rovided by WTIU members.

Thank you!

>> BRANDON: Coming up.

>> ASHLEY: Explore the house of a heroic Hoosier couple.

>> BRANDON: Relive a sports stunner.

>> ASHLEY: And experience the joy of painting.

>> BRANDON: That's all on this episode of -- >> TOGETHER: "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> ASHLEY: Welcome to "Journey Indiana."

I'm Ashley Chilla.

>> BRANDON: And I'm Brandon Wentz.

And today, it's all about the past, and we're going to bring you some of our favorite stories about Indiana history.

>> ASHLEY: And we're doing that from the Daviess County Historical Society Museum.

Located in the county seat of Washington, this gem of a museum reflects more than 200 years of life year in this southern Indiana county.

Visitors can explore four floors of exhibits, varying from the everyday to the extraordinary, proving that Daviess County is brimming with history.

>> BRANDON: And we'll learn more about this historical place in just a bit.

But first, producer Reuben Browning takes us to Wayne County to learn about an Indiana leg of the Underground Railroad.

♪ >> Levi and Catharine Coffin are born and raised in New Garden, North Carolina.

They actually leave North Carolina in 1826 hoping to start a new life in a state where slavery is not prominent.

They settle on a community that was then known as Newport, Indiana, along with thousands of other Quakers that are making very similar decisions to migrate to these Midwestern states.

Levi helps to start a dry goods store to support his growing family, and they end up living here until 1847.

But during that almost 20-year period that they were here, they potentially impacted the lives of over 1,000 individuals as they escaped from slavery.

Because the form of slavery that is being practiced in the United States in this period before the Civil War, which is known as chattel slavery, meant that you were never actually deemed as a human being by law.

You are deemed as property.

The treatment of those individuals are what we would see as torture today.

It was not unusual for individuals to be whipped, to be punished physically if they are not able to keep up with their labor.

This is a form of forced labor.

You are literally -- in some cases, you could be worked to death.

An individual that is enslaved also meant that any children that they have are born into slavery.

So for individuals that are escaping, there's a lot of unknowns.

So the Underground Railroad develops in our area as a movement of people moving north, mainly out of states like Kentucky over the Ohio River and north through our state.

The term "underground" really refers to the fact that this is secretive.

This is not something that's publicly shared in many of these areas where it was very active.

Individuals involved often are referred to as conductors.

Homes were known as stations.

In states like Indiana, when we typically see evidence of Underground Railroad activity, we see a lot of participation by Quakers.

The individuals that are members of what was known as the Society of Friends, a religious body that itself was very antislavery in sentiment and in support.

But we also have a tremendous amount of free blacks, some of them former slaves themselves, that are settling in Indiana in these early decades of our statehood, that also are trying to do their best to provide their support and their resources.

Levi and Catharine Coffin are very connected to this idea of putting their religious beliefs into action.

So anyone who came looking for help, needing shelter, clothing, food, medical assistance, these are all some of the things the Coffins were known for providing.

It's not unusual to have certain individuals like the Coffins seen somewhat as subversive because of their willingness to break the law.

In the 20 years that he was living in Newport, Indiana, they potentially helped around 100 people per year.

The house that we're sitting in was very active and integral to that.

The house was built for the Coffin family in 1839.

It has eight rooms.

Every room except one has a fireplace.

When Levi built the house, he wanted to have a basement kitchen.

There's a spring-fed well that still works today that is collecting the spring water that is prevalent under our community.

And when we think about why those spaces exist, because people would not traditionally have wells in their home.

The Coffins may be working to conceal how many people may be in the home at the same time, because slave catchers, if they did get into homes, they are going to look everywhere they possibly can to try to find an individual they are looking for.

He speaks to using a garret space, like an attic or a space under the eaves.

And so we have a particular space like that in the home where we think 14 individuals were hidden at some point.

People make a lot of correlations between the Coffins story and the story of Anne Frank.

There's another story of two young girls who had a very close call.

They were almost found, just north of here in another community, and were brought here where it was believed to be safer.

But yet, some of these men that were part of that party that almost found the girls arrive in town.

Levi mentions Catharine concealing or hiding the girls between the mattresses of one the beds in the house.

On average, freedom seekers were here normally just a day or two.

Even though this is happening under the cover of darkness often, it was not unusual for them to use what was called a false-bottom wagon.

Levi had one himself.

A false-bottom wagon means there's a false floor in the wagon where someone or a group of people may be able to hide.

And then on top of that false floor and around it, things are stacked in the wagon.

You are giving this impression your wagon is full of something.

In our Interpretive Center exhibit, one individual that we like to highlight is a man that we knew here in town as William Bush.

The wooden shoes here are part of the oral history that survives.

Notice that he was wearing these at the time of his escape, and that he actually at some point in his escape was hidden inside of a crate and was shipped here to the attention of Levi Coffin.

So not only was he living here as an individual, still as a runaway slave, he, himself, is going to get involved in aiding in the escape of others during the 1850s.

Now, Levi and Catharine Coffin, you know, we really have to approach them together as a couple who's doing this together.

Catharine is already managing a household with children.

So while any Freedom Seekers were under this roof, she's really focused on their care as well.

Levi, at some point, does become known as the President of the Underground Railroad.

One of the key things too is the fact that he's an organizer and he's a public voice for being involved in these activities.

And something Levi was able to do was always ride this very fine line of being seen still as a reputable individual, who was also, though, actively breaking those fugitive slave laws at the same time.

But he also supported other things such as starting a school, which helped to support offering high school and college-level education.

When Levi talks of abolitionists coming to town and visiting with him here in house, one of the individuals that Levi speaks to was Frederick Douglass.

For Levi, as a businessperson, he understands with his dry goods store that when he's selling things such as cotton goods, he's potentially putting profit back into the pocket of an enslaver in the South.

In 1844, he converts his store here into what's known as a free labor or free produce store.

That means that anything Levi sources to sell, even if it's cotton, he's working very hard to source it from places where slave labor was never used to produce it.

The thought is let's get Americans to start thinking about their buying choices.

When we reflect on periods of history -- and it's important, I think, for us as Hoosiers to remember efforts like this.

We need to keep these types of histories, these type of stories forefront so those voices aren't lost.

♪ >> ASHLEY: What incredible history we have in the state of Indiana, and the fact that these fantastic heroes existed here is pretty amazing.

>> BRANDON: Want to learn more?

Head to Indianamuseum.org.

>> ASHLEY: Earlier, we caught up with Bruce Smith, the Daviess County historian, to learn all about this amazing museum.

♪ >> The mission of the Daviess County Museum is to preserve, protect and promote the history of Daviess County.

♪ It's in the heart of the historical commercial district here on Main Street in Washington, Indiana.

It is housed in the former Masonic Lodge, which was built in 1868.

When Daviess County became a county in 1817, really the only way to transport goods and services and people was by river, which was extremely inefficient, because sometimes rivers can be very uncooperative, and they do not go in a straight line.

So what happened was -- is that the state of Indiana began a major infrastructure project called the Wabash and Erie Canal.

It ran from Toledo, Ohio, all the way down to Evansville.

Ultimately, it was a total, complete, financial disaster.

One of the reasons why the Wabash and Erie Canal didn't work out was because of the railroad industry.

In 1857, the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, the O&M, completed a major railing between Cincinnati, Ohio, and St. Louis, Missouri.

And that rail line came through Washington, Indiana.

That dramatically changed this area and this town, because now you could provide direct link between these two major urban areas, and traveling to and from those two areas through Washington, Indiana.

So it was an ideal location for them to set up these major shops to either produce or repair locomotives, freight cars and flag cars for the railroad.

And then the population of Washington went from 5,000 at that time to 10,000.

It doubled in the course of five years because of the employment that it brought in, and, of course, the spin off in retail and commercial and residential development.

We have a replica of a one-room schoolhouse.

Most people have this notion that one-room schools was a phenomena primarily in the 19th century.

In Daviess County, one-room schools continued to function well into the 20th century.

In fact, here in Washington Township or in Veale Township, there were one-room schools well into the 1950s.

The other exhibits that have been recently established last year was we tried to highlight the -- several professional photographers that have been in business here in Daviess County.

So in the late 19th century, commercial company developed what's called dry plate technology.

Then commercial photography took off, across the country, and in here in Daviess County.

And fortunately here at the museum, we have a large, large collection of these studio portrait photographs.

When you see enough of these photographs, you begin to understand and appreciate their stories, the kind of people they were, and what they were interested in.

It's an incredibly valuable historical resource about, again, understanding our history and all these marvelous stories about people.

Each of the artifacts we have in our museum ultimately go back and involve people.

What's truly amazing about that is each one of those individuals has a story to tell.

And we're trying to piece those stories together and allow people to share in those stories and learn from them.

>> BRANDON: You know, I have to say we've been inside of a lot of schoolhouses on this program.

And this one has so many little details about it.

What do you think -- what do you think you'd teach given that room?

>> ASHLEY: Probably art.

You know, if I'm gonna lean into what I'm good at.

Certainly not math.

Want to learn more?

Visit daviesscountyhistory.com.

>> BRANDON: Up next, producer Jason Pear takes us to Ripley County, to the home of the Milan miracle.

♪ >> Typical small town.

>> A lot like it is right now, except it is slightly larger.

High school, 12 grades were in one building.

Our class, for example, was 30 people.

In 1953, we had a new coach, and several players were back from the year before, but we were kind of a typical dangerous Milan team, which means we probably won the county tournament, and that was a big thing to do in those days.

>> A three-point lead for Muncie here with seven minutes left in the ball game.

The center goes down.

Leaves out there White.

White, Hall, and he feeds off to Craft.

Craft out.

>> We had a huddle with 13 or 15 seconds, or something like that.

And Mr. Wood says, we'll all move over and let -- get the ball to Bob and let him take him one on one.

And I said, why don't we just go over and stand on the opposite side of the floor?

He said, good idea, and that's what we did.

And that's what we did.

And he hit the shot, and that was the game.

>> Dribbling.

6 seconds.

Circle, scores!

Milan wins!

Milan wins 32-30!

♪ >> At the end of the 20th century, our basketball game was considered the number one athletic story for the century.

So it struck home with a lot of people in Indiana, because basketball is pretty much the sport -- at one time, it was the sport.

>> For these guys to go in '53 to the state finals was just miraculous, but then to go back in '54, we certainly were very, very proud.

But to say let's collect memorabilia, and let's bring outside people into the community, that just never -- as far as I know, no one ever stepped forward to say, let's -- let's do something about this.

♪ We had a lady move in to Milan.

She married a Milan fellah.

Moved here from Iowa.

And she always asked did -- does the town do anything about that game from '54?

And the answer was, no.

It was just, you know, the basketball.

We won the state, but it was a basketball game.

She said, well, I think we need to do something.

So she started collecting items, and asked each of the players if they wouldn't donate some of their personal items from the '54 era.

>> We received jackets after our junior year.

That was never done.

And I know why it was done.

After going to the state finals, I'm sure the powers that be figured we'd never have that happen again.

So we'll give those guys jackets.

Well, we got jackets next year also.

♪ >> We got a grant to buy the old bank in town, which is where we are presently.

There's just so many Milan things, pictures of teams in the past.

>> We passed cars parked six or seven miles out of town.

Parked, and people were walking into town.

>> Tickets.

Oh, golly!

And pamphlets and pictures.

>> The crowd was here, and we didn't know, but that's the way they did every state champion.

>> We have an array of newspaper articles at that time that you could spend all day just reading those.

>> All right, listen up!

Listen up.

>> Richard Hospital in Indianapolis called us and said, we're cleaning out our upstairs.

We have several things from the movie.

Do you guys want that stuff?

And we said, we certainly do!

We have the hospital bed where Shooter is jumping on, and all the apparatus that goes along with that particular scene.

They brought that to us.

We have a script from the movie.

♪ One thing that I always thought the team gave back to the town was the fact that they all got scholarships.

>> And then when we won, there were opportunities offered to us to go to colleges, and at a lower price.

And so almost all of us went to college.

>> But that thought of going to college trickled down through the community, and that was suddenly another option for young people.

It's just great when people come here and they -- they are usually amazed that we have so many things.

And I have to say, it's -- it's a good thing for our community, and it brings people in to the community, and they are very pleased when they leave.

♪ >> ASHLEY: I learn new things about Brandon every day, every shoot that we have here.

Um, were you ever in sports in high school?

>> BRANDON: I was.

>> ASHLEY: What were you in?

>> BRANDON: Well, I went to such a small elementary school that I was in everything because you had to be.

I went to Atwood, just outside of Warsaw.

But once I got into middle school and high school, no, I just -- man, I just -- I just hung out.

[ Laughter ] >> BRANDON: Want to learn more?

Head to Milan54.org.

>> ASHLEY: Up next, producer Jason Pear takes us to Muncie to learn how painter Bob Ross became an art icon.

>> We are at Minnetrista.

We are a museum and gardens in Muncie, Indiana.

We are the home of the Ball Brothers who operated Ball Brothers Glass that brought everyone that iconic Ball jar.

This was the family home of Dr. Lucius Ball, his wife Sarah, and their daughter Helen.

Lucius practiced medicine here in town.

So he actually wasn't involved with Ball Brothers Company.

After it was a private residence, Ed Ball, who grew up just three houses down here on the boulevard, he was really active with getting Muncie's local PBS station set up.

So Ed was able to kind of help -- help WIPB when they needed a home for a station and a studio, utilize this house which was available to do that kind of straight out of the gate in the 1970s.

Any time anyone walks in, they say, oh, it's so small!

This is it.

So it really just is.

It was the former living room of the home.

>> And through a series of happy little accidents, this living room, turned studio, became the home of a television icon.

>> Hello.

I'm Bob Ross and for the next 13 weeks, I'll be your host as we experience "The Joy of Painting."

♪ >> Bob Ross, we all love and know him now as that bushy-haired painter on PBS.

Well, before that, he was a kid growing up in Florida.

His father was a carpenter.

His mother taught him to love nature.

He had always been very creative, doing things with his hands, and he really came to love painting.

>> And I'd like to share that gift with you.

>> So one thing led to another, and he went from being an in-person workshop, you know, teacher, to having this really great, fun, TV show that everyone loves.

>> So let's do it!

Let's paint an almighty picture right here.

>> In total, "The Joy of Painting" is 31 seasons.

Bob would come into Muncie four times a year.

He would usually show up on a Sunday.

And then on Monday morning, he would come in, and what they would do is they would shoot all of the openings and closings.

>> Welcome back.

Are you ready to do a fantastic picture with me?

>> And then over the next couple of days, they would film those 13 episodes.

Every episode was done in one shot.

[ Clanking sound ] >> That's the most fun painting.

All right!

Now -- >> In the first year, they had, you know, about 30 stations around the country pick it up, and each year after that, more and more.

And really within just a couple of years, they had almost the entire country.

>> And I think we've just about got that one finished.

>> Pretty popular straight out of the gate.

We've been working on telling really great stories from our collection, from our community, stories that are connected to our site, and the Bob Ross story was tied to our site.

It's connected to our collection, and it's absolutely a story of our community and a point of pride.

But we really just hadn't done anything with it yet.

>> Well, I think you know what happened already.

>> So what we did is we started talking to the crew that worked on the show, talking to Bob's friends, talking to people that would have been in this space, and really culling their memories about what the space looked like.

If you come to the Bob Ross Experience at Minnetrista today, you will be able to step into that studio space.

You can step right up to Bob's easel.

It's his real easel.

It's part of our collection.

We want to get you right up there next to it, and you can really get immersed in what that really looked like and felt.

And then over in the living room space, you can really see what it was like in the late '80s and '90s to be experiencing Bob at home.

>> Because this is your world, and you can create anything that you want in it.

>> There are six original paintings in the Bob Ross Experience at any one time, and we will rotate those to keep it fresh.

We have 26 Bob Ross originals in our collection here at Minnetrista.

So those will rotate through, and we not only have ones that he painted on the TV show.

We have some that he painted for himself.

>> Okay.

I think we'll sign this one.

>> He wanted his show to be able to live after his lifetime, and in many ways, his message resounds just as much today as it did then.

Be fearless.

Be creative.

Try new things.

For him, it was all about just finding the joy in life, and I think that that's something that just doesn't get old.

>> From all of us here at this station, we wish you happy painting and God bless.

See you next week.

>> BRANDON: You know when I think back, not just, like, watching television, but historically and through your educational process, like, Bob Ross is such an influence.

Like, it's -- everyone knows the impression, everyone knows his place.

And to think that he shot his whole show in an area smaller than your average car.

>> ASHLEY: I mean, that's pretty amazing.

That just goes to prove how amazing Bob Ross is.

Want to learn more?

Head to Minnetrista.net.

>> BRANDON: And as always, we'd like to encourage you to stay connected with us.

>> ASHLEY: Just head over to JourneyIndiana.org.

There you can see full episodes, connect with us on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, and suggest stories from your neck of the woods.

>> We also have a map feature that allows you to see where we've been and to plan your own Indiana adventures.

>> ASHLEY: Well, since the opportunity is here, I feel like we maybe need to go brush up on our math skills in the classroom.

We'll see you next time on -- >> TOGETHER: "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> Production support for "Journey Indiana" is provided by WTIU members.

Thank you!