The corner of Washington and Meridian streets has, of course, changed substantially over the years. But even in this photo, believed to have been taken in 1893, the intersection was a vibrant commercial corridor.
On May 18, 1927, a tornado struck downtown, wreaking havoc along Washington Street, from the west side of downtown to Irvington.
In 1983, a chess team from IPS School No. 27 took on an elite private school from Manhattan in the National Elementary School Chess Championship—and won.
Century Biscuit Co. was among the earliest local companies to use trucks to get products to customers.
The Lyric Theatre opened in 1906 at 121 N. Illinois St. with a small projector and just 200 folding chairs. Six years later, the Central Amusement Co. spent $75,000 to rebuild the theater, expanding its capacity to 1,400.
The site where the Conrad Indianapolis hotel stands at the corner of Washington and Illinois streets was previously home to the 12-story Roosevelt Building, shown at left in the photo, and to Thompson’s Restaurant and Cooler’s Billiard Parlor No. 2.
In October 1917, fire destroyed the Acme-Evans two-story, Italianate office building at what was then 702 W. Washington St., an address that is now part of White River State Park.
This 1946 view of Virginia Avenue looking northwest through Fountain Square doesn’t appear significantly different than it does today, other than some different names on the buildings and older cars.
Fall Creek, which flows 57 miles from Pendleton to the White River in downtown Indianapolis, was a key part of architect George Kessler’s plans for a park and boulevard program that was revealed in 1909 and built and expanded over the next decades.
In this photo, believed to have been taken in 1914, Walker is out for a drive with her daughter, A’Lelia Walker, born Lelia McWilliams, in Indianapolis.
The Wood Livery Stable had been a fixture in the southeast quadrant of Monument Circle from 1834 until it moved in 1915. The spot was then demolished to make room for the Circle Theatre.
When Butler University, then in the Irvington neighborhood, bought the former Fairview Park land, Arthur Jordan donated $1 million to help pay for one of the school’s first buildings at the new campus.
In 1895, George P. Stewart and Will Porter launched a two-page church bulletin that they then turned into a weekly newspaper covering the African American community in Indianapolis.
In this photo taken July 2, 1983, Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut speaks at the United Northwest Area annual picnic and explains how federal Urban Reinvestment Task Force programs would provide money to rehabilitate homes in the neighborhood, as
H.T. Hearsey Bicycles store was on Pennsylvania Street, between New York and Ohio streets, when this photo was taken in 1896.
People’s Outfitting Co. was a department store founded in 1893 in Detroit that opened in Indianapolis around 1899 at 133-135 W. Washington St., where it sold furniture, carpet, cameras, jewelry and household items.
This photograph of children eating popsicles in front of an old store was taken by James O. Fox at an unmarked location, but likely on the near-west side in the 1950s.
This photo, taken Jan. 18, 1955, depicts the liquidation sale at the Washington Street building, which was torn down in 1959.
In 1904, a national committee of Republicans traveled to Indiana to officially tell Sen. Charles Fairbanks he would be the party’s nominee for president.
Actors Jackie Coogan and Russell Hayden, stars on the television program “Cowboy G-Men,” visited Riley Hospital on Sept. 23, 1953, before heading to an appearance at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The
