Exhibits

artists & athletes

Madison County, Indiana...

has been blessed with a rich history of world-renowned artists and athletes. The Museum of Madison County History is proud to honor them.

Nationally famous baseball pitcher and world record holder Carl Erskine played for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, pitched in World Series games throughout the 1950s, and was a local philanthropist to Anderson, Indiana.

"Jumpin" Johnny Wilson...

was Mr. Basketball in 1946 and at home a local legend.

We have had three Olympians: 

Edward Willkie in Greco-Roman wrestling, 

Fred Wilt in long distance running, and 

Mary Beth Dunnichay in synchronized diving.

Anderson artist Ruthven Byrum was nationally recognized and painted among his other Indiana pieces “Basketball, Old Wigwam,” c. 1930.

This oil on canvas is displayed surrounded by pictures of the three Anderson High School basketball teams that won the Indiana State Basketball Championship in 1935, ’37, and ’46.  These are the teams that would have practiced and competed in the gymnasium painted.  

Below the painting, is a large section of the original floor colorfully framed and decorated in AHS colors of red and green with a Native American mascot.

artist: patricia crane

Another nationally recognized artist is Patricia Crane, a 1965 graduate of Highland High School.  She became an equine artist in pastels, watercolors, and most importantly bronze sculptures.  

One of her life-size horse statues sits in front of the Museum of the Horse at the Kentucky Horse Park.  Another sits in front of the American Saddlebred Museum also in Lexington, KY.  Pat is the first woman artist to do a life-size bronze statue of anything. For her accomplishments in equine artistry, Ms. Crane has been made a “Kentucky Colonel.”  

Our museum has two bronze statues of American Saddlebred champions, both at 1/5 life-size.  One of ours is in this exhibit while the second is prominently displayed in the Nicholson Research Library.

Additional Madison County, Indiana artists and athletes can also be discovered within this display. 

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