<p>Ovid Butler was born in Augusta, New York. His father, Chancey Butler, moved the family west to Jennings County, Indiana, in 1817. The elder Butler became one of the first Restoration Movement or Stone-Campbell Movement preachers in Indiana. Ovid studied law and practiced as an attorney in Shelbyville, Indiana, from 1825-1836. During this time he married Cordelia Cole. In 1836, the entire family moved to Indianapolis. Soon after, Ovid's wife, Cordelia, died in 1838. He remarried to a widow, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Elgin, daughter of one Thomas McOuat.</p><p>In Indianapolis, Ovid established a law firm with partners Calvin Fletcher, Simon Yandes and future Indianapolis mayor, Horatio C. Newcomb. Butler became interested and active in political and social issues. In 1849, Butler established the political and abolitionist newspaper Free Soil Banner. Due to bad health, Butler gave up his law practice in 1849, seeking retirement. With friend and fellow abolitionist, Calvin Fletcher, both men helped in formation of the 28th Regiment of Colored Troops (28th Regiment Indiana USCT).</p><p>As a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Butler sought to establish a university for that Christian movement. On January 15, 1850, the Indiana General Assembly approved the university. On November 1, 1855, the North Western Christian University opened. Ovid Butler served as the head of the Board of Directors until 1871. He became Chancellor of the University and, in 1877, the school became Butler University. Butler is also the namesake of the Ovid Butler Society, a recognition society for Butler University's most generous donors.</p><p> </p>

More Info

Butler University Digital Commons- Ovid Butler and the Founding of Butler University

The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement edited by Douglas Foster

Book

Born in New York, Ovid Butler would leave his mark in many ways in Indianapolis after moving here as a teenager. Throughout his life he was involved in abolitionism, education, and news media (as a newspaper publisher). Butler was also an attorney, recruiter for a regiment of African American soldiers during the Civil War, and founded Indianapolis's Butler University, a Christian university that bears his name. This marker sits where Butler's home, "Forest Home," still stands. 

Ovid Butler, Sr. Historic Marker

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This walking tour starts just north of downtown Indy and makes its way to the downtown area, complete with stops at monuments and historic buildings, museums, and cultural landmarks. 

The Indianapolis Propylaeum was founded in 1888 and was originally located at 17 E. North Street, the present-day site of War Memorial Plaza. The organization grew out of the "club movement" of the late 1800s, a time when women had few opportunities outside the home. The organization, the first in the U.S. to be financed entirely by women stockholders, provided numerous educational opportunities for women and became a gathering place for several women's organizations.<br><br>One of the Propylaeum's most influential founders and leaders was May Wright Sewall, a native of Wisconsin who moved to Indiana with her first husband. Sewall was an educator, a peace activist, and a suffragette who counted among her acquaintances Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Sewall was also a founder of the Art Association, a precursor to the Indianapolis Museum of Art.&nbsp;<br><br>Sewall's second husband, Theodore Lovett Sewall, was an educator who led the Classical School for Boys. May persuaded him to open a Classical School for Girls in 1882, which operated until 1907, when financial problems forced the school's closure. When the Propylaeum was founded, Sewall envisioned it as an organization which would "foster the love of literature, music, science, and the fine arts; to provide women a social and cultural center."<br><br>The Propylaeum of today still encourages May Sewall's vision by hosting special events, etiquette classes, and cultural activities. The building is open or tours, and still includes many original pieces from the late 1800s and early 1900s, as well as numerous interesting artifacts. The Carole Lombard Room includes furniture from the Claypool Hotel room where Lombard spent her last night, before dying in a plane crash on the return trip.<br><br>Sewall died in Indianapolis in 1920, only a few months after women were given the right to vote.

Located in the Old Northside District, the building known as the Indianapolis Propylaeum was originally a private residence built by John Schmidt, a beer baron. In 1923, the structure was sold to the Indianapolis Propylaeum, an organization founded in 1888. The Propylaeum was a cultural and literary organization open exclusively to women.

The Propylaeum

<h4><strong>History of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site</strong></h4><p>The year was 1854, and Ohio native Benjamin Harrison had just arrived in Indianapolis with his wife, Caroline, to practice law at the office of John H. Ray. With a prominent career in place and the arrival of the Civil War, Benjamin Harrison was at a crossroads between supporting his family and answering President Lincoln’s call for more recruits for the Union Army. </p><p>Eventually, and after many discussions with Indiana Governor Oliver Morton, Harrison commanded the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division of the XX Corps, a distinction that would put him on the front lines and eventually get him nominated to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers by Abraham Lincoln himself. </p><p>Back in Indianapolis after the war and elected as a reporter for the Supreme Court of Indiana, Harrison’s reputation grew. By 1872, Harrison campaigned for the Republican nomination for the Governor of Indiana, but ultimately lost his bid, and despite the Panic 1873, Harrison’s personal wealth from the law office led him and Caroline to build the Italianate mansion on 1230 N. Delaware in 1874. </p><p>The home was finished in 1875 at a cost of around $24,000, and it features the building plans of architect Herman T. Brandt. Within the red brick house, there are 16 total rooms.</p><p>Harrison became the 23rd President of the United States between 1889 and 1893. During his presidency, Harrison led the nation along the path to a world empire better than any president before him, and he stood as the model for later president Theodore Roosevelt.</p><p>Some of his foreign policy successes include supporting the annexation of Hawaii, the establishment of a protectorate in Samoa, and his push for a trans-isthmus canal in Central America. In other areas, especially domestic industrial development and poverty, Harrison is not considered to be the best Reconstruction Era president, though he is far from the worst. </p><p>Aside from his term as an Indiana Senator and U.S. President, Harrison and his family lived in the Italianate house. Caroline, his wife, died in 1892 while Harrison was president, and he returned to the home as a widower. Harrison then outfitted the home with electricity, an English-Regency front porch, and updated plumbing systems. </p><p>After Harrison died in 1901, his children, Mary and Elizabeth, lived in the home until 1913, and then from 1913 to 1937, several occupants rented the home. </p><p>By 1964, the United States Department of Interior named the home a U.S. National Landmark.1 </p><p><br /></p><h4><strong>Features of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site</strong></h4><p>Nowadays, the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site stands as a snapshot into the life of Indiana’s only U.S. President and the state’s most accomplished citizen. </p><p>Daily guided tours are available throughout the year, and many rotating exhibits are available on the home’s third floor. As an example, one exhibit was “Death in the White House,” which paid tribute to the eight presidents and three first ladies who have died in the White House. </p><p><br /></p><p>The collection at the Benjamin Harrison home includes a gallery of Caroline Harrison’s art, Women’s Suffrage information and archives, and a research library.2 Objects related to President Harrison include his Civil War sword; a photo of his original regiment, the 70th Indiana Infantry, at a reunion in Washington, DC for Harrison's inauguration; and items from his 1891 trip around the nation. Other pieces in the presidential site's collection relate to the Harrison family, several of which were received on presidential trips. </p>

The Benjamin Harris Presidential Site stands as one of Indianapolis’s greatest historic and political charms. Located in the Old Northside Historic District and featuring an Italianate style architecture common in the 1870s and ‘80s, the Benjamin Harris Presidential Site also marks the spot where Harris created his famous Front Porch Campaign during the 1888 Presidential Elections.

Benjamin and Caroline Harrison built the home in 1874-1875. Harrison lived in the home until he died in 1901, except for his U.S. Senate and presidential years. His family continued to live in the home until 1913. His second wife, Mary Lord Harrison, made the home a rental property until 1937, when she sold it to the Jordan Conservatory of Music with the understanding the home and its artifacts would be forever preserved. The school used the home as a dormitory while maintaining certain rooms as presidential museum space.  

In 1966, a not-for-profit operating foundation was established to run home as a historic site open to the public. From the 1950s until 1974, tours were by appointment only. After a 1974 renovation, the entire home was opened for regular daily tours.

The Benjamin Harris Presidential Site is a U.S. National Landmark and it is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. 

Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site

<p>Ovid Butler was born in Augusta, New York. His father, Chancey Butler, moved the family west to Jennings County, Indiana, in 1817. The elder Butler became one of the first Restoration Movement or Stone-Campbell Movement preachers in Indiana. Ovid studied law and practiced as an attorney in Shelbyville, Indiana, from 1825-1836. During this time he married Cordelia Cole. In 1836, the entire family moved to Indianapolis. Soon after, Ovid's wife, Cordelia, died in 1838. He remarried to a widow, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Elgin, daughter of one Thomas McOuat.</p><p>In Indianapolis, Ovid established a law firm with partners Calvin Fletcher, Simon Yandes and future Indianapolis mayor, Horatio C. Newcomb. Butler became interested and active in political and social issues. In 1849, Butler established the political and abolitionist newspaper Free Soil Banner. Due to bad health, Butler gave up his law practice in 1849, seeking retirement. With friend and fellow abolitionist, Calvin Fletcher, both men helped in formation of the 28th Regiment of Colored Troops (28th Regiment Indiana USCT).</p><p>As a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Butler sought to establish a university for that Christian movement. On January 15, 1850, the Indiana General Assembly approved the university. On November 1, 1855, the North Western Christian University opened. Ovid Butler served as the head of the Board of Directors until 1871. He became Chancellor of the University and, in 1877, the school became Butler University. Butler is also the namesake of the Ovid Butler Society, a recognition society for Butler University's most generous donors.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>

<p>The Morris-Butler House is located in a neighborhood in
Indiana known as the Old North Side, which is surrounded by Pennsylvania Street,
College Avenue, 16th Street, and I-65. Many of those who were
wealthy would build large houses on the lots that lined Meridian Street. Those
who were not able to afford a lot on Meridian Street bought lots on nearby
streets; this caused a residential expansion into what is now known as the Old
North Side, along Pennsylvania Delaware, and Alabama Streets.</p><p>The Old
North Side neighborhood soon became less attractive to the city’s wealthy
population in the 1920s. The automobile became the major mode of
transportation, and the city’s prosperous residents began to move even farther
away from downtown to purchase larger lots. The residential landscape of the
western half of the Old North Side began to change as profitable buildings and
elegant apartment buildings replaced homes along Meridian, Pennsylvania, and
Delaware streets. There was a housing shortage during and after World War II,
and it led to the division of many larger homes into apartments. By the 1960s,
landlords had begun to neglect the homes, and many people had vandalized the
homes. By the mid-1970s, over half of the original houses of the neighborhood
had been demolished.</p><p>The
Morris-Butler house, which is a Second Empire-style home, was designed by an architect
named Diedrich A. Bolen. Diedrich built the home between the years of 1864 and
1865 for the Morris family. John D. Morris, the son of an Indianapolis pioneer,
purchased a lot from Butler University’s founder Ovid Butler, in the Old
North Side. John Morris worked with the railroad as an agent and worked with the Capital City Planning Mill ten years later.&nbsp;When the economy saw a depression,
John Morris defaulted on a loan, which led to bankruptcy in 1867. After the
Morris family went bankrupt, they moved to Woodruff Place, a home that no
longer exists today.</p>

<p>The
Morris-Butler Home eventually fell into disorder because Florence Butler became
a hoarder. When Miss Butler would order groceries, she lowered a basket with
money from an upper window, to pay the delivery man. She would do this so the
delivery man wouldn't have to enter her home. Many of the pieces from the house
were sold at an auction after Florence passed away, and most of the furnishings
in the museum are not from the original house.</p><p>The
Park avenue Gallery operated the Morris-Butler House from 1957 to 1964. Many
artists rented apartments and studios and shared a gallery space in the
stairway and front hall. A man named Eli Lily urged the Historic Landmarks
Foundation of Indiana to purchase the home, and he offered $22,500 to purchase
and list it in the National Register of Historic Places. Due to lack of
finances, the Morris family did not finish the interior spaces, so a restoration crew finally completed the job with architectural glass, hardware,
and doors.</p><p>Today,
the Morris-Butler House looks much like it did upon completion. The restoration
work included repairing damaged floors, washing the darkened brickwork, and
adding a new slate roof. The Morris-Butler home was opened to the public in
1969, and it now hosts several educational programs, holiday performances, and
cultural events.</p><p>The
Morris-Butler house can hold forty people in the parlor, forty people in the
dining room and library, thirty people in the lower floor meeting rooms, and
125 people on the lawn. This museum does offer accommodations for those with
special needs. The areas that are available for rent are
handicapped-accessible. However, the third floor is not, because it is not
available for rent. There is parking available on site; which offers seventeen
spots and the large parking lot offers parking as well.&nbsp;</p>

The Morris-Butler House is located in a neighborhood in Indiana known as the Old Northside, which is surrounded by Pennsylvania Street, College Avenue, 16th Street, and I-65. The Morris-Butler house, which is a Second Empire-style home, was designed by an architect named Diedrich A. Bolen. Diedrich built the home between the years of 1864 and 1865 for the Morris family. John D. Morris, the son of an Indianapolis pioneer, purchased a lot from Butler University’s founder Ovid Butler, in the Old Northside. Restorations have been made to the home, and it looks much like it did when the renovations were complete. Now, several educational programs, cultural events, and holiday performances are held at the home. 

Morris-Butler House 

John Freeman, a free African American, became an
Indianapolis landowner in 1844. Nine years later, he was falsely claimed as a
fugitive slave by Pleasant Ellington of Missouri and arrested. The ensuing
trial was widely publicized, and though Freeman and his lawyers won the case,
Freeman lost his life savings and suffered humiliating treatment at the hands
of U.S. Deputy Marshal John L. Robinson. Thanks to donations from churches in
Indiana and Freeman's native state of Georgia, he and his family were able to
retain their home and garden plot and eventually move to Canada [1; 2].



<p><b>About John Freeman</b></p>



<p>Freeman moved from Georgia to Indianapolis in 1844. Starting
with $600 in his new bank account, he worked as a house painter until he saved
up enough to buy his first four acres of land (at present-day Capitol and
Michigan Streets) [1; 2]. He married, had three children, actively participated
in the local African American Baptist church and its community service
projects, and built up $6,000 worth of real estate over the next nine years [2].
</p>



<p>In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law was passed to pacify
Southern slave states, requiring runaway slaves to be returned to their former
states and masters should they reach the North. All the proof required against
a free African American was an affidavit by the claimant, and no jury trial was
offered. Intervening on behalf of a claimed slave could result in criminal
charges and jail time. On June 20, 1853, John Freeman was arrested as "Sam",
the alleged runaway slave of Pleasant Ellington, a St. Louis Methodist minister.
Friends of Freeman convinced Indianapolis Commissioner Squire Sullivan to allow
him a trial. Indianapolis lawyers John L. Ketcham, Lucian Barbour, and John
Coburn worked for Freeman's defense, while L. D. Walpole and J.A. Liston worked
for the prosecution. A nine-week postponement was granted to the defense, but Sullivan
refused Freeman's bail, in spite of the open support of prominent leaders,
including a judge, for the defendant. Freeman spent the nine weeks in jail and
had to pay a daily fee for the jailer who kept him hostage. Meanwhile, Freeman
directed his lawyers to witnesses in his home state of Georgia to confirm that
he had been a free man from 1831-1844. The real escaped slave, Sam, was found
in Canada, going by the name of William McConnell. McConnell agreed to come to
Indianapolis for the trial, in spite of the danger to himself [2].</p>



<p>When Ellington's three witnesses requested an examination of
Freeman's naked body to confirm his identity, the defense objected. Newspaper
reports of Deputy Marshal Robinson's compliance with the prosecution, over the
objections of Freeman and his lawyers, and his forcing of Freeman to strip
naked in front of Ellington's witnesses, caused public outrage—one town even
burned an effigy of the Marshal. Whether because of this outrage or because of
mounting evidence in Freeman's favor, Ellington fled Indianapolis before the
trial and the case was dismissed [2]. Freeman was congratulated by a group of African
American citizens at an August 29th meeting at the Masonic Hall [1]. Freeman's
lawyers dropped all fees, but the cost of transporting the witnesses to
Indiana, combined with the fee for his jailor, deprived Freeman of his life
savings. He brought civil suits against Ellington and Robinson; he won the suit
against Ellington, but by then Ellington had sold his St. Louis home and
disappeared. A technicality over the Marshal's county of residence blocked the
suit against Robinson in 1855. Freeman sold most of his real estate, keeping
his house and garden thanks to donations from churches in Indiana and Georgia.
When the Civil War broke out, Freeman and his family moved to Canada [2].<br></p>

John Freeman, a free African American, became an Indianapolis landowner in 1844. Nine years later, he was falsely claimed as a fugitive slave by Pleasant Ellington of Missouri and arrested. The ensuing trial was widely publicized, and though Freeman and his lawyers won the case, Freeman lost his life savings and suffered humiliating treatment at the hands of U.S. Deputy Marshal John L. Robinson. Thanks to donations from churches in Indiana and Freeman's native state of Georgia, he and his family were able to retain their home and garden plot and eventually move to Canada [1; 2]. 

John Freeman Historic Marker

<div>The Indianapolis Public Library (formerly known as the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library) is the public library system serving the citizens of Marion County, Indiana, United States and its largest city, Indianapolis. The library was founded in 1873 and has grown to include a Central Library building, located adjacent to the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza, and 22 branch libraries spread throughout the county. The library attracts over four million visitors each year and circulates nearly 16 million items. The library's mission is to enrich lives and build communities through lifelong learning. Its vision is to be a center of knowledge, community life and innovation for Indianapolis.</div><div><br></div><div>The Central Library building was designed by architect Paul Philippe Cret, (with Zantzinger, Borie and Medary) and completed in 1917. A complete historic renovation and a major addition to the library was designed by Woollen, Molzan and Partners. The newly renovated Central Library building opened on December 9, 2007, ending a controversial multi-year rebuilding plan.<br><br>The Central Library also houses the Nina Mason Pulliam Indianapolis Special Collections Room containing a variety of archival adult and children’s materials, both fiction and nonfiction books by local authors, photographs, scrapbooks, typescripts, manuscripts, autographed editions, letters, newspapers, magazines, and realia. The collection features Kurt Vonnegut, May Wright Sewall, the Woollen family, James Whitcomb Riley, and Booth Tarkington.<br></div>

Visitors to the memorial mall will find the Central Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library and its Indianapolis Special Collections Room at the far north end of the mall. The library was built in 1917, using Indiana limestone upon a base of Vermont marble. The city doubled the size of the library in 2001, combining the original neoclassical building with a modern glass structure featuring an enclosed glass atrium supported by a latticework of columnns. The Indianapolis Special Collections Room features rare photographs, scrapbooks, typescripts, manuscripts, autographed editions, letters, newspapers, and other one-of-a-kind items related to the city's history. 

Indianapolis Public Library

<div>The Sylvania was built by Elizabeth Palmer, a wealthy widow who moved to Indianapolis a few years prior. She built the property as an investment after demolishing her own large family home at the site, a popular building trend at the time. Multi-family residences were becoming increasingly popular in Indianapolis at the time, partly as a result of the city's massive population growth at the time.</div><div><br></div><div>At the time of its construction, the Sylvania was directly across the street from the Girls Classical School, making the apartments a popular choice with young, well-heeled Indianapolis women.&nbsp;<br><br>The Sylvania consisted of two three-story detached buildings, with two large units per floor. This style was known as the eastern flat, an architectural style that was particularly common in the north side's "flat district."<br><br>In the 1980s, when the Sylvania was in consideration for the National Register of Historic Places, the buildings were restored to their original state, with some modern additions. The buildings have restored original wood elements, an oak staircase, and brass fixtures. The apartments were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.<br><br></div>

The Sylvania, built in 1906, is an historic apartment complex in Indianapolis. The building faces 801 North Pennsylvania Street. It was built by Elizabeth Palmer, a wealthy widow who moved to Indianapolis a few years prior. She built the property as an investment after demolishing her own large family home at the site, a popular building trend at the time. 

At the time of its construction, the Sylvania was directly across the street from the Girls Classical School, making the apartments a popular choice for well-heeled young Indianapolis women. 

The Sylvania

<span>Zerelda Gray Sanders was born on August 6, 1817 in Kentucky. She was a leading member of the Church of Christ (now the Central Christian Church of Indiana) and a strong advocate of temperance. Her opposition to alcohol led to several other public positions and led her to advocate equal political rights for women as a way of securing important social reforms. She married future governor David Wallace in 1836. <br><br>Zeralda Wallace became a leading member within her church. She convinced many of the leaders of the congregation to change the practice of offering fermented wine as part of the communion service. She and others worked to convince local politicians of the evil of alcohol in the 1870s and 1880s, and was one of the first leaders of the newly-formed Women's Christian Temperance Union of Indiana. This effort placed women like Zeralda&nbsp;Wallace in the public sphere. It also led to Wallace becoming a colleague of leading women and future advocates of equal suffragists such as Frances Willard. <br><br>Wallace presented a petition of over twenty-one thousand Indiana residents who supported temperance to the state legislature in 1875. After being rudely received by many of the male legislators, and after years of attempting to convince male political leaders to support their cause with limited results, Zeralda Wallace and other Indiana women increasingly supported equal suffrage for all citizens. In 1878, women met at Zeralda Wallace's home and formed the</span> Equal Suffrage Society of Indianapolis. In 1880, Wallace testified in favor of equal suffrage for women before the United States Senate Committee&nbsp;on the Judiciary.&nbsp;

This historic marker is located just north of the Central Christian Church and pays tribute to Zerelda G. Wallace, the first president of the Indiana Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Wallace presented a petition calling for a ban on alcohol signed by over 21,000 residents to the Indiana General Assembly in 1875. She would later become a leading voice on behalf of voting rights for women through her membership within the Equal Suffrage Society of Indianapolis. She also served as First Lady of Indiana when her husband became the governor in 1837. 

Zerelda G. Wallace Historical Marker

Though often assumed to be a native of Chicago--perhaps because he was killed there--John Dillinger was actually a Hoosier by birth; he was born in Indianapolis and spent his childhood in nearby Mooresville. After becoming "Public Enemy No. 1," the gangster made regular appearances in central Indiana, often to escape Chicago law enforcement.&nbsp;<br><br>In the late summer of 1933, the homegrown gangster made another appearance in Indiana and made his only robbery of an Indianapolis bank. After having drinks with some of his associates at the Dorman Street Saloon, Dillinger got the idea to rob the Massachusetts Avenue State Bank. The robbery netted Dillinger $24,800 and earned him the moniker "Jackrabbit" after the <i>Indianapolis Star</i> reported that he jumped over the cashier's cage. The robbery is believed to be the largest bank heist in the United States up to that time, and the money from the Massachusetts Avenue State Bank was never recovered.&nbsp;<br><br>Later that month, Dillinger was arrested and jailed in Ohio. It was a short-lived triumph for law enforcement, however, as Dillinger escaped in short order.&nbsp;<br><br>The building that was once the Massachusetts Avenue State Bank now functions as an art gallery, Art Bank, which opened in 2007.&nbsp;The interior still looks much like a bank, and each room has a bank theme. In addition to showcasing the work of twenty artists, the Art Bank uses the old vault as a book store focusing on Indiana authors, while the upstairs is an art supply store.&nbsp;

Located in the Mass Ave cultural district, Art Bank, a gallery showcasing roughly twenty artists, has another distinction: it was once a bank which was robbed by Indiana gangster John Dillinger and his accomplices.

John Dillinger Robbery Site (Art Bank)

Construction of the Murat Temple was completed in 1909 based on the designs of architect Oscar Bohlen, himself a Murat Shriner. The building is noteworthy for its Egyptian and Middle Eastern influences, including minarets, terra cotta, and stained glass. The building's facade is striking, but its interior is equally impressive, with marble, brass, terrazzo tile, mosaics, and hand-carved murals used throughout.<br><br>The Murat Temple is the only Shrine temple in the world with a French-sounding name. The temple was named for an oasis in the Nubian desert, Bir Murat, which was named for Marshal Joachim Murat, one of Napoleon's generals who commanded troops in Egypt. This is the source of the Shrine's Egyptian Room, one of the building's most opulent features. The room features strikingly high ceilings and hand-carved murals. The Egyptian Room was added in 1922 and was designed to emulate King Tut's tomb.<br><br>The Murat Shrine is known throughout Indianapolis for its theater, an addition which was built in 1910. Another addition was added in 1968. Over its long lifespan, the theater has hosted some of the most well-known entertainers of its day, as well as numerous Broadway plays. Winston Churchill spoke in the theater in 1932.&nbsp;<br><br>Though built as a headquarters for the Shriners, the building is now used exclusively as an entertainment venue. It includes a 2,500-seat performing arts theater and and 1,800-seat concert hall. Additionally, there are nine other areas for hosting events, including the Egyptian Room, which can accommodate 2,000 people. The temple underwent a major restoration in 1995.

The Murat Shrine and the Old National Centre complex serve as both an entertainment facility and the largest Shrine temple in North America. The building was constructed in 1909 to serve as the headquarters for the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Order. The complex includes the Murat Theatre and the Egyptian Room, which can both accommodate large audiences. 

Murat Shrine and Old National Centre

Many Germans who supported the&nbsp;failed liberal revolution of 1848, followed the&nbsp;philosophy of Friedrich Jahn that stressed physical fitness. These individuals established gymnasiums throughout America that became centers of German social and cultural life, as well as places to exercise and enjoy athletic&nbsp;competitions. More than simply a gymnasium, such centers were founded to cultivate "a sound mind in a sound body," and to serve as a space in which German culture and heritage could be celebrated.<br><br>The building was designed by the architects Vonnegut &amp; Bohn, who chose a German Renaissance Revival for the building. (Interestingly, the architect Vonnegut was the grandfather of novelist Kurt Vonnegut.) While an ongoing restoration project began in the 1990s, the building contains the original theater as well as the original Rathskeller restaurant.&nbsp;<br><br>Anti-German sentiment was widespread during and after the two World Wars, During the First World War, when anti-German sentiment was particularly pervasive, the Das Deutsche Has was renamed the Athenaeum. More recently, however, efforts have been made to preserve the site's German heritage.&nbsp;<br><br><br>

Das Deutsche Haus (presently known as The Athenaeum) was built in 1893 and served as a headquarters and meeting space for for German resident of Indianapolis. This German Romanesque building has been restored and is home to a theater, art gallery, and biergarten . The building is also home to the Rathskeller restaurant. Established in 1894, this is the oldest continuously-operating restaurant for hundreds of miles. It is also home to the Indiana German Heritage Society. 

This historic structure provided a gymnasium for members, a central part of the uniquely German phenomenon known as the Turnverein Movement that stressed physical and mental well-being through rigorous gymnastic exercise. The building also held meeting rooms, classrooms, a theater and beer hall, and even a bowling alley. 

The Athenaeum (Formerly Das Deutsche Haus)

History of St. Vincent's Infirmary provided by&nbsp;Gail Gráinne Whitchurch&nbsp;of Indiana University-Purdue University of Indiana:<br><br><br><div>This state historic marker near the northwest corner of East Vermont Street and North Park Avenue commemorates the first location of St. Vincent's Infirmary. From 1881-1889, the first location was here and, from 1889-1913, the second location was at the southeast corner of East South Street and South Delaware Street.</div><div><br></div><div>St. Vincent's Infirmary: First Location, 1881-1889</div><div><br></div><div>In the late 1880s this city block, bounded by East, Michigan, Liberty (now Park Avenue), and Vermont Streets, had a brick perimeter wall--parts of which are intact. This eastern half of the block contained the original St. Joseph Catholic Church (later moved to the southwest corner of College Avenue and North Street) and its seminary. In 1881, a vacant seminary building became St. Vincent's Infirmary when six sisters from the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul came from Maryland to establish a medical facility at the request of then-Bishop Silas Chatard.</div><div><br></div><div>Some city residents had deemed a hospital in a residential area a "public nuisance," with concerns such as adequacy of the city water supply and sewers for removing hospital waste: "[F]oul air constantly escaping, impregnating persons along the line of flow with the seeds of disease." Bishop Chatard, who had been a physician before his ordination, responded that hospitals needed to be located where they could serve the greatest number of people. He wrote that he intended that St. Vincent's Infirmary not be permanently located in the seminary building, stating his hope that Indianapolis citizens would "take enough interest in this work to enable those connected with it to buy a suitable site elsewhere, and there build [a larger] edifice . . . ." Just as he envisioned, St. Vincent's Infirmary outgrew its space rapidly so, between 1887 and 1889, a larger $111,000 facility was constructed about a mile to the south.</div><div><br></div><div>St. Vincent's Infirmary: Second Location, 1889-1913</div><div><br></div><div>Located at the southeast corner of East South Street and South Delaware Street, the second St. Vincent's Infirmary stood four stories high, with 38 private rooms and eight open wards providing space for 150 patients. The most famous patient was President Theodore Roosevelt, treated there on September 23, 1902, for an infected cut on his shin. Nevertheless, St. Vincent's Infirmary continued to treat patients who could not afford to pay.</div><div><br></div><div>In 1902, St. Vincent's Infirmary was hailed as one of the "three great hospitals of the city"--a far cry from the public nuisance that had been feared. The South and Delaware Streets region was Indianapolis's medical hub, with numerous related facilities nearby, such as Eli Lilly and Company. By the 1910s, however, it had become an industrial area: railroad tracks and train sheds had been built across the street to the north, and the dangerous acetylene-compression Prest-o-Lite factory was immediately adjacent to the south. Noise, dirt, and danger contributed to the decision to move St. Vincent's away from the city center in 1913. The old infirmary building subsequently served a variety of purposes, and was finally demolished in 1958.</div><div><br></div><div>St. Vincent Hospital Locations: 1913 to the Present</div><div><br></div><div>With a name change to St. Vincent's Hospital, a new facility was built on the north side of Fall Creek Boulevard between Capitol Avenue and Illinois Street. The hospital remained there until 1974, when it moved to its current location at 2001 West 86th Street. In 2012, the old hospital building on Fall Creek Boulevard, heavily renovated, became the headquarters of Ivy Tech Community College.</div><br>

This historic marker is located at the first spot of St. Vincent's Infirmary, one of the largest Catholic Health Ministries in Indiana. The infirmary was located here from 1881-1889. Deeming the building to be too small for its increasing numbers, a fundraiser was held for a larger building. The infirmary was moved to the South and Delaware streets area. It was at this located that the infirmary received its most famous patient in 1902: US President Teddy Roosevelt, who was suffering from an infected cut to his shin. With industry rapidly taking over Indianapolis, the infirmary moved again in 1913 to the north side of Fall Creek Boulevard between Capitol Avenue and Illinois Street. There it became a full fledged hospital and moved again in 1974 to its current location of West 86th Street. In 2007, former Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, was instrumental in the creation of the Children's Hospital at St. Vincent's. 

St. Vincent's Infirmary 

<p>In 1972, a prosperous Indianapolis baker, John H. Nickum, built a two-story Victorian house of red brick on Lockerbie Street in Indianapolis in the Italianate style, which was very popular in the 1860s and 1870s. Its design included high arched windows, a central tower at the south facade, and a white porch with wooden archways and a carved balustrade. Nickum's wife, his daughter Magdalena and her husband, Major Charles Holstein, also moved into the house with him.</p><p>Major Holstein, a Harvard Law graduate and former U.S. Assistant Attorney, as well as a poet himself, befriended the famous poet James Whitcomb Riley, who frequently was a welcome guest at the house. At that time he stayed at the Denison Hotel whenever he was not traveling, but in 1893, when the poet was in his early-to-mid 40s, the Holsteins suggested that he move in with them as a paying guest, and Riley took them up on the offer. He came to call the house, affectionately, "Lockerbie Land," as it gave him the secure domestic environment he wanted. Also, as his poetry nostalgically extolled ordinary Americans in rustic settings, the spacious and comfortable but far from grand house was much more appropriate to his public image than an imposing mansion would have been.</p><p>A few years after his death, a group of prominent Indianapolis citizens, including author Booth Tarkington, formed the Riley Memorial Association, which preserved the Riley home as a museum, with much of the furniture and many of Riley's personal effects, including his writing desk and top hat and cane, intact. (In a sense, however, calling the structure the "Riley Home" is misleading, as the poet neither built nor ever owned the house.) The house is the most prominent landmark of the Lockerbie Square Historic District. In 1921, the Association became the Riley Children's Foundation, which, in addition to preserving the house, now runs a children's hospital and a summer camp. </p>

In 1893, Indiana's celebrated "Hoosier Poet," James Whitcomb Riley was invited by his longtime friends Charles and Magdalena Holstein to move in with them at their Victorian two-story, red brick house on Lockerbie Street in Indianapolis. Technically, Riley was a boarder, as he paid rent to the Holsteins. However, Riley lived as if he were a family member and became deeply fond of this house, which he considered his home. Riley remained there until his death at age 66 in 1916. Very soon afterward, local fans of the poet formed the Riley Memorial Association to purchase and preserve the house in Riley's memory, and this Association later became the Riley Children's Foundation. The Riley Home was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.    


James Whitcomb Riley Home

When the city of Indianapolis was laid out, its founders sold excess land to developers for the development of residential areas. A Scottish family, the McQuats, purchased land to the northeast of Mile Square, and named it for their homeland, Lockerbie, Scotland. Initially, most of the families who made homes in Lockerbie Square were Scottish or Scots-Irish. By the mid-1800s, a number of German immigrants began settling in the district, enough that the area was regularly referred to as "Germantown."<br><br>As was the case with a number of Indianapolis neighborhoods, Lockerbie Square was a mixture of both working-class and more prosperous families. The district peaked in the late 1800s and early 1900s. By World War I, however, industries began to encroach on the neighborhood, and few new homes were built after 1910. By the time of World War II, the neighborhood was in a state of decline, with many of the homes used as boarding houses.&nbsp;<br><br>By the 1960s, however, there was a growing interest in preservation and efforts were made to save Lockerbie Square. In 1973, the neighborhood was included on the National Register of Historic Places. Lockerbie Street was replaced with cobblestones and Victorian street lamps were placed along the sidewalks.&nbsp;<br><br>Among the most historically significant homes in the district is the former residence of writer James Whitcomb Riley at 528 East Lockerbie Street. Riley lived in the home for 23 years.<br>The first residence in the neighborhood was the home of the McQuats, at 527 East Lockerbie Street. The home was originally constructed in the Greek Revival style, but was later given Victorian Era additions in the form of an over-sized gable and a porch. The Athenaeum (formerly known as Das Duetsche House) is adjacent to the north east boundary of Lockerbie Square, at 407 East Michigan Street.&nbsp;<br><br><br><br><br>

Built in 1863, the Johan Despa House is among a number of historic homes within Lockerbie Square, the oldest surviving residential neighborhood in Indianapolis. Many immigrants, settled in this area of the city, particularly Scottish, Scots-Irish, and German settlers. The neighborhood takes its name from Lockerbie Street, which was named for the Lockerbie family.

Johan Despa House and Lockerbie Square Historic District 

Johnny Gruelle, the man whose creation would delight generations of children, moved with his family to Indianapolis when he was a young boy. His father, R.B. Gruelle was an acclaimed artist and was a member of the Hoosier Group of painters. Writer James Whitcomb Riley was a Gruelle family friend, so young Johnny Gruelle's childhood was one surrounded by creative, artistic people.&nbsp;<br><br>Gruelle began his career as a newspaper cartoonist while still a teenager, and eventually won a comic contest sponsored by the <i>New York Herald,&nbsp;</i>an award which led to a contract to produce a weekly cartoon for the <i>Herald.</i>&nbsp;By 1914, Gruelle was commissioned to illustrate a volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales, a lengthy project that probably contributed to his later work as the author of children's storybooks.&nbsp;<br><br>Te precise moment of Raggedy Ann's creation&nbsp;is contested. Some stories claim that Gruelle's daughter, Marcella, found an old rag doll while playing in the attic, and that her illustrator father drew a face on the homemade doll. Other stories claim that Gruelle himself found the doll years before Marcella's birth, and was inspired to bring the doll out during her childhood, as he watched her play with dolls. Still another legend of Raggedy Ann states that Gruelle created the doll as a tribute to Marcella, after her tragic death at 13 from an infected vaccination. This story is unlikely, as Gruelle received approval of the doll's patent in the same month that Marcella died, in November 1915.<br><br>In 1918, Gruelle sold a volume of Raggedy Ann stories to the P. F. Volland Publishing Company. The company decided to capitalize on the popularity of the books by producing Raggedy Ann dolls, and Raggedy Andy followed two years later. In subsequent years, numerous other characters would join Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy, and nearly a century later, the original two characters remain popular staples of childhood.

One of the most well-known dolls in American history, Raggedy Ann was created by Indianapolis cartoonist Johnny Gruelle. As a young man, Gruelle grew up at 537 Tacoma Avenue, a home that has fallen into disrepair. Gruelle became an illustrator and children's book author and lived near this location (his home was demolished with many others in order to facilitate the interstate). According to some, Gruelle first conceived of the Raggedy Ann character at this location in 1915. At that time, the property at 234 N. Davidson was a general store. This structure was built in 1879 and served numerous roles before being converted into a private home. 

Indy Culture and History

Ovid Butler, Sr. Historic Marker

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information