Frank O'Bannon was a Corydon native and 47th Governor of Indiana (1997-2003). He served as a Served as State Senator from Corydon for 18 years. He is known for Creating the first Community College system in state, and being the first Governor to have a computer on his desk. Sadly, he died in office after suffering a stroke.
The bronze statue was created by Raymond Graf in 2008 for the city's 200th anniversary. It is situated on the plaza of Indiana's First State Capitol building, and depicts O'Bannon sitting on a granite bench. There is an empty granite bench behind the sculpture. There is a flag pole behind both of those benches, flying the American flag. To the left of the structure is a bronze plaque that identifies the sculpture, its artist, date of dedication and its purpose.
To the right and behind the sculpture is three granite pillars, The first is of Lewis McClellan O'Bannon, Frank O'Bannon's grand-father, the second is of Robert Presley O'Bannon, Frank O'Bannon's father. The bronze plaques on their respective columns have a image of their face and lists their accomplishments. The third column has a bronze plaque that lists some of the Frank O'Bannon's accomplishments. Unlike the other two though, it does not have an image of his face.
The sculpture is in a nice plaza area in front of city hall. There are tons of free street parking available on the street in front of and surrounding the statue.
It is a nice attraction to see if you are in town. Even if you have no idea who Frank O'Bannon is. I sure didn't. You, however, will probably not spend a lot of time there. Anyway, I would recommend coupling this trip with other stops such as Indiana Cavern, the Harrison County Interpretive Museum (which is across the street), the William Henry Harrison Log Cabin (catacorner from) and the Constitutional Elm Stump (in walking distance across the street). read more