This vintage advert for the Edward Mason Company (circa 1910?) at the southwest corner of Wabash and Delaware Streets shows a building that luckily still stands, now home to a “Southern” restaurant called Miguel’s. Elsewhere on the net, found an artistic “Birds Eye” rendering for sale, created by the Edward Mason Co. Even the IUPUI Library has this postcard of the Eli Lilly & Company Biological Library. Clearly, the Edward Mason Co. handled some big corporate accounts. The methods may have changed some, but there are still some awesome illustrators and artists out there. (I’m partial to Fraizer Designs and can’t imagine ever using anyone else; she’s the genius behind the HI Pajama Game poster among others.)
130 North Delaware Street, 2012
So what is the deal with the small square window above the upper middle window? It appears original and just covered by the advertising. i have never seen a window like that on one of these buildings. Very odd.
I remember this building as the home of the Bash Seed Company, a popular destination for Indianapolis gardeners. The family-owned business started in the early 1900s and operated for nearly a century before closing its doors in the 1990s. The store carried a wide variety of high quality seeds. The Bash Seed Company spent most of its existence at 141 N. Delaware Street, until that building was torn down to make way for the Market Square Office Center (aka “the gold building”), at which time the Bash family moved its store across the street to 130 N. Delaware Street.
Almost forgot where Wabash Street was located in the Mile Square. This is an example of continuing articles “we” (the readers) “lust” after here! Very good!
Oh my gosh, thanks for this picture! This gives me a little bit of an idea of what kind of neighborhood Rose Milligan lived in, in the year 1903. She lived a couple of blocks north at 330 N. Delaware, but I am sure most of the buildings along that street looked similar.
Ann, You left the 1,000th comment–thank you! Let’s connect at Indy Fringe–I’ll have something for you! (or I’ll drop something at Crimson Tate perhaps?)