Arriving in Huntington County in 1853, the Bippus family was quick to make a lasting impact. The family patriarch, Jacob, helped to lay out the town of West Point, later renamed Bippus for his dedication and hard work. Jacob’s son, George Jacob Bippus, used his skills as a tinsmith to get his foot in the door of downtown Huntington businesses. He would later help advance Huntington by improving the canal system, bringing the railroad, and adding natural gas, oil, and electricity to the growing city. The family success continued to George Jacob’s son, James Frederick Bippus, who would build the grand LaFontaine Hotel and extending services to businesses, residences, and the general public.

On November 18, 2017, more than 60,000 people filled Detroit’s Ford Field to witness a special ceremony honoring a simple, humble man of God who had spent his life among the poor and the infirm.
The beatification of Father Solanus Casey bestowed upon him the title of “Blessed,” the final step before sainthood, which would make Father Solanus the first American-born Catholic male saint.
Bernard Francis Casey was born in Wisconsin in 1870. Known as Barney, he was the sixth of 16 children in a devout Catholic family. As a young man, he worked a series of odd jobs before a life-changing incident led him to pursue a call to the priesthood.
Taking the religious name “Solanus,” the new priest soon became known for his inspirational words and healing hand that followed him through his mission assignments. From 1946-56, he lived at the St. Felix Friary in Huntington, where he never turned away visitors who made pilgrimages to see him.
Fr. Solanus died in 1957. There is a statue and shrine to him at St. Felix.

Elizebeth Smith Friedman was a pioneer of cryptanalysis who made national strides in breaking codes and protecting American lives with her work. The youngest of nine children, she was born in Huntington with a “God-given talent” to figure out things. She attended Hillsdale College in Michigan and graduated with a degree in English Literature while also studying numerous languages. She loved Shakespeare and spent much of her early post college years trying to decipher the Bard’s work. In 1917, Elizebeth married William F. Friedman, and the two worked together for the War Department in Washington D.C. Mrs. Friedman worked during the Prohibition Era to stop rum-runners and drug smugglers by deciphering their encoded messages and testifying against them in court. During WWII, she worked for the Navy solving German Naval Intelligence using Enigma machine codes. Her work is still being used today to combat organized crime and terrorism.

Captain Elias Murray, John Tipton, Joel & Champion Helvey
The city of Huntington celebrates its 175th anniversary in 2023. Many pioneers settled in this area as early Americans moved westward, but a very few can be labeled as the founders of the town. John Tipton and Captain Elias Murray provided the land and its initial layout, while Joel and Champion Helvey are remembered as town’s first residents.
Murray was a captain of an Ohio cavalry unit. Tipton was a powerful force in the Indiana Territory who fought in the Battle of Tippecanoe during the War of 1812. After Indiana became a state in 1816, Tipton and Murray teamed in 1830 to purchase land along the route of the planned Wabash & Erie Canal. Murray named the new county after his great uncle, Samuel Huntington, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
In 1830, the Helveys settled at the site of the future town of Huntington. Their first building on the banks of the Little River was used by travelers and became known as the Flint Springs Hotel.
Huntington County was officially authorized in 1832, and the city of Huntington was incorporated in 1848.

Kil-so-quah was a member of the Myaamia nation and granddaughter of Chief Little Turtle. She was born in 1810 at the Forks of the Wabash.
When she was a little girl, Kil-so-quah moved with her family from the Miami Village at the Forks to the junction of Rock Creek and the Wabash River, near the present town of Markle. She was married twice, first at the age of 16. She had six children, four of which died in infancy. Her surviving daughter left with the Miami who were relocated to Kansas and Oklahoma in the late 1840’s. Kil-so-quah and her surviving son were allowed to remain on their land.
Kil-so-quah remained loyal to her Native American heritage, retaining the Miami language and adhering to their customs. In her older age, she delighted in telling visitors about her childhood and helping to preserve Miami history.
On July 4, 1910 the citizens of Roanoke honored Kil-so-quah with a massive celebration. As many as 10,000 visitors filled the streets. She died September 4, 1915, and was mourned as the “last of the royal Miamis.”

At the start of the 20th century, dentistry had yet to enter the modern age. Methods and tools were primitive, and there was little in the way of national organization for dentists to communicate or collaborate. Otto King was born in Huntington, and following his graduation from dental school, he returned to his hometown to begin his practice. Dr. King quickly became involved with dental organizations on a state and national level, rising to president of the Indiana State Dental Association. More importantly, as first General Secretary of the National Dental Association (now executive director of the American Dental Association), he founded the Official Bulletin of the National Dental Association. His publication, printed by Huntington’s Whitelock Press, united fellow dentists with a journal free of bias or special interests. Dr. King’s work was instrumental in ushering in the era of modern dentistry. Professional collaboration, innovation in the industry, and the implementation of dental ethics all advanced during his era.

John Kissinger was looking for a life in the military when he marched into the annals of history. He was serving with the Army in Cuba following the Spanish-American War when he volunteered for an experiment into the cause of the deadly yellow fever. Kissinger allowed himself to be bitten by mosquitoes carrying the disease, and he contracted yellow fever. Kissinger survived, and experiments allowed doctors to develop a serum, saving millions of lives. After his service, Kissinger returned to the United States, suffering several health problems, including the loss of the use of his legs. Kissinger and his wife moved to Huntington, but he was denied a pension and they became nearly destitute. Kissinger eventually regained the use of his legs, and funds were raised to build the couple a house in Huntington. Hailed as a hero when his story became known nationally, Kissinger was awarded a special gold medal by Congress in 1929.

Also known as Topeah, or “frost on leaves”, Francis LaFontaine was the last principal chief of the unified Miami tribe. He became chief of his Miami village in 1828 at the age of 18. He worked with his father-in-law, Chief Jean Baptiste de Richardville, on a treaty in 1840 that would eventually move half the Miami nation west of the Mississippi. LaFontaine became chief in 1841 after the death of Richardville and moved into Richardville’s tribal headquarters house at the Forks of the Wabash.

While being held in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines in 1945, Roxy Lefforge was just moments away from being killed by her captors when American forces stormed the camp, rescuing her and 2,000 other prisoners.  A Methodist minister, Lefforge had been a missionary in China and the Philippines since 1918. Despite her harrowing experience, she was determined to remain in the Far East to continue her work after the war. She helped create the Philippine Wesleyan University and served as president and executive dean of the Philippine Christian Colleges. Lefforge returned to the United States in 1954 and settled in Huntington, where she was a professor at Huntington College from 1954-64. She was also a member of Trinity United Methodist Church until her death in 1977. Her presence remains in the Philippines with the Roxy Lefforge Methodist Church and the Roxy Lefforge Foundation Colleges.

Lessel Long’s memoir “Twelve Months in Andersonville” was a shockingly realistic retelling of his experience in the infamous Civil War prison camp in Georgia.
Born in Randolph County, Indiana, Long initially worked on his family’s farm in Andrews, leaving to apprentice with a blacksmith. When the Civil War broke out, Long joined the Union Army in 1862.
He was captured in Virginia in 1864 and was sent to Camp Sumter, the Confederate prisoner-of-war camp at Andersonville. Of the 45,000 prisoners at the camp, 13,000 died from malnutrition, exposure or disease. Long survived and returned to his home in Andrews following the war, where he held a variety of jobs, from running a carriage business to being proprietor of a grocery store.
He wrote a newspaper column in the Andrews Express with stories of his time in the war. He was encouraged to compile his entire experience in a book. Long’s book shocked the public and became a definitive historical and cultural record, spurring reforms in prisoner treatment.

A Huntington lawyer, Milligan opposed President Abraham Lincoln’s conduct of the Civil War, and he was arrested, tried and sentenced by a military tribunal. Milligan challenged the case, claiming his prosecution by a military court was unconstitutional while civilian courts were still operating. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court, which ruled in Milligan’s favor and he was released after two years in prison. The case, Ex Parte Milligan, became a landmark case in U.S. history.

Helen Purviance, was the original Salvation Army “Doughnut Girl.” She figured out how to make the deep-fried treats from the scant supplies available in the front-line trenches of France during World War I. Born in 1889, Helen was enrolled as a soldier at the Huntington Corps in 1906. A year later she entered the Salvation Army’s officer training college in New York, N.Y. In 1908, she was sent to the front in France during World War I where she came up with the idea of making doughnuts to help comfort the soldiers. Working in the trenches at a short pot-bellied stove fueled by a wood fire, Lt. Colonel Helen said, “I was literally on my knees when those first doughnuts were fried, seven at a time, in a small pan. There was a prayer in my heart that somehow this home touch would do more for those who ate the doughnuts than satisfy a physical hunger.”

In the summer of 1988, Huntington became the center of the political universe, as Indiana Senator Dan Quayle was the surprise choice of vice-presidential running mate by Republican presidential nominee George H. W. Bush. The full-ticket campaign kicked off in Huntington, and Bush and Quayle were victorious in the November general election. Following his tenure as vice president, Quayle ran for president in 2000. He has since been a best-selling author, political consultant and global investment banker.

Despite a lineage of tribal leadership, Jean Baptiste de Richardville still had to prove himself worthy of leading the Miami Indian nation. He was half-white, half-Miami, his mother Tah-kum-wah the sister of the great Miami Chief Little Turtle. Richardville’s bravery on behalf of the tribe earned him the respect that eventually elevated him to Chief on Little Turtle’s death. Richardville oversaw and protected the affairs of the Miami, securing land and building a trading post at the Forks of the Wabash.

One of Huntington’s most dedicated public servants, Ed Roush served the Huntington community as a member of the military, as a local attorney and prosecutor, and as a legislator at the state level then as a member of the U.S House of Representatives. He is known as the father of the 911 emergency telephone system, and for his environmental work that culminated with the Huntington dam and lake being renamed for him in 1997. Following his political career, Roush later served as interim president of Huntington College.

Leo Scheer was surprised to still be alive.
It was June 6, 1944 — D-Day — and he was pinned down under German fire on Omaha Beach. As a Navy medic, Scheer did his duty and helped those that he could, but he could not ignore the soldiers falling all around him. He was finally able to get off the beach three days later. Dodging death many times, he had come through relatively unscathed. He questioned why he had survived when others around him had not. For the rest of his life, Scheer was convinced he had been watched over by a guardian angel.
Ten days after D-Day, Scheer was on his way back to England. He was sent to the Pacific Theater aboard the USS Lander and spent the rest of the war on the ship before being discharged in early 1946.
Back in Huntington, he returned to the family’s contracting business. His brickwork remains on many Huntington buildings. He donated memorabilia of his service to the Huntington County Historical Museum and National World War II Museum in New Orleans, where his medical belt continues to be on display.

In looking for an All-American hero to represent Huntington, or any other community for that matter, the search needs only reach the name of Harold Dean Shultz. A top student, star athlete, war hero, dedicated teacher and devoted husband and father, Hal Shultz filled every one of those roles throughout his remarkable life with uncommon humility and dignity. A standout athlete and valedictorian at Huntington High School, Shultz earned an appointment to West Point. He was a standout football player and earned the Army Athletic Association trophy as the school’s top student athlete, graduating 11th in his class.  Shultz became a fighter pilot in the Air Force, serving in Korea and Vietnam. Among his many honors were a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and two Distinguished Flying Cross awards for his actions and service. He also served as an instructor, and earned three master’s degrees. Upon retirement from the military, he began a teaching career. He died in 1978 at the age of 48.