Thinking creatively. Thinking big. That’s us. And if you are thinking of making this your home, consider that Richmond has an unmatched history of artistic excellence.
Right here, you can attend a symphony, watch big-name artists and check out museums and artistic achievements that are renowned worldwide.
And if you can’t find it here, there are arts and cultural showcases just an hour or so away in major cities: They include the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, rated the best in the country; the Air Force Museum in Dayton and a renowned aquarium and Holocaust Museum in Cincinnati.
Richmond and Wayne County have served since the late 1800s as a creative leader of everything from artworks to architecture, from music to museums, and from murals to mansions.
Now, we are known for chocolates and candies and an increasingly popular downtown area that’s filled with restored buildings, museums and murals of famous people and scenes from our history. The area’s centerpiece is the ornate train depot that was designed by architect Daniel Burnham.
We have a strong automotive history that goes as far back as the late 1890s. That fact is well documented through displays at the Wayne County Historical Museum and the Model-T Museum.
We are known as the cradle of jazz music because of the numbers of famous musicians that began or boosted their careers at Gennett Records. Hoagy Carmichael recorded “Stardust” there.
Gennett even has a lasting legacy in movies: If you hear the sounds of glass crunching or train coming, it was probably recorded there.
We have a unique part in film history: The first public showing of a motion picture took place in 1894 at a jewelry store in downtown Richmond.
As recently as the 1990s, we were probably the smallest city in the world to have its own symphony, opera and civic theater.
There’s simply no question, though, that our town of about 37,000 has an artistic legacy that should be is the envy of those big and small around the world. The Richmond Art Museum is believed to be the only one that’s attached to an active high school. Richmond started an orchestra 1899, the first in the country for a high school.
We have many important museums with unique offerings: Mummies can be found at the Wayne County Historical Museum and at Earlham College’s Joseph Moore Museum. There’s only one other in Indiana.
The pottery and other popular works of the four Overbeck Sisters can be viewed in the county museum and Cambridge City Library.