Posted in: Historic Miscellania Grasshopper Jails & Other “Monkey Business”

If you peek into newspapers from any decade, it doesn’t take long to find some downright strange human activity going on.  In spite of the often ego-stroking tales we tell ourselves, human behavior, of course,...

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Posted in: Historic Miscellania When the Man Who Inspired Dracula Caused Blood to Boil in Gilded Age Indy

When the Irish author Bram Stoker penned his popular novel Dracula in the mid-1890s, he drew on many sources of inspiration — from Transylvanian folklore and the real-life figures of Vlad the Impaler and Countess...

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Posted in: Historic Miscellania The Scientific Scrapper Who Played Uncle Tom

If you’re into sports history, you’re probably familiar with the great cyclist “Major” Taylor, who was all but exiled from his hometown of Indianapolis, where he helped spark a craze for bicycles.  Coming up against...

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Posted in: Historic Miscellania Yeats in Irvington

W.B. Yeats in 1903, just before he visited Irvington. Photo by American photographer Alice Boughton. It’s fascinating to reflect on the list of world-famous artists, writers and performers who once walked down Indy’s own streets. ...

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Posted in: Misc Mondays Misc Monday: Moses in Wonderland

One amazing local business coming to the rescue in the midst of the “food desert” of Indy’s East Washington Street corridor is Tlaolli, an incredible lavender house of tamales in a sea of post-industrial gray. ...

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Posted in: Misc Mondays Misc Monday: On Liberty and Whiskers

Lajos Kossuth in a daguerreotype by Southworth & Hawes, 1851 The list of famous visitors to Indianapolis would probably surprise you.  Oscar Wilde came in 1882.  Mark Twain came four times.  Sergei Rachmaninov, the composer,...

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Posted in: Misc Mondays Misc Monday: The Russian Connection

Dos Equis might have “The Most Interesting Man in the World” doing beer ads today.  But in 1904, a colorful contender for that title came to the U.S. from Russia.  Are you ready for a...

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