Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: Finding Maxwell Parry

In July 1918, The Indianapolis Star launched a series of articles about war mothers who kept the home fires burning while their sons were fighting overseas.  The third installment ran on July 12 – exactly...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: The Fall of the House of Fletcher

When the youngest son of pioneer leader Calvin Fletcher graduated from Phillips Academy in 1865, he asked his classmates to sign an autograph book. “Dear Al,” one faded inscription reads, “As we hope to meet at...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: The Centennial Celebration of 1920

The discussion was as heated as the weather when a group of five men gathered around a small wooden table in June 1820 to select the site for the new state capital.  Three potential locations...

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Posted in: WTH WTH : Whatcha Hiding Under That Top?

With the recent movements towards loving all things hyper-local, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say many of us would rather shop little neighborhood serving corner stores over strip-malls, if they would make a return...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: The Bridges of Marion County

My husband and I recently celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary by driving around Indianapolis and photographing old bridges. It was a little like The Bridges of Madison County, except that I was the Clint Eastwood...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: Dear Brother, Please Send Money

On Febuary 5, 1828, a young man from Indianapolis dropped a letter in the mail to Peacham, Vermont. The cost of the postage was nearly half a day’s wages, but the writer was hoping his...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: The Devil in the Circle City

By the time H. H. Holmes checked into Room 76 of the English Hotel in September 1894, he already had seduced and murdered at least two dozen young women in his infamous “Murder Castle” just...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: Whiskey – it’s good for what ails you

A little brown jug of whiskey shoved under a kitchen table cost pioneer historian John H.B. Nowland his own place in the city’s history books. In 1910, the school board was planning to name a...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: No water? No worries. We’ll always have coffee

According to historian W.R. Holloway, the city of Indianapolis was 26 years old when it went through something akin to puberty. “There was a change of features, of form, a suggestion of manhood, a trace...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: Everyone Loves a Parade!

Except for a brief 30-year window when religion and rectitude ruled the day, the traditional 4th of July celebration in Indianapolis has remained largely unchanged since 1822. Meat is barbecued, fireworks are exploded and alcoholic...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: Close Cover Before Striking

I was born in the early morning hours of my parents’ sixth wedding anniversary. As Dad would tell the story, my mom wanted an anniversary baby, and figured she could make that happen by refusing...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: There’s No Place Like Dome

In August 1888, Harper’s Weekly published a scathing review of Indiana’s recently completed Statehouse, blaming the “sad failure” of its architecture on penny-pinching legislators who “ruthlessly sacrificed” architectural effect in order to keep the project...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: The Old House on the Corner

It was the sort of eBay listing that I easily could have missed. “Drawing of an old house,” the seller posted, along with a photo of a ramshackle cabin that looked like a place the...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: Postcards from the Great Flood of 1913

Entire city blocks submerged in water. Families trapped in their attics, calling out frantically for help. Children forced to abandon their dogs when rescuers finally arrived, and as the waters began to recede, a star-studded...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: Antique ad show brings back Indy’s Wonder Years

In late September, there was a spirited bidding war on ebay over an item that most people would consider a piece of trash. The lucky buyer who won the 100-year-old can of Van Camp’s Pork...

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