Posted in: Mailbag HI Mailbag: 2147 North Talbott Street

Reader’s Question: I own several properties in the vicinity of 22nd and Talbott.  I am intrigued by a building at 2147 N. Talbott Street, which has the word “POWER” carved in a stone above its...

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Posted in: Historic Miscellania Of Spirits and Soldiers

Fall is here.  So it’s time to keep on the spectral side of life. On June 6, 1910, the Indianapolis News carried the obituary of a woman once hailed as the patron saint of Hoosier...

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Posted in: At Your Leisure At Your Leisure: All’s Fair

August brings about a favorite tradition amongst Hoosiers. Every year nearly one million people descend on the Indiana State Fairgrounds in the capitol city to celebrate the agricultural spirit of the State of Indiana. If...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Ads: Raggedy Indy

 A Sweet Little Raggedy Doll and a Sweet Little Raggedy House at 537 N. Tacoma Avenue Raggedy Ann Once again, eBay serves as the source of inspiration for historical discovery! Last week, a rare 1915...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: When Indy put the “Fun” in Funeral

  Ads from the 1914 Indiana Funeral Directors Convention, Indianapolis Star Funeral directors, morticians, undertakers… They get a bad rap. Admit it. You might cringe or giggle when you meet one at a cocktail party....

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Sweet Caroline

How Do You Not Know This Woman? Not just “Benjamin Harrison’s wife,” she was accomplished and elegant. She was a deft leader among women at a time when the idea of women’s rights was just beginning to gain...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Can Indy Claim First Ever Auto Accident?

YOU Decide… Our fair city, whose international fame is flavored heavily with automotive lore, might claim one more dubious automobile first: Indy may have been the site of the first auto accident in the United States....

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Arsenal Tech Trivia

Bet You Didn’t Know…” Regardless of the side of town in which you live, if you’ve been in Indianapolis for a while you know some things about historic Arsenal Technical High School… A.K.A. “Tech” to...

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Posted in: Historic Miscellania Indiana’s S & S War Memorial Sculptor

A close up view of “The Dying Solider” on the east side of the Solider’s and Sailor’s Monument. Every day, thousands of people pass the Soliders’ and Sailors’ Monument at the heart of downtown Indianapolis....

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Posted in: Historic Miscellania Riverside Pumping Station

Citizen’s Water Co. Riverside Pumping House at 1201 Waterway Boulevard – Photo by Ryan Hamlett Looking north from West 10th Street by the IUPUI/Eskenazi Health campus, a lonesome, grand municipal building peers back from the...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: 1852 Balloon Scheme Goes Bust

Indianapolis businessman, J. H. McKernan, had it all arranged — a day of perfect weather and rare delights including pyrotechnics, music and… *insert trumpet flourish here* … the first-ever hot air balloon ascension in the city’s history! The...

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Posted in: Mailbag HI Mailbag: Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne Stevenson (Part I)

Reader’s Question: What can you tell me about the homes in which Fanny Stevenson lived in the years before she left Indianapolis?  ~  Christy S., Meridian Hills  HI’s Answer: For HI readers who may not be aware, the wife of...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: The Last of the Civil War Soldiers

During the summer of 1949, an elderly man named Joseph Clovese bought a new pair of shoes.  Made of kangaroo leather and reportedly “soft as a kitten’s fur,” the shoes were purchased specially for Clovese to...

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Posted in: Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Richard Dale Owen

Richard Dale Owen was born in New Lanark, Scotland, died in New Harmony, Indiana and a sculpture of him stands inside the Indiana Statehouse. Why? His varied career included a tenure as State Geologist of...

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Posted in: A Room with a View A Room with a View – Camp Robinson and Lew Wallace

Monument in the woods of Riverside Park, north of Municipal Gardens. Just up the bike path from the Municipal Gardens, along the White River is a peculiar boulder that can just barely be spotted from...

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Posted in: Mailbag HI Mailbag: Marshall “Major” Taylor

Reader’s Question:  I recall that cyclist Marshall “Major” Taylor was born in Indianapolis.  Do you have any details about his early years?  ~ Caroline Cunningham, Los Angeles, California    HI’s Answer: Marshall Walter Taylor was...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Arsenal Building, 1500 E. Michigan Street

Since the US Arsenal in Indianapolis was one of three arsenals commissioned by Congress during the Civil War, it is not surprising that the main buildings followed the same plan. The sturdy storehouses or arsenal...

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Posted in: Then & Now Then and Now: The Little Depot and the Interstate

Although a psychic once told me that I “don’t have a psychic bone in my body,” as a local historian I sometimes see ghosts of Indianapolis’ past. Such was the case last week as I...

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