Making a Capital in the Wilderness

IHS’s latest exhibit celebrates the bicentennial of Indiana’s capital moving from Corydon to Indianapolis. In “Making a Capital in the Wilderness,” the exhibit explores how the small and underdeveloped community became the capital of the Indiana Territory in 1813, and reigned as the capital until 1825 when the State offices were moved to Indianapolis.

The exhibit is not just about the politicians who created the capital. It is about the Indigenous tribes who lived on the land before white settlers came. It is about the free African American families who came to live in and around Corydon. It is about the experiences of the people who lived in a new territory, a new state and the two new capitals in the wilderness.

Indiana State Capitol, Corydon, image taken in 1958.