Guide to a walking tour of the Showers Brothers Furniture Factory, Bloomington, Indiana, with map, tour sites, and descriptions.

Brief history of the Showers Brothers Furniture Factory and plan of Bloomington City Hall in the former Showers Brothers Furniture Factory building.

When the Showers family arrived in Bloomington, Indiana, the railroad had only recently come to town and a modest university was struggling to survive. Having spent the prior 18 years moving from place to place, the family decided to settle down and invest its modest resources to start a furniture company. The business proved to be extremely profitable and a stroke of good fortune for the small community. The company's success strengthened Bloomington's infrastructure, helping to develop new neighborhoods, and the philanthropic acts of the Showers family supported the town's continued development. The family's contributions helped Indiana University through difficult times and paved the way to its becoming the largest university in the state. In this detailed history of Showers Brothers, Carrol Krause tells the story of a remarkably successful collaboration between business, town, and gown.

Great , great grandfather John Taylor braved the wilds and moved his family from the Pennsylvania Dutch country to the new state of Indiana at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Southern Indiana was sparsely settled but formed the base for the Taylor descendents. Dr. Taylors life was strongly influenced by his mothers great spiritual belief in god and the need for a Christian life and education for her children. The great depression years helped form the basis for a lifetime of hard work and accomplishments. The hope of giving something back to family and society makes life worthwhile. His choice of surgical training proved to be the basis for his subsequent success. A letter he was told he should not have written because it was not proper military protocol proved to be the source of a military career that was unsurpassed. He was chosen to help develop the medical care of Americas first men into space, Project Mercury. Forty years of pioneering surgery in the field of heart and lung surgery were the golden age of medicine. Farming, ranching, banking, real estate, flying and travel to all seven continents and over fifty countries fulfilled a life that was more than anyone could hope for.

Energetic, shrewd, and charming, Herman B Wells was the driving force behind the transformation of Indiana University—which became a model for American public higher education in the 20th century. A person of unusual sensitivity and a skilled and empathetic communicator, his character and vision shaped the structure, ethos, and spirit of the institution in countless ways. Wells articulated a persuasive vision of the place of the university in the modern world. Under his leadership, Indiana University would grow in size and stature, establishing strong connections to the state, the nation, and the world. His dedication to the arts, to academic freedom, and to international education remained hallmarks of his 63-year tenure as President and University Chancellor. Wells lavished particular attention on the flagship campus at Bloomington, expanding its footprint tenfold in size and maintaining its woodland landscape as new buildings and facilities were constructed. Gracefully aging in place, he became a beloved paterfamilias to the IU clan. Wells built an institution, and, in the process, became one himself.