The Walker Building was erected in 1927, eight years after the death of Madam C.J. Walker on May 25, 1919. The building, at 617 Indiana Ave., included a theater, drugstore, manufacturing company, beauty shop, ballroom and offices. It was saved from demolition in the 1970s and was restored in the 1980s, reopening in 1988 as […]
A captured Japanese submarine sits on display on Monument Circle in July 1943. Named HA-19, the submarine was one of five Japanese midget submarines involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. U.S. forces captured the submarine, and it was sent around the country to war-bond rallies from 1942 to 1945. Those who wanted […]
The Claypool was at one time the principal destination for political and business conventions, meetings and other events downtown.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Construction on the Hoosier Dome, later named the RCA Dome, began in the early 1980s.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The theater opened as a 1,500-seat motion-picture and vaudeville theater.
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 […]
The first Talbot Street Art Fair was held on Mother’s Day weekend in 1956.
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.
Arsenal Technical High School drum corps members parade around Monument Circle in March 1929, after the school’s basketball team reached the state finals.
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.
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.
This photo from 1935 shows the crowd on the Midway. Snow cones were sold for 5 cents.
This photo from 1981 shows an interior view of City Market, at 222 E. Market St.
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 […]
