The monument on Monument Circle is Indiana’s official memorial to Hoosiers who fought in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Frontier Wars and the Spanish-American War.
Gov. Robert Orr stands beside a large elephant, while Indianapolis Mayor Bill Hudnut pets a baby elephant during a groundbreaking ceremony for a new zoo on Sept. 14, 1985. Washington Park Children’s Zoo, the city’s first zoo, opened in April 1964 at George Washington Park on East 30th Street. Two decades later, zoo officials wanted […]
Republican John Duvall took office as Indianapolis’ 27th mayor on Jan. 4, 1926.
In his first presidential campaign, Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was governor of New York at the time, made a stop in Indianapolis on Oct. 20, just days before the 1932 election, which was taking place in the middle of the Great Depression.
In this photo from 1916, fans of poet James Whitcomb Riley gather outside his home to pay their respects after his death.
The Marion County Courthouse was completed in 1876 at 200 E. Washington St.
Wheeler Mission was founded in 1893 under the name Door of Hope and led by William V. Wheeler, a hardware salesman who volunteered his time.
While campaigning in Indianapolis on April 4, 1968, for the Democratic nomination for president, U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy of New York, broke the news of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.
In this photo, Hoosiers came to Monument Circle for what the photo’s caption describes as an impromptu celebration.
Booth Tarkington, born in Indianapolis in 1869, became one of Indiana’s most famous authors and playwrights, enjoying both commercial and literary success.
The Boone County bank featured equipment that was modern at the time, including model screw door safes with triple-time locks and substantial vaults.
Christmas trees were first used to decorate Monument Circle in 1918, and the practice expanded after World War II.
The original Statehouse in Indianapolis was designed by architectural firm Town and Davis of New York in a Greek revival style and built in 1835 of brick and wood with a stucco exterior.
Leedy Manufacturing Co. in 1910 built a three-story building at the corner of Palmer Street and Barth Avenue, later expanding it to more than 51,000 square feet, to build drums.
The first mine in Warrick County—in the heart of Indiana’s coal country—opened on Pigeon Creek in 1818. By the end of that century, the Pigeon Creek area had some 97 active mines.
The 17-story building—the tallest building that sits directly on the Circle—is part of a National Register of Historic Places designation.
In this photo taken on Nov. 15, 1949, Vegetable Growers Association of America convention attendees tour Stokely-Van Camp’s canning facility near East and Raymond streets.
In 1872, to accommodate the growth in rail use, the city constructed a tunnel in the middle of Illinois Street so mule cars and other traffic could avoid railroad tracks that divided downtown.
Benjamin Harrison of Indianapolis ran for president in 1888, but typical of that time, he did not travel the country to campaign. Instead, supporters rolled a giant ball decorated with campaign slogans across the country,
Native Hoosier Wendell Willkie lost a fight against FDR’s Tennessee Valley Authority, which he called a monopoly, but gained the attention of Republicans, who nominated him to run for president against FDR in 1940, despite never having held public office.
