Italian Heritage Society of Indiana

Around the turn of the last century, Clinton, Indiana, located approximately 15 miles north of Terre Haute, had a great influx of Italian immigrants to the area to work in the coal mines.  At one point the city had a population of over 15,000 people, of which, nearly one-third were Italian.  The northwest area of Clinton became known as Little Italy as the majority of its inhabitants had come directly from Italy.  Unlike a lot of the Italian immigration that took place at this time, most of the Clinton Italians were from northern Italy.  A listing of businesses in the Little Italy section of Clinton in the 1920s shows (4) grocery stores, (2) meat markets, a bakery, a cheese shop, multiple tailors and clothing shops, shoe and variety stores all owned by Italian immigrants.

Today, this rich Italian history is remembered each year during Labor Day weekend with the Little Italy Festival, which has been put on since 1966.

For more information about the festival,  visit the Little Italy Festival web site.

*Some information from http://visions.indstate.edu .