- [Narrator] Now Entering is made possible with support from Jackrabbit Coffee, Cultured Urban Winery, City of Anderson, Flagship Enterprise Center, Donahue Gas, with additional support from Community Hospital, Anderson Symphony Orchestra, The Toast, LAMPCO FCU, The Herald Bulletin, Madison County Visitors Bureau, Madison County Community Foundation, Madison County Historical Society, Howard Webb Insurance, Ascension St. Vincent Anderson, Holder Bedding.

(soft music) With a population of almost 55,000 residents, Anderson, Indiana is the county seat of Madison County.

The city is named after Chief William Anderson of the Delaware Indians and was originally named Andersontown.

William Conner, an early settler in the area, sold his land to John and Sarah Barry, who donated 32 of the acres to the county.

With the agreement that the county seat would move from Pendleton to Anderson.

Mr. Barry surveyed and platted the layout in 1827.

Anderson was incorporated as a city in 1865 with a population of 1,300.

Through its 150-year history, Anderson has seen several economic booms as well as incurred major economic setbacks.

But Anderson is the city of comebacks and resilient residents.

Through economic development, it has attracted a more diverse group of corporations and businesses.

Local leaders and organizations are giving back to the community and arts, culture, and the city's rich history are celebrated.

- Hello, I'm Mayor Tom Broderick, and you are now entering Anderson.

(gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) - The city of Anderson sesquicentennial celebration was held in August of 2015, which was the 150th birthday of Anderson.

When we were planning the event, we know that we wanted it to kind of encompass all of the Anderson's history.

The other thing that was really important to us when we were planning the celebration was to make sure it was highly inclusive and everybody in the community could feel like they could participate in some way.

- We came up with a logo.

The logo was kind of AND, standing for abbreviated Anderson.

And so we were looking for events like Arts and Imagination, Picnic and Prayer, Flip Flops and Formal.

So we incorporated that little AND logo in almost every event we did.

I think the most well-attended, exciting and fun event we had was the birthday party.

The final event for the week and it was the biggest birthday party in Madison County history, I'm fairly certain.

We estimate we had around 6000 people there.

We know for certain that over 3000 cupcakes were eaten.

We had fireworks off of the old parking garage.

We were zip lining down Meridian.

We had a band.

It was really, truly a great celebration.

We planted trees.

That was one of my favorite things that we did.

Our goal was to plant 150 trees for the 150 year celebration.

We ended up planting about 175, 78 trees, and we had the time capsule evening where people brought things to put in the time capsule located in City Hall.

Community Orchard commemorated all of the service clubs over Anderson's 150 year history and its celebrated individuals that were members of those service clubs that really kind of went above and beyond.

There are some busts of Chief Anderson that were done by sculptor Ken Rudin and we had pedestals and made a special place for them in City Hall, a mural, which is the backdrop on Meridian to our Dickman Town Park.

The picnic and praise event that Jackson Park on the west side of Anderson, we had choir groups from all types of churches.

So we collaborated with the Indiana Racing Memorial Association and we did a huge celebration and a historical marker from Ray Harroun, the first winner of the Indianapolis 500.

We also did one for Bob Carey, who has also raced Indianapolis 500, but unfortunately died in a racing accident.

- What surprised me the most was we sent out an appeal asking for donations to help us put the celebration on in the utility belt.

And we could not believe how many citizens in this community reached out with the donation.

So hundreds and hundreds of families participated to help us put on the celebration.

Also, we were overwhelmed by the support of our local businesses and corporations in the community.

One other thing I don't want to leave off is how helpful the Historical Society was.

Steve Jackson is our county historian and he was a tremendous leader and asset during the entire process of the sesquicentennial.

I'm so proud that we were able to provide something for everyone in the community so that anyone who wanted to be involved could be involved.

It was just interesting to see all these groups of people come together to celebrate the city.

Nancy and I barely knew each other before this committee work started, and now we're inseparable.

Very best friends.

Not only do we leave legacies behind for the future in the community, but we have this great legacy of our friendship.

(upbeat music) (light acoustic guitar music) - My name is Kelley Morgan.

I am the interpretive naturalist at Mounds State Park.

Mounds State park's History starts over 8000 years ago.

Native American people stopped along the White River and created stone tools there.

But we really don't start seeing the main construction component of Mounds State Park until about 160 B.C.E.

At that time, they started creating an area of a floor that was clay, and they fired it, hardened it, and they were also putting strange posts in the grounds.

It wasn't until 1988 that we fully understood exactly what those posts were used for.

But we do know about 100 years after they started creating these floors and putting the posts in the ground, they began digging a large circular mound that's over 360 feet across.

The mounds symbolize a location where people were coming to celebrate and to participate in what we believe were religious observations.

Our great mound was created in the way that the posts located in multiple locations in the center of what we now call the center platform.

They used those posts to sightline multiple celestial objects.

So we definitely know that our main mound, Great Mound, was a specific solar locator and basically a calendar.

Mound State Park was established along with all of the others in 1916 by Colonel Lieber, who was the head of the Department of Conservation at the time.

His dream was, is that Hoosiers would be able to access state parks within an hour of wherever they lived.

When he created the state park system.

He instituted a user fee.

And at the time of its creation, they were only 10 cents.

But as the time has gone on, we now have a fee that people pay when they come to the state park.

However, that does allow our state parks to remain open.

At present we are over 91% self-funded.

That means every dollar that comes into our park, we greatly appreciate because you help us do what we do.

Activities that we have at the State park involve special events, group tours.

We also hold educational days.

We have Pioneer Day that happens in October, introducing children and adults to heritage skills that are sort of being lost.

We also have our summer solstice celebration where members of the Miami tribe of Indiana do come and drum the sun down and tell us more about their culture.

We have a large event where people can come trick or treat and learn more about the history of Halloween and how it actually connects directly to our park.

When you come to Mounds State Park, we have over six hiking trails and they total roughly about six miles.

We also have a 75-foot elevation change in our park between the White River and the upper component of our park.

We do have one trail that is very accessible.

It's a paved trail that runs all the way out to the great mounds.

And so anyone with disability issues or other capabilities can easily walk out and see what our park is named for.

We also have a nature center that is has exhibits in it that explain a little bit more about the history of the park and the wildlife that lives within it.

We have the Brandenburg Home, which is open in the summers from May to October.

And then, of course, you can't beat the nature that we have at the park.

You come, have a moment to sit by the river.

One of the things that we really feel nowadays is the need for a little bit of peace and nature provides that.

So it's a wonderful place to come and do nothing but sit and listen or have a picnic with your family.

(light acoustic guitar music) (upbeat music) - My name is Debbie Webb and I'm president of the Andersontown Powwow.

The powwow came about because a gentleman had moved from Oklahoma to Anderson and heard about our Native American history.

And he just felt like it was a shame that the community wasn't recognizing that history.

A group of community leaders got together probably 15 to 20, and we established 501c3 in 2003 and the very first Andersontown Powwow was held in 2004.

We wanted it to be different than what had been before, something that really did celebrate our Native American heritage, the history of the area.

For people to be able to learn about native culture, not just the Delaware, but, you know, Indiana was the land of Indians, so to understand and appreciate the native culture.

The very first Powwow occurred at Athletic Park near downtown Anderson, we had probably 30 to 40 vendors.

We actually recruited some artists.

We went down to the Eiteljorg at the Indian market and recruited a handful of artists there that are still coming back to the Powwow every year.

We had partnerships with Historical Society, Mounds Park.

They're still involved to this day.

And we expanded, I guess, on some of the partnerships and working with the Visitors bureau, working with the city of Anderson to make sure that it truly was, you know, a community event.

So the Andersontown Powwow was held the first weekend after Labor Day every year, that Saturday and Sunday.

So that never changes.

And we've held true to our goals of making it family friendly to use partnerships and collaborations within the community, because working together, it makes it a stronger event.

So it's two days of family fun, being able to explore native culture through the history, the art, a lot of hands on activities.

You know, we've added tomahawk throws.

We have a performance with Native American flutist that comes and provides such a wonderful musical backdrop that is is great to hear, the flute music.

And of course, the centerpiece of the Powwow is the dancing that goes on in the arena.

(percussive music) When someone arrives at the Andersontown Powwow, so there's a lot of things to choose from.

They'll hear music in the background or the beat of the drums.

And so that, of course, will draw their attention to the arena where the dancers go in.

So the grant entries are something that are just majestic to see, so colorful with the beautiful regalia of clothing that they have created themselves.

Or there's the chance for little kids to go over to the artists tent and to sit down at a table and to participate in some native-inspired art activities presented by the Anderson Museum of Art.

Or they can go over and, you know, talk to the naturalist from Mounds State Park and learn about the Adena Hopewell Indians here in Anderson.

The birds of prey is something that people hear about and come to the Powwow because they want to learn more about the birds of prey.

A couple of things that I really enjoy are the historical interpreters that come back.

And Jim Snodgrass is one that has a fascinating display.

This man comes back and participates in our educational program.

He is able to hold the attention of 400 4th graders, all by himself.

And so you can imagine what he's like even with a smaller audience, because his knowledge of the Woodland Indians and their, you know, the way that they live their life that many years ago, he is fascinating.

So he's someone that you want to make sure that you pay attention to.

- My people have a saying.

If the smoke's in your eyes, move to the other side of the fire.

(audience laughing) - When you look at what a Powwow is, it's like a reunion.

And so it's a reunion of family and friends.

And so you've known so many people for so long, that they become family to you, and the new people that attend the Powwow, they're your friends.

You know the people, we all have, people like that we only see once a year, but we we take up with them just like it was yesterday, that we're having the conversation because we've shared something that we're both passionate about and we get to share together.

So there's just such a joy and enthusiasm for the Powwow in the world that we live.

And I think it's important to recognize that, you know, we all look different, but we all share, you know, so many of the same values.

And it's important that we treat one another with respect.

We have all been impacted by native tribes.

So it's like Indiana has, you know, deep roots in our native culture.

And I think it's exciting to be able to explore that.

(soft music) - I'm Melody Hull, president of the Madison County Historical Society.

We are excited about our Museum of Madison County History.

It's in the center of Anderson at the corner of Meridian and 11th.

And the building itself is big.

It's three floors, 23,000 square feet.

And inside, everywhere you look is a lesson on local history.

And much of that history concerns Anderson, because Anderson was a hub of industry.

We have a very large room upstairs called Made in Madison County, and we show all the things from the various industries, whether it's GM or whether it is our abundant glass history.

Anderson gave a wide variety of industries.

National Tile made durable, colorful ceramic patterns for the floors and walls and kitchens and bathrooms and decorative areas.

The company's most famous client, the White House.

Washington, DC.

Another industry, American Playground Equipment was installed at Disneyland in California, and Nicholson File, at its height, was the world's largest producer of metal filing tools for any and all purposes.

We have got, I like to say, 12,000 years of natural history because mastodons and other megafauna roamed along what is now White River and the tributaries during the Ice Age, and at the end of the Ice Age, they were dying off.

And at the museum we have a model we call Maddie for Madison, and it's a young mastodon and we have ribs, jaw, leg bones, even the vertebrae of this mastodon.

We've had innovators here.

The Remy brothers developed the Magneto, which improved the ignition systems for those early gasoline engines.

And by the late 1920s, Anderson had two divisions of General Motors, Delco Remy and Guide Lamp.

Another innovator, which is more fun, was Hugh Hill.

He devised a push pull, four wheeled riding toy for children.

I love the glass, and this to me, is worth the trip.

Anderson had multiple glass factories, everything from plate glass for windows to the heavier glass for bottles and jars, and then a form of art glass.

Brilliantly designed, hand-cut crystal was produced by the Right Rich Cut Glass Company, and this was used for dinnerware and service pieces in the homes of the wealthy.

Right Cut Glass is still highly prized in today's antiques market, and the museum has one of the largest collections in the country.

All of our many collections have been donated to us.

We have bought nothing.

The building was donated to us.

It used to be the Citizens Bank building.

And that's why it's so big.

Our residents have filled it.

People like myself who are descended from original settlers and people who have moved in, they get involved and they donate items.

We have all of these artifacts on display as well as many others, some beautiful, some practical, some just for fun.

But all made in Anderson.

(upbeat music) - I am Cheryl Shank.

I am a former board president and current board member of the Anderson Young Ballet Theater.

I danced with Lou Ann Young and from my junior high years on through college, she instilled in me a real love of dance that has continued throughout my lifetime.

My daughter then danced and now my granddaughter has danced.

Anderson Young Ballet began well before it was actually a ballet company.

Lou Ann Young, who was our founder, was first a dance teacher that danced with us in the basement of some apartments just down the street from here.

Always as a dance teacher, she had in the back of her mind as a wish and a hop to someday create a pre-professional ballet company.

One of those things that she always hoped could happen and did back in 1974, when she first created the Young Ballet Theater troupe.

In 1979, it became the Anderson Young Ballet Theater Company.

The 2023/2024 season will be the 50th season for Anderson Young Ballet Theater.

I am overseeing the celebration surrounding all of that.

We are putting together a wonderful party that's going to be taking place at the Big Four Depot where we have our home.

That will be a celebration that will include the whole community, hopefully.

We want former dancers to be with us.

We want community members to be with us.

Our dancers will be performing that evening, pieces from "The Nutcracker".

They'll also be performing three pieces from the New World premiere of "12 Dancing Princesses".

One of the things that we do for outreach is every Christmas time when we do "The Nutcracker", we have a school show which we invite all of the schools in the area to use "The Nutcracker" as one of their field trips.

When they get there, they're transported into this magic place and they get to come up on stage and learn some of the pantomime that also goes along with dance.

We are a unique situation in that we have the Andersen Young Ballet Theater Academy and that is our for profit entity that brings our little people up through the ranks and into the company.

At about sixth, seventh grade, a lot of our dancers will transfer into the junior company and then will dance on into the regular company.

The company itself is a 501c3.

The company gains its funding through grants that are being written and are written annually, from fundraisers that we do, from some wonderful donors that believe in us and give us wonderful gifts throughout the years.

And then also from ticket sales, which take place through our performances of "The Nutcracker" happening every third weekend in December, and then in our Spring Ballet, which happens the first weekend in March.

We depend a lot on other people to be able to do all of the things that we do.

And because of their faith in us, we've been able to carry on for these past 50 years.

And we're beginning a campaign with the celebration that we're having for our 50th to take us on into the next 50 years.

(soft music) - Mainstage Theater is one of the very oldest community theaters in the state of Indiana, and we're very proud of that.

Back in 1959, Maxine Bridges, who was the Anderson High School drama coach, decided it was time to do a community theater and a summer theater.

So one year, they had the shows at Anderson High School.

The following year they had talked to the Geeting Family and the Geetings had some land on East 10th Street in Anderson, and they had a circus tent that they put up and that was Geeting Summer Theater.

And the Madison County Dramatics Players played at the Geeting Summer Theater.

In early 1970s, they took the circus tent down and they erected a pole barn with a metal roof.

Well, when it rained on that pole barn, it stopped the show because there was no way with the sound system that that you could ever hear any kind of lines or music.

And also, if it rained hard enough, several times, the electricity went out.

So the pole barn was constructed so the sides of the pole barn came back and some of the actors would take their cars on both sides of the pole barn, put their bright lights on, and the show must go on.

About 1980, the board of directors decided we probably should get a place where we can do more than just summer theater.

So a committee was formed and they found the Hamilton Cigarette and Candy Warehouse on ninth Street in Anderson.

And it was a warehouse, but it had space.

There were a lot of options with this particular building.

So we found that.

That was like in 1981, '82 season was at Anderson High School because we were doing all the build out.

And when we finished, I can remember the pride that everyone felt.

You walk in, new seats, new paint, there's a stage and this is what we've all been working for, a permanent home.

So it's now Madison County Dramatics Players at the Anderson Mainstage Theater.

And the first show was "Hello Dolly".

And I got to be Dolly in that show and it was so much fun.

I've been doing community theater for years and the people that are probably my very best friends are people that I've been on stage with.

It is a time commitment.

It is a lot of memorization and music and dance.

Of course, there's straight shows and comedies as well.

Community theater, it's a melting pot of people from ages four to 84, or even older.

It's new people coming in all the time.

It's a place to go to release creativity, to make friends.

Community theater is like a family.

The memories are fabulous.

And you don't have to be an actor or a singer.

You can be a person that comes in and passes out programs and greets people when the show begins.

Or you can be somebody that's great at construction and can build sets and you can run spotlights, do makeup, or hair or costumes.

There is always something.

There are new seasons every year, and there's a committee that reads scripts and figures out what is really good.

And we do take our audience into consideration when we choose shows because we know who they are and they like to have something with meaning and something that they can take away or a few laughs.

Mainstage Theater is a 501c3 theater, and so we depend on our sponsors and our patrons to keep our doors open.

And we really appreciate them and we appreciate the volunteers and the people that come out and make the commitment to be with us.

And then they leave family.

The future of Mainstage Theater, I feel, is extremely bright.

It's been around 64 years.

The board of directors is filled with a lot of people that are passionate about the theater, so I feel like it'll be here another 64 years at least.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - My name is Randy Hammel and I'm the executive director of the Paramount Theater Center and Ballroom in Anderson, Indiana.

The Paramount was originally built, it opened in 1929.

It was one of the few, what's called atmospheric theaters.

There are only 12 of them built in the United States.

It was originally supposed to be a seven story hotel with a theater and a ballroom.

With the Depression, it ended up being a theater and a ballroom.

Three stories.

And the first show in 1929, August the 20th, was the Marx Brothers and the movie "Coconuts".

When you walk into the Paramount, the theme is a Spanish courtyard at night.

You've got these statues, you've got these iron gates, you've got all this flora, you've got a, what's that thing across the top with plants, and you've got a sky.

Originally they also had like 221 little holes in the ceiling with lights and it twinkles.

The way they had built it, that twinkle, they had a little something.

We still have those lights.

We just had those replaced.

And we also had two cloud machines.

And you would come in and the show would start and these clouds would be moving across the ceiling.

Above the stage, there's this beautiful sunset, oranges and reds and everything.

And it was originally designed that if the show started at 7:30, the curtain would open and those lights would dim over a matter of five, six, minutes as if the sun was going down.

So atmospheric means you're outdoors.

The two things I really love is seeing people come in happy and excited and seeing them leave happy and excited.

That's my big celebration.

When people come in to tour the theater or come to an event, they'll walk in through the doors and they'll just go, "Wow."

We call it our Wow Tour.

And then before they leave, we have to go down to the front and turn around and look back at the seating area and the sky and they all go, "Wow" again.

We have replaced our stage floor, we've replace the curtain.

We've restored the pipe organ chambers.

We have a phenomenal pipe organ.

They're one of only three left in the United States.

We renovated the ballroom.

If you're talking about events, we do weddings, we do wedding receptions, we do fundraisers, we do high school proms.

And in the theater, we bring in top name groups.

And cover bands have been doing really well with us.

We had people from six different states come to our concert in Anderson, Indiana, and when they come in, even people from like Carmel and Noblesville and Fishers, they'll come up and they'll say, "We didn't know this theater was here."

My hopes for the Paramount is that it will survive.

When they shut down initially, we had eight owners, since then, the foundation took over in late '80s, it was at the wrecking ball.

We ended up getting it before the wrecking ball came down.

It was going to be a parking garage and ironically, they still built a parking garage.

And really the only time it's used other than when city people work during the day, is when people come to our shows at night.

So it's a good thing that we kept the theater.

We're a destination.

You can plan your day to come here.

We handle opera, we handle the Anderson Symphony Orchestra, AYBT.

We've had tour groups come from Chicago and throughout the nation in Indianapolis, and Carmel came up here.

They did their Nutcrackers here, actually during COVID.

we were able to actually still show Nutcrackers at Christmas time.

I want people to know that if they go on to our website, AndersonParamount.org, there's something for everybody and we're trying to even enlarge that now.

I love Anderson because it's really trying to fight back from what happened about 20 years ago when General Motors left.

A lot of people could have given up, including the theater.

A lot of funding came from General Motors to help us keep the doors open.

And we had to dig down our bootstraps.

And I like it because the Paramount's still there.

And it is an absolute gem, not only to the city of Anderson, but to the state of Indiana, the Midwest.

- My name is Darla Sallee, and I'm the executive director of the Anderson Symphony Orchestra.

The symphony has been in Anderson since 1967, and it got its origins, at the time it was called Anderson College.

And so it first started there with a few of the professors coming together and realizing the need to allow their students to have some practical performance and practice time.

And also they wanted the community to be able to participate in the symphony as well.

Well, I've lived in Anderson my entire life, so I've always known about the Anderson Symphony Orchestra.

So I became involved when I was a youngster and enjoyed symphonic music and attended the symphony, and then again, found it again in my high school years.

And then as an adult.

The executive director before me was here for 10 years, had a great career with the symphony orchestra.

And so I also wanted to follow in those footsteps and see if I could help my community in this way as well.

It's giving back to the community.

It's a lovely nonprofit and I'm proud to be a part of it.

The Anderson Symphony Orchestra is really the keystone, the cornerstone of the arts community and Anderson.

And Anderson has a vibrant arts community.

It's very exciting to see it re-blossom here probably in the last five to seven years.

It's really just taken root again in the hearts of our citizens.

And the Anderson Symphony Orchestra, with its longevity, is always kind of been that cornerstone that's really been an important piece for our community.

We are really lucky to have a symphony.

Most communities our size don't get to have one, and we do.

And we really cherish that and take care of that.

The symphony performs in the Paramount Theater and it is glorious.

You can't say unique performances without mentioning the Anderson Symphony Orchestra's Halloween concerts.

We do those every other year.

Phenomenal concerts, very fun.

We do a costume contest for the kids.

But the main attraction of that concert is that the conductor changes costumes for every musical piece that they do.

It's well-loved in the community, well known, and that is one of our most popular concerts.

Music is important.

It's important in people's lives.

It gets us through the rough times.

We celebrate with music.

Music is the fabric in everything we do.

And so it's important that we a place where people can come and be nurtured and then we send them back out into the world.

- My name is Marilyn Collier, and I am the founding member of the Gathering of the Queens Anderson, Indiana.

Gathering of the Queens is a nonprofit organization that addresses food insecurity.

We address and provide resources for mental health, young mothers, veterans, whatever the need is, we try to address it.

We got started because it was my 60th birthday.

We thought, Well, we'll have something and women can come and we'll just have a party.

There were more than 150 women there.

We celebrated being women and we told them at the end of the night, we'll see you next year.

And they were like, "No, we're going to see you before then."

So in the next month we were on a bus and we went to the National Underground Railroad, we went to Pappadeauxs.

We shop together, and we really started learning each other.

And then after that, in August of 2020 is when we started addressing food insecurity.

We actually help over 800 families.

And those families, they may come from the drive through mobile market or they may come from one of our pantries, which we have two, a senior pantry and an appointment pantry.

Or it might come from a young mother's pantry, or the Veteran's Coffee Club pantry.

This blessing box that's put at the sidewalk of the Anderson Impact Center will help people who may not be comfortable with coming inside of a pantry.

In the Blessing Box, you can find non-perishables, things like canned goods, chips and drinks.

The dry food mobile market actually started at the corner of Nichol and Raible, and Anderson, and we stayed out in the elements for three years.

And then after those three years, we were able to go to the Anderson Impact Center.

Citizens come in their cars or walk up, and they start lining up at 9:30 and at 10:30, they have their prayer and then they start the mobile market.

Usually on the average, we have anywhere from 180 to 200 families that come through that mobile market.

The community garden really is really dear to my heart.

It belonged to my mom.

My mother gardened there for 40 years.

So last year we decided that we were going to have a community garden.

We started the garden, built the planters, and it produced over 600 pounds of produce in the first year.

So this year, Purdue Polytech, Anderson Preparatory Academy, and Jet Fuel, built an irrigation system.

The community around the garden is able to come in and actually do the gardening and That helps for the seniors who are in the community who may not have anything else to do or not able to have a garden of their own, they can come and stand up at the raised beds and do some gardening and show us young folks how it's done.

I think its a love of community.

I grew up here.

Anderson means a lot to me.

It really does.

And it means a lot to me to be able to be a part of an organization that helps people, that will stand up and speak up and say, we have this and that if we worked together, then we are a community that is better, stronger together.

(upbeat music) - I'm Carolyn McKinney.

I'm a member of the Anderson Road Runners here in Anderson, and I've been a member for about 23 years.

The club has two main components.

One is for our adult runners and walkers, and the other is our children's program.

And that's our big outreach.

And so with our children's program that meets on Tuesdays and it's called Roady Racers.

As a part of the children's program, we try to keep that as accessible possible.

It is completely free.

And so there's no cost to families and kids don't try out.

Everyone can participate.

Most of the kids run, but some kids do walk or they walk as much as necessary to complete the race.

The younger children do about four tenths of a mile around two bridges at Shadyside Park.

That's one of our hidden gems here in Anderson, is the trail system that we have.

And so the younger kids do that four tenths of a mile around, two bridges, and then the older children, generally six and up are doing the mile.

And so they do the north half the lake and they compete each week.

Every child gets a ribbon.

Every child is acknowledged.

Every child's name is announced after the race.

All the kids clap for one another and cheer, and they're so excited.

And then in addition to that competitive part of it, they have a chance to compete against themselves to earn a personal record for their personal best time.

So the club tracks their times every week, and then if after three weeks, they beat their best time, they get to ribbons that week.

On Thursday nights, we do something for adults, but all the adults run the same length.

Run or walk, we have walkers and they do 2.64 miles around the Shady Side Lake Trail system.

And then we have runners who take off at six.

There's usually somewhere 60, 70 people who participate each week.

Our current membership numbers are at about 110, and then once a month, each of those programs has a pitch and cookout and a time that we can spend more time together, build community, share a meal together.

We have some folks who, like myself, they've been running in the club for a while and now maybe they have grandchildren and doing the kids run or we have kids from the kids run, come up through and run our adult races.

We have club members participate in our kids run as young as like a year old and barely able to walk around their little, you know, and of course, their parents accompany them, to people in their 80s who are still runners, still walkers, and coming out.

So we serve a vast wide range of ages.

It's a healthy activity and just such an encouraging group of people.

We also put on two large events that is open the greater running community.

One is called White River Run and it happens each year in June.

And that again utilizes our great trail system that we have in Anderson.

We have a 5k and a 10K, and then in November every year, we offer a run called Run the Mounds at Mounds State Park.

And so again, utilizing those community resources that are right here in our backyards and that one we do a 5k and a five-mile.

The Road Runners Club exists as a way to bring people together, to encourage them to have a healthy lifestyle and to be active and to support one another in that journey.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - So my organization, Madison County Chamber of Commerce has actually gone through several evolutions.

We were founded in 1914, so our economy has been thriving for well over 100 years.

It started as the Anderson Chamber of Commerce and then as the continue to evolve, they understood that business doesn't have borders.

And so it became the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce.

And then roughly 15 to 20 years ago, it shifted to the Madison County Chamber of Commerce to really kind of focus in on the entire economy of Madison County.

The Madison County Chamber membership base has right around 600 members, and that represents tens of thousands of employees.

Our most recent evolution as our chamber continues to move, we have just recently announced a merger with the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, where it will begin assuming their operations as well.

We do a lot of advocacy work and this enables us to really speak for a countywide view and voice when we're having conversations both with business leaders and elected officials alike.

We are a very, very close reflection of the overall Indiana economy.

Indiana is per capita the largest industrial manufacturing state in the union, and Anderson is no different.

We have a reputation of people that make things, and for a long time we were the host of General Motors.

We were known as a GM town.

General Motors left and that left us kind of with an opportunity.

Over the last 15 years, we've really been able to shift our focus.

We have a much more diverse employment base.

So if one sector, let's say automobile manufacturing is affected, that doesn't necessarily affect Nestle or (indistinct).

And so by doing that, it's really kind of insulated us from disruptions in the economy.

We focus heavily on economic development.

A part of that is recruiting the next major employer to come to our area, but also not forgetting who we've got and finding ways to enhance their business capabilities to fuel retention and expansion efforts within our existing business.

By aligning with INDY partnership, we felt that by being more closely associated with the the city center and the Indy metro areas population base, what that enabled us to do was utilize the workforce statistics that come along with being in that area and having any competitive advantage that we can have really positions us in a good place for success.

Anderson, by population, is considered a second class city, but one thing that makes us unique within that designation is we have three higher educational institutions that have really provided a boost to our workforce development efforts.

Ivy Tech, Community College, Anderson University and Purdue Polytechnic all have their own unique lanes within the workforce development ecosystem and have been a great partners for all of our manufacturing bases, as well as partners in health care and other industries.

One thing that really sets Anderson apart is we have so much history and culture stories to tell about our community.

On every block, there's an opportunity for a story, whether you're going to Gene's Rootbeer for a Coney Dog or out to the new Uranus Fudge Factory, formerly Goods.

There's an opportunity to hear a story about the culture here.

On the entertainment side, we have Anderson Speedway, which is really a gem of a racetrack and still holds a world record for the fastest quarter mile lap.

You've got Harrah's Hoosier Park, which is a world class horse racing facility.

You've got gems like the Paramount, the Mainstage Theater.

There's a great deal of satisfaction that I get knowing that I've helped businesses, but I'm not going to lie, there are certain perks that are pretty fun just from having this job.

I've been able to drive a race car.

I've been able to fly a plane.

I'm the unofficial taste-tester of new restaurants that open up in the area.

So one thing that we focused on at the chamber is through our events, how can we elevate the status of Anderson?

And we've tried focus on bringing the governor, the lieutenant governor, our senators and some other world class business leaders to Anderson, to continue to shine that spotlight, to let everyone know that we are just as valuable to the Indiana economy as Fort Wayne, Evansville, South Bend.

I would say our largest strength is our adaptability, whether it be transitioning from the General Motors automobile into various other opportunities that we got, the realization of better technologies or disruptions from COVID 19.

Our Madison County business base has been very adaptable to reconfiguring how we go about maintaining our workforce and still being able to make things.

(upbeat music) - As we talk about Community Hospital Anderson, one of the major components of that is that we are the largest employer in Madison County.

We know that we need to be very involved in the community.

We employ about 1600 people here in the Anderson region, and we take that distinction very seriously.

We are celebrating our 61st year as a hospital.

And the hospital was built by the community, literally built the community.

There was already a hospital in town and a lot of people felt there needed to be a second one.

So literally, people went door to door and raised money.

Businesses had an employee campaigns and that money was raised to build a community hospital.

It was 1962 when it was officially opened.

And it's not unusual to still have people say to me or other people at the hospital, I remember raising money for that, I remember donating money in my paycheck to build community hospital.

So there's a lot of pride in the community about the hospital.

It's important to us that we have a healthy community and we know when they need us they will get great care and you know, "patients first" is is our motto.

But what we would like to do is keep them from having to be in the hospital to begin with.

So we try to do things that keep people healthy before they have to use our services.

One of the things that we're doing at the hospital is an initiative called Community in Motion to reduce barriers and increase opportunities for physical activity.

So we're partnering with the Elwood YMCA to do walking clubs and a Laser Tag tournament.

There's a curling club at Anderson, and we're going to have a youth curling league and curling tournaments.

We're doing a golf outing, but the golf outing, you can't use carts.

You have to walk because we want that physical activity.

We have the Anderson Road Runners in town.

We're partnering with them.

Those are going to be Community in Motion events.

Bike rides, tennis tournaments, pickleball tournaments, bowling.

It just, it spans the gamut.

So this year, there's always going to be something going on where we can say, hey, here's another Community in Motion event.

Go out and participate, have fun.

Another thing we do is something called Community Bikes, where we provide bicycles to homeless shelters and halfway houses in the community, and it provides transportation for people that live in those situations to be able to get to jobs, to be able to get to the grocery store, to be able to get to to health care.

One of the things we do is the Community Farm, which is on our campus.

It's about three acres.

We grow produce out there that we distribute free of charge to the community to help battle the food insecurity in the areas and the food deserts that we have.

And we grow about 15,000 pounds of produce.

We are currently expanding the farm and we will end up growing about 30,000 pounds of produce that we'll be able to distribute.

We are adding fruit trees to the farm this year and we have honeybees and we grow about 200 pounds of honey each year as well.

We are also building a community center where we will be able to have free cooking classes and demonstrations because if you give somebody a zucchini but they don't know what to do with that zucchini, it's a wasted zucchini.

Didn't really help anybody.

So we're going to teach people how to prepare these fresh vegetables.

My parents both grew up in Anderson and had a great deal of pride in this community.

My dad was the editor of that newspaper and when he passed away 25 years ago, the community put a statue of my dad downtown.

So that's the impact he had.

My wife is from Anderson, and we just love to be here and to give back.

I love working at Community Hospital Anderson for a variety of reasons.

And one of the biggest reasons is because it is so community focused.

We always stress the three Is.

That's what we do with the foundation.

And I think it's important just in general life also.

And that's imagination, inspiration and impact.

And it usually comes in that order.

I always encourage people to say, wouldn't it be cool if, and then fill the blank.

And that's that's the imagination.

And then once you think about that, that's what inspires you to make the change or to do something different and that leads to the impact.

(soft music) - My name is Joshua Stafford.

with my wife Sharon, and also the owner of Little Shop of Flores.

of Little Shop of Floras.

My father moved here in My father moved here in 1976 was then Anderson College, now Inner City University in .

was then Anderson College, now Inner City University.

In 2003, I began a construction company But in , I bought into a little startup But in 2016, I bought into a little startup with a great friend of mine with a great friend of mine and also the founder And he had started a little coffee cart in his bike shop.

He'd take it to the market.

He'd take it to outside of the community buildings over many cups of coffee.

of the community buildings.

Over many cups of coffee, one morning he said, "You know, this either needs to grow or it needs to die."

and so I bought in to half of the business and I've been growing it ever since.

Now my wife and I own all of it now, but our core values still stem from those early morning conversations about wanting to build a business that builds community, to build a business that builds community.

You know, community in its most basic sense is people that share a place.

could be that place where people gather and talk about their concerns or frustrations or joys, where we could champion a positive community narrative.

Our neighborhood is the West Central Historical District.

And as you enter Anderson from the West, And as you enter Anderson from the west, our building is the first thing you see as you come into the West Central District.

that says Welcome to the West Central District, just to give people a sense of ownership, a place of pride.

of ownership, of place, of pride.

Anderson was an important part to them in their life.

They both went to Anderson College.

They met here.

They fell in love here.

They got engaged here.

He felt so connected to this place that.

He felt so connected to this place that he wanted it to be the best version of itself it could be.

And we have invested in, I would say, We have invested in, I would say, We look at that as our advertising money.

So whether we're you know, we're giving it to local theaters So whether we're, you know, we're giving it to local theaters with other nonprofits, other businesses, and also, you know, working and also, you know, working with other businesses through collaboration.

We've connected and worked with all over Madison County to build each other's brands, to build off the strengths of each other.

to me is you know, talking about loving the place to me is, you know, talking about loving the place where you live, it creates ownership.

You want to to build it up and to value it as a place.

And for me, if there is one thing I want to leave with my community, it is asking them to love your community.

Where you are matters and what you do The thing that I would like people to know about, Anderson, (soft music) (upbeat jazz music) - The thing that I would like people to know about Anderson, We've gone through what I determined to be three periods of economic growth, followed by a bust.

And each time that we had one of those periods, we rebounded of those periods, we rebounded and actually, in my opinion, The very first time that we experienced an economic development was in the s. that we experienced an economic development was in the 1830s.

in New York State in New York State and saw how prosperous it was and how beneficial it was for the state of New York, economically speaking.

you know, we can do something like that.

And so the legislature authorized through an act in monies to be appropriated to develop canals in Indiana.

in 1835, monies to be appropriated to develop canals in Indiana.

And one of those canals was projected to come through this area.

And the town of Anderson increased its population from 150 to 350 people.

Unfortunately, in 1837, there was a financial crisis that began in Europe, swept through the United States.

And what it did was call in the debt that had been borrowed and the state of Indiana had borrowed the money to fund the canals and they couldn't pay the bills.

And so the state went bankrupt.

And as a result, the canal construction stopped.

And as a result of that, people began to leave the area.

The second economic boom occurred with the gas boom, the discovery of natural gas here in East Central Indiana, that stimulated business because all of a sudden you have a free source of energy and people began to come here.

First were businesses to take advantage of that.

Businesses began to prosper in Anderson.

At the same time, that brought wealth to the community.

And it was during that period of time that Anderson built new fire stations, built new schools, expanded annexed areas and so forth, and a tremendous growth took place.

They didn't conserve the gas as they should have.

And what happened was that gas began to run out when the gas ran out, a lot of those businesses that had come here for that reason, left.

The third then would be in the mid 1920s.

General Motors Corporation was looking around for facilities to buy and they purchased a company here known as Remy Electric, who made electrical components for vehicles.

They combined that with one of their facilities in Dayton, Ohio, to develop what was known as Delco Remy.

And two years after that, they purchased a lighting company in Cleveland, Ohio, by the name of Guide, and they moved Guide Lamp here two years after that.

And those two companies were here for roughly 75 years.

And at the peak of their employment, there were 24,000 people employed in Anderson between the two divisions.

In the 1990s, GM decided to divest itself of its interest here in Anderson.

By the early 2000s, they were gone entirely.

I love Anderson, always have.

It is a community that is extremely resilient.

It comes back and seems to stand taller than it did before.

And so for that reason, I'm excited that Anderson has an opportunity for some undiscovered reason to develop into something that will become an even greater community and carry on the legacy of this wonderful town I call Anderson.

(soft music) - Well, my name is Milton Otto.

I lived on historic West Eighth Street on and off since December of 1972.

They had a Easter walk down a street, and that was now known as the first Gaslight Festival.

The gas lights were put in as our street lights in 1973.

They operated on natural gas.

And then during the so-called gas shortage, we had to convert them to electricity.

The festival started as a way to raise money to maintain those gas lights and pay for the natural gas and pay for the factories through all those years.

- My name is Michelle Lavelle Slabe.

My husband David and I moved back to Anderson in 2014 on historical West Eighth Street.

I've gotten involved with this festival because of Milt and our neighbors, like Milt.

Some very good neighbors got together and we said, "Can we make this Gaslight Festival happen, since this is the bicentennial year?

And with that said, "Yes."

The Anderson Gaslight Festival serves as a community event to honor our history and to unite our community with affection for the past, present and future.

And that's exactly how we feel.

How can we tie us all together as a community?

This year's festival, they can expect a lot.

The day's going to start off with yoga at Funk Park.

While that's going on, vendors are going to be lining the streets, getting ready for everybody to come.

I think our parade is going to kick off at 11 a.m., and that's going to be our marshal, Milt, and the mayor.

- I'm looking forward to that.

I'm honored to be asked to do that.

- We do have a tea time at the old historic Lambert home at Hendrix and Seventh Street.

We also have six homes involved with the home tours that are going to be opened for the community to come in.

We have a car show coming as well and kids zone with Anderson police department.

We're hoping to have proceeds that will be going to the Anderson Police Department, K-9 division, as well as the beautification of historic West Eighth Street.

(soft music) - I'm here to talk about the Paramount Theater with our Grand Page Theater Organ.

I was always fascinated with the organ.

I started taking formal lessons when I was 14.

In 1959, I was hired up at Alexandria, Skateland Roller Palace, which had a four manual or four keyboard Wurlitzer theater organ and a Hammond organ.

So I stayed there four years.

And then one of my cohorts got me connected with the Paramount Theater.

I've been there ever since, started there in about 1989.

And there was that little, I say a little 'cause it was a littler than the one I've been playing, the three keyboard or manual page organ.

It has a horseshoe type console.

They rise up out of the pit and there is rooms on each side of the theater itself for the pipes.

It has shutters that I regulate with my feet.

I've always been excited about that organ.

There's not very many page organs ever made in the wild.

And we have the original made in 1929.

(organ music) In 1990, we had our first Tradition in Anderson concert, and it was very much a success.

We've had a concert every year since, and we've had more fundraisers for the theater of course.

But we've dedicated ourselves, Norma and I, to the theater free of charge all these years.

It's our heart.

We love it.

It was my passion.

It was my dream, and it came to pass.

So why wouldn't I be here?

(laughing) (soft music) - My name's Deon Parson and I'm a cartoonist.

I grew up in a not so good environment, and cartooning was kind of my only escape to find a way to express myself.

Garfield was really the kickstart of everything art related for me.

I remember going to a library that held a bunch of Garfield books, and one I actually still own to this day from that same library is Garfield's sixth book, "Garfield Eats His Heart Out", and there was a particular comic in there that helped me learn how to read more because I wasn't a very good reader at school either.

My first start was actually as a newspaper cartoonist.

After high school, I had a friend that tricked me into doing newspaper comics, even though I was heavily against it at the time.

He challenged me to draw 24 comics in a certain amount of time.

He didn't tell me what that deadline was, but he gave me a certain amount of time to do these amounts of comics with Anna and Kurami.

And so I did those strips, and they told me, "Oh, you did these in about three weeks when my deadline for you was six.

So you have the chops of being a professional cartoonist with this.

So what I want you to do next is take these strips that you've made and take them to the Herald Bulletin to see if they'll actually run these strips."

And luckily, the editor, Scott Underwood, was free at that moment to be able to talk with me.

So we spent a good maybe 20, 30 minutes in his office telling him about who I was, what my comments were about.

He read through them.

And so one of the first things he told me was, "Your strips aren't funny, but I like the art of them.

So I want to I want to see you develop more strips.

And throughout that time, we'll come back together and share more about it in a couple of months."

In the winter of 2014, I was able to meet Jim Davis.

We spent some time, about an hour or so in his office talking about my comics and stuff, and at that point he was like, "I think this would be a really good opportunity for you, so let's see about getting your comics in the newspaper."

So in April of 2015, that's when I probably started running as a daily strip.

I've also done another comic series, which is called "Pen and Ink", which is about two sisters that create art together and the whole synopsis of that comic series is just art and art related humor and just about the self-expression of creating art.

"Rosebuds" is my current comic strip that I do, which is syndicated through Andrews Mcmeel Syndication, through their comics website, and I am working with some friends on doing an animated shorts with my characters.

I'm also doing a bunch of comic book workshops throughout central Indiana where I teach about just how to make comics and engage in characters and situations.

The community has been nothing but supportive.

When I was first starting with Be Professional, they got together and gifted me a big art monitor with several computer screens and an art desktop where I could start doing all my art on it, 'cause I was growing up not really with that stuff, and I couldn't really ever afford it on my own.

So they got together and, you know, gifted me that and showed how much they supported what I did.

The Anderson Museum of Art also did a museum exhibition with Kurami and Pen and Ink called Drawn to Life, which showcase art and comics that I've done for both series up to that point and people from out of state were even coming to see the exhibition, which was really nice.

There were so many people that showed up for it and it was an incredible experience.

I have been incredibly blessed and thankful that Anderson has been as sweet and supportive to me as they have been.

(upbeat music) - Right now I'm retired, but I spent my business life doing a wholesale business in sheet metal, heating, and air conditioning.

It started about 100 years ago.

My father worked for Prudential Insurance Company in Muncie, and at this time, he ran into Mr. Shingledecker in the service station, who is known known in Muncie.

And Mr. Shingledecker said he didn't know anybody that had a business for sale because dad had asked him that he had two sons who were coming out of the military and they wanted to get into something.

So they parted.

Span of time, they met again, and this time, Mr. Singledecker says, "Mm, you got us second, and we would prefer to retire."

So my brother Richard and I negotiated about the business and walked in the first day of August 1957 knowing nothing about it.

There were parts, guides, styles and sizes of things.

That was the way I raised my family and raised the boys and they went to scouting and all three got their Eagle Scouts in time.

And of course I was a volunteer to help along with the boys.

31 years in the place.

It got so that the factories left town for one reason or another.

And so that was the base of my income.

And so I ended up selling it all, and paid off everybody but Charlie, and then went on to some other things, and I volunteered a lot.

I was chair of the Economic Development Commission for about 20 years, and during that time, Nestle came to town.

And then I also volunteered at Saint John's Hospital for 25 years in the emergency room where my wife was a nurse.

I was involved in Kiwanis and I was president of the club and had 50 years of perfect attendance.

And then also I was involved with the Red Cross and was chair of the chapter at that time.

And then we had United Faith Housing, which was senior citizens housing, and I was vice president of the board for quite some time there.

And those were some of the major things that I kept busy with.

I think the role of volunteering in the community helps smooth it out and makes it more enjoyable for more and more people.

If there is a variety of volunteer jobs, positions or things that are going on that people can involve themselves with, it helps the community grow and feel better in what they can do.

I've enjoyed my life here in the community of Anderson.

You know, we've raised three sons and they've gone on to do well.

My wife and I enjoy our friends.

We have a church within the community, and we're just enjoying life here in the city because we know where to go and what to do.

(soft music) - I'm Darla Sallee And I am the new owner of the Toast Cafe.

The Toast was built in 1951.

It was the classic American Diner, that '50s diner.

There's been two additions.

So the first one was added in '78 and it was a new dining room that was all the big fanfare.

And then they added on an ice cream parlor.

And let's see, that was in 1982.

I just recently purchased The Toast with my husband and we love this community and we loved The Toast and what it means to, not only my family and my story growing up and my parents story when they would go to The Toast, but it also means so much to this community and we just really want anything to happen to it.

We wanted to preserve it, so that's why we decided to to purchase it.

It's exciting to restore it.

We are taking it down and demoing it pretty far down to the studs and then we're just going to recreate it to as close as we can get to that original diner in '51.

Those gentlemen did a great job.

As we've been demoing, we've been finding all kinds of treasures, like the steel walls in the original diner and those iconic pieces for our community.

And so we've been hanging on to those so that we can reuse them and really display its beautiful history.

We are renovating the iconic sign as well.

A lot of historical value in that sign.

And so we wanted to be sure that we brought it back into working order and to see that sign lit up I think will be a really great thing for for Anderson residents.

The community is extremely invested in The Toast, which has been kind of fun to to experience.

We've had people dropping by during the demo and giving us their opinions on what we should be doing.

People tell me all the time, "Oh, I walked by The Toast and I peered in the windows.

If I appear on your security cameras, that was me.

Don't be alarmed.

And I noticed that you're doing this or that, but you should probably do this or that."

And that's just the fun part of it, because there is such buy in from this community.

The Toast is a very important piece of the Anderson history.

I've had some correspondence from folks who have said, "Hey, you know, my family meets there in the mornings with a group of people and they're just desperate for this to get back open, so that they can have that sense of community again."

And for a lot of these folks, this is the reason why they would get themselves up and moving in the morning was to meet their friends and family at The Toast.

And we want to provide that kind of hospitable experience for them once again.

And so where we're going fast as we can in order to get them that opportunity to meet back.

(upbeat music) - LAMPCO Federal Credit Union started in 1962.

It was initially set up to be a provider of financial services for Guide Lamp employees.

Interesting point about LAMPCO is that it started off in-house house and started off with employees trying to find a way to provide financial services.

- They wanted to be able to just walk out the back door, basically, you know, two blocks down the street and they could cash their checks, deposit their checks, get a loan.

They wanted to have good rates and benefits.

- [Migual] First membership was a quarter to become a member.

- Our members initially consisted of you had to work for what we called a said group, General Motors, ABC Rail, and a lot of the smaller factories in town.

As things changed and evolved, as factories started to slow down and some even closed, we opened that up to what we call a community charter.

So anyone currently that lives, works, worships, volunteers, or attends school in Madison County can be a member.

- Today we have two facilities.

We have one branch.

Still, our administration branch, and our branch on Scatter Field.

Anderson has changed a lot over the last 20 years or so, where it was called a Great Migration and people came from across the country to come to this town.

And so what happened was after those factories have slowly dwindled down, those same families are here.

And so the biggest challenge has been the industry going from an industrial industry to more of a service segment business industry.

- Well, I think we've evolved to meet the needs of the community.

We participate in the community, and I believe that's how we've maintained and sustained even after the factories left.

We provided a lot of services for a range of people.

- We've gone through a lot of changes over the last few years.

If you all think about 2008, there was a financial crash and crisis.

Before that, we had the factories that kind of left town.

Through that, which were some really tough times, we were fortunate enough to have some phenomenal women at our credit union that helped us survive.

When things got crazy, I watched them every day go above and beyond.

- There's definitely a pride with union pride and still in Madison county and a lot of our members, they do, they do come in, and they still talk about the old days and how proud they were to have worked for General Motors and retired from there.

I was raised on General Motors wages.

My father retired from General Motors after 42 years.

- Most of my entire family has worked at General Motors and Delco Remy and Guide Lamp.

My father did 30 years and it's weird that you have executives talking about a union and being proud of it, but that's where we come from.

We're all in this together, but we try to give a little bit to a lot of people to really help build a community and let them know that we still care and we're still here.

(soft music) - My name is Sister Eileen Flavin and I'm a Holy Cross sister from South Bend, Notre Dame.

In 1893, our Sisters of the Holy Cross were teaching in town here at Saint Mary's School, and John and Maria Hickey, he was a business owner here in Anderson, and his wife was very ill and he was looking for someone to help care for his wife.

Sister Victoria, along with the other sisters, came to help care for Maria.

After Maria passed away, John deeded the land that they had to the Sisters of the Holy Cross to be used for the City of Anderson for health care.

The hospital has been here since 1894.

In the early days, it was a lot of comfort care, cooking, laundry, doing that kind of thing.

- It's been a vibrant history and just a celebration of the sisters and their founding of health care in this community.

Although it's been through about seven transitions in different names, the sisters have always played an integral part in health care and the delivery as you can see still to this date.

I think what's great about the sisters and their selection of health systems and who to partner with is really in the continued mission that is very consistent to the sisters in their beginning.

Ascension's mission is really to serve compassionately with personalized care, but especially to those who are poor and most vulnerable.

Really, the role that it plays in the community is to continue to serve all persons with great care, but also to provide jobs and stability to the economy.

The American Hospital Association most recently celebrated and recognized Ascension Saint Vincent Anderson Hospital for 100 years with the American Hospital Association.

So it really speaks to the commitment of high quality care and the role that it plays in being a leader for innovation and the delivery of quality care and advanced care in a community.

(soft music) - My name is Terry Tritt, and I serve as the CEO for Flagship Enterprise Center.

the Flagship Enterprise Center is an incubator.

And we're here to try to help other people to grow their businesses.

Back in 2003, the city of Anderson was having some struggles economically, the city of Anderson and industry diversity came together to try to build something, to launch something to help the local community.

And what they came up with was the Flagship Enterprise Center.

We do more than just help startups.

We also help existing businesses grow as well.

Often they find themselves stuck in one way or the other, and so we're there to give from here to there and then to go on on their own.

For example, if someone has a challenge with our inventory systems or trouble with social media, trying to grow sales, or if they need money, they don't have any money, can't borrow from the bank, we're there to come alongside them to help them get capital that they need.

So at the Flagship, the people who work there, myself, we are there because we want to help other people.

And the best tool that we have to do that to try to help businesses grow, we have to show our sales worthy of that trust.

And that comes with building a relationship.

We have to know that we have to be there, their associate, their friend, their partner, their neighbor, have to come alongside and have to try to do what they're trying to get done.

About a year and a half ago, we were talking with a firm, was located in Fishers, Indiana, and they had outgrown the current capacity, needed more space.

We began to talk about the possibility of them coming to Anderson, Indiana.

We had space available for them.

The seed of Andersen came alongside them, developed an economic package to bring them in town.

And they're here even today, with about 50 employees, hoping to grow to 25 more in the next six months.

Our intent is to try to help other people what we're doing, and it's a lot of fun.

We have a good time.

I'm there to help other folks.

Teammates are there for the folks.

And we can see that happening right here in our community.

We're excited about what's happening, with a grocery store coming in, with the hardware store coming in on the west side.

And our hope is to come alongside those businesses and to help them start integral to make that a viable economic unit again.

The Flagship Enterprise Center has found its home right here in Anderson, Indiana.

We serve all 92 counties of Indiana.

We serve Anderson, Madison County, and the entire state of Indiana.

However, our home is right here and we intend to stay here.

Our intent is to continue to help the city of Anderson and its residents to grow and to grow even more.

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