The Wilbur Wright birthplace is located at 1525 North Henry County Road 750 East, seven miles east of New Castle and north of State Road 38. This restored home is now an Indiana state memorial. At the time of Wilbur’s birth, his father, Milton Wright, was serving as the Presiding Elder of the Marion District in the White River Conference of the United Brethren in Christ Church. Milton Wright was later (1877) made a bishop, and oversaw the West Mississippi District.
As a professor of theology at Hartsville College in 1869, Milton proposed that the U.B. General Conference establish a professional school for its ministers. This resulted in the Union Biblical Seminary in Dayton, Ohio (now United Theological Seminary). At this same general conference, he was elected editor of The Religious Telescope, the church’s newspaper. He opposed slavery and secret societies, and supported women’s rights and temperance. In 1889 he led a small group of conservatives in founding the Old Constitution U.B. Church. This organization did not unite with the Evangelical Church and was not part of the E.U.B. church which merged to become the United Methodist Church.
GPS: 39 57 18.79, -85 14 35.47