
This ad from December 1945 advertises a contest where the winner is issued a one hundred dollar Victory Bond. Morrow’s Nut House was a fixture downtown for nearly sixty years. (Image: Indiana State Library)
Business: Morrow’s Nut House
Date of Ad: December 30, 1945
Location: 50 North Pennsylvania Street, 46 West Washington and various downtown locations
Years of Operation: 1933- 1989
Notable: If you grew up in Indianapolis in the 1940s, ’50s or ’60s, a day’s shopping often included hopping on a bus and going downtown. Believe it or not, city buses dispersed their riders directly on Monument Circle. If you were good, chances are you received a treat from Morrow’s Nut House located in the Test Building. The purveyor of hot cashew nuts and sweet candies had a multitude of locations, including 46 West Washington in the Roosevelt Building and 50 North Pennsylvania. As buildings were gradually demolished along Pennsylvania, the nut house eventually settled adjacent to Roslyn Bakery at 4 North Pennsylvania, until closing in 1989.
Additionally: Despite being a revered memory for generations of children being dragged around on mother’s shopping outings, Morrow’s opened in 1930 on the Jersey Shore in Atlantic City. An early pioneer in franchising, the name quickly spread across the country with some 170 locations by the 1960s. When the family owned business sold out in the early 1980s, the franchises slowly disappeared. The last known location in Cape May, New Jersey closed in 2015 after a sixty-year run.

Using this Sanborn Map you can trace the many downtown locations the Morrow’s occupied over the years including 46 West Washington, 50 North Pennsylvania, and 4 North Pennsylvania. The location at 56 Monument Circle is most fondly remembered by mid-century Indianapolis children. (Image: IUPUI Digital Library)

This building was demolished in 1964 and is now the site of a non-descriptive 8-story parking garage. Morrow’s moved south to 4 South Pennsylvania. (Image: Bass Photo Company Collection, Indiana Historical Society)

This store in Cape May New Jersey lasted from 1956 until 2015. (Image: eBay)