Editing Evansville, Indiana (section)

==Arts and culture==
{{See also|List of public art in Evansville, Indiana}}

===Entertainment venues===
[[File:Bosse Field Lights.jpg|thumb|right|Bosse Field]]
[[Bosse Field|Historic Bosse Field]], a 7,180-seat baseball stadium in Garvin Park, was built in 1915 and is the third-oldest ballpark still in regular use in the United States. It is surpassed only by [[Fenway Park]] (1912) in Boston and [[Wrigley Field]] (1914) in Chicago.

The [[Ford Center (Evansville)|Ford Center]] is a multi-use [[indoor arena]] downtown with a maximum seating capacity of 11,000 connected via Sky Bridge to the [[Evansville DoubleTree Hotel]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Evansville Arena Facts|publisher=Populous|url=http://www.evansvillegov.org/download/mayors/Evansville%20Arena%20design%20unveil%20press%20kit.pdf|access-date=September 9, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723001521/http://www.evansvillegov.org/download/mayors/Evansville%20Arena%20design%20unveil%20press%20kit.pdf|archive-date=July 23, 2011}}</ref> It officially opened in 2011 and is used mainly for [[basketball]], [[ice hockey]], and [[music]] [[concerts]].

A wide variety of concerts, plays, conventions, expositions and other special events are held at the 2,500-seat auditorium and convention center at the [[Old National Events Plaza]] downtown.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Centre | publisher=SMG Evansville | url=http://www.smgevansville.com/centre/centre.html | access-date=2006-11-02 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061028182414/http://www.smgevansville.com/centre/centre.html | archive-date=2006-10-28 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Victory Theater and Hotel Sonntag.jpg|thumb|right|Victory Theatre]]

[[Victory Theatre]] is a vintage 1,950-seat venue that is home to the [[Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra]].<ref>{{cite web | title=The Victory Theatre | publisher=SMG Evansville | url=http://www.smgevansville.com/victory/victory.html | access-date=2006-11-02 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061028053549/http://www.smgevansville.com/victory/victory.html | archive-date=2006-10-28 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Each year, the orchestra presents a seven-concert classics series, four double pops performances, and special event concerts, as well as numerous educational and outreach performances.<ref>{{cite web | title=Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra Website | url=http://www.evansvillephilharmonic.org | access-date=2006-11-02}}</ref> The theater also hosts local ballet and modern dance companies, theater companies, and touring productions.

The [[University of Evansville]] maintains a theater program, which features four mainstage and two studio productions a year. UE has been honored more times at the [[Kennedy Center]] than any other theatre institution. The university is the only institution, along with [[Yale]], which has been asked to perform at the Kennedy Center without first going through competition. It leads the nation in the top awards for its students as awarded by the Broadway Theatre Wing and other governing bodies of serious theatre.<ref>{{cite web | title=University of Evansville Department of Theatre Website | url=http://theatre.evansville.edu | access-date=2009-11-22}}</ref>

The Evansville Civic Theatre is southern Indiana's longest-running community theater, dating from the 1920s when the community theater movement swept across the country. From its humble beginnings at the old Central High School auditorium, the theatre has had many homes – [[Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Coliseum]], Bosse High School, the Rose Room of the McCurdy Hotel, the Elks Ballroom, and the Evansville Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1974, Evansville Civic Theatre acquired the historic Columbia Movie Theater as its permanent home.<ref>{{cite web | title=Evansville Civic Theatre Website | url=http://www.civic.evansville.net/welcome.html | access-date=2006-12-09 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203033341/http://civic.evansville.net/welcome.html | archive-date=2007-02-03 }}</ref>

===Annual festivals===
[[File:Fall fes.jpg|thumb|[[West Side Nut Club Fall Festival]]]]

The [[West Side Nut Club Fall Festival]] is a street fair held in the area west of downtown Evansville. It is held on the first full week of October and draws between 100,000 and 150,000 people each day. The main attraction of the festival is the food, with includes pronto pups, elephant ears, corn dogs, chocolate-covered crickets, [[fried-brain sandwich]], and alligator stew. [[Paul Harvey]] remarked only [[Mardi Gras]] in [[New Orleans, Louisiana]] is larger than the Fall Festival.<ref>{{cite news | first=Rich | last=Davis | title=Fall Festival brings years of traditions, changes to streets of Evansville's west side | newspaper=[[Evansville Courier & Press]] | date=2006-10-01 | url=http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/oct/01/steeped-in-history/ | access-date=2006-11-04 | archive-date=2008-12-02  | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202080028/http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/oct/01/steeped-in-history/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[Germania Männerchor Volksfest]] is a three-day German heritage festival which takes place every August in the historic Germania Mannerchor building on the city's west side. The festival includes food, drink, dance, and music. Many of the city's residents with German ancestry also wear historic German attire. On the last weekend of August, 4,000 [[hot rod]]s converge on the Vanderburgh County 4-H fairgrounds north of the city for "Frog Follies."<ref>{{cite web | title=Frog Follies Website | url=http://www.frogfollies.org | access-date=2006-11-04}}</ref>

===Museums===
[[Angel Mounds|Angel Mounds State Park]] is nationally recognized as one of the best preserved prehistoric [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] sites in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|title=Angel Mounds State Historic Site |publisher=Evansville Convention & Visitors Bureau |url=http://www.evansvillecvb.org/visitor-information/attractions-detail.tpl?ID=4 |access-date=2006-11-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006110118/http://www.evansvillecvb.org/visitor-information/attractions-detail.tpl?ID=4 |archive-date=2006-10-06 }}</ref> From AD 1100 to 1450, a town near this site was home to people of the middle Mississippian culture. Several thousand people lived in this town protected by a stockade made of wattle and daub. Because Angel Mounds was a [[chiefdom]] (the home of the chief), it was the regional center of a large community.

The [[Children's Museum of Evansville]] opened its doors to the public in September 2006.<ref>{{cite web | title=Koch Family Children's Museum of Evansville Website | url=http://www.cmoekids.org | access-date=2006-11-14}}</ref> The museum is the result of two years of planning and was constructed in the historic Central Library downtown. The [[Art Deco]] building is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. The museum has three floors of interactive exhibits and galleries.

The Evansville African American Museum was established to continually develop a resource and cultural center to collect, preserve, and educate the public on the history and traditions of African American families, organizations, and communities. The museum is in the last remaining building of Lincoln Gardens, the second federal housing project created under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal in 1938.

The [[Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science]] is home to one of southern Indiana's most established and significant cultural centers. It holds the Koch Planetarium, the oldest in Indiana.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Koch Planetarium | publisher=The Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science | url=http://www.emuseum.org/planetarium.html | access-date=2006-11-14 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210180811/http://www.emuseum.org/planetarium.html | archive-date=2007-02-10 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Also on the campus is the Evansville Museum Transportation Center, which features transportation in southern Indiana from the latter part of the nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century.

The [[Reitz Home Museum]] is Evansville's only Victorian House Museum. It is noted as one of the country's finest examples of [[Second French Empire|second French empire]] architecture. It was placed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1973.

In October 2005, the {{USS|LST-325}} moored in Evansville and was turned into a museum (USS LST Ship Memorial) in recognition of the city's war effort. During [[World War II]], Evansville produced 167 [[tank landing ship|LSTs]] (and 35 other craft), making it the largest inland producer of LSTs in the nation. The USS ''LST-325'' is the last navigable [[tank landing ship]] in operation.<ref>{{cite web | title=LST 325 | work=[[Evansville Courier & Press]] | url=http://web.courierpress.com/LST/ | access-date=2006-11-14 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061029111248/http://web.courierpress.com/LST/ | archive-date=2006-10-29 }}</ref>

The [[Evansville Wartime Museum]] was opened on the weekend of Memorial Day in 2017. The Museum features exhibits commemorating Evansville's role in the Allied war effort during World War II and other conflicts. These exhibits include the Evansville built P-47 Thunderbolt fighter  ‘Hoosier Spirit II’, the operational 1943 Sherman tank ‘Rosie’s Revenge’, other military vehicles and wartime displays.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Loesch|first1=Sarah|title=Evansville Wartime Museum to open for public|url=http://www.courierpress.com/story/news/local/2017/05/23/evansville-wartime-museum-open-public/339565001/|access-date=31 January 2018|work=Evansville Courier & Press|ref=ecpwartimemuseum|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170524003220/http://www.courierpress.com/story/news/local/2017/05/23/evansville-wartime-museum-open-public/339565001/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=|archive-date=24 May 2017}}</ref>

===Mesker Park Zoo===
The [[Mesker Park Zoo|Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden]] opened in 1928 and is one of the oldest and largest zoos in the state. Set in a {{convert|50|acre|m2|adj=on}} park, the zoo features 200 species and more than 700 animals. An estimated 3 million people visit the zoo between April and August every year. Mesker Park Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

===Libraries===
[[File:Evpl-central.jpg|thumb|Central Library]]

Evansville is home to the [[Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library]] (EVPL).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.in.gov/library/files/countyindex13.pdf | title=Indiana public library directory | publisher=Indiana State Library | access-date=15 March 2018 | archive-date=18 February 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218220414/http://in.gov/library/files/countyindex13.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> As a unified system serving both Evansville and the surrounding county, EVPL is one of the largest public library systems in [[Indiana]].<ref>EVPL Statistics</ref> It was rated a five star library by the [[Library Journal]], which places it in the top 1% of public libraries in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web|title=Evansville library system earns rare five-star rating|url=http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/nov/13/no-headline---library/|access-date=11 November 2012}}</ref> EVPL also obtained a Top Ten library ranking in the 2010 edition of [[Hennen's American Public Library Ratings]], achieving a number eight ranking within its population category.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hennen's American Public Library Ratings|url=http://www.haplr-index.com/HAPLR100.htm|access-date=21 February 2012|archive-date=23 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323192759/http://www.haplr-index.com/HAPLR100.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

An independent private institution, [[Willard Library]], is also in Evansville. Willard was formed in 1881 to serve the public, regardless of race, a progressive mission in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The library houses local archives and genealogical materials, in addition to its collection of standard publications. The building is constructed in the [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival style]] and was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1972.