Indiana Fun Facts
Indiana' s average altitude is 700 feet. The highest point is Franklin Township in Wayne County at 1,257 feet. The lowest point is the Ohio River in Posey County at 320 feet.
Except for Hawaii, Indiana is the smallest state west of the Appalachians. The state is 265 miles north to south and 140 miles east to west. Only 253 square miles of its 35,932 square miles is water.
| Firsts | Made here | What we do | Geography |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rock wool was first manufactured in the United States at Crystal Chemical Works in Alexandria, Ind., in 1897. | The Ball canning jar became popular after the five Ball brothers moved their manufacturing company from Buffalo. N.Y., to Muncie, Ind. Ball State University took its name from the company and its owners. | Indiana is primarily and agricultural and industrial state. Principal crops are corn and soybeans. Primary manufactured goods include steel, tranportation equipment, electrical and electronic equipment, plastics, chemical products, pharmaceuticals and foods. | Indiana has three distinct geograhpic areas. The northern area is full of lakes and moraines (hills of dirt and rocks left by glaciers). The central area is a low plain with small rivers and a few hills. The southern third is full of valleys and hills. |
| The settlement at New Harmony in 1825 by Robert Owen was the nation's first non-religious commune. The commune had about 1,000 members and lasted for two years. | Because his silverware that would not tarnish, Elwood Hayes of Kokomo (also prominent in automobile manufacturing) invented stainless steel in 1912. | Indiana's 41-mile Lake Michigan waterfront is one of the country's biggest industrial centers. Steel is a chief product, and Burns Harbor in Portage is the biggest port. | Since presettlement days, Indiana has gone from 2 million acres of prairie to 600 acres, 20 million acres of forest to 4 million acres and 1.5 million acres of wetlands to 300,000 acres. |
| Indiana University was the first state university in the nation to grant equal privileges to women and produce a female graduate (Sarah Parke Morrison, in 1869). | Eli Lilly & Co., one of the world's largest drug companies, was begun in Indianapolis in 1876. Lilly, a Union Army officer in the Civil War, was disgusted with the quality of pharmaceuticals the Army was required to use. | Indiana's percentage of U.S. manufacturing employment has remained relatively stable -- 3.70 percent in 1972, and 3.27 percent in 1990. | The 14,000 acres of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore cpntain sandy beaches, bogs, marshes, forests and grassy hills. |
Crossroads of America |
Indiana adopted that state motto in 1917 when it was the population center of the U.S. The title is still appropriate, because it has more highways intersecting it than any other state. |
