Visit to historic Coydon, Ind. Part I: Historic structures

In my many years of living in Indianapolis, I'd long had a photography trip to Corydon, Ind., in the back of my mental bucket list. After moving to North Carolina in 2017, I thought I would never get to do that trip.  

But a twist of fate landed me in Corydon in late June and early July. Lee Ann and I went there so Lee Ann could go through some personal belongings of her late second cousin, Linda Kay. While there, Lee Ann also visited Linda Kay's parents, who live in an assisted-living facility there. 

In a delightful coincidence, Linda Kay's father, Bud, and I had worked at The Indianapolis Star and News at the same time for the first nine years I was there. But we worked in different departments and on different shifts, so we never crossed paths at the old plant at 307 N. Pennsylvania St. before Bud retired in the late 1980s.

For me, the big draw to Corydon was the fact that it served briefly as Indiana's first state capital, and I knew that the original state capitol was still standing in the town square. 

Indeed, the building (shown in the photo leading off the post) is still there, but boy, for a state capitol, it is small! The nearby Harrison County Courthouse towers over it by comparison. My walk-through in the downtown area was a whirlwind because of time constraints, so I was not able to explore whether I could have had access inside the capitol. (I later learned that tours are available, but only at certain times.) The structure certainly adds to the town courthouse square's charm, and all in all, I enjoyed the small-town feel of Corydon.

In still another twist of fate, we were there briefly the opening night (Friday, July 1) of the revived Corydon Popcorn Festival. I hadn't realized that Corydon had hosted an annual popcorn festival before this visit, but the locals told me it was discontinued about 25 years ago. Popcorn, it turns out, is a significant agricultural product in Harrison County. 

I did my major walk-through shoot on Thursday, and some of the festival prep work was starting late that afternoon. I saw more of it the next day and was around for the opening music act at the concert tent at the corner of Walnut and Elm streets, just off the town square. More on the festival, along with pictures, in a subsequent post.  

The square is the heart of downtown; in addition to the original capitol and county courthouse, it also features a memorial to Frank O'Bannon, Indiana's 47th governor who served from 1997 until his death in September 2003. O'Bannon toiled as a newspaper reporter in his early years in Corydon before entering politics.  

A few blocks northwest of downtown is the historic Constitution Elm Stump. Under this full elm that once stood on West High Street, 43 delegates convened for 19 days in June 1816 in Corydon to hold a convention to draft the state's constitution. Corydon had been chosen as the state capital; at that time, the capitol was still under construction and not usable, so delegates met in a log cabin on High Street.

But it was so hot in June of that year that delegates moved outdoors and set up under the shady branches of a massive nearby elm tree to continue their business. The constitution's centennial was celebrated in Corydon in 1916, nine years before the elm died. Fifteen feet of the tree's trunk was salvaged and stands preserved on the same property. It is surrounded by a stone enclosure that has openings on all four sides so visitors can see the elm. 

A couple blocks east of there is the first state office building, which has a historic marker in front explaining its significance. From the street, the yellow "office building" looks like a house. I learned of its historic significance because of a state historic market situated on the front lawn. 

Above and first three below: More views of the original state capitol, including a closeup of the front door. 

  

Above and first two below: Perspectives of the memorial to Frank O'Bannon on the original capitol and courthouse square.

Above and first eight below: Perspectives of the Harrison County Courthouse, also in the downtown square containing the original capitol building.

Above and 10 photos below: Different views of the First Indiana State Office Building. The first photo below is a closeup of the historical marker in the front yard, which states that the structure was built in 1817, the year after the Constitution was drafted, and it housed the offices of state auditor and treasurer until fall of 1824. The cellar was used as the official state treasury vault. From 1829-51, the building was used by Harrison County Seminary. After 1871, the property fell into the hands of heirs of onetime Corydon Democrat publisher Amzi Brewster. The photos show the building's backside, including a stone paver patio.  

Above and first three photos below:  On Walnut Street, just north of the courthouse square, stand the above historic building, which Gov. William Hendricks used as his  headquarters while serving as governor from 1822-25. As the historic marker below informs, Hendricks also had served as secretary of the Constitutional Convention in 1816. Years after Hendricks lived here, the home was acquired by local Judge William A. Porter, a staunch Whig Party leader who served many terms in the Indiana State Legislature, including a stint as House Speaker in 1849. The second and third photos below stands a structure marked as a historic site. It is next door to the Hendricks-Porter building, but its historic significance is unclear, unless the "Carriage House" sign above the front door means it was used by the early occupants as a carriage house.  

Above and five photos below: These are views of the Constitution Elm, a monument north and slightly west of downtown on West High Street. As mentioned in the text, delegates to the Indiana Constitutional Convention met on this property in June 1816 to draft the state's constitution. They began in the log structure in the background of the photo above, but it was so hot that month that the delegates moved outdoors and sat beneath the shady branches of a massive elm tree, where they continued their efforts for the next 18 days. The tree was about 50 feet tall and survived through the state's observance of the centennial in 1916, but it died nine years after that. The state preserved 15 feet of the tree's main trunk and covered it with a stone enclosure that is open on all four sides so visitors can appreciate the historic elm. The last photograph -- which is part of the monument components -- shows a picture of the full elm in its last years in the 1920s. 

Next: The rest of downtown Corydon