Indiana State Parks and the Landscape of Modernity

Abstract

Fully a century ago, the people of Indiana successfully campaigned to protect certain portions of the local landscape as state parks and to keep these areas as a heritage passed down to future generations. This essay argues that these seemingly “natural” sites are also inexorably linked to urban matters, dynamics, and systems. Close examination of archival source material and contemporary newspapers shows that the Indiana state parks were central to the dissemination and display of modern ideas about technology and personal health, as well as evolving cultural values concerning bureaucratic efficiency. Ultimately, these sites afforded Indiana space to position itself in the vanguard of Progressive-Era social and economic growth while simultaneously creating a veritable laboratory to consolidate the newly minted authority of the state.