Anderson
ABOUT ANDERSON INDIANA
The area around what is now Anderson was opened to settlers around 1818 when the Delaware and Miami Indians “ceded” their land to the U.S. government. One of the earliest villages, about 45 miles northeast of Indianapolis, was called Anderson Town or Andersontown. At the time, the village was surrounded by dense, unbroken forests; through which wandered bears, deer, wolves, and panthers.
The town was named after Chief William Anderson, whose mother was a Delaware Indian and whose father was of Swedish descent. An Indian chief with a Swedish accent. What’ll they think of next? The chief’s Indian name was Sven. Just kidding. It was Kikthawenund, which means “making a noise” or “causing to crack.” It was the site of his Delaware Indian village on which the town is set.
The town bounced back and forth between town and village status for a few decades with a new, shortened name, Anderson. Today, it’s among the ten largest cities in Indiana and the county seat of Madison County.
In 1887 natural gas was discovered in Anderson, starting the Indiana natural gas boom. With natural gas available, many new factories located nearby, creating a population boom for Anderson. That was good for 25 years until the natural gas ran dry, and several factories shut down or left. The good news is that it was around the time of that new, fancy auto-mobile invention, and Anderson’s Chamber of Commerce convinced Delco Remy and Fisher Guide to stick around, becoming the top two employers in the city for decades.
For the past couple of decades, Anderson has struggled along with its car industry brethren. But over the past few years, Anderson’s leadership has been more successful in bringing back new industry, and downtown Anderson has enojyed a range of new activity from entertainment and festivals to millions of dollars in construction. The city’s future is bright.
Famous/infamous folk from Anderson include:
• Sandi Patty – around Christian music circles, Sandi Patty is dubbed “The Voice.” A 2004 Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductee, Sandi has won 40-some Gospel Music Association Dove Awards as well as five Grammy awards.
• Winfred Durbin. 25th governor of Indiana (1901-1905).
• Max Terhune, a Hollywood B-movie actor (mostly westerns) in the ’40s and ’50s. The “Chester” of his time.
• Carl Erskine, Brooklyn and Los Angelese Dodgers pitcher (’48-’59). The heart of the “Boys of Summer” pitching lineup.
• Lowell Amos Convicted in 1996 for drugging and killing his third wife, Amos actually had a Lifetime Network movie made about him, “The Black Widower.” Just for that? No. His two previous wives and his mother all died under equally suspicious circumstances, from which he got various amounts of cash. Dude’s in prison now.
