Shelby County was the site of Indiana’s first railroad, which ran 1.25 miles from Shelbyville to Lewis Creek beginning July 4, 1834. Charles Major, inspired by his Shelbyville surroundings, produced best-selling novels such as The Bears of Blue River around the turn of the 20th century. Shelbyville’s Sandy Allen became known as the Guinness Book of World Records’ “world’s tallest woman.”

This sculpture depicts bronze rails twining through book-like ties, creating a vertical track capped by the S key of a typewriter. It almost looks like ladder steps with a rope entangled between the bars.  From top to bottom, the Shelby County piece measures 7 feet 7.25 inches tall, which is the exact height of Sandy Allen.

Designers Jeff Laramore and David Jemerson Young of 2nd Globe, an Indianapolis–based artistic company, designed all 92 of the county sculptures featured on the outside of the Indiana State Museum. Their designs narrate the counties’ famous natives, historically significant events, or their cultural characteristics, and were fabricated and installed by various Indiana sculptors, carvers, glassworkers, metalworkers, and other artisans.