Indiana Culture & Facts

What Makes Indiana, Indiana

Indiana is a state defined by its people more than its geography. Hoosiers are known for their hospitality, pragmatism, and fierce local pride. The culture is a blend of Midwestern work ethic, small-town tradition, and pockets of cosmopolitan energy — especially in Indianapolis and in towns like Bloomington and West Lafayette. From covered bridges to limestone quarries, sugar cream pie to the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich, Indiana's identity is unmistakably its own.

The state has produced an outsized number of writers, musicians, presidents, and cultural figures. Kurt Vonnegut, Cole Porter, John Mellencamp, and James Dean all called Indiana home. Two U.S. presidents — Benjamin Harrison and Abraham Lincoln (who was raised here) — are Hoosiers. It's a state where you can visit Santa Claus (the town), walk through the world's largest collection of covered bridges, and eat a tenderloin the size of a dinner plate — all in the same weekend.

Famous Hoosiers

• 1 Abraham Lincoln Raised in Indiana (Spencer County, 1816–1830); 16th President of the United States
• 2 Benjamin Harrison 23rd President, lived and practiced law in Indianapolis
• 3 James Dean Actor and cultural icon, raised in Fairmount
• 4 Kurt Vonnegut Author of Slaughterhouse-Five, born in Indianapolis
• 5 John Mellencamp Singer-songwriter, born in Seymour
• 6 Cole Porter Legendary Broadway and film composer, born in Peru
• 7 Madam C.J. Walker First female self-made millionaire in America, based in Indianapolis
• 8 Orville Redenbacher Popcorn magnate, born in Brazil, Indiana
• 9 David Letterman TV host, born in Indianapolis
• 10 Eugene V. Debs Labor leader and five-time presidential candidate, from Terre Haute
• 11 Booth Tarkington Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, born in Indianapolis
• 12 Virgil "Gus" Grissom Astronaut, Mercury and Gemini programs, from Mitchell
• 13 Michael Jackson King of Pop, born in Gary
• 14 Janet Jackson Singer and entertainer, born in Gary
• 15 Axl Rose Rock vocalist, born in Lafayette
• 16 Ernie Pyle Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent, from Dana
• 17 Ambrose Burnside Civil War general; namesake of "sideburns," from Liberty
• 18 Dan Quayle 44th Vice President, from Huntington
• 19 Jim Davis Creator of Garfield, born in Marion
• 20 Wendell Willkie 1940 Republican presidential nominee, from Elwood
• 21 Twyla Tharp Pioneering choreographer, born in Portland
• 22 Jane Pauley Journalist and TV host, born in Indianapolis
• 23 Jenna Fischer Actress (The Office), from Fort Wayne

Museums & Cultural Institutions

Indiana Limestone

Indiana limestone — specifically Salem Limestone from Lawrence and Monroe counties — is the most widely used building stone in the United States.

The limestone belt runs roughly from Putnam County south through Owen, Monroe, Lawrence, and Washington counties. Bedford, Indiana, is known as the "Limestone Capital of the World."

Buildings Made from Indiana Limestone

Amish Country

Indiana has the third-largest amish population in the united states. Elkhart and LaGrange counties are home to one of the densest Amish settlements in the world. Visitors can drive the Heritage Trail through working farms, quilt shops, and furniture makers.

Fun Facts About Indiana

• Indiana has more miles of interstate highway per square mile than any other state.
• Parke County has 31 covered bridges — more than any other county in the U.S.
• Indiana limestone was used to build the Empire State Building, the Pentagon, and 35 of 50 state capitols.
• The word "Hoosier" has been in use since the 1830s, but nobody has definitively proven its origin.
• Indiana produces more steel than any other state — most of it from the mills of northwest Indiana.
• Elwood Haynes of Kokomo built one of America's first gasoline-powered automobiles in 1894.
• The Santa Claus post office in Santa Claus, Indiana, answers thousands of letters to Santa every December.
• Indiana was the first state to implement a statewide natural gas pipeline system.
• Sugar cream pie is the official state pie — invented by farmwives who had no fruit on hand.
• The breaded pork tenderloin sandwich was invented in Huntington, Indiana, in 1904.
• Dan Quayle, the 44th Vice President, was from Huntington, Indiana.
• Studebaker automobiles were built in South Bend from 1902 to 1963.
• The Wabash and Erie Canal (1836–1853) was the longest canal ever built in North America at 468 miles.
• Indiana contributed more soldiers per capita to the Union Army during the Civil War than any other state.
• Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville has 390-million-year-old fossil beds — some of the oldest exposed fossils in the world.
• Abraham Lincoln lived in Indiana from age 7 to 21. His mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln is buried in Spencer County.
• The city of Gary was created from scratch in 1906 by U.S. Steel and named after the company's chairman.
• Indiana has over 900 natural lakes, most of them formed by glaciers during the last ice age.
• Bluespring Caverns in Lawrence County contains the longest underground river in the United States at over 20 miles.
• The Wabash was the first electrically lighted city in the world, on March 31, 1880.
• Angel Mounds near Evansville was home to a Mississippian culture settlement from 1100 to 1450 CE — one of the most important archaeological sites east of the Mississippi.
• Indiana's nickname for a resident — "Hoosier" — is the only state demonym with a completely unknown etymology.
• Parke County's Covered Bridge Festival draws over 2 million visitors in 10 days, making it the largest festival in the state.