Posted in: Editorial This Moment is History in the Making

image: from The Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society  HistoricIndianapolis.com was conceived to contribute to the local community by creating new points of connection from old places, people and events. Since this website primarily focuses on the...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Charles E. Emmerich Manual Training High School

Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection (ca. 1900-1910) In the early 1890s the old Indianapolis High School (later known as Shortridge High School) was overcrowded and had spilled over into a...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now Revisited: Zaring’s Egytian Theatre, 2741 Central Avenue

Courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Company Collection #94388, 1925. This view looks east toward Central Avenue from 28th Street. After witnessing people jamming into packed movie theatres and sensing a good business opportunity,...

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Posted in: Then & Now Then & Now: Finch Park and the 1700 Block of Fletcher Avenue

Playing football in what became Finch Park, ca. 1915 Finch Park, originally located on S. State Avenue between Spann and Fletcher Avenues, has long served the Fountain Square neighborhood as a playground and park. Photograph...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Askren-Rice-Eichacker House, 625 N. Edmondson Avenue

Thanks to local residents for submitting this historic photograph of their house, located just west of Shadeland Avenue at 625 N. Edmondson Avenue (formerly Rice Road) in Warren Township. The brick 1860s house  was part...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: National Surgical Institute / Imperial Hotel, Northwest Corner of W. Ohio Street and Capitol Avenue

The Imperial Hotel, 1904 (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, 1904 glass plate negative made by the Detroit Publishing Company) This opulent Queen Anne/Romanesque Revival building, located north of the Indiana State House, has...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Columbus Day Parade on Massachusetts Avenue

Cabinet card looking south on Alabama Street, October 21, 1892. The house-like float is on Massachusetts Avenue and Vermont Street runs east and west at this intersection. (Courtesy of the Indiana Album: Loaned by Joan...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Wilmer F. Christian House, 404 N. Alabama Street

Architects such as Vonnegut and Bohn, Francis Costigan, and Rubush and Hunter are well remembered and celebrated in Indianapolis, but how many of us can name a contractor from times past (other than Jungclaus-Campbell, a...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Circle Park and Meridian Street

  Although faded and discolored, this extremely rare stereoview shows Meridian Street looking south from the middle of Circle Park (now Monument Circle) prior to 1870. Photographers and stereoview publishers Salter and Judd worked together...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Bird’s-Eye View North from Marion County Courthouse

Photographs of Indianapolis buildings prior to the 1890s are difficult to find. Clients typically requested portraits, so most photograph galleries specialized in capturing the likenesses of individuals. Fortunately a few local photographers added landscape and...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: Mission Accomplished

The recent death of Lauren Bacall brought to mind the movie magic she made over the course of four films with Humphrey Bogart, her co-star and real-life husband. But while Bacall may have had Bogey’s love...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: The Grand Hotel and Circle Centre Mall, Illinois and Maryland Streets

The Grand Hotel, circa 1876 stereoview by Indianapolis photographer John Pendergast (The Indiana Album: Loaned by Joan Hostetler) Shortly after the expansion of the Grand Hotel in 1875, photographer John Pendergast set up his camera...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Fourth Presbyterian Church and The Milton Apartments, 26-30 E. 9th Street

Half of a stereoview of Fourth Presbyterian Church on East 9th Street, then named Pratt Street. Photographed by Charles S. Judd, Indianapolis, ca. 1875 (The Indiana Album: Loaned by Joan Hostetler) Finding photographs of Indianapolis...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Volney T. Malott House, 536-558 N. Delaware Street

In about 1867 David Macy and his wife built a house at 558 N. Delaware Street for their only daughter Caroline and her husband Volney T. Malott, who had lived with the Macys since their...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Kraft’s South Side Baking Company, 915 S. Meridian Street

Today a drive on South Meridian Street between McCarty and Morris Streets gives few hints that this stretch was once a vital commercial corridor heavily populated by the Jewish community. In the past one could...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: 1100 Block of S. East Street near Prospect, 1927

1927 – 1100 block of S. East Street looking north from Morris Street. Photo courtesy of IUPUI University Library, Indianapolis Power & Light Co. Distribution System Photographs loaned by Dee Dee Davis. Nothing survives today...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then & Now: The Barge Fish ‘n Chips, 3902 E. Washington Street

Courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society, 1990.0430 In the early decades of automobile traffic, it was common for restaurants, gas stations, and other roadside attractions to construct buildings that mimicked the product or service sold....

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: The Paradise and Devil’s Cafe, 108-110 W. Maryland Street

Courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society, P59 Carl Cafouros Family Collection Imagine the horror of Greek immigrant Alexandrine Cafouros upon learning that her husband’s restaurant, the “Devil’s Cafe,” did not mean what she thought. The...

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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 Old Pump, Massachusetts Avenue and Delaware Street

Photo Credit: Indiana University, Lilly Library, Frank M. Hohenberger Collection, negative 1247 Several people gather around the old pump on Massachusetts Avenue in this circa 1910-1914 photograph. Four men line up to fill their buckets...

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