How many of you have ever heard of the small town of Seymour in the U.S. state of Indiana? Very few people have. The state has more famous cities and towns like the state capital Indianapolis, the home of the Indianapolis 500, and South Bend, the home of the University of Notre Dame, and Bloomington, the home of the University of Indiana. What about Seymour? It is where John Cougar Mellencamp, a famous rock-n-roll musician was born. (His boyhood home remains but is not It was the home of Katie Stam. Who is Katie Stam? She just happened to be Miss Indiana in 2008 and Miss America in 2009. Then you have Colonel Harland Sanders. Who is Colonel Harland Sanders? He was not born here, but he had family in town making him a frequent visitor. His claim to fame was the fact that he happened to be the man where the phrase ‘finger lickin’ good’ came about. Yep! He is famous for his Kentucky Fried Chicken. Seymour was also the home of Freeman Army Airfield, the first helicopter airfield in the United States of America. (It is a civilian airport today.) For many, Seymour, Indiana is a very special town.
Some of you are saying, “Wow! John Cougar Mellencamp was born here. I wonder if he met Jack and Diane here. It is probably a great town. The problem is that it is not a railroad town. Therefore, I will not be ‘crumblin’ down at the wall’ here.”
Ladies and gentlemen, you are absolutely wrong. How are you wrong?
As you drive into the town along U.S. Route 50, the very first thing you will see are railroads. The railroad played a big role in the town’s history. It is called the ‘Crossroads of Southern Indiana’ because of the railroad as an east west route, originally built by the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad connecting Cincinnati, Ohio and Saint Louis, Missouri, and a south north route, originally built by the Jefferson, Madison, and Indianapolis Railroad connecting Louisville, Kentucky with the Indiana capital of Indianapolis, passes through this town. The railroad lines were later taken over by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Today, you will see Chessie Seaboard Transportation trains (CSX for short) roll along these railroad lines.
Being the ‘Crossroads of Southern Indiana’, the railroad played a big role in the American Civil War. Due to the access the two big cities in the region, the Union Army set up a camp here, and the camp sent supplies by the railroad to regiments in the region.
If that is not enough, the town was the site of a railroad robbery. There have been many railroad robberies in the early years of railroading, but in Seymour, it was the site of the first robbery of a moving train. The Reno Gang robbed the Adams Express on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. Some of the gang members were caught and hanged.
Is that it? No. It was the site of a railroad strike in 1876. On October 22, 1908, William Howard Taft campaigned in his running for the United Stated President from the rear of a train. Weeks later, he was elected as the President of the United States of America.
The town of Seymour, Indiana is located in the southern region of Indiana east of Interstate 65 and U.S. Route 31 on U.S. Route 50. The town may not be famous, but the railroad played a famous role in the town. You may not meet Jack and Diane, but you may see a CSX train roll through.
John Cowgill: Stories of the Railroad 