Muncie, Indiana: Difference between revisions

===Industrial and civic development===

[[File:Muncie, Indiana (2673830741).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Illustration of Muncie, looking southeast in 1884|alt=]]

The [[Indiana gas boom]] of the 1880s ushered in a new era of prosperity to Muncie. Abundant supplies of natural gas attracted new businesses, industries, and additional residents to the city.<ref>Greene, p. 10.</ref><ref name="JG">{{cite book |last1=Glass |first1=James |last2=Kohrman |first2=David |title=The Gas Boom of East Central Indiana (Images of America) |date=2005 |publisher=Arcadia |location=Charleston |isbn=9780738539638 |pages=17–32}}</ref> Although agriculture continued to be an economic factor in the region, industry dominated the city's development for the next 100 years.<ref name=Spurgeon27/> One of the major manufacturers that arrived early in the city's gas-boom period was the Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company, which was renamed the [[Ball Corporation]] in 1969. The [[Ball brothers]], who were searching for a new site for their glass manufacturing business that was closer to an abundant natural-gas supply, built a new glass-making foundry in Muncie, beginning its glass production on March 1, 1888. In 1889 the company relocated its metal manufacturing operations to Muncie.<ref>{{cite book|author=Dwight W. Hoover|title=A pictorial history of Indiana|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1980|isbn=9780253146939|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/pictorialhistory0000hoov}}</ref><ref name=Quigley14>Barbara Quigley, "The Ball Brothers" in {{cite book |editor1=Gugin, Linda C. |editor2=James E. St. Clair |title=Indiana's 200: The People Who Shaped the Hoosier State |publisher=Indiana Historical Society Press |year=2015 |location=Indianapolis |page=14 |isbn=978-0-87195-387-2}}</ref>

 

 

== Economy ==

 

From its early days as a regional trading center for the surrounding agricultural community to its first wave of industrial development brought on by the [[Indiana Gas Boom|Indiana gas boom]] in the mid-1880s, Muncie has retained its ties to an industrial economy, and to a lesser extent its agricultural roots. In addition, the arrival of the forerunner to Ball State in the early twentieth century contributed to Muncie's development as an educational center, while Ball Memorial Hospital, established in 1929, led to the city's reputation as a healthcare center for east-central Indiana.

 

==Arts and culture==

The [[David Owsley Museum of Art Ball State University|David Owsley Museum of Art]] collection, which includes over 11,000 works, has been in the Fine Arts Building on the Ball State University campus since 1935. The Horizon Convention Center, located downtown, offers {{Convert|47000|sqft||abbr=}} of exhibition space and houses the Muncie Children's Museum.<ref>{{cite web|title=About Us|url=http://www.horizonconvention.com/main/about-us/|publisher=Horizon Convention Center|access-date=April 7, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221080219/http://www.horizonconvention.com/main/about-us/|archive-date=February 21, 2015}}</ref> The city also has a large group of independent art galleries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://visitmuncie.org/default.asp?PageIndex=35 |title=Muncie Indiana Center Visitors Bureau |publisher=Muncie Visitors Bureau |access-date=May 4, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505001300/http://visitmuncie.org/default.asp?PageIndex=35 |archive-date=May 5, 2014 }}</ref>

 

* [[WERK]]

* [[WMXQ]]

* [[WMUN]]

* [[WNAP-FM]]

 

==== Rail ====

Until 1986 Muncie's [[Wysor Street Depot]] at 700 East Wysor Street was a passenger train stop on the Chicago-Cincinnati service of Amtrak's ''[[Cardinal (train)|Cardinal]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/logansport-pharos-tribune/126187420/ |title=Peru Amtrak Stop Lost In Routing |newspaper=Logansport Pharos-Tribune |date=March 26, 1986 |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Until 1971, [[Muncie Union Station]] was a stop on the [[Penn Central]]'s Indianapolis-Cleveland on the route of the New York Central's former ''[[Southwestern Limited (New York Central train)|Southwestern Limited]]'' (St. Louis-New York City) and ''Cleveland Special'' (Indianapolis-Cleveland).<ref>Library of Congress, Union Station, 630 High Street, Muncie, Delaware County, IN https://www.loc.gov/item/in0193/</ref><ref>New York Central timetable, April 26, 1964, Table 6 https://streamlinermemories.info/NYC/NYC64TT.pdf</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Penn Central, Table 46 |journal=Official Guide of the Railways |publisher=National Railway Publication Company |volume=102 |issue=12 |date=May 1970}}</ref><ref>Classic Trains, "Passenger Trains on the Eve of Amtrak" https://ctr.trains.com/~/media/import/files/pdf/f/7/7/passenger_trains_operating_on_the_eve_of_amtrak.pdf</ref>

 

 

==References==

 

==External links==

{{Authority control}}

 

[[Category:Cities in Indiana]]

[[Category:Cities in Delaware County, Indiana]]