Sunday Ads

Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Kahn Tailoring

Henry Kahn, the founder of Kahn’s Tailoring, was born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1860. His father, Isaac, was one of the first Jewish settlers in Monroe County, immigrating from France in 1844. The Kahn family...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: P.R. Mallory & Co.

In 1916, Philip Rogers Mallory founded the P.R. Mallory & Co. in Port Chester, New York. Mallory moved the company’s headquarters to Indianapolis in 1924, where it remained until 1978. In 1960, Philip passed control...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: The Indianapolis Recorder

Many of the businesses featured in this column met unfortunate ends, whether it be from the death of the founder, or economic circumstances. The Indianapolis Recorder is not one of those – founded in 1895,...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: G.P. McDougall & Son Kitchen Cabinets

This advertisement, from April 1905, features one of the fine cabinets, for which many patents were issued, made by G.P. McDougall & Son. George P. McDougall, a lifelong Indianapolis resident, was born in 1844. His...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: The Silent Waverley Electric Car

Long before the Prius and the Volt, Indianapolis’ Waverley Company offered a line of “silent electric” cars. This ad, likely from around 1913, features the Waverley Limousine Five, which sold for $3,500. At the time...

Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: The Lincoln Hotel

From 1918 – 1973, the Hotel Lincoln occupied the location that is now the Hyatt Regency/PNC Center. At the time this impressive flatiron building towered fourteen stories above Indianapolis, Kentucky Avenue intersected with Washington Street,...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Turkey Dinner at Allen A.M.E.

It’s no secret community turkey dinners to celebrate Thanksgiving have been around for some time. This advertisement, from November 25, 1899, highlights such a dinner at the second-oldest African American church remaining in Indianapolis –...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Prest-o-lite

What would become known as the Prest-o-lite Battery Company, Inc., in this 1941 advertisement began as the Concentrated Acetylene Company, a business venture between James Allison, Carl Fisher, and P.C. Avery. The business originated in...

Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Knobby’s Drive-In

Photo Courtesy of Evan Finch The matchbook above, likely from the 1950’s or 1960’s, advertises for Knobby’s Drive-In, a mainstay in Indianapolis’ mid-20th century drive-in scene. The original Knobby’s, located at 52nd and Keystone, was...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Lilly Hardware Company

This ad, from 1922, features an electric iron – a product available for almost forty years by that time. What is more remarkable is the history of the local vendor of this iron – Lilly...

Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: C.A. Webb

This ad, from 1903, is quite detailed compared to the other advertisements of its time, which mostly included text, or a simple drawing. The story of the man behind the advertisement – Charles A. Webb...

Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: The Melody Inn

Photo courtesy of Evan Finch. According to the current owners of the Melody Inn, known by many as a punk rock mecca of sorts, over 7000 bands have played at “The Mel” since 2001. However,...

Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Benjamin A. Osborne, Chiropractor

This art deco ad from the August 30, 1930, issue of the Indianapolis Recorder advertises the chiropractic services of Benjamin A. Osborne. However, Osborne’s career as a chiropractor is just a small part of his...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Holly Hock Hill Restaurant

1950’s Era Matchbook Courtesy of the Private Collection of Evan Finch. In 1928, V.D. Vincent, the Cafe Manager for the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, started serving “special dinners” in their country cottage, located in what...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Van Sickle Radio Supply Company

I. Eugene Van Sickle, the owner of the Van Sickle Radio Supply Company, was born in Illinois in 1907. He arrived in Indianapolis sometime later, and graduated from Arsenal Technical High School in 1925. Before...

Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: City Cigar Store

This advertisement, from the 1859 Indianapolis City Directory, features the City Cigar Store, whose proprietor was Charles M. Raschig. Mr. Raschig was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was born in 1836. He came...

Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Hoosier Coal & Oil Co.

Hoosier Coal & Oil, founded in 1917, used the above-pictured telephone index as an advertisement in the early 1960’s, and eventually copyrighted the index in 1965. The index included not only numerous references to Hoosier...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Marmon Motor Car Co.

The Marmon Motor Car Company, featured here in a HI article from 2012, began as a manufacturer of millworking equipment in 1851. In 1851, the company was named the Nordyke, Ham, and Company and was...

Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Sutton-Garten Co.

In 1916, Ray Garten met Charles R. Sutton in Chicago, Illinois, when Garten was transferred from Indianapolis to Chicago after Union Carbide bought Indianapolis-based Prestolite. Owned by prominent Indianapolis residents James Allison and Carl Fisher,...

Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: W.F. Rupp & Co. Merchant Tailors

William F. Rupp was born in 1829, and entered the tailoring business in 1861. In 1872, Gustav Rosberg, who arrived in the United States from Sweden just a few years earlier in 1869, began his...

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