Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Fletcher Triangle Park Brookside and Arsenal Avenues

“Placemaking” is a popular word among planning types these days. The word originated in the 1960s and refers to the philosophy and process of creating places where people will want to gather. As expressed in...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Spades Park Library 1801 Nowland Avenue

The beloved Spades Park Library, one of only two operating Carnegie libraries in Indianapolis, has survived despite fears of closure over the past several decades and will celebrate its 100th anniversary on March 24. Industrialist...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Briggs Flats, 550 Fletcher Avenue

People gather to look at the fire-damaged Briggs Flats in this August 30, 1948 photograph. The brick, Romanesque Revival apartment building was constructed at 546-552 Fletcher Avenue in 1893. It featured an arched porch and...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: IOOF Capital Lodge 2102 E. Washington Street

In May 1927 a tornado slammed into the east side of Indianapolis destroying dozens of buildings. This photo, looking east on East Washington Street toward the intersection of Hamilton Avenue, shows some of the damage...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 126 W. Georgia Street

Thousands of Super Bowl Village zip line riders will get a rare, bird’s-eye view of the Saint John the Evangelist Church as they whiz by this week. Saint John’s was the first Catholic parish in...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: West Market Street and the 500 Festival Parade

Thanks to Jon Berg, a Historic Indianapolis reader, who shared this photograph at the Indiana Album Scan-a-Thon at the Harrison Center for the Arts earlier this month. The caption for this parade image reveals that...

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Posted in: Then & Now Then and Now: The Jefferson Apartments, 2207-11 East Tenth Street

Yesterday, the Super Bowl Legacy Project made the New York Times and east-side neighbors are rightfully proud of the recent momentum toward revitalizing this down-and-out area hit heavily by home foreclosures and crime. One of...

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Posted in: Then & Now Indianapolis Then and Now: W. E. Mick Building and Aquilina Apartments, Central Avenue and East 30th Street

The W. E. Mick Building, also known as the Aquilina Apartments, was a brick structure built in 1910-11 on the northwest corner of Central Avenue and East 30th Street. Realtor and developer William E. Mick...

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Posted in: Then & Now Then and Now: The Star Store and Indiana Government Center South, 360-70 West Washington Street

L. S. Ayres & Company, Wiliam H. Block, and H. P. Wasson are the most beloved and remembered Indianapolis department stores, but many smaller stores catered to the middle class. One of them was the...

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Posted in: Then & Now Then and Now: College Avenue and 54th Street

As Indianapolis grew and streetcars headed north on College Avenue toward Broad Ripple, clusters of commercial buildings sprung up every four or five blocks. One such shopping hub was located at the intersection of College...

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Posted in: Then & Now Then and Now: Union Station’s Santa Colossal

At Christmastime in 1949, a large and unusual singing Santa Claus made a short appearance in Union Station, the city’s 1888 Romanesque revival train station. The Chamber of Commerce organized the Indianapolis Industrial Exposition to...

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Posted in: Then & Now Then and Now: Brenneke Dancing Academy Building, 602-606 N. Illinois Street

During the Victorian era when many of Indianapolis’s social elite had ballrooms in their homes, the city’s most popular dance instructor was David B. Brenneke (1855-1918). The German native lived for over a decade in...

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Posted in: Then & Now Then and Now: George Alig, Sr. House 1608 Park Ave.

ser·en·dip·i·ty [ser-uhn-dip-i-tee] noun 1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. 2. good fortune; luck As a photographic researcher, part of my job is to help people or companies find and license photographs for books, movies, exhibits, or personal research. Subjects range from the...

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Posted in: Then & Now Then and Now: Empire Theatre, 126 Wabash Street

With three active burlesque troupes in Indianapolis, we seem be to in the midst of a burlesque revival. While the average person equates burlesque with strippers, the art form started in the late 17th century...

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Posted in: Then & Now Then and Now: The Dorman Street Saloon (aka “The Hog”), 901 Dorman Street

The Dorman Street Saloon has a long and fabled history in Cottage Home Neighborhood on the near eastside. Variously known as Anacker’s Tavern, the 9th Street Tavern, The Mahogany Bar (shortened to “The Hog,” a...

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Posted in: Then & Now Then and Now: Lucretia Mott Public School No. 3 and the CommonWealth Building 23 N. Rural Street

With all of the talk of demolition of abandoned buildings, it is encouraging to see neighborhoods take charge of their problem properties and find positive new uses. The proactive residents of Englewood Neighborhood on the...

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Posted in: Then & Now Then and Now: Hotel Lincoln / Hyatt Regency, 2-20 Kentucky Avenue

The corner of West Washington Street and Kentucky Avenue was once the site of the four-story Commercial Block. In 1906 the building housed various businesses including M. F. Smith, jeweler, and the tailor G. F....

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Posted in: Then & Now Then and Now: Denison Hotel 135 N. Pennsylvania Street

Although less known today than other Indianapolis hotels that survived later into the century, the Denison Hotel was considered one of the city’s finest. Despite shaky beginnings, the Denison stood for over fifty years on...

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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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