Near East Side Indianapolis Timeline

1819 or 1820	Early settler George Pogue and family live in a log cabin south of what is now Michigan St. on the banks of Pogue’s Run. The creek was named after him when he disappeared in 1821.
	Noah Noble (Indiana’s 5^th governor) owns land bounded by E. Washington, Arsenal, St. Clair Sts. and College Ave. His home farm is now the site of Holy Cross Neighborhood.	Noah Noble (1794-1844). Painting by Jacob Cox. Courtesy Indiana Historical Bureau
1838	National Road meets Washington Street.
1848-1852	The Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Railroad, Indiana’s 2^nd railroad line, is constructed along the west border of the NESCO area and northeast along Massachusetts Ave.	The Massachusetts Avenue Depot, known as “The Little Depot,” was located on the south side of Tenth Street just west of the railroad tracks. Today I-65/70 runs through this site. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 9746
1850	Indiana State Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb opens at Washington Street and State Avenue—now Willard Park. Remains at that location until 1911.	1908 alumni reunion at the old Indiana State School for the Deaf. Library of Congress
1863	United States Arsenal opens at 1500 East Michigan Street; later becomes Arsenal Technical School.	Ca. 1898 map of the United States Arsenal
	A portion of the southwest corner of the Highland-Brookside area is platted for residential development due to demand for housing brought about by economic boom during the Civil War.
1870	City purchases Brookside Park from heirs of Indianapolis attorney and east-side property owner Calvin Fletcher.	Painting of Calvin Fletcher by Jacob Cox. Indiana Historical Society
1871	Mule-drawn streetcars installed on Massachusetts Avenue, creating better transportation to the northeast side of Indianapolis.	Massachusetts and College Avenue streetcar, 1881. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co., 244822p8
1872	James O. Woodruff plats Woodruff Place, an affluent suburban neighborhood featuring fountains and statuary in a park-like setting.	Glass negative courtesy of Kimball and Tessie Lloyd-Jones
1873	Michigan Street graded and improved east from Arsenal Avenue to Woodruff Place.
	Clifford Avenue (Tenth Street) graded and improved from Pogue’s Run to east edge of Woodruff Place.
	Indiana Women’s Prison opens at 401 North Randolph Street with 17 prisoners. It is the first prison in the U.S. built to house female convicts.	Women feeding chickens at the Indiana Women’s Prison. Indiana State Library
1876	Woodruff Place property owners successfully petition for incorporation of subdivision as a town.
1878	Washington Irving School 14 opens at 1229 East Ohio Street; additions made in 1899 and 1927.
1880	Woodruff Place population is 20.
	A small business district begins to build up along the 900 and 1000 blocks of East Washington Street.	Fred H. Vogt pharmacy, 944 E. Washington St., ca. 1910. Heritage Photo Services
1886	Irish residents of Highland-Brookside area found Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church.  By the end of its first year the church has 900 members.	Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church, 1904. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 3145
1890	Fire station constructed at 1030 East Washington Street.
	Woodruff Place population is 161.
	John Greenleaf Whittier School #33 erected at 1119 North Sterling Street, additions in 1902 and 1926.	8^th grade class of Whittier School 33, 1921. Courtesy of Heritage Photo Services
1891	Anheuser Busch Beer Agency opens at 920-924 East Ohio Street.	Anheuser Busch Brewing Association building, 1911, Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 26612
1895	Thomas D. Gregg School 15 erected at 2302 East Michigan Street.
	Dr. Albert E. Sterne locates Norways Sanitorium near Woodruff Place (at corner of present-day 10th and Sterling Streets) in former Stoughton A. Fletcher home, Clifford Place. The sanitorium attracts clients from across the country and remains open until the 1940s.	Clifford Place, Stoughton Fletcher’s mansion, later housed Norways Sanitorium. Indiana Historical Society
1896	Englewood Christian Church begins services in January and a year later buys land that housed later church buildings, including the current church constructed in 1962.	Englewood Christian Church members in front of the wood frame church, 1912. Courtesy of Englewood Christian Church
1897	Brookside School 54 constructed at 3150 East 10th Street.	Brookside School, 1904. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 5499
1898	The New Telephone Company organizes as a competitor of Central Union and builds a branch exchange at Beville Avenue near Michigan Street.
	Brookside Park becomes city park with 80 acres.
	Highland Square becomes city park at the corner of New York Street and Highland Avenue.
1902	Holy Cross School opens at 1417 East Ohio Street.
	59 charter members found Tuxedo Park Baptist Church.
1904	Marietta Glass and Refrigerator Co. locates manufacturing firm at 16th Street and Sherman Drive . Plant covers 64 acres and employs 225 by 1907. Company manufactures cathedral glass, sky lights, etc., and refrigerators and store fixtures.
	Group of citizens purchase 75-acre arsenal grounds on Michigan Avenue for use as the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute.  The school closes in 1909.
1905	Lucretia Mott School #3 opens at 23 North Rural.	Lucretia Mott School 3, 1906. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 7152
1906	Wonderland Amusement Park opens at the corner of East Washington and Gray Streets, the former location of the Indianapolis baseball grounds. The park includes 24 buildings, 125-foot electric tower, and 50,000 incandescent lights.	Wonderland Park postcard, ca. 1908. Heritage Photo Services
1907	Willard Park established at 1901 East Washington Street on the former Deaf School property. Landscape architect George Kessler designs the park in 1913.	Kessler plan for Willard Park, Indianapolis Star, September 28, 1913.
1908	The Ralph Waldo Emerson School 58 opens at the northeast corner of New York St. and Linwood Ave.	Ralph Waldo Emerson School 58, 1908. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. B811
1908	Saint Clair Place, an addition of 90 modern homes, was constructed a few blocks east of Woodruff Place by the Southern Lumber Company.
1909	Indianapolis Public Library Branch #3 opens at 2822 East Washington Street.	Indianapolis Public Library Branch 3, 1911. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 24239
1910s-1930s	The Feast of Lanterns, featuring hundreds of Japanese paper lanterns, is held in Spades Park for many years.
	Mothers of children from Lucretia Mott School #3, Emerson Public School and the Irvington Mothers clubs hold meetings at their respective schools to discuss the negative effects of a proposed German Beer Garden at Wonderland Amusement Park. Their threatened petition-signing effort against the withdrawal of the park’s beer-selling license is successful, and the Beer Garden idea is scrapped.
1910	St. Philip Neri Convent erected at 530 North Rural Street.	Saint Philip Neri Convent, 1927. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 202033
	Brookside School 54 erects new building at 3150 East 10th Street; additions in 1915, 1921 and 1928.	Brookside School 54. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 5499
1911	Wonderland Amusement Park, which is hosting the Interdenominational County Fair, is raided by the police due to its suspected “Blind Tiger,” a place where illegal intoxicants are sold.
	East 10th Street Methodist Episcopal Church erects building at 2327 East 10th Street.
	Wonderland Amusement Park, open during the last few years only for special events, is destroyed by fire on August 27.
1912	Although the Board of School Commissioners has not yet received a favorable ruling in their litigation to acquire Winona Agricultural Institute, Arsenal Technical High School opens under the principalship of Milo Stuart.	1912 aerial view of the Tech campus
	Indianapolis Public Library Branch 6 (Spades) opens at 1801 Nowland Avenue.	Spades Library, 1912. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co., 27729
1915	First German Reformed Church established at 3102 East 10th Street.
	St. Peter Lutheran Evangelical Church constructs building at 2525 East 11th Street.
1920	Wealthy families in Woodruff Place and Near Eastside neighborhoods begin to move to the suburbs as noise, pollution, and car traffic intrude on the area from downtown.
	Emerson Heights subdivision, located on Emerson Avenue north of Washington Street, is developed. ?? Wrong date	Emerson Heights development booklet, ca. 1914 courtesy of Rick and Tina Jones.
	Garfield Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church erects building at 300 Grant Avenue; addition on 4100 East New York Street in 1952.
	Woodruff Place Town Hall erected at 735 Middle Drive.
1921	John Hope School #26 opens at 1301 East 16th; addition constructed in 1938.
	Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church erects new building at 1401 East Ohio Street.
	St. Therese-Little Flower Catholic Church took possession of land at 4720 E. 13^th St., where they dedicated the combined church and school in 1926.
1924	Theodore Potter Fresh Air School #74 reopens at 1601 East 10th Street with a larger building.	Theodore Potter Fresh Air School, 1924. Indiana State Library
	Tuxedo Park Baptist Church erects building at 29 North Grant Avenue after previous building burned.
1926	Woodruff Place Baptist Church erects building at 1739 East Michigan Street.
	Wallace Street Presbyterian Church constructs a new building at 4805 E. Tenth Street after organizing the previous year.	Courtesy of Wallace Street Presbyterian Church
1927	Brookside Park Community Building erected.
	A tornado hit the eastside damaging over 300 houses and killing 2 people. Streets heavily hit include Hendricks Place, Hamilton Avenue, and Jefferson Street.	Hamilton Ave. tornado damage, 1927. Heritage Photo Services
	Universal Pictures Corporation builds the Rivoli Theatre at the end of the Tenth Street trolley line. The theatre seats 1,500.	Rivoli Theatre. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 333797
	Calvin N. Kendall School #62 opens at 910 North Wallace Street, additions in 1924 and 1927.	School 62 in 1924. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 82524
1928	The Eastland Theatre is built at 4634 East Tenth Street and renamed the Emerson Theatre in 1932.
1929	P.R. Mallory and Company opens a production facility and headquarters at 3029 East Washington Street, former location of Wonderland Amusement Park.	P.R. Mallory and Company, 1930. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 215044
1930	The Great Depression affects Woodruff Place as families find it difficult to maintain large, single-family homes and begin to divide them into apartments.
	An administration building, residential cottages, hospital and chapel are added to the Indiana Women’s Prison.
	Woodruff Place population is 1,216 people.
	Grace Rupp builds grocery at corner of Emerson Avenue and 16th Street. The location later turns into a small business complex in the 1940s and 1950s.
	Parkview School 81 opens at 3126 Brookside Parkway North Drive	Parkview School 81, 1931. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 219355
	Arsenal Tech High School has 242 teachers, 6,000 students, and 12 buildings.
1936	James E. Roberts School #97, specializing in “crippled” students, opens at 1401 East 10th Street.	James E. Roberts School 97. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co.
1937	Arsenal Technical High School has an enrollment of 7,000, making it one of the largest high schools in the nation.
	Thomas Carr Howe High School , located at 4900 Julian Avenue, is named in honor of educator Thomas Carr Howe.	Thomas Carr Howe High School, 1938. Indiana Historical Society, Bass Photo Co. 241838
1940	Woodruff Place population is 1,434 people.
	Highland-Brookside area reaches population zenith with 41,856 residents.
1950	A business center develops at corner of Emerson Avenue and 16th Street, where Rupp's grocery store has stood for 20 years. New businesses include Delbo Drugs, a dry cleaner, a barber-beauty shop, a doctor's office, and Star Hardware.
	Woodruff Place population grows to 1,557, an increase due to subdivision of large houses into multi-family dwellings.
1953	City of Indianapolis begins to charge Woodruff Place $25,000 annually for police and fire protection.
1955	Eastside residents form a delegation to protest against selling Highland Park and turning it into an Air Force Reserve Training Center.  The delegation convinces the mayor, Alex M. Clark, to invest $20,000 in new facilities at the park.
1962	Woodruff Place loses court battle to remain an incorporated town. On March 20, residents hand over the town hall keys to city officials.
1966	Student Council of the Indiana School for the Deaf erects marker in memory of William Willard, founder of Deaf School at Willard Park, where first school was located.
	P. R. Mallory and Company has 8,000 employees, 1,500 of whom work at its Indianapolis facility.
1969	A study of the Highland-Brookside area by the Metropolitan Planning Department proposes a 15-year plan for major physical and social improvements in the neighborhoods.  Study shows housing deterioration, conflicting land-use patterns, and significant transportation and street deficiencies. Substandard health, rising crime rate, a moderate level of welfare dependency, and "some racial tension" were also mentioned.
1970	Near Eastside Community Organization (NESCO) forms to coordinate the activities of smaller neighborhood organizations in the area.
	Census shows that half of all residents of Woodruff Place had moved into the area since 1968.  Only 16.5 percent of residents have lived in Woodruff Place for ten years or longer.
	Average income of Woodruff Place families is $8,636.
	Construction of I-70 along western and northwestern portion of area negatively impacts the neighborhoods near the interstate. Residents are concerned that highway will divide neighborhood.
1972	Woodruff Place is added to the National Register of Historic Places.
	A federally funded "Environmental Stress" study finds that residents in the current NESCO area experience a fair-to-good neighborhood environment. Only those living adjacent to I-70 experience an "inadequate" environment.
1975	Woodruff Place introduces first Flea Market
1976	Holy Cross Catholic Church membership drops to its lowest level due to the loss of many longtime residents.
	Arsenal Technical High School listed on National Register of Historic Places.
	Eastside Community Investments (ECI) forms to address issues of decaying housing and economic development of area.
1977	Father James Byrne of Holy Cross Catholic Church becomes president of Eastside Community Investments. August 21, Woodruff Place introduces first Home Tour – 7 homes
1978	Holy Cross Catholic Church sees a resurgence of membership with an increase in young parishioners; average age of the parish council members is 34, although nearly half the parish members are older.
1979	Lilly Endowment funds the Near Eastside Church and Community Ministry Project.  Project becomes self-sufficient within 4 years. The Woodruff Place Civic League, partnered with Historic Landmarks, bought their first multi-unit house, reduced it to a single family unit and sold it with covenants attached.  Since then WPCL has purchased over 24 multi-unit houses, some having more than 10 apartments, and turned them into single family owner occupied homes.
1980	Eastside Community Investments participates in a program to renovate 12 two-family residences in the NESCO area and sell them to low- to moderate-income families who will pay their mortgage by renting the other side of the double.
1982	Holy Cross-Westminster neighborhood named as a Community Development Block Grant Target Area.
	Eastside Community Investments, Inc. holds an open house at 1210 East Ohio Street—a former home of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club—to display the area's revitalization efforts.
	Holy Cross-Westminster neighborhood selected by the National Reinvestment Corp. to be a Neighborhood Housing Service area, which provides low-interest loans for home rehabilitation and assists the neighborhood in attaining long-term goals.
1984	Cottage Home residents hold first annual Cottage Home Block Party. Cottage Home Neighborhood Association is organized and named. It is bounded by East 10th Street, Oriental Street, Michigan Street, and I-70.	Cottage Home Block Party, 2005
	Member churches of the Near Eastside Church and Community Ministry Project are First United Church of Christ; Westminster Presbyterian; East 10th Street United Methodist; Brookside United Methodist; East Park United Methodist, Grace United Methodist; Centenary Christian; Linwood Christian; Holy Cross Catholic; St. Philip Neri Catholic; Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; St. Matthew Lutheran; St. Peter Lutheran and Woodruff Place Baptist. Members sponsor neighborhood activities and “Partners in Ministry for Justice,” Neighborhood Children’s Ministry, Caregiving to the Homebound, Ministry to and With Young Adults, “Church Responses to Poverty,” and “Getting Back in Touch with Our Neighbors”.
1985	Holy Cross Church, with help from Eastside Community Investments, turns one of its buildings into apartments for low-income elderly and handicapped residents.
	Aetna Life and Casualty Co. and Indiana Mortgage Corp. offer low-interest home mortgage loans to low- and moderate-income residents in Highland-Brookside area. The program makes $650,000 available in the neighborhood, enough for about 30 mortgages.
1988	Nearly one-half of the homes in the Holy Cross-Westminster neighborhood are rentals.
1990	A portion of Cottage Home neighborhood is placed on National Register of Historic Places.
1992	Indiana Women’s Prison houses 350 inmates and has a staff of 240 full-time employees.
1993	Tom Abeel founded the Woodruff Place Lawn Chair Brigade.   They have marched in NESCO, St Patrick’s Day. July 4^th and 500 Festival parades.
1994	Eastside Community Investments begins renovation work on former Nabisco Blue Bonnet Margarine Factory at 1102 Roosevelt. The renovated facility will be known as the New East Industrial Center.
1995	Rivoli Park Neighborhood Association (Michigan to 10th; Rural to Tuxedo) holds first organizational meeting. Twenty-four residents attend.
	Indianapolis Public Schools Board votes to close Thomas Carr Howe High School.  Protests by students and area residents do not stop the closing.
1996	CIDONE Industries joins New East Industrial Center. CIDONE, in which the Eastside Community Investments has an investment, creates up to 20 jobs for neighborhood residents.
	IPS Board of School Commissioners approves recommendation to use Thomas Carr Howe High School as a second alternative-placement center for middle school students. The program is partially funded by Lilly Endowment.
1997	Eastside Community Investments divests its menu of Programs Investing in People because of cash flow problems. Some programs are transferred to carefully chosen alternate service providers.
2000	Treasured Homes, LLC, forms to buy vacant and at-risk properties with the goal of returning them to owner-occupancy status and to maintain architectural and neighborhood integrity. By 2007 the group had resold 13 homes in and near the Springdale Neighborhood.
2001	Woodruff Place becomes a locally-designated historic district.
2002	East 10th Street Civic Association organizes. An early project is 10 East Main Street, which is not only a FOCUS corridor, but also is one of two designated urban “Main Street” sites in Indianapolis.
2003	The Feast of Lanterns, a historic east-side festival held at Spades Park, revived by NESCO after a 6-decade hiatus.
	IndyEast Asset Development (I-AD) forms as a new Community Development Corporation.
2004	NESCO’s History and Preservation Committee organizes in response to the demolition of Brookside School 54. They hold the first of many programs including the Near East Side Pub Crawl and Simply Divine: Sacred Architecture Tour.	History booth volunteers at the 2007 Feast of Lanterns
2005	Near East Side Task Force is organized by community leaders as a response to the need for a comprehensive quality of life plan for the community.
2006	The Near East Side is selected as a GINI (Great Indianapolis Neighborhood Initiative) Demonstration Neighborhood.
	Near Eastside Housing Tax Increment Financing (HoTIF) is created to stimulate economic development growth in an area bounded by Oriental, 12^th, Rural, and Washington Sts.
	Bosart-Brown Community Organization formed in 2006 and named after the historic Wallace-Bosart house and Brown’s Corner Park.	The boundaries of the Bosart-Brown neighborhood are Michigan St., Emerson Ave., Washington St. and Linwood Ave.  Google Map
2007	The John H. Boner Community Center moves into their newly-constructed 29,000 square foot addition to the Brookside Building at 2236 E. 10^th St.	Photo courtesy of Halstead Architects
2008	East Side residents complete the Quality of Life Plan.
	Near East Side chosen as the Legacy Project for Indianapolis’s successful bid for Super Bowl 2012. Plans also include the construction of a state-of-the-art football and community center at Arsenal Technical High School.
	Cottage Home Neighborhood becomes a locally-designated conservation district.

This timeline was originally created in 1996 by The Polis Center and edited/updated in 2008 by Joan Hostetler of Heritage Photo Services and members of NESCO’s History and Preservation Committee.