TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — The Indiana Historical Society has named Timothy Crumrin the new Historian of Vigo County. He replaces Mike McCormick, who retired after serving as historian for more than 20 years.
“I can’t tell you what big shoes I’m filling,” Crumrin said. “For me, Mike was the best historian in the state.” The Indiana Historical Society and the Vigo County Historical Society asked Crumrin to assume McCormick’s old role.
Crumrin’s has written several books about Terre Haute — “The Hidden History of Terre Haute” came out last August, but his best-selling title came out in 2019. “Wicked Terre Haute” charts a century of Terre Haute as a sin city, with a prominent red light district.
Terre Haute was once, both geographically and technically, the center of the United States, Crumrin pointed out, and closely hewed to the dominant trends that defined the country as a whole. Initially a predominantly agricultural area, Terre Haute adapted and embraced industrialization, and its many railroads made it the crossroads of the country.
Heavy industry enveloped the city. “Terre Haute used to call itself ‘the Pittsburgh of the West,'” Crumrin recalled. It was also the crossroads of Native American and white relations, he said.
Crumrin holds a bachelor’s degree in European history and a master’s degree in American history from Indiana State University, and he received the prestigious Eli Lilly Lifetime Achievement in Indiana History Award from the Indiana Historical Society in 2014 for his contributions to history. In addition to winning two national awards of merit from the American Association of State and Local History for his programs at Conner Prairie Museum, he received a national Telly Award as writer and director of the PBS documentary “Harvesting the Past,” which examined agriculture in Hamilton County before it became industrialized. He has served on the board of directors of the Vigo County Historical Society since 2014.
