Indiana

Indiana ⁱ/ɪndiˈænə/ is a U.S. state located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 16th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th U.S. state on December 11, 1816.

Before becoming a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Since its founding as a territory, settlement patterns in Indiana have reflected regional cultural segmentation present in the Eastern United States; the state's northernmost tier was settled primarily by people from New England and New York, Central Indiana by migrants from the Mid-Atlantic states and from adjacent Ohio, and Southern Indiana by settlers from the Southern states, particularly Kentucky and Tennessee.

Indiana has a diverse economy with a gross state product of $298 billion in 2012. Indiana has several metropolitan areas with populations greater than 100,000 and a number of smaller industrial cities and towns. Indiana is home to several major sports teams and athletic events including the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, the NASL's Indy Eleven, the NBA's Indiana Pacers, the WNBA's Indiana Fever, the Indianapolis 500, and Brickyard 400 motorsports races.

Porter, Indiana

Porter is a town in Westchester Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 4,858 at the 2010 census. Porter is in the Indiana Dunes ecosystem, which played a role in the creation of The Nature Conservancy, and inspired conservation efforts

Porter is noted for its proximity to the Indiana Dunes State Park and for its railroad heritage. Porter was the southern terminus for the Chicago and West Michigan Railway.

History

Porter had its start in the 1850s when the railroad was extended to that point.

Historic sites

The Joseph Bailly Homestead is located in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on Howe Road, just north of U.S. 20. It is the residence of three generations of the Bailly family. Joseph and Marie Bailly arrived here in 1822 from the St. Joseph River in Michigan. He had been a fur trader on Lake Michigan for nearly 30 years when he set up his family home along the Little Calumet River.

The Chellberg Farm is also a three generation home, but of the family of Anders Kjellburg (Chellberg). He brought his family to this Swedish community in 1869, purchasing 80 acres (32 ha) from the Bailly descendents. The farm is located on Mineral Springs Road, north of U.S. 20.

Porter

Porter may refer to:

People

Occupations

Places

Stevens T. Mason

Stevens Thomson Mason (October 27, 1811 – January 4, 1843) was an American politician who served as the 1st Governor of Michigan from 1835 to 1840. Coming to political prominence at an early age, Mason was appointed his state's acting Territorial Secretary by Andrew Jackson at 19, becoming the acting Territorial Governor soon thereafter in 1834 at the age of 22. As territorial governor, Mason was instrumental in guiding Michigan to statehood, which was secured in 1837. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected as Michigan's first state Governor in 1835, where he would serve until 1840. Elected at age 23 and taking office at 24, Mason was and remains the youngest state governor in American history as of 2016.

Early life in Virginia and Kentucky

Mason was born near Leesburg in Loudoun County, Virginia, into a politically powerful family. His great-grandfather, Thomson Mason (1733–1785) was chief justice of the Virginia supreme court and brother of George Mason (1725–1792), who took part in the Constitutional Convention. His grandfather, Stevens Thomson Mason, was a U.S. Senator from Virginia. His uncle, Armistead Thomson Mason (1787–1819), was also a U.S. Senator from Virginia. His uncles by marriage, Benjamin Howard (1760–1814) and William Taylor Barry (1784–1835), both served in the Kentucky House of Representatives and were U.S. Representatives from Kentucky. Howard was Governor of Louisiana (Missouri) Territory, 1810–12 and Governor of Missouri Territory, 1812–13. Barry served as U.S. Senator from Kentucky, 1814–16 and then had a long career in a number of Kentucky government positions, and ultimately became Postmaster General, 1829–35.

Norfolk Southern Railway

The Norfolk Southern Railway (reporting mark NS), (also known as Norfolk Southern Railway Company or simply Norfolk Southern) is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates over 22,000 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia, and has rights in Canada from Buffalo to Toronto and over the Albany to Montreal route. The most common commodity hauled on the railroad is coal from mines in Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The railroad also offers the most extensive intermodal network in eastern North America.

The Norfolk Southern Railway was founded in 1894 as the Southern Railway, making it the fourth oldest Class I railroad in North America (just behind Union Pacific Railroad, Canadian Pacific Railway and Kansas City Southern Railway). The railroad was renamed from "Southern Railway" to its current name "Norfolk Southern Railway" on December 31, 1990 to reflect its parent company, making the railroad the third business entity to use the "Norfolk Southern" name. Its holding company was the second business entity to use the "Norfolk Southern" name starting in 1982 and the holding company was named in honor of the original Norfolk Southern Railway that existed from 1942 to 1982.