Episodes

Jan. 30, 2022

48: The Museum of the Cherokee Indian (Part 1)

The Cherokee don’t believe in signatures. Who can blame them? In 1763, the British signed a proclamation preventing white colonization west of the Appalachian divide. It happened anyway. In 1785, the United States government ...

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Jan. 18, 2022

47: Oak Ridge: The Forgotten City of the Nuclear Age (Part 2)

On a warm summer day in 1900, the village idiot of Oak Ridge, Tennessee laid on his back in the middle of the woods and heard the voice of God. Returning home, he told his wife: In the woods, as …

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Jan. 3, 2022

46: Oak Ridge: The Forgotten City of the Nuclear Age (Part 1)

On a warm summer day in 1900, the village idiot of Oak Ridge, Tennessee laid on his back in the middle of the woods and heard the voice of God. Returning home, he told his wife: In the woods, as …

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Dec. 13, 2021

45: Lepa Radic

17-year-old Lepa Radić was a Yugoslavian partisan, having joined the communist party at age 15. Two years later, while tending to the wounded at the battle of Neretva, Lepa was captured and tortured for more than a week for i...

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Dec. 6, 2021

44: Indiana Bell Building

In 1930, a local architect moved a 11,000 tons building in downtown Indianapolis, using hand-powered jacks and an ingenious engineering solution. Visit us online at: Itshometownhistory.com Support our podcast by becoming a pa...

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Nov. 29, 2021

43: Belle Boyd: Siren of the Shenandoah

She was known by many names - the Siren of the Shenandoah, the Rebel Joan of Arc, the Cleopatra of Secession – but when the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter in April 1861, she was just seventeen-year-old Belle …

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Nov. 8, 2021

41: The Hunt for the Friends of Dorothy

We’ve named this episode after The Hunt for the Red October because it’s kind of like that, but instead of a Soviet submarine, the search is on for a powerful sleeper agent, known to the US government only as Dorothy. …

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Nov. 1, 2021

40: Elizabeth Van Lew

The year is 1861 and America is in the grips of a bloody Civil War that will change it forever. In Richmond, the capital of the new Confederate States, Southern Belles and Ladies are sewing uniforms, throwing fundraising gala...

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Oct. 25, 2021

39: Buried Alive in Wolf Park

On July 17, 1904, 500 residents of Hammond, Indiana gathered together one unseasonably hot summer afternoon, wearing their Sunday best, to watch an innocent man get buried alive. Visit us online at itshometownhistory.com Supp...

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Oct. 18, 2021

38: The Princes in the Tower

In 1647, laborers toiling away at the Tower of London uncovered two small skeletons while clearing away rubble from a staircase. Had the discovery been made today, scientists would have used a whole host of forensic tools, in...

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Oct. 12, 2021

37: Bill Russell in Marion, Indiana

I just recently learned that NBA legend Bill Russell once came to my hometown of Marion, Indiana during the 1960's. The result of this brief stay was at once funny and inspiring, and one of the best stories ever told …

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Oct. 4, 2021

36: Straw Hat Riots of 1922

In 1922, thousands of teenagers in Manhattan went on a straw hat smashing spree that sent many of them to jail, and some of their victims to the hospital. The exact reasons for the riot are unclear, but a clue …

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Sept. 27, 2021

35: The Worst Speech in History

There are just times when you need a great speech. These times are rare, but they exist. This episode is about a time like this, when America need a speech and the President of the United States stood with his …

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Sept. 20, 2021

34: The Case of Henry Livermore Abbott

On a cold morning, October 21st, 1861, an officer in the Union army named Major Henry Livermore Abbott led the 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment through another hopeless assault against a superior enemy force, up an isolat...

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Sept. 13, 2021

33: The Stabbing of Monica Seles

Sometimes the bad guys win. Sometimes the people with the worst intentions get what they want in life and their victims lose everything, like when one unemployed German lathe operator attempted to murder the best tennis playe...

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Sept. 6, 2021

32: America's Cincinnatus

One of the most important hometowns in American history is Alexandria, Virginia. Along with being the wealthiest city in Virginia, Alexandria is home to the Institute for Defense. Analyses, the United States Patent and Tradem...

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Aug. 23, 2021

31: Forgotten Third Battle of the American Civil War

The first battle of the Civil War was the Battle of Fort Sumter, off the coast of South Carolina, in early April 1861. A week later, something like a battle erupted in the streets of Baltimore during the Pratt Street …

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Aug. 9, 2021

30: The Italian Hall Disaster of 1913

Sometimes known as the 1913 Massacre, the Italian Hall Disaster was a tragedy that occurred on December 24th, 1913 in Calumet, Michigan. 73 people were crushed to death in a stampede when someone falsely shouted "fire" at a c...

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July 19, 2021

29: The Potsdam Giants

Sometime in 1678, the mighty Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I, known as the “soldier king” of Europe’s most warlike state, sat in his heavily padded throne surveying his army with an ambassador from France.With a row of part...

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July 13, 2021

28: Madam C.J. Walker, Part 2: 1st Female Self-Made Millionaire

Part 2 - Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millio...

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June 21, 2021

27: Madam C.J. Walker, Part 1: 1st Female Self-Made Millionaire

Part 1 - Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millio...

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June 14, 2021

26: Robert Smalls

How have I never heard of Robert Smalls?I’m betting you haven’t either. Smalls was an antebellum slave and real-life action hero who fought without permission in the Civil War and pulled off one of the most daring heists in A...

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June 7, 2021

25: The Dumb Blonde Stereotype

Does Blonde hair make you dumb? No, seriously does it? Let’s track the history of this stereotype and find out if it’s true. Visit us online at itshometownhistory.com

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May 17, 2021

24: Dear H.H. Holmes, Part 2

This is the 2nd half of our Dear H.H. Holmes episode. Meet Almeda Huiet, of Wabash County, Indiana. Possibly the first Chicago victim of infamous serial killer H.H. Holmes. Visit us online at itshometownhistory.com Support ou...

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