William Henry Harrison’s Grouseland and Other Indiana Landmarks Featured in Parks and Recreation
The NBC comedy Parks and Recreation gave Hoosiers more than just plenty of laughs and some good-natured ribbing. The show went to a real-life Hoosier landmark where it would leave a lasting impression.
“You are at William Henry Harrison’s Grouseland, the home of the Indiana Territorial Governor and ninth President of the United States,” says Lisa Ice-Jones, executive director of The Grouseland Foundation.
Harrison is famous for a few things. He was the shortest-serving president, only 32 days, because he was the first president to die in office. But before all that, Harrison ran a groundbreaking campaign far more lively and raucous than those in previous elections, where events ended with three-mile-long parades of people singing, chanting, and drinking. It featured a catchy slogan commemorating his victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe, a campaign song or two, and an eye-catching attraction that was rolled from one campaign stop to the next.
“You know at the big car dealers, the big floaty guy that catches people's attention. That was probably the way the ball was in that campaign of 1840,” Ice-Jones explains. “They rode from Kentucky as far away as Maryland and coined our current phrase, ‘keep the ball rolling.’”
This almost carnival-like atmosphere drew unprecedented crowds and helped deliver Harrison the presidency. It was so successful that over 40 years later, when his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, took a shot at the presidency, he brought the idea back.
“Benjamin Harrison recreated the William Henry Harrison campaign ball. It is definitely a Harrison legacy from both of those presidential elections,” states Ice-Jones.
Parks and Recreation and the Harrison Wheel Legacy
When the Parks and Rec folks wanted a campaign ball for an episode, they took the Benjamin Harrison ball and whipped up a new one. Ice-Jones saw a golden opportunity.
“The producer told me they were going to recreate the campaign ball, and I said, ‘oh, wow, we’ve always wanted to do that. We thought that’d be a great thing. Can we have it when the show's over?’ He said he would have to see,” describes Ice-Jones. “One day a semi pulled up in front of Grouseland and said, ‘we have two big crates,’ and they were from California, and they were the two parts of the campaign ball that you see behind me here. We bring it out for special days like Presidents Day today, parades and floats.”
The ball is too big to fit through Grouseland’s 19th-century doors so it stays dry and safe in the garage most of the time. But when it comes out, it gets lots of attention, even in frigid Indiana weather.
Ice-Jones says, “It was great publicity because you can see the episode on Netflix and Hulu, so it's going to be around forever. We were hoping that it would capture the 20- and 30-year-olds, the younger audience. We thought, ‘let's show them that this history here is still relevant. It's really cool. They're even using it in Parks and Recreation.’”
Ice-Jones says they hope to get the ball rolling on a new visitors center that would sit right next to Grouseland and would, of course, house the campaign ball all year round.
While the Harrison Wheel played a starring role in an episode of Parks and Recreation, two other Indiana attractions made appearances in every episode of the show's iconic opening credits. These two big fellas both live in Blackford County, and they both came from a factory that sold hundreds of similar statues, but they have lived different lives.
Indiana Landmarks in Parks and Recreation’s Opening Credits
The Ice Cream Man has fallen on hard times. He first went up on this corner as part of a buzzing little tourist stop, but those days are gone. He's even lost his ice cream, left now to hold an empty cone. Even a local historian, just five miles over, doesn't have too much to say about it.
“Too far out of town,” says Brian Maddox, president of the Montpelier Historical Society.
It's the opposite for the Miami Indian, who looks phenomenal for his age.
Maddox states, “It was constructed in the 1960s in California, and it was created for Tom Wood Pontiac in Indianapolis.”
He then stood outside a few different parks and museums before coming to rest on this corner in downtown Montpelier, thanks to the efforts of a descendant of Chief Francois Godfroy.
“Two and a half miles southeast of this town was a predominant hunting ground that had been used by the Miami for generations. Chief Francois Godfroy, who was the last war chief of the Miami people, specifically asked for that area in the treaty,” Maddox explains.
While he may not accurately reflect Miami dress and style, he may serve a larger purpose.
“While it’s not completely historically accurate, it has always been designed to draw attention at the auto dealership, at the park, and now here in Montpelier where he gets an awful lot of attention,” says Maddox.
Showing up in the title sequence of Parks and Recreation doesn't hurt one bit.
“People recognize him now. I’ll see cars drive by, and all of a sudden, brake lights hit, and then a boatload of people get out and get their picture taken with him. It happens on a regular basis here,” Brad Neff, mayor of Montpelier, describes. “He's on our Chamber of Commerce letterhead; he's on our weekly newspaper right on the front cover every week.”
While having two big dudes is better than one, it's clear who gets most of the limelight.
“It's really our chief here. He's the main draw. He's our community icon,” Neff concludes.
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The above video is a clip from Journey Indiana from WTIU. You can watch more segments and full episodes at pbs.org/show/journey-indiana/
