Forget Nights, Spend Days at the Museum(s)

By The Times of Noblesville | February 20, 2026

BY THE NUMBERS

By The Numbers, a look at what’s in the news . . . by the numbers. These are just numbers, not suggestions that they mean more or less than what they are. We do not suggest that one number is connected to another. These are simply facts with no extraneous details, bias or slanted reporting. To borrow (and perhaps mangle a bit) a quote from legendary fictional detective Joe Friday, it’s just the numbers, ma’am!

Indianapolis Children’s Museum

Maybe spring isn’t sprung just yet . . . but the weather is better and pretty soon cabin fever might have you ready to get out. So whether you have little ones at home, grandkids nearby or are just interested in expanding your own horizons, the great state of Indiana offers points of interest for art, architecture, history, science and more. The Indiana State Museum  and Historic Sites is a statewide museum system with 12 locations, with 11 state historic sites stretching from Rome City in northeast Indiana to Evansville in the southwest. It’s with all that in mind that we happily take a look at that network today . . . by the numbers!

12

Yes, we’ve got a dozen stops for you. They are:

600,000

We couldn’t find a number for how many people visited all the sites, but we did find that 600,000 people visit the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis annually. That location, located in White River State Park in beautiful downtown Indianapolis, is the hub for the statewide museum system.

1

There is one, and only one, Fred the Mastodon on display at the Indiana State Museum. Did you know that the museum network system is a top authority on Ice Age paleontology in Indiana? You do now.

1907

That’s the year T.C. Steele and family built their home, which became known as the House of the Singing Winds, down in beautiful Brown County. The T.C. Steele State Historic Site is one of the 12 museums on the network. Take it from those of us who’ve been there, it’s worth the drive!

1974

At the opposite end of the state sits the Cabin at Wildflower Woods. This is the spot for the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site.  Gene was a writer, a naturalist, a photographer and more. She wrote several best-selling novels, including A Girl of the Limberlost in 1909.  She also was a star back in the silent film days. Gene created her own production company and became a force to be reckoned with. No surprise – she’s a Hoosier!

500,000

Closer to home, the Indiana State Museum and the network offers an expansive collection of more than half a million objects. From items once belonging to a young Abe Lincoln to tractors to Native American artifacts, you won’t soon run out of interesting things to look at!

Posted in Columnists, Tim Timmons