Friday Favorites

Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Hoosier Harem Beauty

Though it can’t be known for sure if this is Stella Murphy, it is a photo of a performer from the Turkish exhibit where Stella worked at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Image credit: James A....

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Easter Leggacy 1877

An Easter Egg Dye Recipe: April 1877 The custom of Easter egg decorating is believed to date back to the 13th century. Eggs were once a forbidden food during the Lenten season. Over the years, people...

Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: The Battle of Irvington

The first Irvington school began as one room in 1874 and grew to two stories with a tower by the time this picture was taken in the late 1890s. The building stood immediately east of...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Frivolous Feats of Fancy

March Madness is not the only kind of madness found in the history of Indianapolis! Hoosiers and Indianapolitans show no lack of quirk and whimsy. We come by that trait quite honestly, as our forefathers and mothers...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: To The Beat of a Different Drum

… a Bigger and Better Drum! Tucked away among the over-tight streets of the Bates-Hendricks neighborhood near Fountain Square, the SENSE Charter school lovingly serves children in grades Kindergarten through seventh. The school inhabits an interesting building. Rough, inconveniently-placed...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Which Came First, the McCormick or the Pogue?

Indianapolis in 1820 by Alois E. Sinks – showing the point where Washington Street crossed Meridian. Who was the True Founder of Indianapolis? Shrouded in Controversy… And a Mysterious Death… In almost 200 years, the city...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Sissle-ing Talent!

A Pioneering Singer, Bandleader, Composer: Noble Lee Sissle Born in Indianapolis in July of 1889, Noble Sissle was destined to travel the world on his musical genius, which he came by honestly; his mother, Martha, was a school teacher who loved...

Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: The Dubious Drs. Bye

Home Grown Cancer Quacks Current issues of healthcare reform aside, if you’ve gotta be sick, this is probably the best time to be unwell in the history of mankind. New therapies and medicines are reported daily —...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: In Love with Early Indy Newspapers

Loving Indy’s Early Newspapers If you’re a history lover, there’s no cozier Indy place to perch on a brisk winter afternoon than the architecturally beautiful Indiana State Library. A recent visit to the card catalogs there — yes,...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Healin’ Hurty

John N. Hurty (1852-1925) Purdue University photo. (C)lean and Mean… John Hurty began his career in Indianapolis at a time when cows and pigs roamed the city streets at will. So much livestock lived among the human citizenry...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: 1852 Balloon Scheme Goes Bust

Indianapolis businessman, J. H. McKernan, had it all arranged — a day of perfect weather and rare delights including pyrotechnics, music and… *insert trumpet flourish here* … the first-ever hot air balloon ascension in the city’s history! The...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Oldfields

Oldfields Estate and gardens in warmer months. Image credit: IMA Oldfields: 100 Years at 4000 Michigan Rd An earlier article on the Four Winds Estate, relates to another well known property — the “Lilly House” located on the grounds of...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: The Mysterious Case of the Tiffany Orphan

The item in question: Rumors have it that this Tiffany design was once located on the Bobbs Merrill Publishers property. Occasionally one article leads directly to another. Such is the case this week. In corresponding...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: What About Bobbs?

What better way to spend a frigid Indy winter’s day than at an old book shop? That’s where I was yesterday morning… my first venture from the toasty confines of home since Flu-mageddon ’14 visited...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Good for What Ails You

Or maaaaaaybe not! If you’re hoping to visit the Indiana Medical History Museum (IMHM) this month, there are two things you need to know: First, it’s only open on Saturdays through January 2014. And second:...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Good for What Ales You

As you toast the new year with your jug, mug, glass, or stein, it is perhaps a good moment to consider Indy’s tempestuous temperance history: While, no doubt, early area residents soothed their thirst with a variety of alcoholic...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Four Winds Estate

Hidden Indy: the Four Winds Estate, now a private residence tucked into a suburban neighborhood of impressive homes. 8140 Spring Mill Road, Indianapolis Now parceled and parsed out for the purpose of building what most...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite Spot in Washington Township

Don’t blink as you drive north on Westfield Boulevard from 86th street or you will miss Al Wood Place. The Curious Case of Al Wood Place (and other Washington Township Mini-Miracles) Occasionally history isn’t about...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Culture Club

Front of The Propylaeum (also known as the John W. Schmidt House), located at 1410 N. Delaware Street in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Built in 1890, it is listed on the National Register of Historic...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Artistry of Cole Noble

Within Cole-Noble, looking towards the Circle, on Market Street, from College Indianapolis and its neighborhoods are a lot like an old family scrap quilt– colorful, unique connected pieces, (in various states of wear and repair),...

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