Arthur Jordan, who was born in Madison, Indiana, was a highly successful entrepreneur in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. He had engaged successfully in a wide range of business enterprises, including bookselling, dairy sales, lock manufacturing and, finally, insurance. He founded the Meridian Life Insurance Company in 1899. Though Jordan himself never went to college, he became interested in Butler University because of some of his business associates who had gone there. Over his lifetime, he donated more than $1,000,000 to the university. <br><br>In the mid-1920s, Butler University moved from its previous location in Irvington to a new 246-acre campus in the Indianapolis suburb of Fairview. The Arthur Jordan Memorial Hall, named after the philanthropist, and most often known today simply as Jordan Hall, became, and remains today, the main building of the campus, housing many classrooms and administrative offices. <br><br>The structure was designed by Indiana architects Robert Frost Daggett and Thomas Hibben (a graduate of Butler) in the style called Collegiate Gothic, which would influence the design of many college and university buildings over the next three decades. Construction began in 1926 and was completed in 1927. It is executed in gray Carolina granite. Classes began to be held there in 1928, the same year that Jordan established the Arthur Jordan Foundation. He also founded the Jordan Conservatory of Music, which would become Butler University's Jordan College of the Arts.<br><br>

Jordan Hall during construction (W.H. Bass Photo Company Collection, Indiana Historical Society) 

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Indiana Historical Society- 1928 photo of Arthur Jordan Memorial Hall

Arthur Jordan Memorial Hall was the first building remains the center of the Fairview Campus of Butler University in Indianapolis. The building is named in honor of entrepreneur and philanthropist Arthur Jordan. Jordan Hall was constructed in 1927 and opened for classes the following year. In 1984, Jordan Hall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.


Arthur Jordan Memorial Hall

Meridian street 

<p>Even in a
basketball crazed state, “Indiana’s Basketball Cathedral,” as Hinkle Fieldhouse
is known, holds a very special place.&nbsp; It
was designed by Indianapolis architect Fermor Spencer Cannon and has become one
of the country’s great basketball arenas. &nbsp;Cannon designed it to accommodate the changing
nature of the game as players moved up and down the court at a quicker pace and
the walls and crowds needed to be moved away from the court.&nbsp; It also allowed 15,000 people to watch the game
they loved.</p><p>As plans for the design and construction of the arena were being developed,&nbsp;a deal was struck between Butler University and the Indiana High School Athletic Association. The association agreed to finance the cost of the arena at $1,000,000 in exchange for a lease agreement that allowed the annual state high school basketball tournament to be hosted at the facility. The state tournament was held consistently at the arena from 1928 to 1971 except the years (1943-1945)&nbsp;when the structure was used as a barracks for the US Navy and the&nbsp;US Army Air Forces&nbsp;during WWII.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Originally
known as Butler Fieldhouse, its name was changed in 1966 to honor long-time
coach Paul “Tony” Hinkle, who coached for over 40 years and has over 630 wins
to his credit.&nbsp; The Fieldhouse has also
undergone numerous changes and renovations.&nbsp;
Its court, which is still original, was reconfigured from an east/west alignment
to a north/south one to allow better spectating and to prevent the setting sun
from shining in the player’s eyes.&nbsp; It
was renovated in 1989 and its capacity was reduced from 15,000 to just over
11,000.&nbsp; Various offices were renovated
in 1992 and its capacity was reduced again during a major renovation in 2011 as
many bleachers were replaced with backed chairs.<br></p><p>

</p><p>In 2011 the
area that once housed the pool, which was removed in the late 1990s, was
redesigned as a 3-floor complex with work-out rooms, an academic center,
training facility, and administrative and coach’s offices.&nbsp; The most recent, $36 million renovations occurred
in 2014 in which the concourses were widened, a new scoreboard with video
playback added, over 9,700 windopanes replaced and locker rooms expanded into
suites&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>

</p><p><span>Aside from
the hundreds of Butler Bulldog games at Hinkle, it has also hosted Olympic
basketball trials, the first ever USA vs. USSR basketball game and ABA and NBA
all-star games.&nbsp; It has also been used
for more than “just” basketball as&nbsp;Hinkle has&nbsp;hosted numerous presidents, such as
Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, as well as presidential
candidates and evangelist Billy Graham.&nbsp;
It has been used for indoor track meets, tennis matches, marathon
bicycle races and circuses, among other things.&nbsp;
Finally, Hinkle Fieldhouse hosted the 1954 Indiana state high school
championship game between Milan and the larger Muncie Central. &nbsp;Coach Dale, Jimmy Chitwood, Buddy Walker and
the rest of the Hickory basketball team were then fictionalized to recreate
that game in the 1986 hit movie, <u>Hoosiers</u>.&nbsp; </span></p><p><i>Additional Information provided by Clio member, John Cross:</i><br></p><p>Hinkle Fieldhouse is located in Indianapolis,Indiana and serves as the home basketball court to the University of Butler mens and women's basketball teams. Hinkle was built in 1928 and at that time, it was the largest basketball arena in the United States. It held onto that distinction until 1950. It is the sixth oldest college basketball arena still in use and is part of the National Register of Historic Landmarks. The fieldhouse was part of a movement in college basketball that helped completely transform the game by making it a faster more up-and-down the court kind of game. Hinkle has played a part in many historic moments, movies, and basketball games.</p><p>Nicknamed ‘Indiana's Basketball Cathedral', Hinkle has played a major role in the development of basketball in Indiana. Butler signed a lease to allow the Indiana State Basketball tournament to be played there in order to get a corporation of 41 businessmen to finance the building for $1,000,000. The tournament was played there from 1928 to 1971 with the exception of 1943-1945 when the building played host to US forces as barracks during World War II. The tournament produced one of the greatest moments in the history of basketball when small school Milan High beat the state powerhouse Muncie Central to win the 1954 state championship. This game was so historic it played as the basis to one of the greatest sports movies ever made, Hoosiers which was largely filmed inside of Hinkle Fieldhouse in 1986.</p><p><br></p><p>The fieldhouse was originally named Butler Fieldhouse, but was later renamed in honor of the legendary coach at Butler Tony Hinkle. He coached basketball at Butler for 41 years and retired in 1970. Hinkle Fieldhouse has played host to many other historic games. In the first ever matchup of two top 15 teams in Hinkle Fieldhouse history on January 19, 2013, the Butler and Gonzaga Bulldogs faced off in an epic matchup. The game went down to the wire in front of a sell-out crowd of 11,043. The fans that were in attendance all rushed the court following the last second shot from Roosevelt Jones to beat Gonzaga. The fieldhouse has served as host to many US presidents, as well as the olympic basketball trials. It also played host to the first ever USA and USSR basketball game.</p><p><br></p><p></p><p>Hinkle fieldhouse breathes history as soon as you walk through the doors. You walk around the building and see all of the things you saw in Hoosiers, and visualize the movie happening when you see the court for the first time. It is a college basketball fans Hajj. If you love basketball and history you have to visit Hinkle Fieldhouse. There is not a better place in America to watch a basketball game. The Bulldogs have one of the best small school basketball programs in the country and are sure to put on a show in whatever game you attend. As many Butler fans exclaim when asked about Hinkle's history, “THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HINKLE!” That's true too. The history speaks for itself.</p><p>

</p>

Hinkle Fieldhouse is situated on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. The fieldhouse is the sixth-oldest active basketball arena in the United States and was the largest in the nation from the time of its construction in 1928 to 1950. The structure was added to the national register of historic places in 1983 and was designated a national historic landmark in 1987 for the role it played in the development of college basketball on both a state and national level. 

Hinkle Fieldhouse 

<div>Indiana's first "super highway" was the Michigan Road, which was built in the 1830s and 1840s and ran from Madison, Indiana to Michigan City, Indiana via Indianapolis. Like the National Road, it did much to spur settlement and economic growth. One-half of the pioneers to settle northwestern Indiana did so by using the Michigan Road to travel from the Ohio River to their destination. It was the "most ambitious" project to connect Indianapolis with the rest of the state.</div><div><br></div><div>One of the things that made the road possible was a treaty the state of Indiana forged with the Pottawatomie on October 16, 1826. Governor James B. Ray led the negotiations. It allowed for a ribbon of land 100 feet wide to stretch from the Ohio River (at Madison) to Lake Michigan (Michigan City). The Pottawatomie left the region by the very road when the last of their tribe was forcibly removed in the 1838 Pottawatomie Trail of Death.</div><div><br></div><div>A commission was selected to route the road from Indianapolis to Lake Michigan in 1828. It was told to make the trailhead be the best harbor, preferably natural, that could be had with Lake Michigan. The Kankakee River's swamp posed a problem for the construction of the road, forcing the commission to avoid a more direct northwesterly route and instead have it go from Logansport, Indiana straight up to the south bend of the St Joseph River (now South Bend, Indiana), and then west to Lake Michigan. Michigan City was formally selected to be the trail end in 1832.</div><div><br></div><div>The route from Madison to Indianapolis was straighter. From Madison it went north through Ripley and Jefferson counties straight to Napoleon, Indiana, and from there straight through Shelby County, Indiana to Indianapolis.</div><div><br></div><div>It proved to be the preferred route to Indianapolis for 34 separate counties, even through the road only went through 14 counties. In 1836 the Indiana General Assembly passed the Mammoth Internal Improvement Act, the act provided funds to pave the entire length of the road. However, the economic difficulties brought on by overspending and the Panic of 1837 caused the state to enter partial bankruptcy before the entire length could be paved. The situation forced Indiana to give control of the road to the individual counties as part of a plan to avoid losing it to the state's creditors.<br><br><div>State Road 29, originally much longer, followed the route from Madison to Bryantsburg, and from Napoleon in the south to Logansport in the north. State Road 25 followed the original route to Rochester, Indiana. U.S. Route 31 followed the original route from Rochester to South Bend, Indiana. State Road 2 and U.S. Route 20 follow the original road from South Bend to Michigan City.</div><div><br></div><div>The later U.S. Route 421 replaced Indiana State Road 29 from Madison to near Boyleston; the original route for US 421 was altered when Interstate 465 was constructed. A more "truck friendly" route was also built from Madison to North Madison. (The section of US 421 from Bryantsburg to Napoleon through Versailles was originally made SR 29 to conform with the law creating the state highway system in 1919.)</div><div><br></div><div>The original US 31 has been bypassed in several locations, most notably, in terms of the Michigan Road, from Rochester to north of Plymouth, Indiana. SR 29 from the south into Logansport has been decommissioned, as has the entire route (that which remains) from north of Greensburg (JCT I-74/US 421) to the northwest side of Indianapolis (JCT I-465/US 421).</div><div><br></div><div>In Indianapolis, a few remnants of the road still remain. A tollhouse stands just north of the White River. It was erected by the Augusta Gravel Road Company to recoup its costs in repairing the road.&nbsp;It was built about 1850, as a simple one-story frame building. It was raised to two stories in 1886. The building operated as a toll house from about 1866 to 1892. The building was also used as a&nbsp;post office, notary public office, and&nbsp;general store.</div></div>

Established in the late 1830s, the Michigan Road was the first major road for the state of Indiana. The road connected the Ohio River in SE Indiana with Michigan City, IN, located in the NW region of the state, alongside Lake Michigan. The road was vital the growth of Indiana, trade in region and in the nation's westward expansion. This toll house was established by Augusta Gravel Road Company in 1866 and lasted until 1892. It stands preserved as one of the few remnants of the old Michigan Road. 

Meridian street

Arthur Jordan Memorial Hall

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