Christian women, that is. And white. At least in the beginning. It was getting close to 1900 and many young ladies were making their way to the big city of Indianapolis in search of employment. When the first meeting to establish a Young Women's Christian Association...
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It's usually under the guise of "improvement" and "modernization," but even with less than perfect vision, they aren't fooling any of us: bad things happen to good buildings. You know it when you see it: as hard as you try to make sense of it, the pieces of the puzzle...
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Meridian Street. The name alone has prestige. Say you live or have an office on this street, and you have instant cool and cache. The mention of the name of our city's east/ west division line surely evokes visions of regal old apartment buildings or the seemingly...
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The last time you took a trip somewhere special, did you get a souvenir? If you didn't, you are probably in the minority. For some reason, many of us want to take home a physical reminder of some place we visited. And shops everywhere are eager to help us do so. Why...
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If you've lived in Indianapolis for any measurable amount of time, you've likely heard that 38th Street used to be Maple Road, but did you know Maple Road used to be 38th Street? Huh? Yep, you read that right. And: due to the numerous changes to street names and...
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If you're the type to contemplate the stories behind buildings and locations, this may be of interest to you. If you've done so from the vantage point of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument looking northeast, this is specifically for you. On the north side of Market...
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The city is replete with buildings like this--loaded with potential, sad and forlorn--a fading shadow of a former, glorious, incarnation. The namesake of this building is from its first owner, Joseph Allen Minturn (6/20/1861- 4/3/1943), an active Indianapolis...
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Hard to believe how many buildings in Indianapolis have been razed under the guise of "progress" or "enhancing" a neighborhood or block. All the harder to understand when a building fronts major thoroughfares with a constant stream of visitors. Such is the case for a...
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Do you remember the Indiana highway construction of the 1960’s and 1970’s? Many apartment buildings, and even more homes, were demolished during the construction of I-65 – impacting all areas, but particularly Fountain Square and the Old Northside. Both areas were...
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(photo by Dawn Olsen) The intersection of South and Delaware streets wasn’t exactly paradise … but it was paved and made into a parking lot. Several parking lots, in fact. Though the lots are used (mostly by Eli Lilly employees, I assume, and also for downtown...
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Concluding Preservation Month at HI, we examine one of the biggest residential architectural murders perpetrated upon the citizenry of Indianapolis. It's hard not to wince when passing the northeast corner of 13th and Delaware, knowing that the spires, towers and...
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May is National Preservation Month and May 7th is National Train Day. So in honor of both of those, over the next couple weeks we will take a look at the history of one of the biggest Indianapolis preservation wins, Indianapolis Union Station. This first part relates...
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