Reader’s Question:
When was Linwood Square built? Before Linwood Square was there, this was the location of Newburg (sp?) Field, where we loved to play. Why was this section not developed like the rest of the surrounding subdivisions? And do you have any history regarding the Newburg (sp?) family? ~ Kevin J. Brewer, Kokomo
HI’s Answer:
Construction of Linwood Square began in November of 1963. The architectural firm for the project was Beaman and Associates, Inc. The first store to open in Linwood square was Zayre Department Store, which opened in 1964. Zayre was part of a discount chain, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts, that was in operation from 1956 to 1990.
In the 1965 Indianapolis City Directory (the first year Linwood Square appeared in a city directory), the following stores and their phone numbers were listed at 4401 E. 10th Street: The Kroger Co., FL3-0963; Super Rx Drugs, FL3-2178; Beauty By Bryant (salon), FL9-5421; Citizens Acceptance Corp (loans), FL9-9211; Roan Barber Shop, FL7-0657; Fox & Pfeiffer (optom), FL9-0657; The Liquor Shop, FL6-1787; and Zayre (dept. store), FL7-8461.
Linwood Square as it appears in 2013 (photo by Sharon Butsch Freeland)
The area that is now Linwood Square was owned by the Neuerburg and Madinger families from the 1890s until the early 1960s. Their land consisted of four tracts totalling more than 25 acres. A Neuerburg son married a Madinger daughter, resulting in all of the adjacent properties being owned by relatives. Apparently, the families did not feel the need to sell their properties to developers as early as the owners of other surrounding properties did.
1941 Baist Map shows acreage owned by Neuerburg and Madinger families amidst building lots in housing subdivisions (map courtesy of IUPUI Digital Library) CLICK TO ENLARGE
The parcels of land that once belonged to the Neuerburg and Madinger families remain essentially intact today. The stores in the Linwood Square Shopping Center have E. 10th Street addresses. The apartment buildings across the south end have Linwood Court addresses.
2013 Google street map of Linwood Square and the area around it CLICK TO ENLARGE
The immigrant patriarch of the family who owned the land was John Leonard Neuerburg (1855-1910), who was commonly known by his middle name. Leonard settled in Marion County in 1863 and married Christina Dietz in 1874. They had four children, including son Albert Neuerburg, who married Florence Madinger. Although the Neuerburg parents are buried in Anderson Cemetery at 10th and Pleasant Run Parkway, most of the other Neuerburgs and Madingers are buried at Crown Hill Cemetery.
Obituary for John Leonard Neuerburg (1855-1910) appeared on November 2, 1910
A portion of a page from the 1930 Census enumeration shows both the Neuerburg and Madinger families on E. 10th St. (Ancestry.com) CLICK TO ENLARGE
The land that now makes up Linwood Square has remained in separate parcels, as it was when the Neuerburgs and Madingers sold them. All but one of the parcels are owned by KIMCO Realty in New Hyde Park, New York. The remaining parcel is owned by PP INDY 7 LLC in Chicago, Illinois.
Before the retail businesses were built, Community Little League teams played there. When development began, Community Little League moved to Forest Manor Park at E. 21st St and N. Forest Manor. Where the entrance to Linwood Sq originally there was a Dog-n-Suds or another type of root beer drive-in restaurant. Zayre opened late summer 1964.
Being an East Sider and remembering this property, I’ll stay in touch here, definitely!
We had a vice principle name Berchekas at School 101 on tenth and Oriental back in the 60’s would that have been a relative to you? She was a Mrs
Thanks for the information, Sharon! I have a file on this property and (from memory) believe that a brickyard stood on the land before 1900. The east side was called “Brickville” as several brickyards stood near Woodruff Place, on this site, and on Massachusetts Avenue. If any Neuerburg or Madinger descendants read this, I would love to make contact with you. Also, in the 1930s there was a yearly neighborhood fair called Mardi Gras on Neuerberg Field and I would love to find photographs of this for NESCO’s history and preservation committee.
Beginning in the early 1880s and continuing until his death in 1910, Leonard Neuerburg is listed in city directories as a brick manufacturer. Before acquiring the property in the 4400 block of E. 10th Street, he and his family operated a brickmaking business, as well as resided, on the northwest corner of Washington and Rural Streets.
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I’ll take a look at the census and marriage records I found, to see if I think that any Neuerburg or Madinger descendants could still be living today. I’ll let you know.
Joan,
Was the clay on the east side of Indianapolis especially good for making bricks. You mentioned brickyards located near Woodruff Place. I remember histories of the U.S. Arsenal (now Tech High School) saying that the building bricks were made on the premises.
Apparently so…there was a small kiln operation on the Neuerburg farm on 10th, and west of there, around what became Saint Clair Place and Tecumseh Place subdivisions, were brick kilns owned by the Downey family that manufactured much of the bricks around Indianapolis. That little area was known as “bricktown” and was inhabited by Irish immigrants as a “town unto itself” until the area started urban development around 1900. The Downey family then invested their resources into the continued development of the new area of Irvington, further east.
Kevin, clay deposits in the ground on the east side made good soil for bricks manufacturers. I’ve tracked several brickyards in the east side from the 1860s through the early 1900s. In his diary (1850s), Calvin Fletcher mentions a brickyard on his property near what is now Windsor Park Neighborhood. Other brick makers from this area include Christian Pothast (his brick home still stands on E. 10th Street near Sherman) and Fletcher and Thomas (on Massachusetts Avenue, then Pendleton Pike). I would love to hear from others who have done research or whose families were involved.
FYI: According to some old maps I saw in the local area of the downtown library, the Downey family had some brick manufacturing on the near East Side south of 10th and west of Rural near what was then Crooked Run, a stream now storm sewered that drained into Pogues Run in the Cottage Home area. The Downeys were later influential in Irvington after their kilns on the near East Side were discontinued.
Basil,
Would Crooked Run be the very short stream running from the southeast to the northwest into Pogues Run in this 1899 map?
Basil,
Would Crooked Run be the very short stream running from the southeast to the northwest into Pogues Run in this 1899 map? http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=215766815123930&set=o.107773869783&type=3&theater
Yes. According to some circa 1900-1910 maps I’ve seen at the downtown public library, this stream started around north of where the RCA was located west of Sherman Drive, flowed westerly and then southerly across the intersection of Rural and East Michigan Street, thence southwest to near East New York and Beville, (near where an enclosed “roadside stand” on New York across from a former Dairy Queen) thence northwest to and across the Women’s Prison property, and then parallel to East Michigan Street on the south side thereof before coursing northwest across the southwest corner of Tech High School’s property (which has now been raised in elevation for athletic fields…Crooked Run then continued northwest to join Pogues Run in the Cottage Grove area, like the flickr map shows. It appears from reviewing circa 1910-1911-1912 maps depicting the Indianapolis East Side, this stream was storm sewered, downstream to upstream, from after the 1890-1900 to 1910-1912 period as new additions were developed eastward. Even today there are residents in low lying areas complaining to the City about flooded basements and even cars flooded on side streets where maps indicate this stream used to flow. One can’t “blame” the stream for saying “hey, humans, I’m still here!” Urban development by nature reduces permeable land available to accept rainfall runoff, so more water lands in storm sewers and even sanitary sewers in combined systems, aggravating flooding, so this is a fact of life in cities with past short sighted leadership. OK, I’m getting off my soapbox now!
Thank you so much, Sharon, for the information. I grew up 3 blocks from Neuerburg Field / Linwood Square in the 800 block of Bosart. I had never really known how “Neuerburg” was spelled. I think that Basil Berchekas probably had it closest with “Neuerberg”.
Thanks for the info on Crooked Run, Basil. I remember a small stream in the SW corner of the Tech campus in 1955-1957 when I attended Junior High in the old arsenal building. It was low there, and I believe there was a large brick or stone-framed drain structure along the boundary fence south of the power plant.