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LEW WALLACE TO BE HONORED IN INDIANAPOLIS | Montgomery County Visitors & Convention Bureau
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LEW WALLACE TO BE HONORED IN INDIANAPOLIS

29 Dec 2011

LEW WALLACE TO BE HONORED IN INDIANAPOLIS

History, Museums & Landmarks
Ben-Hur author will be one of 10 first honorees

One of Crawfordsville’s favorite sons will soon be honored in Indianapolis next to nine others who were instrumental in shaping Hoosier history.
Major General Lew Wallace (1827-1905), Civil War soldier, diplomat, inventor, musician, architect and author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, the best-selling novel of the 19th Century, will be memorialized with a six-foot pillar at the new pedestrian mall that runs along Georgia Street in Indianapolis.
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard announced last week that Wallace would be one of the first ten honorees who would be featured on memorial pillars, along with presidents Benjamin Harrison and Abraham Lincoln, suffragist May Wright Sewall, novelist Booth Tarkington, journalist Ernie Pyle, entrepreneur Madame C. J. Walker, jazz musician Wes Montgomery, Shawnee Chief Tecumseh and the Lilly family.  Eventually, 30 honorees will be chosen.
“It’s not easy to pick from so many great Hoosiers who have left an indelible mark on our city, state and country,” Ballard said in a statement. “I am sure these names will spark debate; hopefully they’ll also prompt strong interest in learning more about the history of our great state.”
The pillars will adorn the recently-updated 3-block stretch of Georgia Street between Conseco Fieldhouse and the Indiana Convention Center.  With construction of the pillars scheduled to begin in February, they will not be available for viewing by Super Bowl crowds, but they will be in place for visitors to see in March when the city hosts the Big Ten Tournament.
Larry Paarlberg, Director of the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum in Crawfordsville, expressed his pleasure with Wallace’s most recent honor.  “I think it’s impressive that Wallace was chosen as one of the first ten memorials.  Over 100 years after his death, it’s good to know that people still recognize Wallace’s considerable contributions to Hoosier history.”
The columns, featuring each honoree’s image and biography, are scheduled to be dedicated in early March.
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