The open air cycling track, or velodrome, before you is named for Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor. In 1899, Taylor, a renowned cyclist and world record holder from Indianapolis, became the second African American world champion athlete. Celebrated abroad and hounded by racism at home, “Major” Taylor began his cycling career in Indianapolis. The Major Taylor Velodrome, now home to the Marian University cycling team, was built in 1982 for the National Sports Festival and used for the 1987 Pan American Games.
“Major” Taylor was born in Indianapolis in 1878. As a child, he became friends with the son of the Southard family which employed his father. For a few years, Taylor lived with the Southards, who bought him a bike. After returning to his own family at age 13, Taylor found a job at a bicycle repair shop. He often practiced bicycle tricks outside the shop, and when the owner realized this attracted customers, he gave Taylor a military uniform to wear during his performances. Thus the nickname “Major Taylor” was born.
Taylor won amateur races in Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois. His successes drew the attention of former cyclist Louis Munger, who became his manager. Munger was criticized for mentoring a black athlete and decided that his business ambitions, as well as Taylor’s career, would not flourish in Indianapolis.
Taylor and Munger moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1895. One year later, Taylor registered with the League of American Wheelmen as a professional rider. Over the next eight years, he became a world-famous athlete despite facing intense racism in the U.S. Some tracks banned him, and white racers threatened to injure him. In 1897, one opponent even attacked and choked him after a race.
Yet by 1898, Taylor held 7 world records, including the 1-mile flying start (1 minute and 31 4/5 seconds). The following year, he claimed the 1-mile world championship title in Montreal. After a four-month European tour in 1901, he married Daisy V. Morris in Connecticut in 1902. He then went on three international tours, racing in New Zealand, Australia, and Europe. Daisy accompanied him during two of these tours, and their daughter Sydney was born in Sydney, Australia in May 1904.
Taylor rested for two years at his home in Worcester before he launched a racing comeback in 1907, returning to Europe for a few tours. After early victories, Taylor’s age and weariness convinced him to retire from cycling in 1910. Over the next 20 years, Taylor lost money in poor business investments and became estranged from his wife and daughter. He moved to Chicago in 1930, living at a YMCA while trying to sell copies of his autobiography, The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World.
Taylor died in 1932 and was buried in an unmarked grave in Mount Glenwood Cemetery. In 1948, the Bicycling Racing Stars of the 19th Century moved his remains to a more prominent area of the cemetery. Schwinn Bicycle Company donated money for his tombstone.
The Indianapolis Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) presented a proposal for a velodrome in 1975. Fundraising efforts by DPR director Art Strong (a former cycling reporter) and the desire to make Indianapolis the “amateur sports capital” convinced the city council to launch the project. The track’s location near Lake Sullivan was selected after a feasibility study revealed its easy access. During the dedication ceremony of the Major Taylor Velodrome, Taylor’s daughter Sydney received a key to Indianapolis. When not hosting competitions, the Velodrome offers programs and classes to the city’s recreational cyclists.
]]>In 2010, a team of professors and students from Ball State University used digital mapping technologies to identify the exact location of Washington Ball Park. Decades of development and change, including the construction of the Indianapolis Zoo, had nearly erased this important part of the city’s past.
Opened in 1905, the park was home to the Indianapolis Indians until 1931, when they moved to Perry (later renamed Bush) Stadium. But Washington Ball Park was home to another important Indianapolis and American story. From around 1917 to 1931, when the Indians traveled for games, they leased the ball park to the city’s independent African American baseball team, the ABCs. During the 1910s, the ABCs (named for their sponsor, the American Brewing Company), rose to prominence and won the 1916 Negro World Series.
In February 1920, the ABCs’ manager, Charles I. Taylor, co-founded and became vice president of the Negro National League. The NNL was a baseball league for African American players during the era of segregation when they were not allowed to play alongside whites. The NNL consisted mainly of Midwestern and some Southern baseball teams, including the ABCs, the Detroit Stars, the Kansas City Monarchs, the Birmingham Black Barons, and many others. Washington Baseball Park was the site of the NNL’s first game on May 2, 1920, where the ABCs defeated the Chicago Giants twice in a doubleheader. By developing star players like Oscar Charleston, posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and insisting that players wear “collars, ties, and shined shoes,” Taylor created a very successful black baseball team whose players became role models for young African Americans.
After Taylor’s death in 1922, however, the team began to struggle, first facing player raids from the Eastern Colored League and also having financial difficulties due to the economy. Disbanding in 1924 and reforming in multiple variants throughout the late1920s, the ABCs made a comeback in 1931. The National Negro League, however, was not able to recover from financial problems and dissolved in 1932--the same year that the Indianapolis Indians abandoned Washington Ball Park for the new Perry (Bush) Stadium.
]]>The 1987 Pan American Games represented one of Indianapolis’ biggest steps “in its quest to be known as the world’s amateur sports capitol.” During the Pan Am Games, nearly 4500 amateur athletes from 38 member nations of the Pan American Sports Organization came to the city to compete in 30 sports. Some of the most exciting events took place at the Natatorium, which held the diving, swimming, synchronized swimming, and water polo competitions. Its main competition pool is the largest in the United States.
Scheduled to compete in the Pan Am’s swimming events was Costa Rican swim star Silvia Poll, who, at sixteen years old and six feet two inches tall, was just starting her international career. However, she surprised even herself with her multiple medals, becoming the first triple gold medalist to win three separate events at the Pan Am Games. In the 100-meter backstroke she swam to a new games record of 1 minute, 2.18 seconds. Her happiness at winning was shared by Costa Rica, which now had its first gold at the Pan Am games. Poll had lost her first event to a young and relatively unknown swimmer from the United States, Jenny Thompson.
Overall, U.S. athletes had great success in the water, bringing home the most medals for all of the Pan American Games events held at the Natatorium, including the gold in men’s water polo.
Since its construction in 1982, many more star swimmers have competed at the Natatorium in several Olympic Trials, NCAA championships, and other national events. These include Olympians like Michael Phelps and Amy Van Dyken, who commented in 1998, “I think it’s the most beautiful pool out there, and I’ve swum very well in Indianapolis.” After the Pan Am Games, Jenny Thompson also went on to compete and medal in several Olympic games.
The aura of the Natatorium is matched by features that contribute to swimmers’ fast times. These include its deep water, good visibility, and wide lanes. Its stellar reputation among the swimming world has also benefitted Indiana University – Purdue University, Indianapolis, whose campus it sits on, as well as the city of Indianapolis. As the pool's planners thought, if they were going to spend the money to build a natatorium, then why not make it one of the best? This idea has clearly paid off, as the Natatorium continues to serve the local community and the international swimming community.
]]>You now stand on White River Trail at the southern point of the canal. In 1836 the canal was meant to be a pathway that would feed goods into and out of Indianapolis, much like today’s major railroads or interstates. Today the canal is a popular spot for recreation and cultural exploration.
Building the Canal
Before the rise of the railroads, many states built waterways for transportation and commerce. In the late 1820s, Indiana explored building canals throughout the state. The Indiana Internal Improvements Act of 1836 assigned $10 million to build 296 miles of canal. The Central Canal was originally slated to begin at a point “between Fort Wayne and Logansport” up north, run through Muncie and Indianapolis, and follow “the west fork of White River…to Evansville." $3.5 million was intended solely for a portion of the canal in downtown Indianapolis.
By mid century, increasing numbers of Irish and Germans emigrated to the United States. Across the nation they were often recruited as unskilled laborers, especially the Irish, who did most of the often backbreaking labor of building the canals. The pay was about fifty cents a day for the immigrant laborers who dug the canal and between $1 and $1.50 per day for the skilled work.
Bankruptcy
Although the Central Canal was meant to connect Indiana’s capital to the rest of the region, the project fell apart after the completion of only eight miles of canal. The economic Panic of 1837 and a depression that followed bankrupted the state. Indianapolis could not pay back its loans for the canal. By the late 1830s, the Central Canal was primarily used as a water supply for downtown Indianapolis.
A New Pathway Through the City
Today the Indianapolis Water Company owns the Central Canal. In 1971, the Central canal was designated an American Water Landmark. In 1985, a portion of the canal was drained to make way for Interstate 65. The remaining portion of the canal and the path alongside it is known as the “Indianapolis Canal Walk.” It has been a popular recreational path for residents and visitors since it opened in 2001.
]]>The Oscar C. McCulloch School No. 5 was once located at the intersection of Washington and Blackford Streets on what is now the grounds of the White River State Park. Named for the Christian social activist, Oscar Carlton McCulloch, the school was built to serve disadvantaged children and to better their neighborhoods.
Construction on the Oscar McCulloch School lasted from 1920-22. The school had an average enrollment of a few hundred children, mostly from the Haughville and White River neighborhoods. These neighborhoods were the most ethnically diverse in Indianapolis, made up of Slovenian, Romanian, Greek, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Roma, Chinese and Black families. To promote community and ease financial strain, the school provided free social services for students and their families including day care, dental, and mental health clinics. For immigrants, there were also classes on American citizenship, government, and English language.
After 1950, the fluctuating automobile industry in Haughville encouraged many families to move away. In 1968, after years of decreasing enrollment, School No. 5 was converted to a school for children with mental and emotional difficulties. In 1978, those children were moved to mainstream classrooms and the Oscar McCulloch School finally closed.
In 1980, the land on which the school stood was purchased by the White River State park Commission as the site of the new Indiana State Museum. By 1981, plans were set to demolish the school. In 1985 the school was destroyed, leaving only the front facade.
Public outcry was immediate. Former students, one-time residents, and all who knew what the school meant for Indianapolis demanded justice and reparations. The historical preservation groups of Indiana brought suit against the Parks Commission and insisted the school be remembered and memorialized.
After years of litigation, the Indiana State Museum agreed to rebuild the façade of the Oscar C McCulloch School inside of its own walls. Using school emblems, the terracotta tiles, and what was left of other building materials to rebuild the front wall, School 5 is now used during school tours to teach about educational history in Indianapolis and every visitor is graced by the school's overwhelming presence in the main hall of the museum. As intended, the facade creates conversation about education, preservation, and Indiana’s history.
For more on this location, check out our Indiana State Museum page.
]]>The "Delaware Flats," the building farthest to the right (south) at the corner of North Delaware and East Michigan Streets, was the location of the combination office-apartment home of Helene Knabe, M.D. She was a bacteriologist whose significant contributions to Indiana public health are often overshadowed by her sensationalized murder at age 35 in this building on the night of October 24-25, 1911.
Background and Education, 1875-1904
Born in 1875 in Germany to a family of modest means, Helene Elise Hermine Knabe earned money to emigrate to the U.S., where women could study medicine. She arrived in New York on November 16, 1896, and in Indianapolis two days later, lodging at a boarding house where her cousin, Auguste Knabe, also boarded. She took a course at Butler College in the summer of 1900 and then entered the Medical College of Indiana (MCI), apparently also working as a nurse during this period. MCI held its neurology and psychiatry classes in the Pathology Building at Central State Hospital, so Knabe likely attended classes in what is now the Medical History Museum (also on this tour). She graduated as a physician on April 23, 1904, with three years' specialized experience assisting a faculty member with postmortem examinations and microscopic analysis.
State Laboratory of Hygiene and Rabies Expert, 1905-1908
Beginning in 1905, Dr. Knabe worked for the State Board of Health's Laboratory of Hygiene as a Deputy State Health Officer, investigating cases of poor sanitation, typhoid (about which she would later publish a professional paper), and other diseases. She rose quickly to Assistant Pathologist and, in 1906, to Assistant State Bacteriologist.
After completing specialized study with renowned experts on rabies, she became the first in Indiana to use the innovation of dissecting heads of animals suspected to be infected, and to recommend the Pasteur method: during the incubation period, people exposed to rabies received increasingly strong inoculations containing the diluted virus, thereby stimulating antibody production and greatly reducing the chances of developing the disease. By 1912, this treatment had reduced nationwide mortality among infected people from about 16% to less than 1%. After becoming Acting Superintendent of the Bacteriological Laboratory around 1908, Dr. Knabe authored the lab's monthly reports, in which she was blunt, such as scolding owners for not muzzling dogs, and criticizing physicians for incorrect preparation of records and blood specimens for analysis. Although she was Indiana's expert on rabies, she was not promoted beyond "Acting" Superintendent and was chronically underpaid until, in November 1908, she resigned in disgust.
Community Activism, Teaching, Private Practice, Early Death, 1909-1911
Dr. Knabe became a community speaker on sexual health and on the importance of sanitation, and went into teaching and private practice. Just three years later, someone slashed her throat with a weapon that was never conclusively identified. Despite extensive police investigation, reward offers, advocacy by women's groups, and a trial for two defendants that was pre-empted by the judge directing a "not guilty" verdict instead of jury deliberation, her murder remains unsolved.
]]>Hook's Drug Stores were Indiana fixtures throughout most of the 20th century. Founder John A. Hook opened his first Indianapolis store in 1900 in a now-demolished building at 1101 S. East Street in what is now the Fountain Square neighborhood. Strides made in medicine in the early 1900s promoted the new scientific approach to health and medicine and encouraged the establishment of new pharmacies throughout the city. The eight Hook's Drug Stores in 1914 became fifty stores by the 1950s. In the 1990s, the Hook's Drug Store name was retired after takeovers and consolidations; many of its original locations survive as CVS stores. The legacy of Hook's Drug Stores continues with this museum.
Drug Store Museum, 1966 Through the Present
Hook's Drug Store Museum began as a three-month exhibition for the 1966 Indiana State Fair. Huge attendance at that fair created strong interest in a permanent installation. The museum re-creates the look and ambiance of an Indiana drugstore around the turn of the 20th century, with its mixture of antiques from the late 1800s and early 1900s: a soda fountain, cabinets, fixtures, furniture, and artifacts. It is also still a limited-scale functioning drugstore, selling some over-the-counter remedies and old-style candies and merchandise during its regular operations during the annual state fair and at various other times throughout the year.
The Building's Original Purpose for Better Babies Contests, 1927-1932
The museum is housed in a bungalow-style house originally constructed on the fairgrounds. This building was selected, in part, because its original footprint (the rooms that now contain the soda fountain and the store) is about the same size as John Hook's original drugstore. This building, constructed in 1927 with a $5,000 special state government appropriation, housed the heavily-attended Better Babies Contests, during which physicians and psychologists weighed, measured, and tested mental abilities of infant contestants with the goal of identifying Indiana's most perfect babies.
Held annually during state fairs from 1920 to 1932, Better Babies Contests initially were a part of efforts to reduce infant mortality by providing information and exhibits about infant health. However, these contests were also influenced by the worldwide eugenics social movement of the late 1800s to the mid-1930s. Eugenics was promoted by many scientists at that time as a cure to “defects” in health and social behavior. The policies of eugenics were tied to both white supremacy and the holocaust. In the United States, the eugenics movement focused on efforts to “improve” the white population by fostering marriages of "fit" men and women so that they could undertake the "healthful rearing of their children." Proponents of this movement also sought to prevent conception of babies by "the unfit": criminals, "the insane," epileptics, individuals with physical disabilities, and "the feebleminded" (people with intellectual disabilities).
Better Babies Contest ratings were initially based on child development milestones but, in an effort to standardize ratings, organizers created scorecards mimicking those for judging livestock. Governor Samuel M. Ralston declared at a 1915 awards ceremony, "I've been to cattle shows and stock shows . . . I want Indiana to pay as much attention to the blood of the children it raises as the farmer pays to the blood of the future pigs." After the last Better Babies Contest in 1932, the Indiana State Fair used this building for a variety of purposes until remodeling and repurposing it in 1966 as the Hook's Drug Store Museum.
]]>This state historic marker near the northwest corner of East Vermont Street and North Park Avenue commemorates the first location of St. Vincent's Infirmary. From 1881-1889, the first location was here and, from 1889-1913, the second location was at the southeast corner of East South Street and South Delaware Street.
St. Vincent's Infirmary: First Location, 1881-1889
In the late 1880s this city block, bounded by East, Michigan, Liberty (now Park Avenue), and Vermont Streets, had a brick perimeter wall--parts of which are intact. This eastern half of the block contained the original St. Joseph Catholic Church (later moved to the southwest corner of College Avenue and North Street) and its seminary. In 1881, a vacant seminary building became St. Vincent's Infirmary when six sisters from the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul came from Maryland to establish a medical facility at the request of then-Bishop Silas Chatard.
Some city residents had deemed a hospital in a residential area a "public nuisance," with concerns such as adequacy of the city water supply and sewers for removing hospital waste: "[F]oul air constantly escaping, impregnating persons along the line of flow with the seeds of disease." Bishop Chatard, who had been a physician before his ordination, responded that hospitals needed to be located where they could serve the greatest number of people. He wrote that he intended that St. Vincent's Infirmary not be permanently located in the seminary building, stating his hope that Indianapolis citizens would "take enough interest in this work to enable those connected with it to buy a suitable site elsewhere, and there build [a larger] edifice . . . ." Just as he envisioned, St. Vincent's Infirmary outgrew its space rapidly so, between 1887 and 1889, a larger $111,000 facility was constructed about a mile to the south.
St. Vincent's Infirmary: Second Location, 1889-1913
Located at the southeast corner of East South Street and South Delaware Street, the second St. Vincent's Infirmary stood four stories high, with 38 private rooms and eight open wards providing space for 150 patients. The most famous patient was President Theodore Roosevelt, treated there on September 23, 1902, for an infected cut on his shin. Nevertheless, St. Vincent's Infirmary continued to treat patients who could not afford to pay.
In 1902, St. Vincent's Infirmary was hailed as one of the "three great hospitals of the city"--a far cry from the public nuisance that had been feared. The South and Delaware Streets region was Indianapolis's medical hub, with numerous related facilities nearby, such as Eli Lilly and Company. By the 1910s, however, it had become an industrial area: railroad tracks and train sheds had been built across the street to the north, and the dangerous acetylene-compression Prest-o-Lite factory was immediately adjacent to the south. Noise, dirt, and danger contributed to the decision to move St. Vincent's away from the city center in 1913. The old infirmary building subsequently served a variety of purposes, and was finally demolished in 1958.
St. Vincent Hospital Locations: 1913 to the Present
With a name change to St. Vincent's Hospital, a new facility was built on the north side of Fall Creek Boulevard between Capitol Avenue and Illinois Street. The hospital remained there until 1974, when it moved to its current location at 2001 West 86th Street. In 2012, the old hospital building on Fall Creek Boulevard, heavily renovated, became the headquarters of Ivy Tech Community College.
]]>Flanner House provides services and resources to sustain and empower individuals in order to build a self-sufficient community. Established in 1898, Flanner Guild, as it was then called, began as a settlement house for African Americans in Indianapolis, part of the nationwide social reform movement. White mortician Frank Flanner donated the original building on Rhode Island Street (now Colton) near Indiana Avenue. Although white Hoosiers started and helped fund the organization, middle-class African Americans, particularly women, took on active leadership roles, including a group of female schoolteachers who made educational and cultural improvement pillars of the organization’s mission. In 1912, the settlement’s name changed to Flanner House.
Growing Pains (1900-1930)
The early activities of Flanner House developed in response to the steady growth of an African American population in Indianapolis after the Civil War and during the Great Migration of the early twentieth century, as thousands of African Americans fled the rural South for northern cities. The increasing population magnified the difficulties facing the black community regarding housing, employment, living conditions, and health care. Over time, the organization became one of Indianapolis’ major social service agencies for African Americans, a population largely excluded from using mainstream support structures. In 1918, the organization relocated to buildings on north West Street. Operating within a system of racial segregation and inequality, Flanner House offered employment assistance, such as training women to work as domestics and laundresses.
Self-Help and A Helping Hand (1936-1975)
Self-help formed one of Flanner House’s key principles from the beginning, but it became a cornerstone of the organization’s mission under the leadership of Dr. Cleo Blackburn, who served as director for some forty years between 1936 and 1975. In 1944, Flanner House moved to 16th and Missouri streets. There, the organization’s services consisted of social services, employment help, health, self-help programs, and housing. Sample programs included sewing and woodworking classes, day care, a self-serve cannery, and a co-op store. To provide preventative health care, the Herman G. Morgan Health Center opened just south of the Flanner House building.
In 1950, Flanner House established Flanner House Homes, Inc. a self-help housing project, to provide low-cost family houses to offset the severe housing shortage caused by Indianapolis's de facto segregation practices. While holding full-time, mostly middle-wage jobs, men in the selected families worked together to build their new homes in their free time. Only 181 houses were constructed in a 178-acre redevelopment area between 10th, 16th, West, and Milburn streets, where the city had razed a so-called “slum,” displacing hundreds of people.
A Community Place (1976-present)
In the 1979, Flanner House moved to its current location on Martin Luther King Jr. Street, where it continues to “empower families and individuals to move from instability to self sufficiency.” The humble, seventies-style building houses a child development center, a senior center, and a program for working families as well as the Flanner House Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library. You’re more than welcome to stop in at the library to browse the shelves, ask the library staff questions, or take advantage of the free Internet.
]]>One of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, Eli Lilly and Company sits on McCarty Street, where it has resided and grown for more than one hundred years. In 1876, after serving during the Civil War and failing at a series of other business ventures, Colonel Eli Lilly established his pharmaceutical enterprise in a minuscule brick building on Pearl Street. With a total of three employees including his son J. K. Lilly, Sr., “Colonel Eli” set out to bring scientific method to manufacturing medicinal remedies in a period when charlatans and frauds peddling patent medicines dominated the industry.
By 1890, J K. Lilly, Sr. assumed control of the growing company, which had relocated to McCarty Street after outgrowing its previous locations. Very much a family business, his two sons, Eli and J.K., Jr., soon joined him at what they sometimes called the “pill factory.” The company adopted modern, streamlined production and experimental research practices under the three Lilly men’s leadership. The company remained under the family’s private ownership until 1952 when the company went public. In 1953, the first non-family member, Eugene Beesley, became president of the business.
Medical Breakthroughs (1920-1965)
The Lilly Company played an important role in the development and manufacture of several important medical advances during the twentieth century. Until the 1920s, there was no effective treatment for diabetes mellitus, particularly Type 1 diabetes. Collaborating with three University of Toronto scientists, the company achieved the first successful large-scale production of insulin. In 1923, Lilly supplied the first commercially available insulin product in the United States, which helped save the lives of thousands and made the company a top-tier pharmaceutical manufacturer. During the 1940s and 1950s, the company manufactured several antibiotics, beginning with penicillin during World War II and later vancomycin and erythromycin. The company also became one of the chief producers of the Salk poliomyelitis vaccine, manufacturing 68 percent of the national supply in 1956. A polio outbreak in the early 1950s had debilitated thousands in the United States, many of them children. By the 1960s, the number of U.S. polio cases had diminished dramatically.
New Challenges and Old-Fashioned Values (1965-present)
Eli Lilly and Company has experienced many of the same recent challenges as most pharmaceutical companies in the face of economic downturn and controversies over drug side effects. Corporate espionage has also proven a concern in recent years, causing companies like Lilly to increase security measures. Continuing the philanthropic tradition started by the Lilly family, the company supports humanitarian causes and activities throughout the local community, the state of Indiana, and around the world. In 2012, the company’s employees numbered nearly 38,000 in 17 countries, over one-fourth of whom work in Indianapolis. Lilly products are sold in approximately 125 countries. Today, the sight of the “Red Lilly”—the scarlet, looping logo of Eli Lilly and Company—is a familiar one in Indianapolis and around the world, seen anywhere from the zenith of corporate headquarters on Delaware Street to prescription bottles in a medicine cabinet.
]]>A women’s charity organization, the Indianapolis Flower Mission served the sick poor of the Circle City for over one hundred years. Part of a national movement, the charity began in 1876 when Alice Wright, the daughter of a prominent railroad manager, and a handful of her friends started taking bouquets of fresh-cut flowers, canned preserves, fresh fruit, and reading materials to patients at the Indianapolis City Hospital (now Eskenazi Hospital, formerly Wishard Memorial). Within a few years, they began visiting poor patients in their homes, taking necessities like food, bedding, and clothing. Although these women’s tasks began simply, the organization branched out into other activities as the women entered the political sphere, actively fundraising and organizing projects.
Nursing (1883-1920)
The philanthropic society pioneered several important developments in Indiana healthcare. In 1883, the organization founded the Flower Mission Training School for Nurses, the first nursing school in the state, part of a nationwide movement to professionalize nursing. The City Hospital took charge of the school in 1896, which closed in 1980. The mission also started the city’s premier visiting nurse program in 1884, which continued under the Public Health Nursing Association. The public health, or district, nurse visited poor patients at home, assisting with nutrition and hygiene as well as medical problems.
Hospitals (1895-1937)
The Flower Mission also founded several hospitals in Indianapolis. Starting in 1895, the organization administered the Eleanor Hospital for Sick Children, named for the deceased daughter of Colonel Eli Lilly, a local philanthropist and pharmaceutical entrepreneur who made a substantial donation to the facility. Located at Capitol Avenue and 18th Street, Eleanor Hospital was pediatric hospital in Indiana, operating until 1909 after the City Hospital opened a children’s unit.
In the early 1900s, the Flower Mission made the anti-tuberculosis movement one of its key causes. The charity’s 25-bed hospital for “incurables,” founded in 1903, constituted the only medical institution in Indiana for patients in the final stages of tuberculosis (TB). Owned and operated by the City Hospital, it was torn down in 1923 to make room for a new administration building. The second TB hospital, a house on Coe Street, was condemned in 1930, forcing the organization to treat patients in their homes. After years of intensive lobbying and fundraising, the charity built its third tuberculosis hospital, the 100-bed Flower Mission Memorial Hospital, in 1937.
Cheering the Sick (1938-1993)
The Indianapolis Flower Mission’s activities slowly declined for the next 56 years, never finding a new focus after the tuberculosis crisis abated, serving primarily as a hospital auxiliary and grant funding institution. One of the most active and enduring organizations of its kind, the organization finally disbanded in 1993. Today, the building that once housed the Flower Mission Memorial Hospital contains the Bellflower Clinic and the Wishard Memorial Nursing Museum, which documents the history of the nursing school that the Flower Mission founded. To visit the museum, stop by during open hours (Wednesdays, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.) or contact the museum at (317) 630-6233 to schedule an appointment.
]]>Early History: 1820’s-1860’s
In 1820, Indiana pioneer John McCormick and his brother James McCormick constructed a cabin along the White River in Delaware Native American territory. The White River’s west fork spans the entire width of the state, from Winchester on the eastern border, down to Mt. Carmel in the southwestern edge. The eastern fork originates in Columbus and meets the west fork in Petersburg. City commissioners believed this waterway could be navigable, which reassured city planners on their choice of the new state capital’s location, leaving Corydon for Indianapolis. The internal improvements legislation of 1836, a large-scale transportation systems creation plan, failed due to the lack of surveying, the Panic of 1837, political corruption, and the state’s approaching bankruptcy. As Indianapolis grew, it was clear that a passable waterway for boats was not feasible. Another function of the river was its role as the location of Greenlawn Cemetery, or City Cemetery, along the southwest side where the river meets the Mile Square. Used from 1821 until 1864, the cemetery overlooked the river where the Diamond Chain Company is today.
Pollution: 1900’s-1970’s
Soon after, the river became a dumping ground for industrial waste of factories and warehouses along the river, particularly from canneries, oil refineries, and meatpacking plants. Even Central State Hospital’s autopsy table drained right into the river. Massive floods plagued the river as early as 1909, causing traffic delays and flooded basements. The State Board of Health threatened a lawsuit against the city in 1912 if local officials failed to prevent the river from becoming a menace to health and property values. Floods could bring sewage into contact with the public as well as leach toxins into the river. By 1915, pollution concerns moved to the State House—Representative William C. Deck introduced a bill that demanded all cities and towns using the river for sewage disposal must install a sewage treatment center. An outdated drain off system caused the river to overflow with sewage whenever moderate rainfall occurred, a problem still persisting with the river today. In 1968, sewage plants along the river were able to remove 90% of the pollutants; however, the pollution-load steadily increased as residents along the river’s communities multiplied. Outbreaks of histoplasmosis have transpired in the river since 1978, causing flu-like symptoms for many. Studies within a few years determined that water runoff included toxins like chromium, copper, lead, mercury, zinc, PCBs and DDT downstream from 30th Street.
Clean-Up: 1980’s-2000’s
In 1983, the city finished the construction of an advanced wastewater treatment system by upgrading the secondary treatment plants. Studies following 1983 showed significant improvements in the quality of treated effluent and of the river downstream from the treatment plants. With the creation of White River State Park, the waterway saw an intense image cleanup as well. The state’s environmental study recommended species redevelopment habitats, dog and horse trails, canoe access, and a nature center, to name a few. Today, more than a million Hoosiers live within a fifteen-minute drive of its banks.
]]>Establishment: 1847-1850
Founded in 1847 by an act of the Indiana General Assembly, the earliest School for the Blind originated in the blocks bounded by Meridian, Pennsylvania, North, and St. Clair streets. Interestingly, the call for state-supported institutions for the blind, deaf, and mentally ill came a decade before state tax support was created. William H. Churchman, the first superintendent of the future school, said that proper education for the blind could grant them a much more productive and comfortable life. He also believed that educators must take into consideration the student’s degree of blindness as well as his or her age when blindness occurred to maximize individual instruction. Once the state secured construction funds, Churchman arranged for architect Francis Costigan to complete the school’s main building for the expense of $68,000. Construction on the five-story main building and four-story wings ended in 1850.
Operation: 1850’s-1920’s
The academic school year of 1850-1851 ended successfully with 30 students. In 1911, the enrollment was up to 157 students. Blind students between the ages of 8 and 21 could enroll in the twelve-year educational program. Students represented all 92 counties in the state, but more than half came from urban areas. The institution offered classes in the departments of Literary, Musical, Industrial, and Physical Training, as well as socializing opportunities like clubs, picnics, dances, and parties. The Literary Department provided lessons in reading New York Point, spelling, writing, geography, form, memorization, history, and grammar. Music classes included mastering instruments like the piano, violin, organ, and mandolin. Common industrial courses included trades such as chair caning and broom making for males and sewing, knitting, lacework and beadwork for females. Notably, the school provided students with one of the first Braille gardens in the country. The gardens were divided by perennials, roses, and fir trees, which were easily followed by Braille inscriptions detailing each plant in the students’ manuals.
Relocation: 1920’s-1930’s
In 1919, the public-supported five-block Indiana World War Memorial Plaza initiative began what would be a slow process of removing all buildings from the planned area, including the blind school. By 1921, in talks in the state legislature, it was agreed that the school should be relocated so that the industrial education component could expand; that year, 105 students received industrial training, which led to employment for many. By 1930, the 80-year-old landmark was demolished and the school relocated to 60 acres at 7725 North College Avenue, where it still remains today. The original location currently encompasses the American Legion Mall, the northern portion of the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza. This includes the Indiana Department of the American Legion and the American Legion National Headquarters, as well as the Cenotaph Square memorial.
]]>Early History: 1840’s-1900’s
Two and a half miles west of downtown sits the site of Central State Hospital, Indiana’s first hospital for the mentally ill. The term “hospital” rather than “asylum” signaled the institution’s intent to cure patients rather than serving as long-term guardians. The state purchased the 160 acres of land, known as the Mount Jackson farm, for $4,000 from the Bolton family in 1845. The original five-story brick building opened for patients in 1848. Early on, the hospital was a political battleground; superintendent appointments changed with each new governor, causing unstable leadership. However, by 1870, the hospital cared for 792 patients. Rhoda M. Coffin, a popular Quaker social reformer and women’s rights advocate from Richmond, Indiana, urged superintendent Dr. William Fletcher to hire a female doctor for the hospital in 1884: Dr. Sarah Stockton. One of the more progressive superintendents, Dr. Fletcher also famously burned all of the patient restraints in a large bonfire in 1883. Issues with overcrowding began as early as 1908, because courts referred too many lawbreakers to the institution even when they suffered no mental illnesses. These space needs led to four other hospitals being established within the state. This changed the building’s name from “Indiana Hospital for the Insane” to “Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane,” later shortened to Central State Hospital.
The Old Pathology Building: 1895-1969
The Old Pathology Building, now the Indiana Medical History Museum, remains one of the few structures left on the historic site, along with the laundry building, men’s dining hall, power plant, and administration building. Constructed for psychiatric study and discovery, the Old Pathology Building exhibited the most modern building design and décor for the period, and came equipped with the best technology available. The superintendent at the time, Dr. George F. Edenharter, advocated for the construction of the pathology laboratory in 1895, which was completed in 1896. The Old Pathology Building exhibited the most modern building design and décor for the period. Containing bacteriological and chemical research laboratories, a 150-seat teaching amphitheater, and the hospital’s morgue/autopsy room, it was one of the paramount medical facilities of its day and the first associated with a mental hospital. The facility was designed to study the causes and treatments for mental illness. Lectures on topics like nervous system development, classifying insanity, manic-depressive psychosis, brain and spinal cord circulation, and spinal system diseases transpired in the amphitheater for local medical students and hospital staff members alike. Students from nearby medical colleges could observe autopsies in the evening—a growing necessity in medical teaching. The building was used continuously for education purposes until 1955. A non-profit organization was founded in 1969 to save the Old Pathology Building from demolition; the museum opened the following year.
Closing: 1990’s
During a national phase of deinstitutionalization, Governor Bayh initiated closing the hospital due to patient abuse allegations, necessary yet expensive facilities upgrades, and the idea that community-based care was more effective than institutional care for the mentally ill. By May of 1993, the 273 patients remaining moved to other institutions or were released.
Medical History Museum: Present
Today, the building is the oldest pathology facility still standing in the nation, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Through their exhibits, the museum focuses on interpreting the building and educating visitors on the evolution of the science of medicine during the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Their collection includes scientific and medical artifacts, many of which are original to the building. The museum’s nineteen rooms function as exhibits and include various laboratories, an amphitheater, and an autopsy room, which maintain their original appearance and equipment.
]]>As you stand in the Indiana War Memorial Plaza, look north and south and take a moment to consider the vast scope of this area of remembrance. Although the plaza is now dedicated to all of Indiana’s veterans, it was initially designed specifically for the state’s World War I veterans and as the national headquarters for the American Legion. Anchoring the southern end of this green expanse in the heart of the city, is the Indiana World War Memorial, begun in 1926 and completed in 1965.
A Distinctive Purpose
World War I memorials often differed from earlier war statues and structures in a number of ways, but the most important difference is that rather than overtly displaying national triumph—such as with the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument (three blocks to the south)—World War I memorials also serve as places of collective mourning for soldiers killed on the modern industrial battlefield, especially for those with no known grave. The Great War made its generation struggle in new ways with the profound consequences of armed military conflict. It is also important to keep in mind that most Americans killed during World War I were buried in American cemeteries throughout Europe—visiting a loved one’s grave was impossible for many Americans—a key difference from the Civil War.
Why Indianapolis?
The Indiana World War Memorial is one of the only American World War I Memorials within the continental United States. Many others exist in Europe, but their existence is less widely known. The decision to base the memorial in Indianapolis stems from a desire to attract the American Legion, an organization of WWI veterans, to locate its headquarters outside of Washington, D.C. In addition, the memorial was meant from the outset to compete with European memorials. Local newspaper articles proclaimed that it vied with “the best” memorials in Europe and would only enhance Indianapolis’ reputation.
Memory, Meaning, and Contention
The war memorial’s opening in 1924 served as a battleground over the memory of World War I. This was a time of social upheaval; veterans were campaigning for promised benefits, and many Americans saw the war as a tragic waste. The memorial’s opening was an attempt by the American Legion to give a public image of national unity and meaning during a time when the very purpose of war was being questioned. Although this memorial offered a nationalist narrative in the wake of World War I, it also served a very real and emotional purpose for family members of those killed during their service overseas.
During the 1950s, the Indiana World War Memorial was the focus of several controversies regarding anti-communism. Most famous is the American Legion’s refusal to allow the Indiana Civil Liberties Union a meeting place within the memorial. Other points of friction included the presence of an anti-communism school within the memorial and whether or not World War II veterans should be included in the memorial’s scope.
]]>You are standing in front of the Indiana Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument within Monument Circle. Although the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument primarily honors Indiana’s Civil War veterans, it also honors veterans from all American wars up until the monument’s dedication in 1902.
Although not overtly religious in character, war memorials comprise a key element of Indianapolis’ sacred spaces. The early twentieth century was home to a rising nationalism based on a united, secular devotion to the nation, which appropriated religious themes and iconography. This saw its most prominent expression in war memorials or commemorations of the American past. In addition to turn of the century political significance, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument also served as an outlet for mourning those lost in the Civil War.
The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument is one of the largest Civil War monuments in an American city. The German architect Bruno Schmitz, who is most famous for his monuments to German nationalism during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888-1918), designed the monument. Schmitz’s reputation for building nationalist monuments is important when considering the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument as a sacred space; it is his only major work in the United States and was completed just before his heyday as a designer of massive monuments to the newly-unified German nation under the Kaiser. The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument is an important prologue to Schmitz's portfolio of nationalist monuments in the German Empire. "
The impetus from the Monument stems from two sources: cultural and political. Civil War casualties were the highest in American history; the trauma of that mass slaughter hauntedAmerica for generations and arguably still does. Public monuments like the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ monument served a dual purpose: honoring the fallen while giving meaning to their deaths: the unified American nation. The monument does not limit itself to the Civil War dead, but includes Hoosiers lost in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, Indian Wars, and the Spanish-American War, implicitly placing those men in continuity with the Civil War dead along with placing Manifest Destiny in continuity with the abolitionist cause.
In addition to memory, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument also served a more immediate and practical concern: Indianapolis had no famous public landmarks at the time. This monument was a way to gain notoriety for Indianapolis; this is reflected in the city’s nickname, the Circle City. The monument also functioned as a center for public meetings and spontaneous displays of patriotism; one notable example is the Monument’s location as the center for Indianapolis’ celebration of the end of World War I.
]]>Rising 168 feet above you, St. Mary’s Catholic Church opened in 1912, though the German Catholic parishioners of Saint Mary’s built their first church in Indianapolis 1858. For more than 150 years St. Mary’s parish has been dedicated to serving immigrants throughout the Indianapolis area: Germans, Latvians, Irish, Italians, Filipinos, and Hispanics.
Nineteenth-Century Beginnings
After the failed European revolutions of 1848, immigrants from German-speaking countries began to arrive in Indiana. By 1850, 13% of Indianapolis’ population had come from a German-speaking country, making Germans the largest immigrant group at the time. The city’s Catholic community continued to expand during the 1850s, and parish leaders decided that a German-speaking parish and church was necessary for the expanding population of German immigrants that had been attending mass in the Irish St. John’s parish.
Under the leadership of Reverend Leonard Brandt (1822-1881), St. Mary’s parish quickly became the nexus of German Catholic life in Indianapolis; a new church, St. Marienkirche, was constructed on east Maryland Street in 1858. The number of parishioners also increased following a wave of anti-Catholic persecution in Germany during the 1870s. By the late nineteenth century, Indianapolis’s Italian immigrants also began attending St. Mary’s.
St. Mary's, 1912 to the Present
By the early twentieth century, Reverend Anthony Richard Schiedeler (1836-1918) had addressed many challenges affecting the parish during his 44 years as its priest. The biggest was the construction of a new church building on New Jersey Street, St. Mary’s present-day location. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the original Maryland Street area had become home to a number of businesses and rail lines, which made the neighborhood inconvenient for mass attendance. Parishioners also began to move outside of central Indianapolis and integrate into the English-speaking community, which further contributed to a declining parish population. Church officials felt that the church needed to move to survive.
Construction on the current church began in 1910. Although an effort to revitalize the parish, the relocation was unable to stem the tide of decreasing attendance, especially during World War I as overt displays of German language and culture became taboo in Indianapolis. After the war, the parish actively sought new parishioners from other ethnic communities in Indianapolis to move away from the stigma of being the “German” parish. Church membership continued declining until after World War II, when Cuban and Latvian immigrants began attending St. Mary’s.
Hispanic parishioners now comprise the largest group of St. Mary’s attendees. The church offers services in Spanish and is one of the centers of Hispanic cultural activity in Indianapolis. As part of its community outreach, St. Mary’s actively supports civil rights for Latino immigrants; the church was a focal point of the 2006 Indianapolis Immigration March, which was organized to protest Congressional efforts at tougher immigration policy.
]]>You're standing in front of Etz Chaim Sephardic Congregation's current synagogue. The members of this congregation have fostered and maintained Sephardic laws, customs, and traditions in Indianapolis for over a century.
Sephardic Jews are one of the major ethnic groups of the Jewish faith. They are descendants of a community of Spanish and Portuguese Jews expelled during the Spanish Inquisition.
Sephardim on the South Side (1900s-1950s)
Jacob and Rachel Sarfati Toledano, Indianapolis's first-known Sephardic Jews, arrived in 1906. Several other families followed throughout the 1910s. Originally, the Sephardim resided on Indianapolis' south side in the area covering the 800-1100 blocks of South Illinois Street, South Capital Avenue, Church Street, and Senate Avenue.
The Sephardim were not the only Jewish community living on Indianapolis' south side. A large group of ethnic Ashkenazi Jews from Germany and Eastern Europe already resided there and met the new arrivals with suspicion and ostracism. The Ashkenazim did not consider the Sephardim to be Jewish because they did not speak Yiddish. Tensions between the city's Sephardim and Ashkenazim communities lasted for several years.
During the early 20th century, the Sephardim also had to contend with Jewish leaders' alternate visions for the community. For example, the Jewish Welfare Federation (JWF) wanted to integrate the city's entire Jewish community into American life. Sephardic Jews' strong adherence to their orthodox traditions and culture, however, interfered with this goal. When the Sephardim did not yield to the JWF's efforts, the group was characterized as isolated and backwards.
Differences among the Sephardic Jews and the rest of Indianapolis's Jewish community resulted in the Sephardim's organization in 1916 of their own synagogue , cemetery, burial societies, and social clubs. These organizations helped foster and maintain Sephardic laws, traditions, customs, and a sense of community.
Sephardim on the North Side (1960s-Present)
By the 1960s, most of Indianapolis's Sephardic Jews had moved to the city's north side. This move was spurred on by improvements in the community's economic standing. Another contributing factor was the relocation northward of several important Jewish organizations, including the Bureau of Jewish Education, the Jewish Community Center, and multiple synagogues.
The leaders of Etz Chaim synagogue continued this trend when they moved into an old Lutheran church at the corner of 64th Street and Hoover Road in 1962. In 2005, a new building was purchased at 6939 Hoover Road. During each move, the synagogue ceremoniously transferred their Torah to its new home.
While today's Sephardic Jews have improved their relationship with the city's other Jewish communities and have integrated into American life, many still maintain their laws, customs, and traditions.
]]>Hinkle Fieldhouse, formerly known as Butler Fieldhouse, is one of the oldest and best known basketball arenas in the world and has remained in continuous use since it opened in 1928. Few places represent the Hoosier obsession with the sport of basketball quite like Hinkle Fieldhouse. In addition to serving as the home arena of the Butler Bulldogs, the Fieldhouse hosted the Indiana High School Basketball State Championship Games 41 times between 1911 and 1994 (more than twice that of any other venue). The fieldhouse also functioned as the home court for Indianapolis professional basketball teams like the Jets and the Olympians as well as the annual state high school basketball tournament until the late 1960s.
In 1927-1928, Butler University hired Indianapolis architect Fermor Spencer Cannon to design a new athletic facility for the university. The explosion of college basketball, in addition to the frenzy that created the near-cult following of high school basketball, made a new, larger facility necessary. The fieldhouse was constructed to allow for unobstructed spectator views. Rather than using the more traditional posts or pillars, Cannon used a novel approach of arched steel trusses to support the roof. Although the court originally ran east and west, this was changed in 1933 to allow more seating and to assist the athletes who found the basket on the western end difficult to see in the afternoon sun. The fieldhouse remained largely unchanged after the 1933 remodel until its renovation in 1989. With the construction of Cannon’s design, Butler possessed the one of the first major collegiate fieldhouse in the United States.
Butler Fieldhouse was renamed in 1965 in honor of Paul Daniel “Tony” Hinkle. Hinkle served Butler from 1929 through 1970, coaching football, baseball, and basketball. He retired with 1,060 wins across all three sports. An influential figure in collegiate basketball, Hinkle served on the NCAA Basketball Rules Committee (including a term as chairman), as president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and was the 1965 inductee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Hinkle is also remembered for his “Hinkle System,” a basketball strategy utilizing motion, passing, picks, and screens.
In addition to its use as a basketball arena, the fieldhouse has acted as host to various other sporting, religious, civil, and political events. The fieldhouse was the site of the 1937 six-day bicycle race run for 11 hours and 45 minutes each day; the banked wooden track constructed for the event was described as “the fastest in the country.” As a convention center, the fieldhouse has hosted presidential hopefuls on campaign such as Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Gerald Ford. During World War II, the fieldhouse served as barracks for both the U.S. Army Air Corps and the Navy Signal School. The final scene of the 1986 film Hoosiers was filmed at the fieldhouse.
Hinkle was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1987 for its esteemed role in college and high school basketball.
]]>L.S. Ayres Department Store was located at the intersection of Washington and Meridian Streets from 1905 to 1992. L.S. Ayres was not just a department store, but an experience that transformed the way women participated in urban society. While public spaces had previously been dominated by men, department stores were designed to appeal to women shoppers.
Stepping Back in Time…
It’s Friday, November 27, 1959. You want to start your holiday shopping, so you go downtown. At the corner of 1 West Washington Street, you notice the 10,000-pound L.S. Ayres Clock sitting almost 29 feet up. Atop the clock is a bronze sculpture of a cherub. Outside is the beautiful holiday-themed window display in the front of the building. The feminine décor and decadence you see indicate this is a place for women. The decorations, as well as the fashions, were art forms in themselves.
Entering the store, you hear holiday music performed live by the L.S. Ayres Carolers. Since you have been to Ayres before, you know the many departments throughout the building: men’s, women’s, junior's, children’s, shoes, hats, cosmetics, jewelry, furniture, and electronics. At each location, you are greeted by friendly employees that help you find everything.
After hours of shopping, you get lunch at the Tea Room. A uniformed server arrives, and you order chicken velvet soup and apricot bread. While waiting on your meal, you notice some children selecting gifts from the Treasure Chest in the middle of the room after riding the Santa Claus Express Train. After finishing, you head to one more place: the Downstairs (or Budget) Store. While most customers can only marvel at the couture fashions upstairs, they actually purchase their items from the Downstairs Store.
The Significance of the Department Store
Department stores such as L.S. Ayres offered a space for middle and upper-middle class white women to consume fashion and immerse themselves in beautiful surroundings where every detail had been designed with them in mind.
]]>Crown Hill Cemetery has served the Indianapolis area for more than 150 years as both a place of interment and a peaceful green space within the city. The burial ground sees more than 25,000 visitors annually; beyond those attending services, many use the cemetery as urban open space, such as bikers, runners, and members of Crown Hill’s walking club. Initially located on the rural outskirts of the city, the cemetery is now surrounded by Indianapolis homes and is bisected by a major thoroughfare. Given its size in acreage, Crown Hill remains the third largest cemetery in the country to this day.
As Indianapolis continued to expand throughout the 19th century, it became clear that Greenlawn Cemetery, the city’s principle burial ground nestled between the White River and Kentucky Avenue, would not be large enough and was a health hazard being so close to the center of town, its people, and its water table. In response, Crown Hill Cemetery was organized in 1863 as a non-profit, non-denominational cemetery and saw its first burial (a woman by the name of Lucy Ann Seaton) in June 1864, one day after the cemetery’s dedication. John Chislett, who platted Lindenwood Cemetery in Fort Wayne, helped select the site for the cemetery. His son Frederick was hired as the superintendent for Crown Hill, and he proceeded to lay out the grounds with meandering roads and natural, informal plantings. The cemetery received its name from the 750- foot hill within.
First incorporated on September 25, 1863, with the purchase of 236 acres of land, Crown Hill today covers 590 acres. In 1866, the United States government purchased 1.37 acres to create the United States National Military Cemetery within Crown Hill. 707 Union soldiers who died during the Civil War were moved from their original resting places in Greenlawn Cemetery to this area in Crown Hill Cemetery. Around 1876, D.A. Bohlen designed the Gothic chapel, and, in 1885, Adolf Scherrer created the imposing Gothic entry gates and waiting station. Confederate prisoners of war totaling 1,616, who died while being held at Indianapolis’s Camp Morton were moved in 1931 and are now buried in Crown Hill’s Confederate Mound. Ten bronze plaques near the mound include the names of all prisoners who perished while at Camp Morton.
Notable Burials
More than 200,000 men, women, and children are buried at Crown Hill. It is the resting place of many notable individuals, including President Benjamin Harrison, Hoosier authors Booth Tarkington and James Whitcomb Riley, Butler founder Ovid Butler, infamous bank robber John Dillinger, international suffragette leader Mary Wright Sewall, Indiana’s first African American Representative James Sidney Hinton, Sudoku inventor Howard Garns, industrialist Eli Lilly, and many others. There are two sections of unmarked graves for the Indianapolis Asylum for Friendless Colored Children.
Art and Green Space
In addition to being a final resting place, Crown Hill also plays an important role as a much needed green space within the city. At the time of its creation Crown Hill was a rural cemetery selected for its natural beauty and designed to follow the contours of the land and allow for peaceful strolls among the statuaries. Crown Hill is also home to a great variety of flora and fauna: 107 individual species of trees, both native and foreign, or 4,156 trees total, have been inventoried on the cemetery grounds. The cemetery is also home to a number of white-tailed deer that are most active during dawn and dusk. The cemetery has many pieces of sculpture that serve as either memorial or as part of a grave site.
]]>You’re standing at the corner of Vermont Street and Pennsylvania Street, where the Circle City Pride Parade has marched by every summer since 2002. The parade is a celebration of the Indianapolis LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community’s decades-long struggle for recognition and acceptance. Underground in Indy (1960-1981) Until the mid-1980s, the Indianapolis LGBT community was “underground.” Fearing social persecution, gay men and women met covertly at the old Essex House Hotel, which sat here on this corner until it was demolished in 1994. A dinner at the Essex in 1981 is considered to be the first organized Pride event in the city. At this meeting and others like it, LGBT activists planned for the future of their community and circulated copies of The Mirror and The New Works News, Indianapolis’s early gay and lesbian papers. Perhaps the earliest LGBT publication in the city, The Screamer, dating back to the mid-1960s, features poetry, funny anecdotes, and recipes. Circle City Pride Festival & Parade (1988-) In 1988, the first official Pride Festival kicked off at the Indianapolis Sports Center. Attendance that year was only around 175 people, but it would soon grow enormously. In 1990, Pride moved to Monument Circle and attracted over 3,000 visitors. The Cadillac Barbie parade joined the Pride festivities in 2002. LGBT in Indy Today All 2020 Indy Pride events were postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. As Pride Month began on June 1st, Indy Pride posted this statement in support of Black Lives Matter: "June 1st is the beginning of Pride Month where we celebrate the progress, diversity and individuality of the LGBTQ+ community. Now, more than ever, we must remember that Pride started as protest against police brutality, injustice and marginalization. Today, we see the struggle continue in our community, in communities of color and in communities of faith, all overlapping much more than we may realize." Read more of Indy Pride's statement.
]]>Perched like a giant flying saucer resting on two parking garages, Market Square Arena was perhaps an aptly styled venue for Elvis Presley’s final public performance (June 26, 1977). Built in 1974 and host to a wide variety of sporting and cultural events of local and national importance, the arena helped Indianapolis establish itself as a major city. With 19,000 seats, it was the fifth largest stadium in the United States when built and became the home of the Indiana Pacers basketball team and the Indianapolis Racers hockey team. For twenty-five years the concrete and steel structure literally spanned Market Street, with New Jersey and Alabama streets to the west and east, until it was replaced by a more elaborate field house and was demolished with a loud explosion in 2001.
A Key to Urban Revitalization
In 1969, Mayor Richard Lugar (1968-76) proposed a sports stadium to help revitalize the drab image of the city that by the 1960s had become known as “Naptown” and “India-no-place.” Indianapolis's professional basketball team had been playing far north of the downtown, at the State Fairgrounds, and developers proposed a new arena even closer the city’s wealthier, northern suburbs. Lugar saw construction of the new arena as key for urban revival efforts--downtown. Arising out of a public-private partnership between the city and real estate developers, Market Square Arena and the Indiana Convention Center became anchor projects of the early 1970s. One hundred-fifty feet from floor to ceiling with a clear span diameter of 364 feet, Market Square Arena later became associated with city leaders’ efforts in the 1980s to anoint Indianapolis as a sports capital.
Rise of the Pacers
Two professional sports teams needed a new home in the early 1970s. The Indiana Pacers had been playing in the American Basketball Association (ABA) at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Pepsi Coliseum) since 1967. And in 1974, Indianapolis was awarded a franchise in the World Hockey Association and formed the Racers. In Market Square Arena, both teams immediately led their leagues in attendance in the mid-1970s. But challenges came when the Pacers had financial troubles while transitioning from the ABA to the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1976 and when the Racers folded in 1978, soon after the team’s owner sold 17-year-old rookie and top player Wayne Gretzky to the Edmonton Oilers. In their 1982-83 season the low-performing Pacers hit the bottom of the NBA franchise by attracting only 4,800 fans per game, yet in 1992-93 they drew a franchise record of 12,949. The improving Pacers helped make the arena “one of the most respected sporting-special events buildings in the nation,” according to the Indianapolis News.
Sports and Much More
Meanwhile, the arena fulfilled many other roles in the community. In 1975 the Indiana High School Athletic Association Boys’ Basketball Tournament moved from Hinkle Fieldhouse to the arena; the girls IHSAA Girls’ Basketball Tournament moved there in 1980. Michael Jordan launched his comeback in 1995 at the arena, and numerous entertainment and cultural events, such as Christian revivals and other religious conventions took place there.
Nevertheless, by the late 1990s its inability to accommodate expansion in the form of new skyboxes ensured its demise. It was replaced by Conseco Fieldhouse (now Bankers Life Fieldhouse) in 1999. Empty, dilapidated, unused, but not unloved, the stadium was imploded in twelve seconds on July 8, 2001.
]]>On March 19, 1955, the Tigers of Crispus Attucks High School defeated the Roosevelt Panthers of Gary, Indiana, earning the capital city its first state high school boys basketball championship. On a national level, the victory marked the first time an all-black team won an open state tournament. As the Indianapolis Recorder noted at the time, “so far and so fast have we traveled since [black schools were permitted to compete]…that this year Attucks was the winner and Gary Roosevelt [another all-black school] the runner-up!” The championship game, played in the Butler Fieldhouse, was also notable for the number of records broken. Among these were the highest combined game score in the state championship (171), highest score winning team (97), highest score losing team (74), most field goals both teams (63), and most free throws both teams (45).
A victory to savor it was, and perhaps the beginning of the end of one important form of racial division. Yet even the moment of city-wide unity was tarnished when city officials decided to reroute the victory parade. Instead of an extended stop on Monument Circle for celebration and photos as previous champions had enjoyed, the Attucks Tigers were allowed to circle the monument once and proceed to Northwestern Park, far from the city center.
Crispus Attucks High School had opened in 1927 with an enrollment of 1350 African American students. Although elementary schools in Indianapolis were segregated, there were no separate high schools for blacks until 1925 when the city’s school board, under pressure from white organizations, voted to appropriate funds for construction of one. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s legal suit to stop the building failed, and Crispus Attucks opened in 1927. It quickly became a cultural pillar of the black community and was noted for its academically impressive faculty, African American education professionals who had been recruited from across the country.
When the school opened, it did not have a gymnasium, and its sports teams would not be allowed to join the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) until 1942 when wartime pressure to desegregate compelled an opening. Prior to IHSAA admittance, the team traveled around the state to play against other all-black basketball teams, often being denied hotel and restaurant services.
In 1950, Ray Crowe became the Tigers coach. With his guidance and talented players like future NBA star Oscar Robertson, the Tigers not only won the 1955 championship, but went on to have an undefeated season and earn a second championship title in 1956. With Crowe as athletic director and Bill Garrett, the first African American to play for Indiana University, as coach, the Tigers were state champions again in 1959.
As the Tigers increasingly played in front of crowds that included black and white spectators, some white basketball fans slowly began to accept all-black teams. White high school basketball coaches also became more open to the idea of including black players on their teams. In this way, the Crispus Attucks Tigers ushered in “a new era in Indiana high school basketball.”
After 1949, when the state banned official segregation, some Crispus Attucks students applied to other institutions, though the school remained segregated until 1971 when the U.S. District Court ordered an immediate desegregation of Crispus Attucks and what had become other single-race Indianapolis schools.
For more on this topic, check out our Crispus Attucks High School entry!
]]>Following the failed revolutions of 1848, many Germans emigrated to the United States to escape turmoil. They incorporated aspects of German culture into their lives in the United States. By 1860, 20% of Indianapolis residents came from a German-speaking region in Europe. Germans contributed greatly to the economy and culture of Indiana.
Das Deutsche Haus
The building before you, built in 1898, remains the best preserved example of German architecture in Indianapolis. Named Das Deutsche Haus (The German House) it was designed in the Renaissance Revival style popular in Germany at the time. Both of the architects, Vonnegut and Bohn, trained in Germany and came from German immigrant families themselves. Clearly, the Athenaeum was built to stand out. It projected an impressive image of German culture to the city, and created a space where German immigrants could cultivate their heritage, and share its richness with their community.
The Turners
The Athenaeum was also home to the Social Turnverein. A turnverein, translated roughly as a gymnastics club, was more than just about sports: it promoted “a sound mind in a sound body.” The Turnvereins boasted an active male gymnastics squad and offered classes for women and children. There was also a pool and bowling alleys for member use. During the year, the clubs held exhibitions, where all of the classes artfully demonstrated exercises. After an overture by an accompanying orchestra, audiences witnessed gymnasts springing over the pommel horse, exercising with barbells, dancing, and more. Lectures and debates, often about politics and improving working conditions for laborers, were also held in the building.
In 1907, a Normal College, set up by the Turners’ national governing body, took up permanent residence in the Athenaeum to provide professional training to physical education instructors. It became affiliated with Indiana University in 1941 and led a push to include physical education in the city’s public schools. The site’s athletic focus has continued throughout the years and it now houses the Athenaeum YMCA, one of three YMCAs in downtown Indianapolis.
Lasting German Influence
During WWI, American hysteria against Germans became the norm and, in a backlash against German culture, teaching the German language in schools became illegal. During this period, the Das Deutsche Haus was renamed the Athenaeum. However, in recent years, the site’s German heritage has been renewed. Currently, the building also houses the Athenaeum Foundation, a nonprofit committed to preserving the site’s German American heritage and the “sound mind in a sound body” ideology through programming. It is also home to a popular German restaurant and beer garden, The Rathskeller.
]]>In the early 1980s, city officials led by Mayor William Hudnut hoped to attract a football team to the city and built a stadium to further their chances. The Hoosier Dome (renamed the RCA Dome in 1994), opened to the public for the first time to welcome the Colts to the city. City leaders figured the 58,000-seat Hoosier Dome into their larger strategy to make Indianapolis a sports capital, a vision that included Market Square Arena (1974), the Indianapolis Tennis Center (1979), the Indiana University Natatorium (1982), the IU Track and Field Stadium, and the National Institute for Fitness and Sport (1988).
The Colts’ first few years at the Hoosier Dome were not easy. They had to deal with legal challenges from Baltimore, where the team had been founded in 1953, and losing seasons. Nevertheless, Indianapolis fans still supported the team in sold-out games. By the early 1990s, the team’s record was dismal. In 1991 the Colts went 1—15. After changes in coaching and team management, the team began a dramatic turnaround which by 1995 and 1996 landed Indianapolis in two consecutive playoffs. The team fell backwards in 1997, but its slow rise to dominance began when it acquired quarterback Peyton Manning, the number-one draft pick of 1998. The Colts started to rise in standings and their numbers of wins increased. Between 2000 and 2010, the Colts reached seven division championship games, winning four.
In the midst of this, ground was broken for a new stadium (today Lucas Oil), in concurrence with a contract to keep the Colts in the city for another thirty years. Though the Colts had been having winning seasons, it wasn’t until the 2006 season that they made it all the way to the end. After coming from behind to beat the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship played at home, the Colts moved on to Superbowl XLI.
On February 4, 2007, their skilled playing was rewarded when they won the Superbowl over the Chicago Bears 29-17. As the team and Coach Tony Dungy celebrated their win in a sea of blue and white confetti, cheering Colts fans poured in to the streets of Indianapolis. Peyton Manning had an especially good night as he was also named MVP of the game. Quarterback of the Colts between 1998 and 2011, some refer to Lucas Oil Stadium as the “House that Peyton Built.” His strong leadership contributed to the team’s winning record.
The 67,000-seat Lucas Oil Stadium officially opened in August 2008, dominating the southwest part of downtown and boasting a retractable roof. The stadium includes 137 luxury suites. Lucas Oil purchased the naming rights for 20 years for $121 million. Lucas Oil Stadium hosted the Superbowl in 2012, another exciting chapter in Indianapolis’ sports history.
]]>Early History
Bush Stadium was constructed in 1931 by the Osborn Engineering Company, the firm responsible for several famous ballparks including Cleveland’s League Park, Boston’s Fenway Park, and New York’s Yankee Stadium. Local architects added the Art Deco detailing and helped create one of the finest minor league parks in the country. Indians owner Norman Perry named the facility for his brother James, who bought the team in 1927 and died in a plane crash two years later. On September 5, 1931, the AAA minor league Indianapolis Indians (founded in 1902) played their first baseball game at the brand-new Perry Stadium in front of 5,942 spectators, which was less than a full house. The Indianapolis ABCs, an African American team, which played in several “Negro Leagues” such as the Negro National League, the Negro Southern League, and the Negro American League because of segregation, rented the stadium for its home games as well.
In 1941, Perry sold the team and leased the stadium to businessman Frank McKinney and former Indians player and manager Owen “Donie” Bush. The two men decided to hold a contest to rename the stadium. Passionately patriotic as a result of America’s recent entry into World War II, fans voted to name the stadium Victory Field. From 1946 to 1954, Victory Field hosted not only the Indians, but also the Indianapolis Clowns, who participated in the comic art of barnstorming (along the lines of the antics of present-day Harlem Globetrotters) as well as competitive play. The Clowns joined the Negro American League in 1943. Hank Aaron made his professional baseball debut with the Clowns when he was only 18. Several African American women also became noted members of this team. Mamie Johnson was a pitcher with the Clowns from 1953 to 1955, and Toni Stone and Connie Morgan played the infield. Although segregation in professional baseball ended by the 1950s, the Clowns existed well into the 1980s as a barnstorming team.
The City's Beloved Baseball Diamond
In 1967, the city of Indianapolis purchased the stadium and renamed it in honor of Bush, the Indians’ long-time president, who was known as “Mr. Baseball” to Hoosiers. However, the stadium was not solely used for professional baseball. During the 1960s, it was home to two short-lived minor league football teams. It also hosted the 1987 Pan American Games baseball tournament and became a film set for the 1988 movie “Eight Men Out,” about the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
Deterioration and New Life
In 1992, Major League Baseball’s inspection of Bush Stadium revealed that the structure did not meet league standards. The league was ready to move the Indians to another city unless Indianapolis committed to creating an upgraded facility. The costs to renovate Bush Stadium were high, so the city built a new stadium downtown on land obtained from White River State Park. When the Indians moved to the new Victory Field in 1996, they left behind a venue that had served generations of Indianapolis baseball fans for 65 years. In 2013, after years as a race track and used vehicle storage site, the historic Bush Stadium grandstand reopened as the Stadium Lofts apartment complex. Many historic features still remain, including the Art Deco columns and turnstiles at the entrance. The structure remains a symbol of Indianapolis’ sports heritage.
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]]>Tucked away at the intersection of West Vermont Street and Toledo Street, the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Indianapolis is a beautiful brick structure overlooking the canal. The building was home to a congregation that has been very active in the pursuit of equality for over 150 years.
Free Africans and African Americans in Philadelaphia founded the denomination in the late 1700s, with the goal of promoting racial equality through moral uplift and social justice. Previously, if Black people wanted to participate in church services, they were often discriminated against by white congregations.
The Indianapolis parishioners formed their church in 1836, building on Georgia Street in 1840. Most Northern cities experienced an explosion in the growth of their respective black communities. Indiana’s position on the border of the slaveholding South made it a popular destination for freedom seekers. Bethel AME assisted people on their journeys further north, but a white majority in the state did not appreciate this influx of Black people. In 1830, the Indiana state legislature passed a law that banned the immigration of Black and mixed race people and forced those that did settle here to pay a $500 fine. However, this did not deter the Bethel’s congregation activities with the Underground Railroad. Bethel AME’s activities did not go unnoticed by the white community. Although the church had many supporters, including local white clergyman Calvin Fletcher; the pro-equality actions of the church angered many people, prompting a mysterious fire that burned down the original church in 1864 . At the time, Reverend Willis Revel was actively recruiting Black citizens to serve in the Indiana Colored Infantry during the Civil War . The church was unfazed by this act of terrorism, rebuilding their church at this location (1864-1870) and continuing their quest for racial equality.
Bethel AME Church of Indianapolis not only promoted its own causes, but served as a foundational meeting place for many African American groups fighting for civil rights, including the National Association for the Advance of Colored People (NAACP) and the Indiana Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. The church’s leaders also believed that the hope for the future of Black equality in general was its youth. In 1858, the church started its own boarding school, where students studied “spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, history, anatomy, physiology, and hygiene” among other subjects . Bethel AME was very active in the lives of the African American children of Indianapolis, both in religion and education.
The tradition of social justice and civil rights remains a cornerstone of the Bethel AME Church in Indianapolis today, which is now called Bethel Cathedral and located on Zionsville Road in Pike Township. A virtual tour of the Bethel AME Church building on Vermont street can be accessed here!
]]>The two-story brick building, located at 26 North Arsenal Avenue, is the current location of the Damien Center, which has provided HIV/AIDS health and counseling services to Hoosiers, gay and straight, since 1987. Here in this century-old building, Indianapolis’ resources in the fight against HIV/AIDS find the people who need them most. The center is named after Father Damien, a Catholic priest who worked in Hawaii with people with leprosy in the late 1800s. The AIDS epidemic in the United States began in 1981. Gay men in New York City and San Francisco began developing strange symptoms: extreme exhaustion, fungal infections of the throat and lungs, and purple lesions on the skin. This new disease was devastating and almost inevitably fatal. Men and women watched helplessly as loved ones became ill and died;and no one could figure out why or how to stop it. Because AIDS appeared first in urban gay men, it became known as a gay cancer,and people stricken by the disease were stigmatized by Americans who considered it a consequence of a risky lifestyle. Many politicians refused to acknowledge the existence of the disease, health organizations could not get funding to research and treat it, and the media largely ignored the growing epidemic. LGBT+ communities all over the United States quickly realized that help would have to come from within. In Indianapolis, a group of gay men nicknamed the Bag Ladies” put together an annual fundraiser, the Bag Lady Bus Tour, to raise money for local people with AIDS. The city’s LGBT+ publications, like The Works and The New Works News, printed monthly updates on national developments and the number of local cases.
Research and treatment efforts escalated nationally and locally in the late 1980s, and the Damien Center was established here in April of 1987 to help combat the disease. Founded by retired minister Earl Conner and staffed almost entirely by volunteers, the center represented a partnership between Indy’s LGBT+ community and local churches, including Christ Church Cathedral and the Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul. Conner reached out to several Indy organizations, including the Bag Ladies; the Buddy System, a counseling and support group; an LGBT+ run AIDS helpline; the Indiana Youth Group; the Indiana State Board of Health; and the Marion County AIDS task force.
While the Center’s Christian ministry sometimes clashed with the broader goals of Indy’s LGBT+ communities, AIDS was common ground. The Damien Center continues to offer care and support to people living with AIDS even as the face of the disease is changing. While gay and bisexual men remain affected, this disease affects people in all demographic groups. Because of advances in treatment, however, and places like the Damien Center, HIV diagnosis is no longer a death sentence.
]]>The Christian Right
In the late 1970s, conservative political voices began to push against what they saw as an unraveling of America’s moral fiber, arising from liberal political gains in the 1960s. Eventually, this conservative push grew into the Moral Majority movement of the 1980s as the Christian Right increased in size and visibility. This movement argued that a literal translation of the Bible forbid gay sex and relationships. They also viewed gays and lesbians as a damaging influence on society and as a threat to children. One spokesperson of the movement was Anita Bryant.
“Rally for Decency”
Anita Bryant campaigned against LGBT+ rights in Florida in an effort to repeal extensions of non-discrimination laws in Dade County, Florida. Bryant was a well-known singer and beauty- pageant winner. Because of her anti-LGBT+ campaigning, Bryant became a national figure and public speaker for the Christian Right. She spoke at rallies to oppose LGBT+ supportive legislation across the nation. In 1977, Bryant wrote “Dear friend: I don’t hate the homosexuals! But as a mother, I must protect my children from their evil influence.” On October 7, 1977, Bryant came to the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Indianapolis for the “Right to Decency” rally in favor of a bill proposed by Representative Donald Boys in the Indiana General Assembly. The bill would have criminalized sodomy and was a component of Boys’ wider socially conservative political agenda. According to a report of the rally published in November of 1977 by the Gay People's Union GPU Reports, Bryant didn't actually speak at the Indianapolis rally; instead, she sang. The rally was a major catalyst for the organization of the LGBT+ community in Indianapolis.
LGBT+ Activism
In the words of Executive Director of the Indiana Youth Group, Mary Byrne, who was at the Coliseum that night: “Anita Bryant was probably the best thing that happened to the gay community.” Hundreds of protestors stood outside in the rain at the first gay rights rally in Indianapolis. Groups including the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the forerunners of Pride Indy came together under banners protesting inequality and injustice as a reaction to Bryant’s speech and ideology. As a result of the rally, LGBT+ groups had a newly established voice and media recognition.
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