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Welcome to Bertha Ross Park!
Today we head north from our last featured Watkins Park, on Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard, to Bertha Ross Park, at 3700 North Clifton Street. Indianapolis purchased this twelve-acre green space in 1925 to provide a neighborhood park for residents living on the northwest side of downtown. Originally named Golden Hill Park, its rolling hills and mature trees make it a picturesque gateway to the quaint Golden Hill Neighborhood.
Bertha Ross Park was originally known as Golden Hill Park.
The same year Golden Hill Park opened its gates, Bertha Ross was born. Ross was an influential public servant, a member of the Northwest Civic Association, and The Arc of Indiana. She was employed as a social worker and earned her degree from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in 1971.
The playground at Bertha Ross Park
But Bertha Ross is best remembered for founding the Golden Hill Junior Baseball League. She believed providing organized recreation activities for young boys would deter vandalism and petty crime. Ross raised funds for the league, in order that cost would not prohibit any child from participating. Those who could afford to paid a five-dollar enrollment fee. Boys, aged seven to fourteen, competed in the ten-team league at the park’s baseball diamonds. Players received mitts, bats, and a uniform sewn by Ross herself. There was only one rule for playing in the league: players “couldn’t get into any trouble”—this included no cursing or smoking. At the end of each season, Bertha Ross and her husband held a banquet to honor the players’ sportsmanship and diligence. When Ross passed away in 1974 at the age of 49, the city renamed the park to honor her legacy.
A plaque near the baseball fields tells the story of Bertha Ross.
The baseball diamonds where the Golden Hill Junior Baseball League competed still stand at the park’s entrance. Today’s park features a playground, basketball courts, and two picnic shelters. Comfort stations were added in 2011 through a grant from Eli Lilly & Company, expanding the park’s ability to host community events and summer programs.
The mature trees of Bertha Ross Park provide shade to visitors.
Bertha Ross Park celebrates the contributions of an influential Indianapolis woman. It boasts beautiful views of the historic Golden Hill District and Crown Hill Cemetery. Bertha Ross Park is the perfect place to spend a spring afternoon in Indianapolis.
In 1943, just south of “Golden Hill Park” at about 3400 N. Clifton St., was where I went to Kindergarten. I still have my Kindergarten class picture, and recently exchanged letters with the only person I have a name for. At age 7-10 we neighborhood kids walked up to Golden Hill and climbed the trees, snuck around the edges of Woodstock golf course, and when it was hot we drank from the outside faucets of the nearby Golden Hill homes. One organized event at the park was a pet dog show. Mom and I took our dog, Trouble, and showed him off. Mom worked part time at the Hufnagel hardware store at 3412 Clifton.
What a great memory, Jack! Thank you for sharing. Trouble sounds like the the perfect name for a dog.
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I’m Lynette Shemell Henry. My son was born in 1975 & grew up on 35th Street & attended Holy Angels Catholic school for a few years & graduated from North Central High School.. My son Larry Henry Jr was always going somewhere he shouldn’t have-which is what boys do right🤔?!?! 😳🤷🏽♀️..However, the village that surrounded my son as he was growing up on 35th & riding his bike to Riverside Park ect… where his grand parents lived were instrumental in shaping my son to be the intelligent awesome, caring man & father he is today! I m Lynette Shemell Henry, mother of Larry Henry Jr & just want to sincerely thank my son’s village that surrounded him, scolded him with love, told him to get home before dark & also told him they would be telling on him & go home now when he was where he wasn’t supposed to be?!….his village that surrounded him growing up was a very, very important part of the man my son is today!!! Y’all know who you are & my most sincere thank you to you all for being a very very important part of our village & our son’s growing up years that has made him the awesome, loving, hard working man & father he is today!! Because It truly does take a village! Many thanks!!
🙏🏽 ❤️😍 to all that were a part of our son’s village!!! Love,
Lynette Henry