Happy

Continued From P. 4 in the NCAA championship game in 2010 and 2011. sioned to do a life-sized statue of the magnificent racehorse. It is still seen today at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

Largest And Finest

A ‘LOVE’ OF ART

New Castle is also a place with a heart for art.

Robert Clark was born here in 1928. He would grow up to become known as “Robert Indiana” and create the iconic “LOVE” image with the tilted ‘O’ that became so nationally popular, it was featured on a U.S. postage stamp.

Frances Goodwin would sculpt the bust of U.S. Vice President Schuyler Colfax in 1897. After Secretariat won the Triple Crown in 1973, New Castle graduate Jim Reno was commis -

New Castle history also includes two examples of “thinking big.” In 1907, Jonathan Maxwell and Benjamin Briscoe brought the largest automobile manufacturing facility in the nation at that time here. A forerunner to Chrysler Corp., the factory would provide good jobs to New Castle residents for nearly 100 years. At the same time, Goodwin Brothers Auto would become the state’s oldest car dealership, operating until 2019, when it was purchased by Russ Hubler.

Maxwell and Chrysler were part of a manufacturing boom for the town which would also produce Hoosier Kitchen Cabinets, build infrastructure with the Pan American Bridge Co., and manufacture pianos with the Jesse French Piano Co.

But perhaps there was no bigger thinking than a city-wide “Gym Now” campaign that raised money in the late 1950s to build a new basketball palace. On Nov. 21, 1959, New Castle opened a 9,335seat fieldhouse to replace the historic “crackerbox” Church Street Gym.

The crackerbox, which seated only about 1,800, was where one of Indiana’s most famous basketball games was played. New Castle defeated Kokomo 92-81 on Feb. 20, 1959. In that game, the Trojans’ star, Ray Pavy scored 51 points while Kokomo’s top player, Jimmy Rayl, scored 49.

That fieldhouse today is more than 60 years old, but the title of “world’s largest and finest” – given to the facility by IHSAA Commissioner L.V. Phillips when the facility opened – still fits. With a seating capacity of 8,424, the gym remains the largest. And in this historic year for New Castle, it’s also worth noting the town is very good at recording history. The Henry County Historical Society was founded in 1886 and is the oldest, continuously operating organization of its kind in the state of Indiana.

The Henry County Historical Society, formed in 1886, stands today as the oldest, continuously operating organization of its kind in the state of Indiana.