RURAL INDIANA | Forgotten Towns Episode 1 - Vigo County

There are two towns that I explore in this video in the Wabash Valley region of Indiana. West of the City of Terre Haute lies two towns: Taylorville and West Terre Haute. Taylorville is essentially already a ghost town, while West Terre Haute resembles a poverty stricken rural town more than anything else, even though it's one mile west from Terre Haute. In this video I talk about the history of the two towns and what I think their future outlook is.
0:00 - 0:45 Intro
0:45 - 13:51 Taylorville
13:51 - 26:33 West Terre Haute
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[@jetsons101]

Chris, the BEST part of your videos is, they are about places not found on the "Places To See" travel brochures most commonly found in Mini-Mart bathrooms along the interstate..... Many people see Disneyland, BUT how many people see Taylorville Indiana.

[@TDurden527]

Exactly, I could travel every summer and would not be able to visit all the places your vids tell about. The honest impressions and information is an extra.

[@sharksport01]

My mothers family is from West Terre Haute. Everyone around there knows it as Toad Hop. My great-grandparents had a small grocery store on 40, in fact my mother was born in that store in 1940. I remember a tall brick chimney outside of town and mom said it was an abandoned mushroom factory. Most of the family left the area decades ago. Strangely, many of them became millionaires, and all of them successful. It's not where you're from...

[@ChrisHarden]

Toad Hop is west of West Terre Haute. I should’ve included Toad Hop in this video honestly but… I didn’t.

[@shelbyz1974]

I'd never heard of Taylorville or West Terre Haute so thanks for the education Chris. I also appreciated the drone footage.

[@pizzaearthpancakesandother2549]

Terra Haute is french for Hot Land, fyi

[@aps125]

Rural Indiana always has a special place in my heart. I came to this country as a teen and settled in a small town called Muncie when my mom was doing her PhD at near by Ball State. It’s definitely a cultural shock. Honestly it wasn’t what I had imagined at all, the glamorous high life that many foreigners perceived after watching Hollywood flicks.

[@jasonhsu4711]

If Terre Haute is the left armpit of Indiana, then Taylorville and West Terre Haute are the armpits of Terre Haute.

[@ChrisHarden]

Yeah. That or maybe an ingrown hair within the armpit.

[@jamesdinkelmann8704]

Then Richmond is the right armpit on the other side of the state.

[@AlexanderWaylon]

@@ChrisHardenthat’s saying something

[@grandiose_3392]

I grew up in Terre Haute. I went to South Vigo high school. I was out one night driving around with my girlfriend and decided to show her Taylorville as I had rode over the bridge on my bike when I was a kid and thought it was a weird place. It was night time and within five minutes of driving around the streets in Taylorville, I was pulled over by a sheriff Wanted to know what we were doing in the neighborhood. I honestly told him that I was just showing my girlfriend the area across the river that she had never seen. He shook his head and told me to get out of there that nothing good happens in Taylorville. He also told my girlfriend that she shouldn’t hang out with guys who take her to Taylorville. Lol.😂

[@cdikkers30]

Don't worry about the Bald Eagle pictures, those are my specialty! Great video as usual, I appreciate the increase in history and commentary. Adds to the information.

[@craignovy2090]

Hi Chris yet another great video and narration. I am curious as to how you even find places like this? Looks like an amazing intellect and curiosity is the answer. Since I am a senior the truly great long past award winning TV show "Charles Kuralt On The Road" comes to mind, Yet again it is about as rare as hen's teeth to see a video like this with a thorough explanation of the why. So many could benefit from seeing things like this. I hope they find their way to you.

[@michaelplanchunas3693]

Since you are doing Indiana Towns, go north to Porter Couty Indiana, specifically just east of the Dune Park train station on US 12, and you will be by the town of Tremont, its gone. But, its history is fascinating. Further east you will find scattered remains of Furnessville, Indiana about one mile east on Furnessville Road. Town also has a fascinating history. Briefly made famous by naturalist Edwin Way Teale in his Pulitzer Prize Book Dunes Boy.

[@ChrisHarden]

Nice, I'll have to check out those places when I start exploring that area

[@AlexanderWaylon]

With all due respect, I would rather be in a struggling Michigan area than this area. Nothing about this place has sounded promising.

[@Ru2stee]

Michigan has the cheapest weed in the Midwest. Who wouldn't? 😂

[@mattmelton2561]

In the 2000's there was an effort to improve the riverfront, including demolishing Taylorville and turning it into a park. That would explain INDOT owning most of the hamlet.

[@terrancewatts4812]

I hope I’m not taking away from your work with this. Because of one of your previous videos, I have to count every time I see a Casey’s!

[@Bunchy230]

As someone who grew up in West T(the shortened name for locals) I have relatives and close family friends who were either from Taylorville or had grandparents, uncles, etc. from there. The story as to why it is so abandoned is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand you have those that grew up and sought to improve their lives and the lives of their families with hard work. On the other hand you had people trying to clean up the area, but the state started buying property from what I understand and there is a lot of controversy revolving around that. The church is still open as far as I know. It is a perfect example of a place that has been constantly kicked while being down from start.

[@s_schl_]

I love your videos and also live a little further north up the Wabash. Lafayette. Have you been through/recorded for Lafayette or have been interested in scoping it out? Pretty interesting city.

[@markhayden1]

I like the humor you inject. It'd be too easy to forget that these streets were once lined with homes.

[@Tenebarum]

I should move there. Im a proud dumpster diver

[@ChrisHarden]

You’d have better luck dumpster diving on the other side of the river these days.

[@shelbyz1974]

First time i've said first! Thanks Chris!❤👍

[@ChrisHarden]

Yes! Appreciate you for all of the support, Shelby!

[@radstorm]

When I was a kid I would go visit my cousin just outside of Lewis, Indiana, during summer vacation. Just a little south of Terre Haute. It was a whole lot different back then, fun stuff I could never experience back in Indy. . I recall my uncle mentioning Taylorville back then. From what I hear, Lewis however still remains pretty much a small town.. good for them :o)

[@jetsons101]

Hmmmmm..... Just noticed, at 7:24 you're at Sampson & Popular streets but google birds eye view shows it as Sampson & W 3rd Drive. I guess even google doesn't care much about Taylorville to even get the information correct.

[@ChrisHarden]

I noticed that with Google Maps too. The actual street signs throughout Taylorville are still there.

[@pizzaearthpancakesandother2549]

From Wikipedia page for the Wabash River: Etymology The name Wabash is an English transliteration spelling of the FRENCH NAME for the river, Ouabache. FRENCH traders had adopted the Miami-Illinois word for the river, waapaahšiiki, meaning 'it shines white', 'pure white', or 'water over white stones', and attempted to spell it according to their own phonetic system. Boom.

[@bleujean357]

One of my classmates actually commutes into mt. Carmel Illinois to work from Princeton, Indiana. Aside from Evansville, it is desolate.

[@actionsub]

It's usually the other way around. My in-laws live in Mt. Carmel and most of the people I know there commute TO Princeton!

[@lindadodd3043]

No mention of my alma mater, St. Mary's-of-the-Woods, located in WTH? It has one of the most beautiful campuses in the country.

[@megashawnx4427]

Did you know that Vermillion county which is next to Vigo has a town named Clinton which has a rich Italian history? That's a place worth checking out.

[@ChrisHarden]

Plan on going their soon actually

[@kire115]

Hey Terre Haute recently as in two months ago opened a brand new casino developed by the Churchill Downs development firm, wonder what metrics went into site selection?

[@DavidBrown-fs7ml]

Really good vid! But so sad to hear and see its history as never being positive other than the people who live there. They would call it home. Outsiders would call it something else. Most likely not positive.

[@dennisgrant538]

Looks like a future state park and state preserve for wildlife. State should take it over and plant a forest

[@ChrisHarden]

Yup. That's what's going to happen eventually. It's just a waiting game now.

[@joannunemaker6332]

Another sad town. I liked this video though.😊❤

[@ChrisHarden]

Sad indeed, and thanks!

[@siphomogale779]

This is a future ghost town if not one already

[@mattmelton2561]

West T's fortunes are definitely tied to Terre Haute. And if both are going to grow again, Terre Haute has to get rid of the deeply ingrained in their psyche disdain for factory jobs and unwillingness to crack down on crime.

[@tankareno]

Highland Park should aspire to be Taylorville.i

[@ChrisHarden]

Highland Park might not be a city much longer. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if Detroit annexes it.

[@dontedrake2316]

In my opinion table Taylorville Indiana in West terre haute recently or not too far apart I hope these communities could recover and do great things so West Vigo high School Taylorville Indiana to have a great weekend and you did a great job with the video

[@craigbenz4835]

I'd take West Terre Haute over Belle Glade any day.

[@ArtmanBass]

Maybe not IDOT, but IDEM would be more appropriate.

[@purplerain55]

I wont go there after dark.

[@KotaCr-iw4rm]

This is the worst commentary I've ever heard on a video!