2010 census Indiana population 6,483,802, 345,121 age 70-79 - 5.3%, 197,754 age 80-89 - 3.0%, 38,094 age 90-99 - .59%, 1,083 100 years and over - 0.0167%. Slightly more females than males age 70 to 20% males by age 100 years. From U.S Census Bureau Centarians: 2010.
2010
2010, October 14 - Indiana ranks fourth among corn producing states, the U.S. produces 40% of the world corn. Read more at My Indiana Home Corny Indiana Trivia.
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2011, June 10 - 42,000 square foot Taylor’s Dream Boundless Playground opening. Was named for 11-year-old Taylor Reuille and her friends. They raised funds and worked with Parks & Recreation to create a space where kids with and without disabilities can build skills for life through play. Named #7 of 8 Awesome Accessible Attractions In The USA by Katie Foote published January 25, 2017 on Epicure&Culture.com.
2011, December 22 - just days before Christmas, 9-year-old Alihana Lemmon gruesome murder occurred in an Allen County trailer court when babysitter and trusted neighbor Michael Plumadore (39) bludgeoned Aliahna Lemmon (9) to death with a brick then dismembered her, hiding her head, hands and feet at his home and dumping the rest of her remains nearby. (AP, 12/28/11)
2012, June 4 - More than 2,000 people gathered near downtown Fort Wayne on the evening of June 4 to celebrate the opening of the new Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge on U.S. 27/Clinton Street. The bridge features 25 plaques with quotes from Martin Luther King Jr., sculptural etchings, a 50-foot arch, pedestrian seating midway across the span, and state-of-the-art lighting that displays millions of shades of color. Such aesthetics make it an ideal gateway to downtown Fort Wayne. Copied from MLK Bridge Opening Celebrated In Fort Wayne District on Inside INDOT.
2012 June 18 - Michael L. Plumadore was sentenced to life plus 36 years in prison for killing 9-year-old Aliahna Lemmon. Plumadore, a family friend was baby-sitting Lemmon and her sisters when Aliahna went missing days before Christmas 2011.
2012, June 29 - an unusually strong thunderstorm known as a "derecho" moved through much of the Midwest. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses in the Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana area were left without power; countless buildings and many properties were damaged from fallen trees. This collection [Summer Storm 2012] represents photographs contributed by the community to document this event. From Allen County Public Library Digital Collection.a Winds peaked at 91 mph wind, followed by another powerful storm July 5, left 78,000 people, businesses and homes without electricity, many for nearly a week. The derecho traveled 700 miles, across 10 states and Washington, D.C. The American Red Cross set up cooling centers due to the extreme muggy heat in the 90°s. See graphs and satelite images from the U.S. Department of Commerce National Weather Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The Historic Derecho of June 29, 2012.
2012, July 7 - set record of four straight days over 100° from FortWayne.com. End up with record 6 days above 100°.
2012, August 8 - was the 56th consecutive day with high temperatures of at least 80 degrees at Fort Wayne. This broke the previous record of 55 which was set in 1899. The streak ended on Thursday August 9, as the high temperature only reached 79 at Fort Wayne. From NOAA National Weather Service Northern Indiana.
2012, August 24 - America's Most Wanted, a television show on the Lifetime Network, took another look at the unsolved killing of 8-year-old April Marie Tinsley who went missing April 1, 1988. Her body was found in a ditch days later.
2012, October 12 - Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad freight house at Clinton and Fourth streets torn down by owners angering preservationists who wanted to make it part of downtown revitalization project.
Have you voted yet? Here's a tidbit of history about Election Day from our popular source, Writer's Almanac:
"Today is Election Day. Millions of people across the country will be going to the polls today to elect new legislators, judges, sheriffs, school board members, and of course, the president.
The first federal election under the U.S. Constitution was held in 1788, and it had the lowest turnout in the history of American elections. Only 11 percent of eligible voters voted. To be eligible to vote at the time, you had to be a white male property owner. But different states had trouble defining what a property owner was.
"In Pennsylvania, you just had to prove that you paid taxes. In New York, you had to prove that your estate was worth a certain amount of money. If your estate was greater than 20 pounds, you could vote for state assembly, but your estate had to be worth more than 100 pounds to vote for senator or governor. In Connecticut, you had to be a white male property owner 'of a quiet and peaceable behavior and civil conversation.'
"In order to vote in that first election, voters had to travel many miles to the nearest polling place, which was often a tavern. There they met the candidates for their district's seat on the state assembly. In many precincts, there were no ballots. Voters announced their votes to the sheriff in loud, clear voices, and then stood by the candidate they had voted for, who usually offered them something to drink.
"It wasn't until 1820 that American voters in every state were able to vote in the presidential election. Before that, many states simply let the state legislators choose presidential electors who cast votes for president. Even after voters began choosing presidential electors themselves, different states held Election Day on different dates. The first uniform Election Day took place on November 4, 1845.
"For the first 50 years of American elections, only 15 percent of the adult population was eligible to vote. Thomas Dorr was one of the first politicians to argue that poor people should be given voting rights. As a member of the Rhode Island legislature, Dorr argued that all white adult men should have the vote, regardless of their wealth. He incited a riot to protest the governor's election of 1842 and went to prison for treason, but most states began to let poor white men vote soon after. Women won the right to vote in 1920, and many African-Americans were prevented from voting throughout the South until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
"John Quincy Adams said: 'Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.'
"Rosa Luxemburg said: 'Without general elections, without unrestrained freedom of the press and assembly, without a free struggle of opinion, life dies out in every public institution.'
Mark Twain said: 'If there is any valuable difference between a monarchist and an American, it lies in the theory that the American can decide for himself what is patriotic and what isn't. I claim that difference. I am the only person in the 60 millions that is privileged to dictate my patriotism.'"
2012 - ends with only 28 inches of rain, about 10 inches below normal rain, still in a moderate drought from WANE TV
2013, February 3 - Rev. John Michael D'Arcy, 80, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, died late Sunday morning at his Fort Wayne residence, succumbing to cancer discovered shortly after Christmas.
2013, February 3 - Super Bowl XLVII Bernard Pollard becomes the third football player from Fort Wayne to be on a winning Super Bowl team - second as a Baltimore Ravens.
2013, February 3 - Lavonne "Pepper" Paire-Davis, 88, died. A star of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s, played for the Fort Wayne Daisies, and was an inspiration for the central character played by Geena Davis in the 1992 hit movie "A League of Their Own."
During the last 50 years, the foreign-born population of the United States has undergone dramatic changes in size, origins, and geographic distribution. The Decennial Census and the annual American Community Survey allow us to trace the changes in the foreign-born population over time.
2013, March 6 - 10.4 inches of snow fell ending on March 6. The 9 inches on March 5 broke a record and was the 3rd highest March snowfall. The highest March snowfall was 12.6 inches March 10, 1964 and second was 9.5 inches on March 17, 1973. The 2 day total was the 3rd highest since 1912. The highest 2 day total was 14.3 inches ending on March 11, 1964. The last time a 2 day total was higher was 10.8 inches ending February 1, 1982 and December 19, 1973.
2013, March 6 - the DNR - Indiana Department of Natural Resources posts 1990-2011 bobcat mortalities by year rising from 1 in 1990 to over 70 per year the past couple years on their Facebook page indicating the bobcat population in Indiana is increasing.
2013, May 2 - 150 Years of News - The Journal Gazette newspapercelebrates 150 years of historic front pages with a special pull-out section of the newspaper.
2013, May 7 - a national crime story about 3 girls kidnapped for 10 years in Cleveland, Ohio has a Fort Wayne connection. Ohio kidnap suspect has sad Fort Wayne connection staff report May 7, 2013 in The News-Sentinel newspaper. 'Nightmare is over': 3 missing Ohio women rescued by John Coyne and Thomas J. Sheeran of The Associated Press was published May 7, 2013 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
2013, May 24 - a WWI Memorial installed November 11, 1924 at GE (General Electric) on the west side of Broadway, was moved to McCulloch Park. World War I Memorial installed on the grounds of General Electric had been located behind a fence for the last 89 years [2013]. It has hundreds of names on it, all GE employees who served in World War I. Included are the names of six GE employees who died in the war. Copied from City honors World War I monument May 25, 2013 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
2013, October 30 - Fort Wayne is the answer on the Jeopardy television show A log stockade made by a certain mad revolutionary war general in 1794 gave this city his name. See October 30, 2013 photo on Visit Fort Wayne Tweet on Twitter and Mitch Harper Tweet.
Windy with extreme wind chills through Tuesday. Wind chills will range from -25 to -45 with gusty west winds of 25 to 35 mph. Significant blowing and drifting snow will continue, especially in open rural areas. Lake effect snow showers will continue through this afternoon over southwest Michigan with additional accumulations of 2 to 5 inches possible. Travel is not recommended today. For the latest forecast information, see our website at www.weather.gov/iwx
Viewer Photo: This Fort Wayne snow plow got stuck plowing a residential street on the northeast side of the city. If they can't get through, you probably can't either. #stayhomestaysafe
Many areas will remain in a State of Emergency through this afternoon. Follow 21Alive here on Facebook or on Twitter (@21AliveWPTA) for the latest updates on travel in your area. Tell your friends to like our page so they can stay informed as well.
Here's a look at the 24 hour snowfall reports we received from the storm. Blowing and drifting snow made it very challenging to get accurate measurements, so thanks to everyone who submitted reports!
2014, February 13 - Nick Goepper born in Fort Wayne, raised in Lawrenceburg, won a bronze medal in slopestyle skiing at the Sochii, Russia Olympics when the U.S.A swept all three medals, Joss Christensen won gold and Gus Kenworthy silver. City native gets bronze as US sweeps slopestyle by Eddie Pells of the Associated Press published February 14, 2014 in the The Journal Gazette newspaper.
Fort Wayne needs just 2.3" more of snow to break the record for snowiest winter (December - February)! Total thru 7 am today = 58.9". Record= 61.1" in the winter of 1981-1982.
Last weekend, ARCH, Inc. Board Member and Allen County Prosecutor, Karen Richards, led a presentation called "Sin in the Summit City" that told all about the dicey history of our city. In our latest article post, Heyde Mitchell is filling you in on the presentation and the sin that took place in the Summit City!
On Memorial Day, we remember those members of the armed services who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. Fort Wayne and northeast Indiana has numerous monuments and memorials to those honored men and women that you can visit. These pictures show the 1893 Civil War Monument on Spy Run Avenue at Tennessee Avenue. [ See our Civil War page ]
Fort Wayne was designated Indiana’s fifth Bird Town by the Audubon Society for the community’s commitment to the protection and conservation of bird populations and habitats.
A red tailed hawk and a screech owl were among the birds on show today during a special presentation at Franke Park Elementary School.
A bald eagle was seen at the Headwaters of the Maumee around noon today. A first for downtown Fort Wayne in many, many years!
[ See the 1890s extirpation history of bald eagles and reintroduction in the 1980s ]
2014, October 6 - The US Supreme Court denied review of cases in five states that had limited marriage to opposite sex couples. This in effect granted equal marriage rights to gays and lesbians in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. (SFC, 10/7/14, p.A1)
It is a myth that all robins go south for the winter. Some American Robins do migrate, but many remain in the same area year-round. Over the past 10 years, robins have been reported in January in every U.S. state, except Hawaii. The wintering range of American Robins is affected by weather and natural food supply, such as crabapples, hawthorns, holly, juniper, and others, but as long as food is available, these birds are able to do well for themselves. There is plenty of food at Deetz for the dozens of robins that are wintering there.
Rachelle Spence 21Alive here: It's that time of year again! They didn't stay in the water long, but plenty of Fort Wayne polar bears just took the plunge!
What do George & Martha Washington have in common with Twelfth Night? Read on from today's Writer's Almanac:
Today is the Twelfth Night, otherwise known as the eve of Epiphany. It's the official end of the holiday season, which begins with All Hallows' Eve, and it's the day on which many people take down their Christmas decorations or risk bad luck for the coming year. Poet Robert Herrick wrote, "Down with the rosemary, and so / Down with the bays and mistletoe; / Down with the holly, ivy, all, / Wherewith ye dress'd the Christmas Hall." It's a last Yuletide hurrah before everyone returns to the mundane workaday world of the rest of the year.
Though the origin of the celebration dates back to the Roman Saturnalia, most of the traditional observances of the holiday that have survived date back to medieval England.
English settlers in the Colonies brought the Twelfth Night tradition with them. In colonial Virginia, it was customary to hold a large and elegant ball. Revelers chose a king and queen using a traditional English method: a bean and a pea were baked inside a plum cake. The man who found the bean was crowned the Twelfth Night King, and likewise the woman who found the pea. It was the king's duty to host the next year's Twelfth Night ball, and the queen was given the honor of baking the next year's cake. George and Martha Washington didn't usually do much for Christmas except attend church, but they often hosted elaborate Twelfth Night celebrations. It was also their anniversary; they'd been married on January 5, 1759. Martha Washington left behind her recipe for an enormous Twelfth Night cake among her papers at Mount Vernon. The recipe called for 40 eggs, four pounds of sugar, and five pounds of dried fruit.
It wasn't until the mid-1800s that Christmas became the primary holiday of the season in America, and at that point, Twelfth Night celebrations all but disappeared in this country. Many still celebrate it in the United Kingdom, with wassailing, Twelfth Night cakes, and the arrival of the Holly Man.
Riverfront FW Master Plan posted February 9, 2015 by CityofFortWayne
SWA Group recently presented a master plan or vision for Fort Wayne's downtown riverfront. See the main elements of the vision in this short video.
The Association of Professional Genealogists Board of Directors is committed to organizing events where every member feels welcome and no one is discriminated against. In light of Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2015, we are investigating whether this will be possible in Fort Wayne, the intended location of our 2016 Professional Management Conference. APG takes the potential discrimination against any of our members very seriously and believes that discriminating against one of our members discriminates against all of our members.
The APG Board is in contact with the Allen County Public Library. The library has echoed APG's concerns, stating that they are "disappointed and embarrassed by the passage of RFRA." They shared Ft. Wayne's city ordinance prohibiting discrimination, and took a firm stand that they will do "whatever it takes to assure APG and its attendees that there will be no discrimination." APG will be also expressing its concerns to the Indiana Office of Tourism Development, the Fort Wayne/Allen County Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Indiana governor's office.
The board's decision will be made thoughtfully over the coming months as more information becomes available. We welcome all member voices in this discussion.
The U.S. population is predicted to hit 325 million on 11/26 at 1:47 a.m. EST, according to our vintage 2015 population estimates. Visit our pop clock here:
2016, March 25 - In 2015, the three-county Fort Wayne metro area ranks as the state’s second-largest metro area with 429,820 residents and the 125-th largest in the nation from Numbers set path on the road to a million published March 25, 2016 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US! On this date in 1824, Allen County was formed. The county is named for Col. John Allen, an attorney and Kentucky state senator who was killed in the War of 1812.
I love you Fort Wayne, Indiana! What a great event -- THANK YOU for your incredible support! Everyone get out to the polls on Tuesday, May 3rd -- so we can move forward and defeat Crooked Hillary Clinton in November! — in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Today is National Bison Day! The American bison was named the national mammal of the United States on May 9, 2016. Find out why it's actually Bison bison bison day and many more fun facts about the largest mammal in North America.
Did you know the United States has a national mammal? On May 9, 2016, the National Bison Legacy Act was signed making the North American Bison the official mammal of the United States. The American plains bison wild population is just over 20,504. Their scientific name is Bison bison bison.
Ouabache State Park in Bluffton, IN has a bison herd. Starting Memorial Day weekend, weekly naturalist-led bison hikes are given around the bison enclosure to learn about these amazing animals. Dates and times will soon be posted on our calendar at on.IN.gov/ouabache.
Jack Hammer, Executive Director of the Three Rivers Festival holds one of the torches used in the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay. Hammer started off the relay through Allen County Saturday morning. We'll have more on the relay in next Thursday's featured video!
Many of you were able to view the Bicentennial Torch Relay in Allen County over the weekend. Here's a great article on how Allen County continues to celabrate or state's bicentennial. Allen County honors past, present[now on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine]
Several beavers living in the rivers in Downtown Fort Wayne have been gnawing the bark off the base of large trees along the riverbanks, which eventually kills the trees and can lead to the tree falling into the river, said Dan Wire.
A fascinating article about the use of DNA testing in a college classroom.
As stated in the article "Statistically, Foeman and her colleague Bessie Lawton have found people overestimate their European heritage and whiteness, and underestimate ancestry from other regions. Half the people think their families will respond positively to results before they take the test. Afterward, fewer than 1 in 10 think so."
During his inaugural speech today, Gov. Holcomb informed his audience that "the purist patriotism is to 'convert the gloomy woods into fields waving with luxuriant harvests' " referencing a speech given nearly 200 years ago in Martin County.
What implications would a "gloomy woods" view have on Indiana native plant and wildlife species? Please share your favorite woodsy photos in the comment section below.
The context of that excerpted piece was: "You behold in each other, those on whose industry and perseverance you repose your hopes of seeing, within a few years, a fair and fertile portion of the state rescued from the condition of a dreary wilderness, where nothing was formerly heard but the howling of the wolf—where no living creature cheered the eye, except, perchance, a bounding deer, a rude bear, or a ruthless savage;—men, who will convert the gloomy woods into fields waving with luxuriant harvests, and change the nauseous swamps, emitting pestilence and death, into rich meadows clothed with thick and verdant herbage."
An Oration, Pronounced at Hindostan, Martin Co. (I[ndian]a) on the 45th Anniversary of American Independence Ward, M. A., Barlow, W., & Powell, D. O. (1978). An Oration, Pronounced at Hindostan, Martin Co. (I[ndian]a) on the 45th Anniversary of American Independence. Indiana Magazine of History. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/view/10090 in Volume 74, Issue 2, June 1978
Television screen shot: Big Bang Theory held their version of March Madness, with a ‘Elite Eight’ bracket for best Fort. Looks like we lost out to Fort Knox. Fort Cozy McBlanket won. How is your bracket doing? See more on our Historic Fort Wayne.
ON THIS DAY // On April 1, 1824 Allen County was organized. Allen County was organized by European Americans on December 17, 1823, from Delaware and Randolph counties. The county is named for Colonel John Allen, an attorney and Kentucky state senator who was killed in the War of 1812.
Fort Wayne, the county seat, was founded at the confluences of the Maumee, St. Joseph, and St. Marys rivers.
Home improvement expert Danny Lipford is filming his Emmy-nominated TV show Today's Homeowner in Fort Wayne today, and Sara Schaefer went on location to meet Danny and the homeowner who will be featured on the show. Sara will have a full look around the shoot, tonight at 5 and 6 on WANE-TV.
Today marks the first day of drilling for Fort Wayne's deep rock tunnel project. When complete in 2023, the five-mile tunnel will help improve the water quality of our rivers and reduce neighborhood street flooding for more than 45,000 residents in 30 neighborhoods.
2017, October 30 - Fort Wayne makes double Jeopardy! The October 30, 2017 video by Eric Dutkiewicz posted on Twitter. Host Alex Trebek offered the final clue in “The State's Second-Largest City” category.
“Indiana: Named for a log stockade named for a Revolutionary War hero” was the clue and Fort Wayne was the answer. None of the contestants ventured a guess. Four years ago to the date, the clue was worded as “A log stockade made by a certain 'Mad' Revolutionary War General in 1794 gave this city its name.” Fort Wayne should have been in the clue in March 2017 when contestants were asked to name the Johnny Appleseed Festival. Instead, the clue referenced “lots of pie at this festival in Huntertown, Indiana, which could be called the John Chapman Festival.” Huntertown was the mailing address until this episode forced a change to Fort Wayne. Copied from Summit City? Contestants haven't a clue published November 4, 2017 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
It even looked a little bit blue! The name actually comes from the fact that it is the second full moon of the month. The next blue moon will not occur until 2020.
“If somebody’s lonely or if they’re new to the school and they don’t have anybody to play with, they can sit on the bench,” the 9-year-old explained. “If other people see them on the bench, they’ll come up to them and ask them to play. And they can play together.”
That's right. In tonight's weather broadcast, I discussed "evapotranspiration" (or evapotransportation if you get tongue tied like me) and why cornfields are at least partially to blame for our humid summer days
2018, August 30 - The official opening of Skyline Tower Thursday marked the completion of a five-year transformation for a block in the heart of the city. After plans were revealed to move the Ash Brokerage headquarters downtown in 2013, work began to completely clear the land between Main, Wayne, Webster and Harrison Street. The effort came to an end five years after the announcement with a ribbon cutting at Skyline Tower Thursday. Copied from Skyline Tower opening marks end of downtown block transformation posted August 30, 2018 on CBS WANE-TV NewsChannel 15.
2018, November - Sears at Glenbrook Square Mall has announced it’s closing. This week, the company told 46 unprofitable stores they’d be closing in November. Glenbrook’s location was on the list. Sears Holdings’ said in a statement the decision is part of “ongoing efforts to streamline Sears Holdings’ operations, strengthen our capital position and focus on our best stores.” Back in May, the company announced the closure of 72 stores nationwide. Copied from Sears at Glenbrook Mall to close in November posted Aug 22, 2018, updated: Aug 23, 2018 on CBS WANE-TV NewsChannel 15. See photos at Fort Wayne's Last Sears Store by Chris Crawford: Documentary Photography.
2018, November 5 - President Donald J. Trump arrived in Fort Wayne for a campaign rally. The first sitting president to be in Fort Wayne since President Ronald Reagan in 1982. A record attendance crowd of 18,000 on the grounds. 14,306 inside, 11,647 in the arena with overflow in the conference center and a few thousand outside was at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. Lots of photos and video posted on Facebook.
2018, Dec 21 - John Miller (59) was sentenced to 80 years in prison for the 1988 abduction, rape and killing of April Tinsley (8) of Fort Wayne. (SFC, 12/22/18, p.A5)
Following eighteen months of work, more than 50,000 78rpm record “sides” from the Boston Public Library’s sound archives have now been digitized and made freely available online by the Internet Archive.
- Not only did Fort Wayne Jeopardy fan Wayne Erxleben get to play on the game show, but he went up against the record breaking player who has currently won over a million dollars on the show. Meet Wayne on WANE 15 News tonight at 11 p.m. posted April 23, 2019 on Twitter. A Fort Wayne man competed on one of the world’s most popular game shows. Bellmont High School graduate Wayne Erxleben was on Jeopardy Wednesday night. He competed againt the record-breaking contestant, James Holzhauer who has won over a million dollars on the game show. Copied from Fort Wayne resident faces record-breaking competitor on Jeopardy posted: April 23, 2019 on CBS WANE-TV NewsChannel 15.
Not only did Fort Wayne Jeopardy fan Wayne Erxleben get to play on the game show, but he went up against the record breaking player who has currently won over a million dollars on the show. Meet Wayne on WANE 15 News tonight at 11 p.m. pic.twitter.com/e0nfkKE75G
: John McGauley