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Indiana Bicentennial Celebration 2016
DeKalb County
Q&A with County Coordinator Shannon Carpenter
What do you consider the key accomplishment(s) of your county’s Bicentennial celebration?
- Focusing on the wide range of history and current culture of our county.
What Legacy Project do you most like to tell people about, and why?
- The Heart of Our Park. The community was able to rally around the Eckhart Public Library to support the renovation of the library's historic fountain and celebrate its return to the library park during the Bicentennial year. It was very special to see the community's appreciation of culture and to know that the fountain will be flowing for generations to come.
Describe a highlight or most memorable moment related to your county's Bicentennial celebration.
- Seeing so many people in downtown Auburn enjoying the Sculptures on the Square III: The Magic of Metal.
How/where are you preserving information and artifacts related to your county's celebration?
- Information is preserved at the Willennar Genealogy Center: A Service of Eckhart Public Library.
Total number of volunteers who participated.
- Hundreds.
Estimated total attendance.
- Hundreds.
DeKalb County Legacy Projects
- Auburn Community Band Concert
- Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival
- Bicentennial Plate
- Black Creek Corridor – Bicentennial Nature Trust
- Butler Elementary Little Hoosiers Heritage Trail Project
- Butler Days Festival
- Cedar Creek Corridor – Bicentennial Nature Trust
- Cedar Creek Project – Bicentennial Nature Trust
- Cole-The Life and Music of Cole Porter
- Downtown Yarn Art Project
- Eckhart Summer Read
- Hoosier Made: World Driven
- Indiana Bicentennial Celebration and Flag Day Ceremony
- “Indiana’s Birdboy”—Art Smith, Pioneer Aviator
- John Martin Smith DeKalb County Heritage Fund Launch
- Sculptures on the Square III: The Magic of Metal
- The Heart of Our Park
- Waterloo Train Station and New Town Hall Dedications
- Women Workers of the Auburn Automobile Company, A Community Exhibit
DeKalb County Facts
The county was named for the heroic General Johann de Kalb, a Continental Army officer from Bavaria, who was fatally wounded at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina.
The Garrett Railroad Museum
Formerly the Baltimore & Ohio railroad freight station, the museum is located alongside the CSX railroad tracks. The station has been restored to reflect a typical rural railroad station of the early 1900s.
Find displayed many relics, curios, photographs, and railroad items that tell the story of Garrett’s rich history. The basement of the museum houses an HO scale model railroad layout. Outside is an actual railroad post office car and a Chesapeake & Ohio caboose.
Spencerville Covered Bridge
Visit the 138-year-old Spencerville Covered Bridge. Built in 1873, it is the only remaining covered bridge in DeKalb County. It was placed on the National Historical Registry in 1981.
DeKalb County, Indiana is the “Hub of Transportation Heritage” and the home of multiple transportation museums showcasing classic automobiles, trucks, aircraft, a military collection, railroad memorabilia, local art, county history, and the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum.
Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum
More than a building filled with over 120 automobiles and related artifacts, it also contains a wealth of historic information pertaining to Auburn Automobile Company, Duesenberg, Inc., Cord Corporation, Auburn Automobiles, Cord Automobiles, Duesenberg Automobiles, Auburn Automobile Company executives, and more.
Old Standards and Spicy New Pickle Varieties
Sechler’s Pickles been perfecting the art and science of making pickles for almost a century. Savor 54 pickles, relishes and salsa! For all the technical advances in food processing in recent years, many of their processes have changed little or not at all.
County Seat: Auburn
Year Organized: 1835
Square Miles: 362.82
