Campus: IUPUI
In the 1960s, Indiana University owned a showboat named The Majestic. It chugged up and down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers showcasing music by students from the IU Theatre Department. Aboard this vessel was the IU calliope, a large spectacle of a musical instrument whose loud, proud song could be heard up and down the river for miles.
The calliope was put into storage for a few years after The Majestic was sold until Professor Robert Weaver of the Herron School of Art and Design personally designed and built a steel-and-wood circus float to display the calliope. From the 1970s through the 1990s, the instrument was drawn by specially-trained horses (or by truck when the horses needed a break) and paraded across dozens of IU events to inspire crowds and play fun, familiar songs. However, from the 1990s-2015, the calliope was once again in storage until it was restored in 2016.
This restoration project included adding digital interface technology to the instrument and repairing its rotten undercarriage. The wagon was then outfitted with cream-and-crimson stripes, Victorian scroll designs, and the IU Bicentennial mark. The IU calliope made its maiden voyage at the October 2016 IU homecoming parade, where spectators old and new alike were treated to IU’s favorite songs as it rode down the Woodlawn Avenue.
