Anderson, Indiana is a unique city that has a mixture of people. Not only are we home to literally thousands of people (more than 40,000), there's a lot of variety. From small town folks you find in Edgewood to the "big" city life in Anderson, no two people are the same. Yes, you can find that in other towns and cities, but only in Anderson can you find some of these landmarks and quirks located in the same place.
1. Corn fields...in town
Yes, you find these all over Indiana, but only Anderson can be a big-ish city and still have corn fields. Instead of suburbs, we have corn fields. They are literally everywhere. It's not just corn either. There are soybeans, and sometimes wheat. There's a field not far from my house that switches between those three. I live pretty close to downtown by the way. The strange thing is, Anderson is not small...
2. Mounds Mall, aka The Dying Mall
They keep trying to resurrect it, but they are slowly failing. It has the capacity for 25-30 stores, but there are only about 15 stores open. One of those is the movie theater.
3. Not much to do
Because the mall is dying, there's a lot less to do. Outside of going to the mall, pretty much all we can do is hang out at each other's homes and the library. You have to be careful how loud you get, because if you get too loud, too often, you will be asked to leave. At least the library's huge with three floors of books to choose from.
4. Anderson University
Everyone knows where it is. It's one of the landmarks for some people to even know where our city is. The Indianapolis Colts Training Camp is held there every year. AU is so iconic within Anderson that I seriously doubt there is a single person from there who has never walked on campus. I even graduated from high school on their campus. And let's not forget that Rearden Auditorium tends to hold concerts.
5. Lake Brown Street
The streets tend to get flooded when it rains heavily. There are so many of these streets that always flood that people tend to come up with names for these rivers and lakes. There's Lake Brown Street, The Preston Lakes, Big Lots River, and countless more.
6. So many schools
Sure, we have one high school and one middle school for our public options. However, we have three private schools. There used to be four. Seems a bit excessive when we only have the one high school. Let's not forget about the Wigwam either. The original Anderson High School.
7. Walking parks
Shady Side Park and Mounds State Park are the main parks people tend to visit for walks. However, Mounds Park is also a historic site which houses Indian Mounds. Not only is it a great place to go for beautiful nature walks while learning about or city's history, people love to go there for camping trips. Lots of people also tend to use both parks for weddings.
8. Allllll the fast food
We're not lacking for fast food places. Sure we have other restaurants too, but the vast majority of them are in fact fast food. We have at least three a piece of McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and Taco Bell. we have more options with our fast food too.
9. Mounds Lake
This is extremely controversial. Either you want the White River to be dammed, or you don't. If those plans go through, Mounds Lake will cover a vast area that includes many homes, the mall, and even part of Mounds Park. Supposedly, it's going to bring in more tourists, and thus attempt to revive our economy. Some are all for these plans, some are completely against them.
10. TRAINS
There're literally trains everywhere. There's a reason we're called the Cross-Roads of America. There are only about three roads you can take to avoid the trains, some of them stopped, but depending on where you're going, you could still end up stuck behind them.
11. Hoosier Park Racing And Casino
Yet another landmark and money making attempt. This one worked. When I'm at school, some people only know where Anderson is because of Hoosier Park.
12. Run-down Down-town
Yet another area that's dying. During the day, it's not bad. After 5, there's is literally no one downtown. The area needs a lot of love, and it shows. It doesn't help anything that a lot of the buildings are falling apart.
13. So many churches...
There are so many churches that almost anywhere in the city, you can hear chimes at the change of the hour.
14. Creepy Cemeteries. Plural.
Almost every town/city has a cemetery. We have multiple. There's a cemetery near my house, another across the street from my high school, and yet another right next to AU. Yes, that was three. No, that's not all of the cemeteries in town. These are just the creepiest ones. The one next to AU even has ghost stories surrounding a specific headstone.
15. The Paramount Theater
This is an iconic theater located downtown. It's home to the Festival of Trees at Christmas, a beautiful interior, and is still being restored. It was the first theater in Anderson, so a lot of people are trying to insure its restoration. No, it's not a movie theater, but rather has a beautiful stage, wall decor, balcony, and an unforgettable "starlight" ceiling.
16. The Walking Men
These are unique to Anderson. A few years ago, you could find them everywhere. There's one across the street from my house. These sculptures were commissioned by a local artist to paint and where auctioned off to various businesses throughout town. You can still find a lot of them, but not all of them were sold, so they're a bit harder to find. My favorites are the ones that are periodically moved to a new location.
17. Anderson Speedway
Not to be confused with the Indy 500, it is the smaller cousin of the Indianapolis Speedway. Yes, they do in fact race cars, and yes, you can hear the races from miles away. You can hear them from downtown.
