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historicalmarker.bsky.social
Historical Marker Ahead
@historicalmarker.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.5K following 4.6K posts
Yes, I’m pulling the car over to look at plaques. I’ll be just a minute. Not a historian, but did minor in history at Indiana University. Formerly notgoingpro on other socials.
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historicalmarker.bsky.social
Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · Jul 21
A good primer on historical markers: how they’re researched, approved and made. And, why they matter, and the biggest threats to their existence. Thanks for the tip, @grrlherstorian.bsky.social! indianacapitalchronicle.com/2025/07/21/i...
Inside Indiana’s 'best-kept secret,’ historical markers • Indiana Capital Chronicle
The Indiana State Historical Marker Program began in 1946 and has administered more than 750 historical markers across the state.
indianacapitalchronicle.com
historicalmarker.bsky.social
We ain’t here
To drink no matcha
We want a uniform
With a Super Bowl patcha
chiurbanist.bsky.social Chi Urbanist @chiurbanist.bsky.social · 2h
Scared of what a 2026 Super Bowl Shuffle would sound like
January 19, 2026 at 1:04 AM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
More from my Old Joliet Prison visit in 2024 bsky.app/profile/hist...
historicalmarker.bsky.social Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · May 22
Last summer for Father’s Day my son got me a tour of the old Joliet Prison, which lasted until 2002. It reopened for tours in 2018, in part because people were busting in, graffitiing and setting things on fire. The Blues Brothers was filmed there, so there’s a summer festival centered on it.
January 18, 2026 at 10:35 PM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
The Old Joliet Prison closed in 2002. It reopened to the public in 2018 in addition to being the site of a Blues Brothers festival (scenes were filmed there) and, now, a baseball game. The reason it reopened is urbexers climbed the walls, leaving graffiti and damage that created a “burnt district”
Sign for the “Burnt District” at Old Joliet Prison. It was open from 1858 to 2002. Fires set by people who climbed over the wall damaged or destroyed mutliple buildings in 2013. The prison opened to the public in 2018. Damage in the “burnt district” of the Old Joliet Prison Graffiti lines the walls of the Old Joliet Prison dining hall. This example is Bart Simpson getting zapped in an electric chair.
January 18, 2026 at 10:34 PM
Reposted by Historical Marker Ahead
historicalmarker.bsky.social
The local historical marker for the long-gone Cook’s Opera House in Pendleton, Indiana, opened in 1898 during a brief natural gas boom in the eastern part of the state, casts it as a pearl put before swine. Interesting tone for a marker clearly meant to be promotional for the town!
Cook’s Opera House historical marker in Pendleton, Indiana. It reads: Town of Pendleton, a National Historic Register Community With the discovery of natural gas, the turn of the 20th century brought great prosperity to Madison County. It also brought a high level of entertainment. Traveling shows crisscrossed the country via rail, performing in suitable venues. With trains passing through town, Pendleton became one of five Madison County communities with its own opera house. Dr. Ossian Cook, a physician and one-time Pendleton postmaster, acquired this building in the 1890s and once used it as a post office. He sold it to his older brother, Dr. John W. Cook, also a physician. By 1898, it was an opera house, with significant capacity. On Nov. 2, 1900, gubernatorial candidate Col. Winfield Durbin of Anderson addressed an audience of 400 here. Backside of Cook’s Opera House historical marker. It reads: In 1900 and 1901, the Pendleton Gazette mentions various events at Cook’s Opera House: receptions, speeches, band concerts, performances by local players, minstrel shows, an oyster supper, commencement exercises, a hypnotist, and traveling theater companies. A story on Feb. 2, 1900, may explain why the opera house did not last long. “Peck’s Bad Boy, as given at the opera house Wednesday evening, was a fine show, and the house should have been crowded. Worse shows are often seen at Indianapolis. Why do not Pendleton people patronize more liberally the high-class shows which come here? If they did, the Band could insure them the worth of their money every time, but as it is, it is a hard matter to induce the best companies to stop here.” The old Cook’s Opera House in Pendleton, Indiana, in July 2021. It’s still the HQ for Premier Steel, a women-owned construction firm. My late mother is standing out front.
January 18, 2026 at 4:58 AM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
The local historical marker for the long-gone Cook’s Opera House in Pendleton, Indiana, opened in 1898 during a brief natural gas boom in the eastern part of the state, casts it as a pearl put before swine. Interesting tone for a marker clearly meant to be promotional for the town!
Cook’s Opera House historical marker in Pendleton, Indiana. It reads: Town of Pendleton, a National Historic Register Community With the discovery of natural gas, the turn of the 20th century brought great prosperity to Madison County. It also brought a high level of entertainment. Traveling shows crisscrossed the country via rail, performing in suitable venues. With trains passing through town, Pendleton became one of five Madison County communities with its own opera house. Dr. Ossian Cook, a physician and one-time Pendleton postmaster, acquired this building in the 1890s and once used it as a post office. He sold it to his older brother, Dr. John W. Cook, also a physician. By 1898, it was an opera house, with significant capacity. On Nov. 2, 1900, gubernatorial candidate Col. Winfield Durbin of Anderson addressed an audience of 400 here. Backside of Cook’s Opera House historical marker. It reads: In 1900 and 1901, the Pendleton Gazette mentions various events at Cook’s Opera House: receptions, speeches, band concerts, performances by local players, minstrel shows, an oyster supper, commencement exercises, a hypnotist, and traveling theater companies. A story on Feb. 2, 1900, may explain why the opera house did not last long. “Peck’s Bad Boy, as given at the opera house Wednesday evening, was a fine show, and the house should have been crowded. Worse shows are often seen at Indianapolis. Why do not Pendleton people patronize more liberally the high-class shows which come here? If they did, the Band could insure them the worth of their money every time, but as it is, it is a hard matter to induce the best companies to stop here.” The old Cook’s Opera House in Pendleton, Indiana, in July 2021. It’s still the HQ for Premier Steel, a women-owned construction firm. My late mother is standing out front.
January 18, 2026 at 4:58 AM
Reposted by Historical Marker Ahead
vanderhoofy.bsky.social
For weeks, I was watching LibsofTikTok and the rest of the right-wing internet post some of the most insane shit I've ever seen about the Minnesota Somali community. "Inciting a pogrom" is the only way I can describe the tone of it. I really do feel like that propaganda has been rejected now
faineg.bsky.social Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 1d
ICE and MAGA really did bet the farm on all of Minneapolis’s white people going “oh yes, please take away our disgusting, evil non-white-foreigner neighbors, oh thank you so much.”

it’s beautiful that they’ve been proven incredibly wrong about that - may the rest of the country do the same.
January 18, 2026 at 2:50 AM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
Now that’s what a tank would look like
January 18, 2026 at 3:16 AM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
45 points in the second half, they’re on fire
January 18, 2026 at 2:54 AM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
Maybe, but they are NBA players so they should be able to handle it
January 18, 2026 at 2:52 AM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
To anyone who thinks the Pacers have been tanking — THIS is what tanking would look like (Siakam, Nembhard, Nesmith and McConnell all held out tonight)
tonyreast.bsky.social Tony East @tonyreast.bsky.social · 1d
Halftime: Pistons 59, Pacers 25. As ugly as the score suggests. Pacers were awful, awful, awful. Pacers are 10/43 from the field, 1/18 from deep, and have 13 turnovers. Quenton Jackson, Jarace Walker, and Isaiah Jackson have 9 of the 10 makes.
January 18, 2026 at 1:57 AM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
@buckweaver.bsky.social this is in your wheelhouse
January 17, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Historical Marker Ahead
historicalmarker.bsky.social
So not only was the first pro football game at night played 20 years before the NFL’s founding, but it also involved Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics, 1 of 3 baseball teams that played football as the National Football League as offseason promotion www.stargazette.com/story/news/l...
First-ever pro football game 'under the lights' was played in Elmira | History column
A new historic marker stands in Elmira at the site of the first professional football game played at night "under the lights."
www.stargazette.com
January 17, 2026 at 3:49 PM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
I claim my great uncle and aunt for fighting racism and segregation at the University of Michigan med school in the late 1940s and early 1950s, for which they went on the run briefly after being targeted by McCarthyites. Their letter to family about it is in the 🧵 below bsky.app/profile/hist...
historicalmarker.bsky.social Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · Mar 27
In the early 1950s my great uncle, a U of M med student, and aunt went on the run because they were in the crosshairs of the House Unamerican Activities Committee. I have a copy of the letter he wrote to his family, transcribed for readability, in the next posts of the thread: 1/🧵
nkalamb.bsky.social Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · Mar 27
Literally, the University of Michigan is saying it is out on civil rights.
January 17, 2026 at 10:56 PM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
So not only was the first pro football game at night played 20 years before the NFL’s founding, but it also involved Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics, 1 of 3 baseball teams that played football as the National Football League as offseason promotion www.stargazette.com/story/news/l...
First-ever pro football game 'under the lights' was played in Elmira | History column
A new historic marker stands in Elmira at the site of the first professional football game played at night "under the lights."
www.stargazette.com
January 17, 2026 at 3:49 PM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
You can easily create your own historical marker by grabbing an old photo from the newspaper and putting it on a post, as they did with a picture of an old fire truck in Rapid River, Michigan. The town is named after the river, which was named ironically.
“Remember when?” photo from the Escanaba Daily Press with an early 20th century fire truck in Rapid River, Michigan. It’s nailed to a post in a park. Location of the “Remember When?” historical marker in Rapid River, Michigan. It’s near the river of the same name. The bridge over it carries US Highway 2. Rapid River going under US 2 in Rapid River, Michigan. The river is very still. The rocky Rapid River as it approaches Lake Michigan.
January 17, 2026 at 4:41 AM
Reposted by Historical Marker Ahead
historicalmarker.bsky.social
Tree of Liberty plus its monument in Maynooth, Ireland, to commemorate the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the first major uprising against British rule. The stone acknowledges the American and French revolutions as inspiration for the rebellion.
Tree of Liberty at the Presentation Girls’ School in Maynooth, Ireland. The stone commemorating it is in front of the gate. The stone reads: WHAT IS THAT IN YOUR HAND? IT IS A BRANCH OF WHAT? OF THE TREE OF LIBERTY WHERE DID IT FIRST GROW? IN AMERICA WHERE DOES IT BLOOM? IN FRANCE WHERE DID THE SEEDS FALL? IN IRELAND ...Society Of United Irishmen.
January 16, 2026 at 6:26 PM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
You can find trans Girl Scouts to buy cookies from here: www.erininthemorning.com/p/2026-trans...
January 17, 2026 at 4:29 AM
Reposted by Historical Marker Ahead
tonyreast.bsky.social
Kind of a wild stat in the Pacers 42nd game: Their starting lineup tonight of Nembhard, Furphy, Nesmith, Siakam, and Huff is the only Pacers opening five with more than one win. They got their second victory tonight.
January 17, 2026 at 2:44 AM
Reposted by Historical Marker Ahead
aluckmann.bsky.social
Once again posting Plymouth Rock, the final boss of disappointing landmarks
a rock in a cage which is plymouth rock
January 16, 2026 at 9:15 PM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
Reverse Rumspringa
January 16, 2026 at 8:01 PM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
Tree of Liberty plus its monument in Maynooth, Ireland, to commemorate the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the first major uprising against British rule. The stone acknowledges the American and French revolutions as inspiration for the rebellion.
Tree of Liberty at the Presentation Girls’ School in Maynooth, Ireland. The stone commemorating it is in front of the gate. The stone reads: WHAT IS THAT IN YOUR HAND? IT IS A BRANCH OF WHAT? OF THE TREE OF LIBERTY WHERE DID IT FIRST GROW? IN AMERICA WHERE DOES IT BLOOM? IN FRANCE WHERE DID THE SEEDS FALL? IN IRELAND ...Society Of United Irishmen.
January 16, 2026 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Historical Marker Ahead
zinnedproject.bsky.social
#tdih 1865

Demands by Black ministers after Ebenezer Creek Massacre led to Special Field Order #15: a short-lived land distribution to freed people.

They established civic institutions, schools, militia (for defense from Klan), & more. #TeachReconstruction 🧵
www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/sp...
Jan. 16, 1865: Special Field Order No. 15
Demands by Black ministers after the Ebenezer Creek Massacre led to the short-lived land distribution during Reconstruction known as Special Field Order No. 15.
www.zinnedproject.org
January 16, 2026 at 12:43 PM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
Dopesick 8? Yikes.
January 16, 2026 at 4:57 PM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
I looked up the old railroad town this historical marker is in — Clifton Forge, Virginia, and learned the following were filmed there:

— The miniseries based on “Dopesick 8”
— REM’s “Driver 8” video youtu.be/wuFId1RYSZE?...
January 16, 2026 at 4:24 PM
historicalmarker.bsky.social
Re last reskeet on Indian Citizenship Act of 1924: it was 65 years after 1st federal court ruling that Natives were, legally, people. At the time the U.S. Army was still actively chasing Natives. Standing Bear is now one of Nebraska’s U.S. Capitol statues: www.visitthecapitol.gov/apps/nshc/st...
January 16, 2026 at 2:50 PM