Read more 25th anniversary stories in the March/April 2025 feature.
Picture Evansville in early 2000. Although Y2K hysteria proved unfounded, we were on the cusp of big cultural changes. Email was in its infancy, chat rooms were the rage, and social media — who had heard of that? If we had news to share, we mailed a letter. If we wanted to meet a friend at the Casino Aztar riverboat, we picked up the phone and called them. We swapped stories over plates of schnitzel at Gerst Bavarian Haus, then a new West Side restaurant. We weren’t glued to electronic devices for the simple reason that cell phones — and tablets, and laptops — had yet to break into the mainstream. Meanwhile, Todd and Kristen Tucker asked themselves a question: “Why doesn’t Evansville have a city magazine?” After years of flipping through hyper-local glossy publications while traveling, the Tuckers led a coordinated effort spotlighting the people, places, and things that color Evansville, from beautiful homes and beloved pets to solar eclipses, nostalgia, and our unending love affair with pizza. A quarter-century later, Evansville Living still has plenty
of stories to share. Look back at these 25 highlights since the magazine first rolled off the press in 2000.
1. Let’s Start at the Beginning
Launched in March/April 2000, the inaugural issue of Evansville Living sported a bird’s-eye view of the city skyline shot by Fred Reaves from the Mead Johnson parking lot behind its Ohio Street complex. Inside, an ensemble of notable writers crafted the first features on Scott Anderson’s restoration of the Old County Jail, the Ohio River Scenic Route, and master trumpeter Doc Severinsen. That first issue crackled with excitement and potential. As Kristen Tucker stated in her first editor’s letter, the magazine was “founded on the sincere belief that the Evansville area is an exciting, diverse, and unique place to live and write about.” Readers agreed then, and still do!
2. Longstanding News Anchors Just Now Retiring
Some of the most recognizable faces in any community are its television news anchors, and Evansville is no different – a May/June 2002 article profiled five of them (Randy Moore, then of WTVW; Brad Byrd of WEHT; and David James, Ann Komis, and Mike Blake, all of WFIE). The piece described the quintet as “long running,” but as it turned out, they were just getting started: All stayed on local airwaves way beyond the article’s publication. Both Moore, who moved onto WFIE, and Byrd signed off in 2024. Komis and James retired in 2014 and 2015, respectively. And Blake? Viewers still can tune into “Middays with Mike” on WFIE.
3. Being Starstruck
Evansville Living has enjoyed rubbing elbows with VIPs now and then. Michael Rosenbaum, who was raised in Newburgh and portrayed Lex Luthor in the TV show “Smallville,” was interviewed for cover stories in 2007 and 2012. The magazine has profiled “Roseanne” and “Home Improvement” creator Matt Williams as well as fellow University of Evansville theater graduate Ron Glass. A July/August 2007 interview with Sue Watkins delved into the creative genius of her late brother, the fashion designer and Benjamin Bosse High School alum known as Halston. The River City, of course, also was a setting for the 1992 star-studded baseball movie “A League of Their Own,” and while the production predated Evansville Living, the magazine’s 2011 City View issue recalled that memorable summer when Tom Hanks, Madonna, Geena Davis, Rosie O’Donnell, and other stars roamed Evansville for a little while — “A Film of Our Own,” the article called it.
4. What’s New in Food?
Where to eat? From the beginning, Evansville Living has shared its appetite for memorable dining experiences with readers. The inaugural issue described Regent Court (which rebranded in 2003 as Cavanaugh’s on the River) as “no place to plan a cheap date,” but where diners “get what (they) pay for.” It also praised Gerst Bavarian Haus – then a mere three years old – as the authentic German restaurant Evansville had long needed. Other early editions reviewed Turoni’s, whose thin-crust pizza still stands the test of time, and although it closed in 2022, DiLegge’s Italian dishes live on at Jacob’s Pub. After 25 years, have we had our fill? Not even close.
5. Downtown’s Overhaul
As a Downtown resident ourselves, Evansville Living has had a front-row seat to the neighborhood’s transformation. Old National Bank and the utility now known as CenterPoint Energy opened riverfront headquarters in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The Koch Family Children’s Museum of Evansville opened in 2006 in the former Central Library building. We were around, too, for construction of the Ford Center in 2011. (Can you believe it’s been 14 years?) When the Casino Aztar riverboat sailed off in 2017, gamers moved to the land-based casino now known as Bally’s Evansville. It sits within view of the USS LST-325, which in 2020 relocated downriver from Inland Marina. Let’s also not forget the 2017 debut of the Hilton DoubleTree hotel and the Stone Family Center for Health Sciences a year later, plus many restaurants, small businesses, and housing units. What will Downtown look like in the next 25 years? Stay tuned.
6. Reporting in the Moment
It was supposed to be a swing and a hit. Instead, it was a bad case of whiplash: Class A baseball was coming to Evansville from Georgia, backed by star power like retired Yankee Don Mattingly and Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. as minority owners. “Evansville television stations went live with the announcement, and it had the feel of a genuine pep rally,” Mark Mathis wrote in the March/April 2003 issue. By the very next issue, that “go” was a “no,” as the $25 million concept had been scrapped.
7. Dreaming Up Idea Homes
While touring Coastal Living’s Idea Home in Beaufort, South Carolina, in summer 2002, real estate developer John Pickens and his late wife, Susan, wondered if this same initiative could land in Evansville. The concept showcasing the region’s best in original residential construction and design in one premier home appealed to the Pickenses, who shared the idea with Evansville Living’s owners upon returning to the River City. The idea took root, and a jaw-dropping seven months later, Evansville’s first Idea Home opened in Sutherland, then a new subdivision of Southern-style residences off Covert Avenue. Buoyed by local enthusiasm, five more Idea Homes followed, including a McCutchanville villa with European influences in 2005, an Old World-New World marriage in Cambridge Village in 2007, a lakeside retreat in The Estates at Victoria in 2009, the extensive restoration of a historic property on Washington Avenue in 2010, and a mansion with Southern California cool in Victoria Estates in 2021. Tours of each Idea Home benefited area charities and put local collaboration front and center.
8. Big Moves at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science
Wasn’t it only yesterday that Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science was in the middle of its $14.1 million expansion? Actually, that was 12 years ago. At the time of the January/February 2013 issue, four of the five phases of the construction project were completed, with the final stage being a renovated plaza and planetarium to replace the former 60-year-old dome. The new planetarium has since become a main attraction at the museum, showing the wonders of the universe. Since then, Mary Bower retired as the museum’s John Streetman Executive Director, and the museum’s rediscovered Picasso glass mosaic, “Seated Woman with Red Hat,” was put on display last year. The Picasso’s rediscovery made national news, and it took more than a decade for the public to gaze upon it once again, bringing a once-forgotten treasure back into the light.
9. Evansville at War
Evansville’s wartime prowess is the stuff of legend, receiving major attention since 2005, when the USS LST-325 was sailed up the Ohio River to its new home in a town that produced 167 of them (more than any other U.S. shipyard) during World War II. That, in addition to manufacturing 6,670 P-47 aircraft and 96 percent of the country’s total .45 caliber ammunition, sparked the 2017 opening of the Evansville Wartime Museum to document the city’s staggering war efforts. A national WWII Heritage City designation — an honor only one city per state can receive — followed in 2023, which inspired Indiana officials to create a statewide military trail. “Here on the home front, Evansville stepped up to the challenges as many cities across the country did. World War II changed the fabric of our city in business and industry, societal norms, population, and much more,” read an opening paragraph of the January/February 2021 cover story. Seventy years after the war ended, the city’s hard work is getting its due credit.
10. 420 Main and Main Street
The city has seen subtractions over the past quarter century, as well as fits and starts on certain activities. Nowhere was this truer than on the Main Street block between Fourth and Fifth streets. The former Old National Bank headquarters — at 18 stories, a signature part of the city’s skyline — was eyed in 2019 for a remodel that would whip it back into shape. (The December 2019/January 2020 Evansville Business cover story delved into the concept.) A closer building inspection and the COVID-19 pandemic took a wrecking ball to those plans, and the decision was made to implode it and start anew. That spectacle carried the January/February 2022 issue of Evansville Living. In 2024, we were there again as ground was broken on a four-story mixed-use development, which has been framing up fast ahead of its expected 2026 completion date.
11. Celebrating the Best of Evansville
Each summer buzzes in Evansville Living’s office, as the magazine’s Best of Evansville awards come together. Since 2001, readers have voted for the businesses, organizations, places, and people they think stand apart from the rest in town, and the awards have become a point of pride among winners. Staff get in on the fun for this city magazine staple, too. Editors’ picks have included winners for Best Way to Light Up the Night, Best Unvarnished Look at Evansville, Best Way to Throw Shade, Best Comeback, and Best Glow-Up. The best part? Seeing what readers choose each year, adding new and unique perspectives on our city.
12. Most Beautiful Homes
Home stories are a big hit with readers, and this is one of our most popular issues. Inspired by a concept in St. Louis Magazine, in 2019 Evansville Living editors featured the first profile of the area’s Most Beautiful Homes. It was no easy feat: Eighty-two homes were vetted, and the list whittled down to 10. We start photographing at the first tinge of green each spring. Varying architectural styles are celebrated, and each profile uncovers the details and stories that make each residence unique. Backed by readers’ enthusiasm, five covers have been devoted to Most Beautiful Homes stories, with a sixth on the way — we already are scouting homes to appear in May/June!
13. Chasing Eclipses
What are the odds that we’d find ourselves in the shadow of the sun twice in 25 years? Evansville skirted 2017’s Great American Solar Eclipse and the magazine was all aboard, trumpeting the eclipse on the July/August cover and even printing posters. Community organizers broke out those prints five years later when they started planning for 2024’s eclipse, in which the River City landed a coveted spot in the path of totality. Thousands of umbraphiles — a term for eclipse chasers, we learned — again flocked to Evansville for the celestial event last spring. Consider us starstruck.
14. Stories That Got People Talking
“Did you see that article in Evansville Living?” Plenty of stories have sparked conversation in coffee shops, around the office water cooler, and, more recently, on social media. More buzz came in a July/August 2003 story that asked crucial questions about a splashy plan for an aquarium – it eventually went belly up. A 2009 story about John Hull, a Gibson County farmer who spent years as a CIA operative and factored into the Iran-Contra Affair, resulted in a note from Col. Oliver North thanking the magazine for the story on his “friend and patriot.” On a lighter (figuratively speaking!) note, the May/June 2016 cover story unveiled the discovery of a two century-old wooden mallet in Spencer County that belonged to, drumroll please, Abraham Lincoln. “It was very exciting,” then-Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch told Evansville Living. “… Not just to be a part of it, but to be able to hold it. Something that Lincoln made and held; it was surreal.”
15. Times We Wore Our Heart on Our Sleeve
Events both locally and internationally have reminded us that life shouldn’t be taken for granted. Evansville Living was in its second year when hijacked airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in rural Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001. The devastation touched every corner of the globe, including Evansville. Still raw with grief, the final issue of 2001 encouraged in readers a sense of reflection through images of Evansville houses of worship, and Sept. 11 influenced the magazine’s coverage throughout the next year. A closer-to-home tragedy came on Nov. 6, 2005, when an overnight tornado roared across the Ohio River and claimed 25 lives in Evansville and Warrick County. The next six issues mourned the neighbors we lost and chronicled what happened through survivor and first responder accounts.
16. Songs of Our City
Music is a part of the city’s soul, and Evansville Living’s as well. Readers learn the stories behind performers like the Evansville Philharmonic’s classical musicians and singers, harpist Caroline Roberts, singer-songwriter Brick Briscoe, and Father Claude Burns, a Catholic pastor and rapper. A 2011 cover story declared that the city’s music scene was budding and “about to make some noise.” That proved prescient: When the July/August 2024 issue came around, some of the stages had changed (RIP Duck Inn and Gloria’s Corral Club), but local bands and talent were soaring. The Pits remain a favorite for their big bag of eclectic covers. The magazine winked at multi-instrumentalist Monte Skelton’s many talents on the 2020 Best of Evansville cover. Newer bands such as groovy Georgia Funkadelic and punk rockers The Chugs have made waves and helped usher in Evansville’s first Front Porch Fest in 2015.
17. Pets Who Have Captured Human Hearts
We love our own pets at Evansville Living, and given a chance, we’ll probably love yours, too. Over 25 years, we’ve devoted three covers (so far!) to the beloved animals that enrich our lives. The July/August 2023 cover package, featuring reader-favorite therapy pig Teddy, noted how pets helped us persevere during the COVID-19 pandemic. A 1-year-old Labrador named Little Boss graced the March/April 2019 cover, while the September/October 2013 cover package reported on “pawsitively the most epic showdown of all time” — dog vs. cat — a debate which still causes fur to fly.
18. Championing Historic Preservation
Historic preservation is in Evansville Living’s DNA, and not just because two of the magazine’s three offices have been housed in historic buildings. One early piece was the March/April 2002 cover story detailing resident Kathy Oliver’s battle with the Historic Preservation Commission over her plan to restore a home on Southeast Riverside Drive – the dispute centered on windows, of all things, and wound up in court. By the May/June 2005 issue, the Preservation Commission had approved a lengthy list of rules to guide its work. Other stories have chronicled high-profile commercial and residential projects, like the former National Biscuit Company building as 2nd Language restaurant and upper-level apartments. Multiple issues reported on the years-long effort to bring back the beloved former Greyhound station Downtown — its second life as BRU Burger Bar remains a point of pride. And who can forget Owen Block? The 1882-era French Second Empire building on Chestnut Street would have faced demolition if not for the efforts of Indiana Landmarks, Architectural Renovators, and a group of passionate citizens who called themselves “Blockheads.” On the horizon? Preservation work at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Mesker Amphitheatre, and more.
19. Power Players
The November/December 2001 issue asked, “How has Evansville produced so many great athletes?” There are too many to name, but the city’s starting lineup is stacked, and many have graced the magazine’s covers. In spring 2000, Evansville hoops stars Calbert Cheaney and Walter McCarty posed on the TD Garden court in Boston, Massachusetts, for the magazine’s second cover. New York Yankee first baseman Don Mattingly’s 2003 cover touted a new baseball stadium for his hometown. Pro golfer Jeffrey Overton lined up a putt at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, on the March/April 2006 cover. Putting Olympic gold medal swimmer Lilly King on Evansville Living’s 100th issue cover in 2016 just made sense, as she was celebrating two gold medals earned at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. That athletic star power led to “Sports Town,” a 2024 feature package with stories about renowned River City athletes, the city’s many IHSAA titles, profiles on up-and-coming sports stars, and more jewels in the city’s sports crown.
20. Indulging Nostalgia
The city’s colorful history has given Evansville Living readers plenty of opportunities to reminisce. 2020 kicked off with a look back at Evansville’s 1970s culture, such as the disastrous music festival in 1972 known as Bull Island, the shocking 1977 car bombing death of wealthy oilman and gambler Ray Ryan, and, also in 1977, the reverberating grief of losing the University of Evansville men’s basketball team and others in a downed airplane. Many other nostalgic reflections in the magazine brought joy, like a 2014 cover package full of readers’ memories of growing up in the River City, from seeing Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden’s monkey ship to eating at the Farmer’s Daughter restaurant.
21. Weathering COVID-19
There has not been a greater impact on so many lives in recent years than the COVID-19 pandemic. We started seeing local effects in spring 2020, and the government’s subsequent stay-at-home mandate resulted in the first issue of Evansville Living produced entirely remotely. The May/June issue noted the strange circumstances in a photo essay called Porch Portraits: From a safe distance, Zach Straw photographed family and friends, even the furry ones, from the entrance of their domiciles as the world navigated a new socially distanced normal. Some people had fun with it — striking a silly pose or putting on a mock circus act — while others displayed messages of community solidarity and support for front-line workers. Five years to the month since COVID-19 changed life in Evansville, we find it’s still worth reflecting on.
22. We Still Love Pizza
Over the years, we’ve hungrily enjoyed reporting on Evansville’s pizza palate. A 2015 cover story — “written and devoured” by Evansville Living, the byline read — paid tribute to longtime favorites like the cracker-thin crusts served una-style at Turoni’s, wide gourmet slices at (where else?) The Slice, a Grippos-and-Ski Westsider pie from the Niemeier brothers at Azzip Pizza, and spin-offs like stacked strombolis from Pizza King. What’s been cooking since then? In 2017, we sank our teeth into the Neapolitan and Detroit-style pizzas at Pangea Kitchen. A signature stromboli pie from Spankey’s Una Pizza comforted us while social distancing in spring 2020. And we were hungrily lining up in 2021 when the Square Zip debuted at Azzip.
23. Capturing a Slice of Evansville Life
Stories of the rhythms and energies that make up everyday life are what fuel Evansville Living, and several cover stories have dug into those slices of life. Take a 2011 lighthearted exploration of people, places, and things in the city that define “fun,” or the tongue-in-cheek analysis of what pumps up the male species in 2006’s “The Man Issue.” (We still break out those Best Damn Chili recipes!) A 2009 issue sought to answer “how does it feel?” to catch a ride on Air Force One (then-Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel), score a hole in one in golf (Robbie Kent Sr.), win the lottery (Bruce Rockman did it twice), and sail a boat for three years (Randy Julian). And as Evansville’s multicultural population has grown and evolved, cover stories in 2007 and 2025 spotlighted new residents and the cultures they brought with them to their new hometown — proving that a slice of life in Evansville is anything but ordinary.
24. On The Open Road
Road trip! Just like readers, Evansville Living has traveled from coast to coast, both literally via Snapshots and figuratively in the destinations written about in these pages. Readers have tagged along as magazine staff and intrepid contributors have feasted on oysters along Orange Beach, Alabama; rooted for mail jumpers on Wisconsin’s Geneva Lake; taken a salsa dance lesson at Mango’s Tropical Café in the heart of Miami, Florida’s South Beach neighborhood; sampled Rhône-style wines and adventurous cuisine in Fredericksburg, Texas; and discovered a 20-degree temperature difference along the 2.7-mile Sandia Peak aerial tramway in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A spring 2004 story likened a Caribbean excursion to “sailing through a postcard.” Ten years later, we cruised that idyllic path again. What destination is next on Evansville Living’s itinerary? Stay tuned!
25. Evansville Still is the Center of the World
We know you’ve experienced it: You’re out of town, maybe at a ballgame or a concert, and while engaging with a group of folks in the hotel lobby, you learn one of them grew up in Evansville. What started as a cheeky remark in a March/April 2001 feature story still rings true: No matter where you are in the world, you’re six degrees of separation from Evansville. Inspired by the 1994 game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” Evansville Living staff put their own twist on it and found links to everyone from 1920s singer Al Jolson, Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan, crooner Frank Sinatra, rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Buddy Holly, even the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. After 25 years, we can add more names — and even shorter links — to the list, like singer Bruno Mars, who has won half of his 16 Grammy Awards with his songwriting partner, 1992 Reitz Memorial High School graduate Philip Lawrence. Whether overt or under the radar, the River City’s ties across the world always have a way of coming to the surface.
