The state of Indiana, nicknamed the Hoosier State, joined the Union as the 19th state on December 11, 1816. The city of Indianapolis is the state’s largest city, and it may be the most centrally located of all 50 state capital cities. For the last decade Indianapolis has had a population of about 890,000 residents; the only mid-west cities larger than Indianapolis are Chicago and Columbus, Ohio.
Indianapolis was founded in 1821, incorporated as a town in 1831, and incorporated as a city in 1847.
The current Indiana Statehouse, located at 200 W. Washington Street, was built in 1888, it is the fifth building to house the state government.
The Shelter House, completed in 1904, was the most sadly missed building in Indianapolis in the last four decades of the 20th century. The Spanish Mission style Riverside Park building was designed by Park Superintendent J. Clyde Power. The basement contained men’s and women’s golf locker rooms and a bicycle storage room, the first floor was an open dining and picnic room with a refreshment stand, the second floor contained an auditorium, and the roof featured four observation towers with views of the park. The building was razed circa 1960.
Railroads played an enormous role in the development of Indiana. There are two in Indianapolis. Indianapolis Union Station, completed in 1853, is the first “union station” in the United States. Located at 39 Jackson Place, it was operated by the Indianapolis Union Railway. The current Union Station, built as a replacement in 1887-1888, is one of the finest examples of the Romanesque Revival style in the Midwest and has served notable figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.
The Indianapolis Traction Terminal was the interurban train station. It was the largest interurban station in the world, and at its peak handled 500 trains per day and seven million passengers per year. The station opened in 1904 and remained in use until 1941, when interurban operation ended.
The city of Indianapolis has had a public library for more than 150 years. In 1870, the superintendent of Indianapolis public schools called a meeting of citizens to draft legislation for a public library. The state’s General Assembly adopted that legislation in 1871, and the Indianapolis Public Library opened in April 1873 with Charles Evans as head librarian. (Evans was also a founder of the American Library Association along with another librarian named, Melvil Dewey.)
The first site of the new library was within the confines of the local high school. In 1893, the first permanent building was erected, but in only seven years the facility had outlived its usefulness. By 1900 plans were afoot to create a new library. The plans were slow in progress until 1911 when James Whitcomb Riley donated land. Riley’s donation set the plans into motion, and architect, Paul Cret, who was in service at the time in France, managed to complete designs for the new library from the trenches during World War I. The new building opened in 1917.
The library on this postcard was the one that was located on the corner of Meridian Street and Ohio Street in downtown Indianapolis. The photo was likely taken between 1902 and 1904.
The Columbia Club (a private social/political organization that first called themselves The Harrison Marching Society) has had three clubhouses, each at the same address on Monument Circle. The original clubhouse stood from 1889 to 1898. That was where the Indiana Republican party met to support the candidacy of Benjamin Harrison for President of the United States. The original clubhouse was replaced with a five-story building that stood until 1925. The image on the card is from 1902.
The Claypool Hotel, a 600-room hotel on the northwest corner of Illinois Street and Washington Street was a tour-de-force of Henry Lawrence. It came to be in 1903 when the millionaire Edward Fay Claypool offered to finance Lawrence’s project. The Claypool would replace the Bates House. (The Bates House was built in 1853. It was where Abraham Lincoln stayed a night while on his way to Washington, D.C. in 1861 to be inaugurated for his first term as President.)
In addition to all the political folderol that has happened at the Claypool Hotel there have been two sensational murders there. In 1954, the body of 18-year-old Dorothy Poore was found stuffed in a dresser drawer. The police arrested a suspect one week later, a conviction was achieved, and a life sentence was imposed. The other crime, which was never solved, occurred on August 28, 1943. About 8 PM, that Saturday night, a hotel housekeeper found the body of Women’s Army Corps Cpl. Maoma Ridings during a routine room inspection. Corporal Ridings, who served as an Army nurse at Camp Atterbury (an Indiana National Guard facility near Edinburgh, Indiana) was in town on a weekend furlough.
The Claypool Hotel closed following a fire in June 1967, and the structure was demolished two years later.
The United States Court House and Post Office in Indianapolis is one of the largest office buildings in Indiana. Construction was completed in 1905 using a design by Philadelphia architects John Hall Rankin and Thomas Kellogg. One of the few federal office facilities that served a dual purpose, one part was occupied by the federal court of the Southern District of Indiana, the other part held the Indianapolis Post Office. The post office moved to a new building in 1973. In 2003, the building was named in honor of U.S. Senator Birch Bayh. The building is the oldest continually used federal building in Indiana.
Interesting insight into some historical buildings of Indianapolis. Thank You.
Such a wonderful and interesting way to learn the history of one of our great city’s! Thanks form California.
Great article, well illustrated with beautiful postcards. Tuck produced some great U.S. views.
As a resident of Indiana who’s been to “Indy” many times, I found it interesting to see century-old views of buildings that are still around today.