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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Tansy Motor Service Station, 802 N. Delaware Street

Tansy Motor Service Station on the northwest corner of N. Delaware and St. Clair Streets, 8 Feb. 1949 (Courtesy of the Indianapolis Fire Department) This Indianapolis Fire Department photograph depicts fire damage at the Tansy...

Posted in: In the Park In the Park: 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...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: 1939 and 1945 N. Pennsylvania Street

In the digital age, many young people have no memory or understanding of the role of negatives in photography, much less glass negatives. So a word of advice: should you find boxes of glass plates...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Pyle House / Board of Trade / Chase Tower, 143 N. Meridian Street

When the end was near for the delapidated Pyle House, newpaper writers looked back nostalgically at the former days when the building at 143 N. Meridian Street was a well-known inn. Situated north of Christ...

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Posted in: In the Park In the Park: Watkins Park

The crack of a baseball bat; the screech of the referee’s whistle; the cheers of an excited crowd. These are a few of the sounds of spring in Indianapolis and there’s no better place to...

Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: David Macy House, 408 N. Delaware Street

The David Macy house at 408 N. Delaware Street (The Indiana Album: Loaned by Joan Hostetler) Not many 1850s houses have survived in Indianapolis, but a unique government project begun during the Great Depression gives...

Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Plaza Service Station, 121 E. Maryland Street

Is that a government building or a gas station? Cartoonists of the 1920s often made light of the fact that service and filling stations were so ornate that they were confused with buildings with a...

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Posted in: In the Park In The Park: The Monon Rail-Trail

Springtime brings blooming trees, March Madness, and longer days to Indianapolis. It also means increased traffic at one of Indy’s most popular parks, the Monon Rail-Trail. You may not think of the nearly 17-mile paved...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Pantzer Drugstore, 1601 S. East Street

Postcard from the collection of Evan Finch / July 2011 Google Street View The corner store at 1601 S. East Street had a long life as the Pantzer Drugstore in what is now the Bates-Hendricks...

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Posted in: In the Park In The Park: Alice Carter Place

“Don’t blink or you’ll miss it!” could be the slogan for Alice Carter Place in Midtown Indianapolis. Though small in size, this green space is a picturesque gateway to the North Meridian Street Historic District....

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Morris-Butler House, 1204 Park Avenue

Circa 1867-1885 photograph of the Morris-Butler House (Courtesy of Indiana Landmarks) As a preservationist, I really like it when the “then” and the “now” photographs look alike. Thanks to Indiana Landmarks, the Morris-Butler House in...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: 500 Block of West Washington Street / Eiteljorg Museum

This 1953 view shows the 500 block of W. Washington Street as it appeared in 1953. (Courtesy of The Indiana Album: Photographed by J. Parke Randall) This week we share another 1953 photograph of Indianapolis...

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Posted in: In the Park In The Park: Riverside Amusement Park

A vintage view of Riverside Amusement Park (image: ebay) “In The Park” has visited Wonderland Amusement Park on the near east side and White City on Indy’s north side. The last stop on our tour...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: 300 block of W. Market Street (now Robert D. Orr Plaza)

Courtesy of the Indiana Album: Loaned by J. Parke Randall, ia-30-17 J. Parke Randall was a young architect in Indianapolis in 1953 when he received an assignment from his boss Edward D. Pierre: photographically document...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Irvington School of Music, 269 S. Audubon Road

Photograph owned by Sandy Burton courtesy of Vintage Irvington The most common research request I hear from old house owners is “How do I find an old photo of my home?” You just know that...

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Posted in: In the Park Saturday in the Park: Wonderland Amusement Park

Welcome to Wonderland Amusement Park! At the turn of the 20th century, residents desirous of lively entertainment flocked to the east side of town for a day of frolicking at our very own—Wonderland Amusement Park....

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Posted in: In the Park In The Park: Ellenberger

Indianapolis’s Irvington neighborhood, located five miles east of downtown, is a well-established community. The quaint homes lining its streets have stood for decades. Neighbors share conversation over breakfast at local eateries like The Legend. It...

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Posted in: In the Park In The Park: Holliday Park

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I...

Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: The Singing Blacksmiths at 110 W. Georgia Street

From “Songs of the Streets and Byways” by William Herschell, 1915 While sources such as city directories and maps are among my favorite research tools, their lack of depth about the personalities of people and...

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Posted in: In the Park Saturday In the Park: Broad Ripple Park

There’s something magical about walking through freshly fallen snow. The crunch of each step breaks the winter silence as the snow gives way beneath your boot. Sunbeams reflecting off the white powder bask the chilly...

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