Memory Bank: Brightwood once had thriving business district

In the middle part of the last century, Station Street, just north of Massachusetts Avenue, was a thriving business district in the Brightwood neighborhood of Indianapolis. This photo from the 1940s shows Allen’s Furniture and Roesch Pharmacy, on the west side of the street’s 2300 block, while Brightwood Jewelers and Goldman’s, a clothing store, anchored the east side. The Dream theater and a bowling alley are visible farther to the north on the east side of the street. Today, some of the older buildings remain but many are boarded up or have been cleared for parking lots. To learn more about the neighborhood, see IBJ’s One City, Worlds Apart story on page 1.

The photo is courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society and is part of the W.H. Bass Photo Co. collection. More images are available at images.indianahistory.org. Source: Indiana Historical Society, The Polis Center, The Indianapolis Star