A vintage 1907 Shelbyville postcard advertising tourism in the county.
In the decades following the American Revolution, white Americans pushed westward past their coastal towns and into the frontier region — and one of the areas they settled was Shelby County, Indiana.
Today the county, and its seat, Shelbyville, is a place that has it all: great neighborhoods, wonderful city amenities, technological campuses such as Intelliplex, and even a racetrack and casino. But it also boasts a rich history, and these images capture and celebrate that history in a way that words simply can’t.
Changing in Countless Ways
This vintage postcard shows Public School number 3 in Shelbyville. The county’s original frontier schools were rudimentary log cabins. Image sourced from A Brief History of Shelby County, Indiana.
Becoming More Urban
These vintage postcards illustrate the businesses and hotels that cropped up along the Public Square about the same time that rail travel began to make its mark in the community in the nineteenth century — one of many ways the area became more urban. Image sourced from A Brief History of Shelby County, Indiana.
This is an undated twentieth-century scene from the Morristown Derby Days. Scouts would race to the bottom of the hill on U.S. 52 in hopes of being celebrated as the champion of the race. Image sourced from A Brief History of Shelby County, Indiana.
A Great Industry
The Kennedy Car Liner & Bag Company in Shelbyville was once one of the largest producers of handmade bags in the world. Image sourced from A Brief History of Shelby County, Indiana.
Finding New Ways for the Economy to Thrive
Indiana Live Casino! opened in 2008 and has been voted one of the best casinos in the Midwest. Open twenty-four hours a day, this place is always packed. Image sourced from A Brief History of Shelby County, Indiana.
