Happy Fourth of July! Did you know Muncie has been visited by many presidents? One such president was Theodore Roosevelt, but before he was president!
During the 1900 election campaign, President William McKinley was up for re-election and he chose Theodore Roosevelt as his running mate. McKinley, who preferred to campaign from home, sent Roosevelt out on a train tour, stopping in cities and towns across the nation including Indiana, encouraging Hoosiers to vote for the Republican ticket. Roosevelt would spend an average of 5 minutes greeting and talking to each town from his moving train.
Riding the railroad up from Indianapolis, he was welcomed in Muncie by a parade of 25,000 - 30,000 people wearing Rough Rider hats and yellow support bandanas. After 30 minutes of being paraded through the streets, Roosevelt returned to his train to journey on to the next location. That election, Muncie overwhelmingly voted McKinley and Roosevelt.
Thanks to the Minnetrista archives for this story!