INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Happy birthday, Indiana. Thursday marks the 198th anniversary of Indiana becoming the nineteenth state in the Union.

Gov. Mike Pence has signed a proclamation declaring the day to be Statehood Day across the state of Indiana. 

He and first lady Karen Pence will welcome Indiana fourth-graders to stations in the Statehouse Rotunda as part of the annual Statehood Day events. Students who visit the governor's booth in the Rotunda will have the opportunity to depict what they would try to accomplish if they were the state's chief executive.

Planning is well underway for celebrating the state's bicentennial in two years. They include transforming a street next to the Statehouse into a public plaza.