Wingate

History

Wingate was originally platted as Pleasant Hill by Christian Bever in 1832. In the late 1890s and early 1900s, the town's name was briefly changed to "Whitlock" on maps. The original name was changed from Pleasant Hill to avoid confusion with another town of the same name located along the rail line. Later, the name Wingate was temporarily changed to Whitlock to appease the political adversaries of John C. Wingate. The town was eventually renamed in honor of prominent local figure, John C. Wingate. Signage at the north and south entrances of the town (shown right) along Indiana State Road 25 proudly states that after the first Indiana State Basketball Championships were held in 1911, the Wingate team became the first to win back-to-back championships in 1913 and 1914. The sign also mentions that Wingate produced four Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductees—Homer Stonebraker, Jesse Wood, Lee Thorn and Alonzo Goldsberry—and two football hall of famers. The Basketball Hall of Fame inducted a fifth player, Forest Crane, in 2013. Wingate was also the site of the first electric basketball scoreboard, invented in 1935 by two local men, Lee Haxton and Roy Meharry.

Geography

Wingate is located at the intersection of Indiana State Road 25 and Indiana State Road 55 in the northwest corner of Montgomery County, approximately northwest of Crawfordsville, the county seat. Wingate is the southern terminus of State Road 55, which runs northwest out of town, leading to Newtown. SR 25 leads south to Waynetown and northeast to Lafayette. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Wingate has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  862
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  862
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  778
• Killdeer

  Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  720
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  714
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  658
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  615
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  528

Largest nearby schools

• North Montgomery High School
  High · Crawfordsville · 516 students · 13.2:1 ratio
• North Montgomery Middle School
  Middle · Crawfordsville · 419 students · 14:1 ratio
• Lester B Sommer Elementary School
  Elementary · Crawfordsville · 337 students · 16.9:1 ratio
• Pleasant Hill Elementary School
  Elementary · Crawfordsville · 294 students · 16.3:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2023-10-31
  7 km ESE of Linden, Indiana
• M 3.82 — 2021-06-17
  Illinois-Indiana border region