When the Indiana Legislature met in 1939, taxes were a top concern. And no fewer than eight bills related to the gross income tax (1% at the time) were introduced by lawmakers. Retailers wanted the tax to be reduced to 0.5%, saying the tax was “a club to beat the little businessman to death” and […]
Circle Tower, the art deco building at 55 Monument Circle, was built in 1929. Construction began shortly after the building formerly standing at the site was demolished in May 1929. The Indianapolis architecture firm Rubush & Hunter designed the building, which cost $1.7 million to complete. The first shop to open in the building was […]
The Indiana Black Expo was founded in 1971 and held its first summer celebration on June 26, 1971. This photo shows the crowd that the event at the Indiana State Fairgrounds drew. The celebration has grown over the years and now draws about 300,000 people annually. The not-for-profit was founded to celebrate Black history and […]
Indianapolis celebrated the grand opening of Circle Centre mall on Sept. 8, 1995, with much fanfare, including a fireworks show. The mall incorporated existing buildings, including the former L.S. Ayres. A skybridge and the Artsgarden were built on the second floor to connect the mall’s ends over the streets below. The mall served as a […]
The Lyric Theatre went through several incarnations, but by the late 1920s it was regarded as one of the finest theaters in Indiana, with an ivory and gold lobby and offering a mix of moving pictures and live musical acts. Located at 121-135 N. Illinois St., it would go on to host the Indianapolis debuts […]
A group of partygoers wearing paper hats toasts the New Year in the dining room of the Melville Rentsch home at 3740 Forest Manor Avenue in Indianapolis.
Sections of The English Theatre, formerly known as The English Hotel and Opera House, are demolished in this May 1949 photo. The Victorian-era building stood at the northwest quadrant of Monument Circle from 1880 until it was razed to be replaced by a J.C. Penney store (later the Anthem Inc. headquarters). The building was constructed […]
Irvington has celebrated Halloween for decades. The first Irvington Halloween festival occurred in 1927 and was hosted by the Irvington Commercial & Welfare Association. Adults and children marched down East Washington Street in costumes, and the evening concluded with a street dance. After a few successful years, Halloween festivities in Irvington died out but have […]
Casket bearers carry Marcus C. Stewart Sr., the longtime editor and publisher of The Indianapolis Recorder, to his final resting place at Crown Hill Cemetery following his death on March 26, 1983, at age 78. Stewart’s father, George Pheldon Stewart, founded the Black-oriented paper in 1895. Growing up, Marcus Stewart worked on the paper, handling […]
Pictured is the Slippery Noodle Inn in the 1940s. The historic tavern, located at 372 S. Meridian St., was originally founded as the Tremont House in 1850. The tavern is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is Indiana’s oldest, continually operated bar. Also, the building is Indianapolis’ oldest commercial building still standing. […]
Pictured are the City-County Building and the Marion County Courthouse before it was demolished in June 1962. Marion County court employees had moved into the new City-County Building earlier that year, vacating the 86-year-old Baroque-style courthouse that was built in 1876 (the second Marion County courthouse). The Richard G. Lugar Plaza now sits where that […]
Market Square Arena was built in 1974 and was the home stadium to two teams—the Indiana Pacers and the Indianapolis Racers, a franchise in the World Hockey Association. The Pacers played for a quarter century at Market Square, their second home after the State Fairgrounds Coliseum, including through the team’s transition from the American Basketball […]
1916 On Oct. 12, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson and his wife, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, visited Indianapolis as part of the Centennial Highway Day Celebration. In this photo, Wilson stands beside Gov. Samuel M. Ralston and Indianapolis Mayor Joseph E. Bell to view the Centennial Highway Day parade of automobiles from the Soldiers and Sailors […]
Government officials broke ground on the City-County Building on Oct. 30, 1959. Pictured from left are J. Wesley Brown, president of the county commissioners; William A. Hanley, president of the building authority’s board of directors; and Mayor Charles H. Boswell. The building opened in 1962. Now, Indianapolis officials have released a request for information seeking […]
Circa 1980s An Air France Concorde commercial jet makes a stop at Indianapolis International Airport in the 1980s. The unique plane was a supersonic passenger airliner, jointly built by manufacturers in Great Britain and France, that flew trans-Atlantic flights in half the time it took other commercial airliners. Only 20 jets were ever built. The […]
1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower rides in a decked-out convertible vehicle around Monument Circle on Sept. 9, 1952. Eisenhower, who would go on to serve two terms as the 34th president, from 1953 to 1961, was campaigning throughout the country in his race against Adlai Stevenson. Eisenhower won the state with 58% of the vote and […]
The Walker Building was erected in 1927, eight years after the death of Madam C.J. Walker on May 25, 1919. The building, at 617 Indiana Ave., included a theater, drugstore, manufacturing company, beauty shop, ballroom and offices. It was saved from demolition in the 1970s and was restored in the 1980s, reopening in 1988 as […]
A captured Japanese submarine sits on display on Monument Circle in July 1943. Named HA-19, the submarine was one of five Japanese midget submarines involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. U.S. forces captured the submarine, and it was sent around the country to war-bond rallies from 1942 to 1945. Those who wanted […]
The Claypool was at one time the principal destination for political and business conventions, meetings and other events downtown.
A crowd of people gathers in July 1985 on Monument Circle for a rally to bring a Major League Baseball franchise to Indianapolis at a time it seemed the league was looking to expand. After the Baltimore Colts moved to the city in the early ’80s and the Indiana Pacers survived the ABA-NBA merger, many […]
