article

Richmond (IPA: ) is a city in east central Indiana, which borders Ohio. It is sometimes called the "cradle of recorded jazz" because some early jazz records originated there at the studio of Gennett Records, a division of the Starr Piano Company.Starr Gennett Foundation, http://starrgennett.org/, URL accessed May 29, 2006. Richmond is the county seat of Wayne County, named for General Mad Anthony Wayne, who was a leader in early conflicts with Native Americans. The city's 2000 population was 39,124. In the 1990s, Richmond's population declined by 1.6 percent.http://www.city-data.com/city/Richmond-Indiana.html

History

Richmond was settled along the East Fork of the Whitewater River in 1806 by Quaker families from North Carolina. John Smith and David Hoover were among the earliest settlers. Richmond is still home to several Quaker institutions including Friends United Meeting, Earlham College and the Earlham School of Religion.

Richmond is believed to have been the smallest community in the United States with a professional opera company and symphony orchestra. The Whitewater Opera has since closed its doors but the Richmond Symphony Orchestra is a source of community pride. Will Earhart formed the first complete high school orchestra in Richmond in 1899. A later orchestra director, Joseph E. Maddy went on to found what is now known as the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan.

A significant group of artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries came to be known as the "Richmond School." The list of artists includes John Elwood Bundy, George Herbert Baker, Maude Kaufman Eggemeyer and John Albert Seaford among others. The Richmond Art Museum has an outstanding collection of regional and American art.Richmond Art Museum, http://www.richmondartmuseum.org/, URL accessed May 30, 2006. Many consider the most significant painting in the collection to be a self portrait of Indiana-born William Merritt Chase.Self-portrait: The Artist in his Studio, 1916, http://www.richmondartmuseum.org/collection/lg-pages/chase-william-merritt.htm, URL accessed May 30, 2006.

Richmond was once known as "the lawnmower capital" because of the lawn mowers manufactured there from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century. Manufacturers included Motomower Dille-McGuire and F&N.

In the 1920s, Indiana had the strongest Ku Klux Klan organization in the country under Grand Dragon D. C. Stephenson, with control over the state legislature and an ally in Governor Ed Jackson.Indiana State Library, Ku Klux Klan Resources from the Indiana Division, http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/isl/indiana/Klan.html, URL accessed May 30, 2006 At its height, national membership during the second Klan movement reached 1.5 million, with 300,000 from Indiana.Ku Klux Klan, Wayne County, Indiana Records, 1916–1933, http://www.indianahistory.org/library/manuscripts/collection_guides/M0407.html, URL accessed on May 29, 2006. Records show that Richmond (home to Whitewater Klan #60) and Wayne County were Klan strongholds, with up to 45 percent of the county's white males having been Klan members.Citizen Klansmen: The Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, 1921-1928, Leonard J. Moore, North Carolina Press, 1997. At the same time Gennett Records was recording important black jazz artists,How the Early Jazz Captured by Gennett Influenced the Shape of Things to Come, http://starrgennett.org/stories/articles/way_station.htm, URL accessed May 29, 2006. it also produced private-label contract recordings for the Ku Klux Klan.Gennett Numerical Series, http://www.vjm.biz/new_page_6.htm, URL accesses May 29, 1006, Official racial segregation was a feature of Richmond life until 1965, when the city ended its policy of restricting black firefighters to one station and limiting the promotion opportunities of firemen and policemen.

After starting out in nearby Union City, Wayne Agricultural Works moved to Richmond. Wayne was a manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles, including "kid hacks", a precursor of the motorized school bus. Beginning in the early 1930s through the 1940s, several automobile designers and manufacturers were located in Richmond. Among the automobiles manufactured there was the "Richmond" which was built by the Wayne Works, the "Rodefeld", the "Davis", the "Pilot", the Westcott and the Crosley.

In the 1950s, Wayne Works became Wayne Corporation, a well-known bus manufacturer, and relocated to a site adjacent to Interstate 70 in 1967. The company was a leader in school bus safety innovations, but closed in 1992 during a period of school bus manufacturing industry consolidations.

Richmond was known as the Rose City because of the many varieties once grown there by Hill's Roses in several sprawling complexes of greenhouses. The company once had about 34 acres under glass. The Richmond Rose Festival honored the rose industry and was a popular summer attraction.

Richmond is located on the National Road,Road through the Wilderness The Making of the National Road, http://www.connerprairie.org/historyonline/ntlroad.html, URL accessed May 30, 2006. which became part of the system of National Auto Trails. The highway is now known as U.S. Highway 40. One of the extant Madonna of the Trail monuments was dedicated at Richmond on October 28, 1928Madonna of the Trail, http://www.waynet.org/facts/madonna_of_the_trail.htm, URL accessed May 30, 2006. The monument sits in a corner of Glen Miller Park adjacent to U.S. 40.

On April 6, 1968, several downtown blocks were destroyed or damaged by a natural gas explosion and fire, killing 41 people and injuring more than 150.Death in a Sunny Street : The Civil Defense Story of the Richmond, Indiana Disaster, April 6, 1968, http://gates.mrl.lib.in.us:8080/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/fulltext&CISOPTR=1981&REC=1, URL accessed May 29, 2006. Thereafter, the main street through downtown was closed to traffic and the Downtown Promenade was built in 1972 (and later expanded in 1978). The five-block pedestrian mall was later torn down and the street reopened to traffic in 1997 as part of an urban revitalization effort.

Architecture

Richmond is noted for its historic architecture. In 2003, a book entitled Richmond Indiana: Its Physical Development and Aesthetic Heritage to 1920 by Cornell University architectural historians, Michael and Mary Raddant Tomlan, was published by the Indiana Historical Society. This work is the result of twenty five years of research on Richmond's growth and development. Particularly notable buildings are the 1902 Pennsylvania Railroad Station designed by Daniel Burnham and the 1893 Wayne County Court House designed by James McLaughlin of Cincinnati. Local architects of note include John A. Hasecoster, William S. Kaufman and Stephen O. Yates. Five large districts and several individual buildings are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the Historic American Buildings Survey and the Historic American Engineering Record.

Educational institutions

Geography

Richmond is located at (39.830189, -84.890668).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 60.3 km² (23.3 mi²). 60.1 km² (23.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.26%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 39,124 people, 16,287 households, and 9,918 families residing in the city. The population density was 650.8/km² (1,685.3/mi²). There were 17,647 housing units at an average density of 293.6/km² (760.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 86.78% White, 8.87% African American, 0.27% Native American, 0.80% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.09% from other races, and 2.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.03% of the population.

There were 16,287 households out of which 27.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.1% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.1% were non-families. 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the city the population was spread out with 23.4% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 88.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,210, and the median income for a family was $38,346. Males had a median income of $30,849 versus $21,164 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,096. About 12.1% of families and 15.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.8% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.

Points of interest

Notable Richmondites

Sister cities

Richmond's sister cities are Daito-Cho, Shimane Prefecture, Japan and Serpukhov, Russia. There have been various cultural exchanges between Richmond and its sister cities, the most recent of which took place in 2001.

Notes

External links

1806 establishments | Cities in Indiana | Micropolitan areas of Indiana | Wayne County, Indiana

Richmond (Indiana) | Richmond, Indiana

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Richmond, Indiana".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world