[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 127 (Monday, September 8, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S5368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   NEW HARMONY, INDIANA BICENTENNIAL

  Mr. DONNELLY. Mr. President, I wish to congratulate the outstanding 
citizens of New Harmony, IN as they celebrate their town's 200th 
anniversary and to recognize the many contributions of New Harmony's 
citizens to the great State of Indiana and our Nation as a whole.
  New Harmony was founded in 1814 by the Harmonie Society, led by Georg 
Johann Rapp. Just 5 short years after purchasing land along the Wabash 
River, the settlers had developed the area into a productive and 
prosperous community. In 1825, the community was sold to Robert Owen 
and his financial associate William Maclure. With the continued 
developments of Owen, a Welsh industrialist, and Maclure, who some 
consider ``the father of American geology,'' New Harmony became a 
magnet for intellectual and academic innovators of the 19th century. 
The town had been called ``the Athens of the West'' because of the many 
scholars and scientists that called New Harmony home, such as the 
renowned American entomologist Thomas Say, French educator Marie Duclos 
Frategeot, and Dutch naturalist Gerard Troost.
  Throughout its history, New Harmony has demonstrated a constant 
spirit of innovation, especially in the educational and scientific 
fields. New Harmony was the home of the early kindergarten movement in 
America, as well an early example of what is now called a technical 
school. Robert Owen's son, David Dale Owen, led the early geological 
surveys of the Midwest, and another son, Robert Dale Owen, was a U.S. 
Representative from New Harmony, who wrote the bill to establish the 
Smithsonian Institution and chaired the Building Committee. Robert Dale 
Owen was also an abolitionist who was influential in shaping President 
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
  New Harmony has long sustained its spirit of cultural innovation. In 
1979, world-renowned architect Richard Meier designed the Atheneum of 
New Harmony. Since its construction, the Atheneum has been recognized 
with the prestigious Progressive Architecture Award and the American 
Institute of Architects' Twenty-Five Year Award.
  I wish to congratulate the council members of New Harmony, Joe Straw, 
Don Gibbs, Linda Warrum, Karen Walker, and Andrew Wilson; the entire 
Bicentennial Commission and its co-chairs, Connie Weinzapfel and 
Raymond McConnell; as well as the citizens of New Harmony for their 
ongoing support and contributions to their community and the State of 
Indiana.
  Today, New Harmony remains a bastion of the hard work, dedication, 
and innovation that are such an integral part of the Hoosier spirit 
that makes Indiana the great State it is today. On behalf of the 
citizens of Indiana, I congratulate each and every member of the New 
Harmony community on the town's 200th Anniversary. I wish them 
continued success and growth for many more years to come.

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