Famous Citizens:

Cole Porter
Born in Peru, Indiana, Cole Porter was one of America’s most prolific writers of Broadway musicals. Porter wrote both lyrics and melodies for shows like Anything Goes, Kiss Me Kate, and High Society. During the 1930s, his most productive decade, seven of his musicals were playing simultaneously on Broadway.

 

 

Ernest Taylor Pyle
Ernie Pyle, born in Dana, Indiana, was a journalist and war correspondent best known for his work during World War II. Pyle offered a foxhole view of the life of the average soldier through a column that reached millions of Americans in 400 daily and 300 weekly newspapers. Traveling with a group of infantrymen, the reporter was killed by a sniper's machine-gun bullet in le Shima, a small island west of Okinawa.

 

 

James Whitcomb Riley
One of the most beloved poets in American history, James Whitcomb Riley was born in Greenfield, Indiana. He achieved popularity as “The Hoosier Poet” through his use of Indiana dialect, humor, and realistic portrayal of Midwestern life. Some of his best-known poems include “Little Orphant Annie,” “The Raggedy Man,” and “When the Frost is on the Punkin.”

 

 

Booth Tarkington
Author Booth Tarkington was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is best known for a series of realistic novels about life in the Midwest including The Gentleman from Indiana, and two Pulitzer Prize winners, The Magnificent Ambersons, and Alice Adams. He also wrote numerous plays, short stories, and essays.

 

 

Wilbur Wright
One of the fathers of American aviation, Wilbur Wright was born in Millville, Indiana. He and his brother Orville made aviation history with the first-ever manned, powered flight in 1903. Wilbur Wright was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in 1965.