These 30 Photos of Indiana In The 1970s Are Mesmerizing
By Meg Archer|Published February 11, 2016
×
Meg Archer
Author
Meg Archer is an Editor & Newsletter Editor who has called Oregon home for nearly 30 years. She spent her childhood exploring the mountains, forests, and high desert of Central Oregon before relocating to Portland after a brief stint out-of-state for college. She holds an B.A. in English from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and a B.S. in Psychology from Portland State University. Meg has worked in writing, editing, and media-related fields for over 10 years and joined the team at OnlyInYourState in 2015. When she’s not writing or exploring the West Coast, Meg enjoys playing tabletop games, working on visual media projects, and can always be found in the front row at Portland Timbers matches.
We went searching for photos of Indiana in the 1970s and found some great ones to share!
Between the rapidly evolving technology that dealt a painful blow to industrial cities and the devastating 1974 “Tornado Outbreak,” the state faced some hard times…but it wasn’t all bad news; Indiana University dominated the NCAA championship in 1976 with an undefeated record and the blossoming cultural movements of the era kept Hoosier life interesting.
These shots, taken by photographer Paul Sequeria for the Environmental Protection Agency, show the smokey effects of the steel industry in Gary.
Smokey skies from U.S. Steel over a Gary toll road, 1973.
The Indiana railroads hit their heydey in the mid 1800s, when they were the primary mode of transportation across the state. Although their use has steadily declined since then, the rail network still played an important role in freight movement, and Amtrak passenger trains were a relatively popular means to travel long distances.
The photographer titled this photo "A well-kept house on Franklin Street," and we're fans of the white picket fence around this Columbus, IN house from 1973.
148 tornadoes touched down across the 13 states during a single 24-hour period on April 3-4. At one point there were 15 separate tornadoes on the ground at once! 319 people lost their lives and nearly 5,500 were injured during this "Super Outbreak."
IU Center Kent Benson was the only starting player to return to the court in 1977, the year after IU snagged the NCAA title.
Birch Bayh served as an Indiana Senator from 1963 to 1981. This Terre Haute native is the only NON-founding father to write two Constitutional Amendments: the 25th Amendment, ratified in 1963, which established the process for transition of power if the President is harmed or killed, and the 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, which lowered the national legal voting age to 18.
