Historical photo

On Dec. 12, 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. visited Indianapolis. He was greeted at the airport by his friend, the Rev. Andrew J. Brown, and a man identified on the image as Inspector Snidth. King was visiting the city to speak at one of the Senate Avenue YMCA’s Monster Meetings at the Cadle Tabernacle church. […]

Pictured is the 34th Street entrance of Crown Hill Cemetery. The iconic cemetery was established in 1863 on the highest point in Marion County, then called Strawberry Hill. The summit, which overlooks Indianapolis, was renamed The Crown. The cemetery consists of 555 acres and includes a 1.4-acre national cemetery. Many notable Hoosiers are buried at […]

Indiana’s 39th governor, George N. Craig, was sworn into office on Jan. 12, 1953. From Brazil, Indiana, the Republican was a lawyer and a World War II veteran. He was featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1955 as one of President Dwight Eisenhower’s favorite young Republicans. Under Craig’s administration, the Department of Corrections […]

The Indianapolis Water Co. building occupied 113 Monument Circle from the early 1900s until it was razed in 1958. In this picture from 1942, the building is decorated for Christmas. The Indianapolis Water Co. was founded in 1881 following the sale of the Water Works Co. It operated until 2002, when the city of Indianapolis […]

Pictured is the Indianapolis Zoo decorated in thousands of lights at Christmastime in 1984. In 1967, the zoo became the first in the nation to hold a holiday lights event. Since then, the tradition has continued to grow. This year, Christmas at the Zoo will celebrate its 54th anniversary. During the event, children can visit […]

Pictured is the Santa Claus, Indiana, post office in 1931. The Santa Claus Post Office—the only one in the world with the Santa Claus name—opened in 1856. In 1914, the post office’s postmaster, James Martin—whose name is included on the sign in this photo—began answering children’s letters to St. Nick. In the years that followed, […]

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument has been adorned with some fashion of Christmas decorations since 1918, when Christmas trees were first set up there. For many years, a Christmas scene was erected, including in this photo from 1951. That year, greenery was strewn around the monument. A choir sings from above as Santa and his […]

On Oct. 31, 1963, during a Holiday on Ice skating performance at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum, an explosion occurred when a propane tank in the concession area—located underneath seats on the south side of the coliseum—ignited. Seventy-four people were killed and approximately 400 were injured in what’s considered one of the worst disasters in […]

Butler University students sit in a classroom in 1929 in Arthur Jordan Hall. One of three original buildings at Butler’s current campus, Jordan Hall was designed in the Collegiate Gothic style by Robert Frost Daggett and Thomas Hibben. After two years of construction, it opened for the fall 1928 semester, the school’s first after it […]

Now an Indianapolis staple, Shapiro’s Delicatessen opened its doors in 1905 as a small grocery deli serving the south side. The store was opened by Louis and Rebecca Shapiro, who had immigrated to the United States from Russia. Upon arriving in Indianapolis, they sold flour and sugar on the street from a pushcart. After raising […]

Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut participated in a march for Operation Big Vote, a coalition of labor and social groups created to increase voter registration among minority groups. Hudnut spoke at the rally along with the Rev. Thomas Brown and Julia Carson, a state senator who would later become the first woman and the first Black […]

Crowds gather in 1953 outside the Sunset Terrace Ballroom, a jazz club on Indiana Avenue. Sunset Terrace was one of several nightclubs and taverns that sprang up along Indiana Avenue following the end of prohibition in 1933. It was opened by brothers Denver and Sea Ferguson in 1938 and operated through the “golden era of […]

On Oct. 21, 1978, The Circle Celebration marked the reopening of Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis after a redesign. Starting in 1973, city leaders began dreaming up a new look for the Circle that included remodeling, laying new bricks and adding trees, flowers and lights. Then-Mayor Richard Lugar formed the 26-member Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee […]

Throughout the early 1900s, vendor booths lined Market Street on market days outside the actual City Market structure, erected in 1886. The street filled with carts and stalls selling locally grown produce from the German south side and other sources. Sources: Indiana Historical Society, Encyclopedia of Indianapolis  Credit: This photo is courtesy of the Indiana […]

On Sept. 2, 1945, the Japanese formally surrendered aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, officially ending War World II. Afterward, people celebrated in Indianapolis, in part by jumping into the fountains on Monument Circle. Sources: Indiana Historical Society, USO.org Credit: This image is courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society. More images are available […]

A southbound freight train and a northbound passenger train collided on Sept. 24, 1910, on the Indiana Union Traction interurban line at the Ressler crossing 2 miles north of Tipton. Six people were killed and at least six others were injured, according to newspaper reports about the accident. Among the six who died was a […]

In this image, Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut—who served in the position from 1976 to 1992—meets with workers at the General Motors stamping plant. Workers were invited to a brunch where they were able to have one-on-one conversations with the mayor. The General Motors stamping plant opened on Washington Street just west of downtown in 1930 […]