Wayne | Wells | White | Whitley

 

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