Knightstown is a town in Wayne Township, Henry County, Indiana, adjacent to Rush County, along the Big Blue River. The population was 2,182 at the 2010 census. It is approximately thirty-two miles east of Indianapolis.
State Road 140 is a State Road in the eastern section of the state of Indiana. Running for about 2.25 miles (3.62 km) in a general north–south direction, connecting rural portions of Rush and Henry counties. SR 140 was originally introduced in 1932 to connect Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home to US 40 in Knightstown. The road was paved by the late 1930s.
East Central Indiana is a region in Indiana east of Indianapolis, Indiana, and borders the Ohio state line. The Indiana Gas Boom, which took place during the 1890s, changed much of the area from small agricultural communities to larger cities with economies that included manufacturing. Companies such as Ball Corporation and Overhead Door once had their headquarters in the region. Glass manufacturing was the first industry to be widespread in the area, because of the natural gas. As the glass industry faded, many of the skilled workers became employed at auto parts factories in cities such as Muncie and Anderson. With the decline of the American automobile industry, East Central Indiana became part of the Rust Belt. Many communities have been forced to reinvent themselves with a focus on services or a return to agriculture.
John Adam Hasecoster (1844–1925) was an American architect in Indiana. His practice was located in Richmond, Indiana. He designed public buildings as well as residences in the area, some of which have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Knightstown Academy is a historic school building located at Knightstown, Henry County, Indiana. It was built as a Quaker Academy in 1876 and affiliated with the Society of Friends. The building is located north of the National Road on Cary at Washington Street. The building was designed in Second Empire style. It has a mansard roof and twin four story towers that are topped by a telescope and a globe. After the building ceased to be used as an academy, it functioned for many years as the local public high school. It is now an apartment building. The attached gymnasium was used as the home court of the Hickory Huskers in the 1985 movie Hoosiers.
New Castle High School is a public high school in New Castle, Indiana whose name is commonly abbreviated to NCHS. It is part of the New Castle Community School Corporation and has an enrollment of approximately 900 students. NCHS is the largest high school in Henry County.
The Charles A. Beard Memorial School Corporation, named after historian Charles A. Beard, is a public school corporation located in southwestern Henry County, Indiana and serving Knightstown and surrounding areas. The district was formed in 1963 through the consolidation of schools in Wayne and Greensboro townships. Ripley Township, in neighboring Rush County, would later be added.
Bryantsburg is an unincorporated community in Monroe Township, Jefferson County, Indiana.
Volga is an unincorporated community in Smyrna Township, Jefferson County, Indiana. The name's origin is not known with certainty, but is believed to have been adopted from Volga in Russia.
The Hoosier Gym is a basketball gymnasium, museum, and community center located in Knightstown, Indiana. It is famous for being a filming location for the 1986 basketball movie Hoosiers, starring Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper. The gym was the home court of the movie's Hickory Huskers. The facility has retained the same appearance as when the movie was filmed in 1985. The gym attracts 80,000 tourists to the town per year.
The Mid-Hoosier Conference is a seven-member IHSAA-sanctioned athletic association located within Bartholomew, Decatur, Johnson, and Shelby Counties in Central Indiana.
The Tri-Eastern Conference is a nine-member IHSAA-Sanctioned Athletic Conference formed by five schools in 1962. The current nine teams are located in the counties of Henry, Randolph, Union, and Wayne.
The White River Conference was an Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA)–sanctioned conference located within rural areas of East Central Indiana, that existed twice, once from 1954 to 1977, and from 1989 to 2010. The first version of the conference was founded as a home for high schools in Madison County who weren't in the Central Indiana Athletic Conference. The conference would expand quickly from six to nine schools, as two new high schools in Anderson and Middletown, a school in Henry County, were added within two years. Membership was generally not stable until 1969, as Madison Heights left, Highland was forced out and eventually added back into the conference, St. Mary's closed, member schools consolidated, and schools from neighboring Delaware and Hancock counties were added. Eventually, large disparities in enrollment causing the conference to disband, as city and consolidated schools outgrew their rural counterparts.. Schools would move into the Big Blue River Conference, Classic Athletic Conference, and Mid-Eastern Conference.
Barbersville was an unincorporated town in Shelby Township, Jefferson County, Indiana.
The Big Blue River Conference was an IHSAA-mandated conference featuring schools from North Central and East Central Indiana. It operated from the 1968–69 school year until 1988–89. Five of the original seven schools came from the East Central Conference, four directly, while Tri was formed from the consolidation of ECC member Spiceland. Morton Memorial, the last remaining ECC member in 1969, would join the conference that year, along with Hamilton Southeastern. The nine school format did not last long, as Morton Memorial left after one season, and Hamilton Southeastern had outgrown the conference and left by 1972. The conference briefly returned to nine schools in 1977, as Lapel and Shenandoah joined from the folding White River Conference. However, North Decatur left three years later, as the new expansion left them geographically isolated. Morristown would follow suit in 1985, as the school dropped football. The conference would split in 1989, as Lapel and Shenandoah would help reform the WRC, New Palestine and Triton Central would move to the Rangeline Conference, and Tri was accepted into the Tri-Eastern Conference. Knightstown and Eastern Hancock were left as independents, though both would join the WRC six and eight years later, respectively.
William E. Adams was an American lawyer and politician from New York.
WKPW is a classic hits, classic rock and oldies formatted noncommercial broadcast radio station licensed to Knightstown, Indiana. WKPW is owned by New Castle Career Center and operated by students at Knightstown High School.
Douglas J. Morris was an American lawyer, politician, and judge who served as a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from January 2, 1911 to January 1, 1917.
Ruby Green Smith was an American entomologist, peace campaigner and home economics educator. She is known for having authored The Home Bureau Creed.
