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Indiana Quarters – Two Lanes of American HistoryIndiana quarters, such as the one pictured above, call attention to two of the many subjects of interest associated with the 19th US state.The BrickyardThe race car that roars out from the center evokes the early commitment to the fledgling auto industry of the early 20th century. The 1909-built Indianapolis Motor Speedway, nicknamed “The Brickyard” for the brick surface of its original oval, was an early automotive test facility, and the site of what is still a premier automobile racing event – the Indianapolis 500.It’s a dynamic image drenched in motion and emotion. Crossroads of AmericaThe state slogan, “Crossroads of America”, is the other major design element featured on the Indiana state quarter. People have moved across the land that became Indiana well before statehood.Seventeenth century French fur trappers and traders moved through this land on their way from Canada to Louisiana. One of their settlements became the modern city of Vincennes. British troops were next – extending and defending English influence during the 1760s. By 1800, the young and growing United States designated a portion of its Northwest Territory the Indiana Territory. American settlers pressed in from the Eastern seaboard, moving through Allegheny passes and “gaps” in a search for new land and a place to prosper. In 1816 the territory became the state of Indiana – population 60,000, give or take. Indiana was an important stop on the “Underground Railroad” prior to the American Civil War. Freedom-seeking slaves found a brief respite in Indiana while on their way to Canada. After the war, and on into the 20th century, the other kind of railroad (the kind with rails and locomotives) stretched their tracks across the state, east to west and north to south. Today Indiana’s crossroads include major interstate highway junctions that hub the nation’s transcontinental trucking industry.
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