Memory Bank: The place to be
The Claypool was at one time the principal destination for political and business conventions, meetings and other events downtown.
Historical photo
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Memory Bank: Rallying for a baseball team
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 […]
Memory Bank: Closed Riverside Amusement Park
This photograph shows an aging and worn roller coaster at the former Riverside Amusement Park in the 1970s. Located adjacent to Riverside City Park, at West 30th Street between the White River and the Central Canal, Riverside Amusement Park was open from 1903 to 1970. Several factors led to the closure, including white flight, suburbanization […]
Under water
A flood in March 1913 left this unidentified street in Indianapolis under water. In this photo, the water rises above the horse’s hooves and covers the road and sidewalks entirely. Downpours began on Easter Sunday in 1913, and over three days—March 23-26—six inches of rain fell on the Circle City. At least 25 people died […]
Memory Bank: Constructing the Hoosier Dome
Construction on the Hoosier Dome, later named the RCA Dome, began in the early 1980s.
Memory Bank: Relaxing on the steps at Crispus Attucks
A group of students talk and read in front of an entrance to Crispus Attucks High School in this photo from the 1939 edition of the school’s yearbook. The school, at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and West 12th streets, just northwest of downtown, opened in 1927 as a segregated high school for the community’s […]
Memory Bank: Municipal Airport preceded IND
Three men—Indianapolis city employee Charles Hack, “Presto Lite” pilot Dick Knox and an unnamed American Airlines pilot—pose with a small plane at the Indianapolis Municipal Airport in the 1940s. The airport, which opened on Sept. 24, 1931, was later renamed Weir Cook Airport after Col. Harvey Weir Cook—a World War I flying ace from Indiana […]
Memory Bank: Christ Church Cathedral
Christ Church Cathedral is photographed in 1932, where it still stands. Established in 1837 on Monument Circle as the first Episcopalian church in Indianapolis. At the time, the church had to erect a fence around the property to keep pigs out of the churchyard. Construction began on the current building in 1857; the spire was […]
Memory bank: Shows at the theater
The theater opened as a 1,500-seat motion-picture and vaudeville theater.
Memory bank: At the pool
The pool at Broad Ripple Park opened in 1908 as an attraction at the White City Amusement Park, which had opened two years earlier at the northeast corner of Broad Ripple Village. The four-acre concrete swimming pool was the only attraction to survive a fire that burned the amusement park to the ground on June […]
Memory Bank: Art Fair
The first Talbot Street Art Fair was held on Mother’s Day weekend in 1956.
Memory bank: Celebrating the chess champs
The 1983 500 Festival Parade included local floats; high school marching bands, including the Arsenal Technical Marching Titans; and members from the School 27 chess team, who were national champions that year.
Memory Bank: School celebrations
Arsenal Technical High School drum corps members parade around Monument Circle in March 1929, after the school’s basketball team reached the state finals.
Memory Bank: Speedway resurgence
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was dormant during World War II but experienced a resurgence through the 1950s after it was purchased by Terre Haute businessman Tony Hulman.
Memory Bank: Circle Theatre rises
The Circle Theatre on Monument Circle, now known as the Hilbert Circle Theatre, was designed by Indianapolis architectural firm Rubush & Hunter and built in 1916.
Memory Bank: A crowded Midway
This photo from 1935 shows the crowd on the Midway. Snow cones were sold for 5 cents.
Memory Bank: A bustling City Market
This photo from 1981 shows an interior view of City Market, at 222 E. Market St.
Memory Bank: Soldiers come home
About six months after the allies in World War I signed an armistice with Germany, soldiers returned home to Indianapolis. The city held a Welcome Home Day on May 7, 1919, with a day-long celebration that included a parade and family reunions. A victory arch, a replica of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, was […]
Memory Bank: Brewing beer
The Indianapolis Brewing Co., which was founded in 1887 with the merger of three local breweries, was once one of the nation’s largest breweries.
Memory Bank: Set in Indiana
A crowd lines up outside the Indiana Theatre on June 14, 1944, to see the film “Home in Indiana,” a Henry Hathaway-directed movie about horse racing in Indiana. The film had its world debut in Indianapolis, and one of its stars, Jeanne Crain, visited Indiana for the premiere and to support local war-bond drives. The […]