Though its unknown exactly when the first veterinarian came to Indianapolis, it was interesting to chance upon this city directory advert. It makes sense, there would have to be someone to take care of the multitude of horses in Indianapolis at the time. One wonders how many horses populated the city at the turn of the century? Hmmm….
There were a lot of horses and mules, including those that pulled the street cars. When Am. Fletcher National Bank had a branch at 42nd and College, there was a photo in the lobby of a equine pulled car.
There was also a dray company owned by a prominent African-American person.
What I wonder is how the city handled all the horse crap. I’ve never seen any pictures of any people cleaning up after the horses. Most cities offering horse drawn carriage rides these days require a bag behind the horse to catch the solid waste. But that does not answer the question about what happens once the horse is back in the barn. Many years ago I went over to the horse barn area of the State Fair grounds and took back to our garden a half bushel or so of contaminated soil and the garden grew very well with that help.
For some authentication on that system read a novel from 2011 — _The Homecoming of Samuel Lake_ by Jenny Wingfield.