Posted in: At Your Leisure At Your Leisure: Rubbing Elbows with Indy’s Elite at The Marott Hotel

An early postcard showing the Marott Hotel and Meridian Street Bridge. (Image: eBay) Today’s visitors to the Circle City have a wide array of lodging options when looking for a place to spend the night....

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Woodruff Place Gazebo, 800 block West Drive

“Woodruff Place ! … The whole addition is surrounded by a massive, artistically carved stone fence; all the streets laid with Nicolson pavement; all the sidewalks with stone; gas and water pipes to each lot;...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: Yar, there’s a pirate’s chest of gold on Monument Circle

For so long as most Indianapolis residents can remember, there has always been one “hot spot” on North Meridian where the mercury was guaranteed to rise even when temperatures were falling in the rest of...

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Posted in: In the Park In the Park: Woollens Garden

The northeast section of Interstate 465 is one of Indianapolis’s busiest roads.  Travelers speed through it on their morning commute, perhaps unaware that one of the City’s most picturesque parks lies beneath this road, just...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Roehm House, 1320 Villa Street

In this circa 1906 photograph, the family of Frank and Emma Roehm stand in front of their home at 1320 Villa Street. This south side street was located in a German neighborhood just north of...

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Posted in: In the Park In The Park: Babe Denny Park

This fall, over half a million football fans dressed in their blue and white finest will visit downtown to cheer the Indianapolis Colts to victory.  As they trek to the stadium, many will unknowingly pass...

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Posted in: In the Park In the Park: Highland Park

Welcome to Highland Park in the Holy Cross neighborhood Indianapolis’s second highest elevation is found in a park in the Holy Cross Neighborhood, near 1100 East New York Street.  The park’s unimaginative name?  Highland Park. ...

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Posted in: In the Park In the Park: Spades Place Park and Brookside Parkway

Just down the street from Brookside Park, you’ll find Spades Place Park.  This thirty-one acre neighborhood park at 1800 Nowland Avenue is one of the Windsor Park neighborhood’s most picturesque features.  But it’s not Spades...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Meadowbrook Diner, 5151 E. 38th Street

Undated linen postcard of the Meadowbrook Diner (The Indiana Album: Loaned by Joan Hostetler) With three operating traditional diners and the recent explosion of food trucks zipping around town, Indianapolis is enjoying a diner revival...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Southeast Corner of Pennsylvania and Market Streets

Half of a circa 1876 stereoview looking south on Pennsylvania Street from Market Street (The Indiana Album: Loaned by Joan Hostetler) Merely a decade after the end of the Civil War, photographer John W. Pendergast...

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Posted in: In the Park In the Park: Brookside Park

One of my favorite things about Indianapolis is that the city has something for everyone.  Whether you’re looking for unique cuisine, world-class art, kid-friendly activities, or the thrill of a sporting event, you can find...

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Posted in: At Your Leisure A Day in The Park: White City Amusement Park

A panorama from atop the boat ride. (Image: Indiana State Library) As Labor Day 2014 hits the history books, and fall has officially started, it’s only obvious to ask: how did Indy spend it’s summer?...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Fountain Square Police Station No. 4 / Radio Radio, 1117-1119 Prospect

As Indianapolis expanded, it was necessary for the Indianapolis Police Department to move into the neighborhoods and by 1912 four substations had been established. This one-story cottage, located at 1117 Prospect Street in Fountain Square,...

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Posted in: At Your Leisure College Football in the Circle City Derailed: The 1903 Purdue Wreck

The 1903 Purdue football team of which fourteen members perished in a train wreck in Indianapolis. (Image: Purdue University) For many, this weekend marks the true beginning of autumn as college football kicks off across...

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Posted in: In the Park In the Park: Douglass Park

Indianapolis is a city rich in sports tradition.  We have the Indianapolis Indians, minor-league baseball’s second oldest team; the Indiana Fever, who won their first WNBA title in 2012; the Pacers, three-time American Basketball Association...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now REVISITED: Harry W. Moore Peace Chapel, 2050 E. Michigan Street

Harry W. Moore (1902-1970) grew up in the family funeral home business in Brightwood and opened his first funeral home in 1927 at 25th and Gale Streets. In the early 1930s, he hired architect Leslie...

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Posted in: In the Park In the Park: Washington Park

There’s nothing better than a sunny summer day at the park and there’s no better place to enjoy the summer’s most beloved activities than at George Washington Park.  When arriving at this 128-acre community park...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Better Babies Building and Hook’s Drug Store Museum, Indiana State Fairgrounds

Better Babies Building during the Indiana State Fair, 1926. (Courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society, W. H. Bass Photo Company Collection, 99329-F) Had you visited the Indiana State Fair between 1920 and 1932, not only...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Indiana State Fair, 1202 E. 38th Street

Among a group of old photographs found in the attic of an Indianapolis home were these three faded snapshots identified as the 1900 Indiana State Fair. Many people might have tossed the small, poorly processed,...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: A Stitch Back in Time

In the earliest days of Indianapolis, young John Wilkins was a favorite of the ladies. He arrived from Ohio in May 1821, and built himself a one-horse carriage, the first of its kind in Indianapolis.  Despite a...

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