Indiana's first hospital was established in 1855 to combat the outbreak of smallpox epidemic&nbsp;that had been ravaging the city. The Indianapolis City Hospital, as it was called, found a home in 1859, when the first hospital building was completed, only to turn into an Army hospital when the Civil War broke out in 1861. The army returned control of the hospital back to the city when the war ended in 1865. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, professional nursing programs sprang throughout the city and state, with trained nurses both saying home and practicing abroad. As the 20th came and went, the hospital was given many others names that include:&nbsp;Marion County General Hospital and the&nbsp;Wishard Memorial Hospital. Here also was the founding of the Public Health Nursing Association in 1913.&nbsp; By the 21st century, a new hospital was needed. One that was sturdier, a bit bigger, and more modern. Rather than demolish the first hospital, it was preserved, while a new one was constructed nearby. This new hospital is called the&nbsp;Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital, and it opened in 2013. The Eskenazi Hospital keeps Indianapolis's nursing history alive and its future bright.&nbsp;

"Milestones in Nursing" Historical Marker

1887 Nursing Class: The four nursing graduates of Flower Mission Training School for Nurses class of 1887 in the Indianapolis City Hospital. The initial class sizes were quite small, beginning with the first graduating class of five students in 1885.

A district nurse at the Indianapolis City Hospital dispensary, ca. 1907. Image courtesy of IUPUI University Library Special Collections and Archives.

The Indianapolis Register 2015 article on the Eskenazi Hospital 

More Info

Official Website of the Eskenazi Hospital 

Website

Indianapolis University-Purdue University Library- Indiana Medical History Museum - Wishard Scrapbook

Sitting in front of the old Wishard Hospital (now the Nursing Museum) is this marker that recounts the milestones of Indianapolis's history of nursing. The dates range from 1859-1913. As the old Wishard Hospital grew older and hard to maintain, a new hospital was constructed just 1,300 feet away, so that further milestones in nursing and Indianapolis can continue to be made.   

"Milestones in Nursing" Historic Marker

This expansive trail throughout the heart of Indianapolis includes eighteen landmarks related to women's history, including several historic homes, buildings, and markers. Together, the eighteen entries on the tour tell the story of some of the outstanding women of Indianapolis.  Although many entries in the downtown area are close enough for walking, many others are spread throughout the city.

Adjacent to and managed by the Indianapolis Museum of Art
(IMA), the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art &amp; Nature Park is a 100-acre tract of outdoor,
"hands-on" art within a setting of woodlands, wetlands, and meadow landscapes
with a lake, river, and canal. The land was donated to the museum in 1972 and
the sculpture park and nature trail designed in 1996 in partnership with Indy
Parks Greenways and the Indianapolis Water Company. The park's LEED-certified Ruth
Lilly Visitor's Pavilion is a flagship project for the No Adverse Impact
philosophy of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, and won architect
Marlon Blackwell the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2012 Honor Award. Free
public and audio tours of the park are offered by the IMA [1].

About the Park At the beginning of the twentieth century, the 100 acres now
known as the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art &amp; Nature Park was cleared for
agriculture and pasture along the White River floodplain. In the 1940s, it
became a gravel quarry for the construction of the nearby interstate, creating
the 35-acre lake now standing in the park. Once the highway was finished, the fields,
left to themselves, slowly became a woodland again. The owners of the quarry,
Huber, Hunt and Nichols, donated 96 acres to the Indianapolis Museum of Art
(IMA) in 1972. The IMA Horticultural Society and Sasaki Associates planned the
landscape and gardens at the museum itself in the 1980s, but in 1996 a new master
plan called for an outdoor sculpture park on the unused land. Partnering with
Indy Parks Greenways and the Indianapolis Water Company, the Virginia B.
Fairbanks Art &amp; Nature Park was created by the museum. Designed by
landscape architect Edward L. Blake, Jr., the Park was intentionally left
"wild" rather than manicured, with hands-on exhibits which highlight
the natural setting. Art installations include Atelier Van Lieshout’s Funky
Bones, Jeppe Hein’s Bench Around the Lake, Los Carpinteros's Free
Basket, Alfredo Jaar’s Park of the Laments, visiondivision's Chop
Stick, Type A's Team Building (Align), Andrea Zittel's Indy Island, Kim Beck's A Flock of
Signs, and Kendall Buster’s Stratum Pier. The park's LEED-certified
Ruth Lilly Visitor's Pavilion is a flagship project for the No Adverse Impact
philosophy of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, and won architect
Marlon Blackwell the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2012 Honor Award
[1].

The park's sculptures are "hands-on" exhibits
which offer visitors activities including fishing, basketball, challenge
courses, play and picnic areas, climbing, swings, refreshments, an educational
center, and an artist's residency. The southwest corner of the park is a
wildlife retreat, while nature trails lead visitors through the park and around
the lake. The park offers weekly free public tours, free audio tours through
the IMA website, and holds annual events celebrating the Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice,
and Fall Equinox [1].

Adjacent to and managed by the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park is a 100-acre tract of outdoor, "hands-on" art within a setting of woodlands, wetlands, and meadow landscapes with a lake, river, and canal. The land was donated to the museum in 1972 and the sculpture park and nature trail designed in 1996 in partnership with Indy Parks Greenways and the Indianapolis Water Company. The park's LEED-certified Ruth Lilly Visitor's Pavilion is a flagship project for the No Adverse Impact philosophy of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, and won architect Marlon Blackwell the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2012 Honor Award. Free public and audio tours of the park are offered by the IMA [1].

Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park

The Association of Crown Hill was formed in 1863 in order to establish a new, pastoral cemetery to be located away from the city center of Indianapolis. The Association acquired a site on Strawberry Hill and hired landscape architect John Chislett and Prussian horticulturalist Adolph Strauch to design the grounds. The cemetery, which offers a panoramic view of the downtown area, was intended to offer a bucolic setting for people to escape urban life. Today, it continues to provide a place where people can stroll, picnic, and commune with nature.  Notable women who are buried at the grounds include prominent African American educator Mary Ellen Cable, U.S. Representative Julia Carson, accused murderess Nancy Clem, leading African American journalist and clubwoman Lillian Thomas Fox, Lucy Ann Seaton, and the first lady of Indiana, suffragist Zerelda Gray Wallace. See the following paragraphs for more information about their lives:Mary Ellen Cable (Lot 234, Section 53, 1862-1944) was a prominent African American educator and activist. Cable was born in Leavenworth, Kansas and attended Leavenworth Teacher’s Normal School. She married her husband, George Cable, while she was teaching elementary school in Topeka and the couple moved to Indianapolis, where George worked in the post office. The couple had one child, Theodore, but adopted another, Mildred Orrid. As a leading Indianapolis teacher and school principal, Cable instituted an effort to teach students with tuberculosis outdoors, using a “fresh air” classroom. Cable was also a dedicated clubwoman who was involved in many civic organizations. In 1908, she helped to found the first Indiana chapter of the NAACP and served as chapter president until men became members of the chapter in 1913. An international traveler, Cable spoke to club members about her visits northern Africa in 1910 and the Middle East in 1912. In 1913, she wrote to mayoral candidate Joseph E. Bell that African American citizens had the right to access local parks, arguing that “colored folks are entitled to God’s pure air, to the bright sunlight, to the breath of flowers and the song of birds in order that life may be sweetened.” Throughout her life, Cable vigorously advocated for the rights of African Americans.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Crown%20Hill%20Cemetery.docx#_ftn1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Julia Carson (Section 78, Lot 172; 1938-2007) was the first women and the first African American to represent Indianapolis in the U.S. Congress. Carson graduated from the segregated Crispus Attucks High School in 1955 and also attended Martin University and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Carson served as a member of the Indiana General Assembly for almost twenty years and spent six years as a Center Township trustee. Carson earned a reputation for empathy and frugality as a trustee, donating an apartment building near her home for use by homeless veterans and taking the public assistance program from a $20 million debt to a $6 million surplus. In 1996, Carson won a congressional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. There she became known for her efforts regarding homelessness, financial literacy, LGBT advocacy, and the rights of women and children, as well as her successful sponsorship of a bill awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights activist Rosa Parks in 1999. Carson continued to serve until her death from lung cancer in 1997.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Crown%20Hill%20Cemetery.docx#_ftn2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a>Nancy Clem (Sec. 17, Lot 42), birthdate unknown, was an accused Indianapolis murderess who died in 1897. When the bodies of a married couple, Jacob and Nancy Jane Young, were discovered at a popular White River recreation spot on September 18, 1868, suspicion soon fell on their business partner Nancy Clem. Clem, Jacob Young, and one William J. Abrams were engaged in what historian Wendy Gamber identifies as an early example of a Ponzi scheme. Police theorized that Clem had ridden to the river with the Young’s while Silas Hartman, Clem’s somewhat disreputable brother, had followed them in a rented buggy. Hartman then shot Jacob with a shotgun procured by Abrams and Clem shot Nancy Jane with an unrecovered pistol. Clem, Abrams, and Hartman were all charged with first-degree murder. Abrams was sentenced to life in prison but received a gubernatorial pardon, while Hartman committed suicide in jail after exonerating Clem and implicating himself and Abrams. Clem became a nationally celebrated figure, depicted as what Gamber refers to as a “genteel murderess.” She underwent four trials, including one at the hands of her neighbor and future president Benjamin Harrison, before Marion County commissioners declined to fund further prosecution in 1874. After her release, Clem again engaged in financially deceptive practices and was convicted of a perjury charge in 1880, subsequently spending four years as a prisoner in the Indiana Female Reformatory. After a short illness in 1897, Clem died without delivering the deathbed confession that many hoped she would provide. Gamber argues that shifting portrayals of Clem as a woman of tenuous respectability, a “genteel murderess,” and, finally, an unrefined businesswoman exemplified the increasing social restrictions of the Gilded Age.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Crown%20Hill%20Cemetery.docx#_ftn3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[3]</a>Lillian Thomas Fox (Sec: F, Lot: 5906; 1866-1917) was a prominent African American journalist and clubwoman. She worked as the only female journalist at the African American publication Indianapolis Freeman and became the first Black woman to be hired as a fulltime journalist by a white Indiana newspaper when she joined the Indianapolis News staff in 1900. In partnership with Beulah Wright Porter, the first Black woman physician to practice in Indianapolis, Fox founded a local Colored Women’s Improvement Club (CWIC) in 1903 and expanded the organization into a state federation the following year. In 1905, Fox and the CWIC also founded Oak Hill Camp, an outdoor facility that treated Black tuberculosis patients. Fox died of a heart attack in 1917. In recognition of her accomplishments, she was inducted into the 2014 Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Crown%20Hill%20Cemetery.docx#_ftn4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[4]</a>Lucy Ann Seaton (Sec. 4 Lot 28; 1831-1864) was the first person to be buried in the Crown Hill Cemetery, less than a year after its founding. Seaton died of tuberculosis shortly after moving to Indianapolis with her husband, John Seaton, a Union Captain in the Civil War. Because the family was new to the area, John published a request in the local newspaper that read “the first burial at Crown Hill Cemetery will take place today (June 2). The husband of the deceased is a stranger in this city. We hope his invitation to the public to join in the funeral will be accepted by a goodly number.” Around 200 people responded by attending the ceremony.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Crown%20Hill%20Cemetery.docx#_ftn5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[5]</a>Zerelda Gray Wallace, née Sanders (Sec. 3 Lot 10; 1817-1901) was born in Kentucky. She married David Wallace, the sixth governor of Indiana, and served as the first lady of Indiana from 1837 to 1840. Wallace was known for her work as a leading member of the Church of Crist (now the Central Christian Church of Indiana) and her support for temperance and women’s suffrage. She testified for this last cause in front of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary in 1880.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Crown%20Hill%20Cemetery.docx#_ftn6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[6]</a>Notable men who are buried at the grounds include former U.S. President Benjamin Harrison, Vice Presidents Charles W. Fairbanks, Thomas R. Marshall, and Thomas A. Hendricks, several Civil War generals, and Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley, as well as Eli Lilly, notorious criminal John Dillinger and former owner of the Indianapolis Colts, Robert Irsay. Also interred at Crown Hill are numerous former governors of Indiana, U.S. senators and representatives, former mayors of Indianapolis, founders of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, artists from the Hoosier Group, Olympic gold medalists, and Indianapolis 500 winners.In addition, a number of both Union and Confederate soldiers are buried at Crown Hill. In 1866, the federal government purchased a 1.4-acre plot of land from the cemetery's board of directors to establish a national cemetery for Union soldiers who died in military hospitals and camps near the city. The plot cost $5,000 and the first Union soldier was re-interred at the grounds on October 19, 1866. The remains of 707 soldiers were moved from Greenlawn Cemetery to the site by the end of November 1866. It was not until December 31, 1998 that the national cemetery reached its full capacity.Section 32 of the cemetery, also known as Confederate Mound, contains the remains of 1,616 Confederate soldiers who died while prisoners of war at Camp Morton in Indianapolis during the war. The bodies were initially interred at Greenlawn Cemetery but were transferred to Crown Hill in 1931 when a development project threatened their initial resting place. The remains were placed in a mass grave and it was not until 1993 that a memorial was constructed listing the names of those who perished at the Union prison camp. Over the decades, the cemetery has expanded from its original 166 acres to over 550. It has added (and removed) numerous associated buildings, such as its East Gatehouse (1885), the Gothic Chapel and Vault (1875) and the Community Mausoleum, as well as numerous private mausoleums, monuments and memorials. It is also home to some historic examples of funerary art by such noted sculptors as Diedrich Bohlen, George Kessler, Rudolf Schwarz and Adolph Scherrer. The Crown Hill Heritage Foundation was established in 1984 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the site's historic buildings and grounds. The Foundation also hosts private and public walking and driving tours of the cemetery.

Crown Hill Cemetery, located approximately 2.8 miles from the center of downtown Indianapolis, is the resting place of some of the city's most prominent women and men. The cemetery was incorporated on September 25, 1863 as a non-sectarian, non-denominational, and non-profit facility, initially presenting an impressive view overlooking the city of Indianapolis. Crown Hill is the third largest cemetery in the United States not administered by the federal government. The grounds span approximately 555 acres and contain 25 miles of paved roadway and over 150 different types of trees and plants. More than 200,000 bodies are interred at the grounds, with approximately 1,500 new burials occurring at the site per annum. More than 25,000 people come to Crown Hill annually, often visiting on Memorial Day or Veterans Day. The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.  

Crown Hill Cemetery 

United States Representative Julia Carson (July 8, 1938 – December 15, 2007) lived in this house for more than thirty years, from before she rose to political prominence until her death at age sixty-nine. A Democrat known for her progressive ideals, extended political service, and down-to-earth demeanor, Carson was the first women and the first African American to represent Indianapolis. Carson was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but her young, single mother moved the family to Indianapolis to work as a housekeeper while Carson was still an infant. Carson later remembered going to the Wayne Township trustee office and requesting food aid as a child: “They looked at me something awful. I had tears in my eyes. I said, ‘I need some food for my mom. She’s very ill and can’t work.’ They gave me lard and cornmeal and told me not to bring ‘my ass’ there anymore.”<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftn1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> As an adult, Carson’s recollection of her early experiences with poverty informed her compassionate approach to government. After graduating from the segregated Crispus Attucks High School in 1955, Carson entered into a brief marriage that produced two children, Sam and Tonya. She then attended Martin University and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis before working as a secretary for United Auto Workers Local 550.In 1965, the newly-elected congressman Andrew Jacobs invited Carson to work in his office. Carson first asked her mother if Jacobs was indeed a congressman and, reassured that his offer was legitimate, she agreed to join his staff.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftn2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a> Seven years later, Jacobs encouraged her to run for the Indiana House of Representatives, telling her “Come on, kid. This is the time to step up.”<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftn3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[3]</a> Carson did step up, becoming a member of the Indiana General Assembly for almost twenty years before spending six years as a Center Township trustee. As a trustee, Carson earned a reputation for empathy and frugality, donating an apartment building near her home for use by homeless veterans and taking the public assistance program from a $20 million debt to a $6 million surplus.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftn4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[4]</a> Carson ran for and won a congressional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives following Jacobs’ retirement in 1996. As a congresswoman, she was known for her efforts regarding homelessness, financial literacy, LGBT advocacy, and the rights of women and children. Carson achieved a career highlight in 1999, when she successfully sponsored a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights activist Rosa Parks. Carson also voted against the Iraq War in 2002, comparing the conflict to the failed Vietnam War and questioning the cost, purpose, and morality of American aggression.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftn5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[5]</a> Four years later, she declined to support a bill that would make illegal immigrants felons and fund construction of a fence along the Mexican border.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftn6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[6]</a> In 2001, the freshman Representative from Pennsylvania, Malissa Hart, reproved Carson for riding an elevator reserved for members of the House. Carson responded, saying “So what’s your point?”<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftn7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[7]</a>In 1997, Carson took her oath of office from her hospital bed after a double-bypass surgery and later faced criticism when her ill health caused her to miss votes.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftn8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[8]</a> Carson died in 2007, after doctors discovered a reoccurrence of lung cancer while examining an infection in her leg. She was succeeded in office by her grandson, André Carson, the first Muslim congressman to serve on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftn9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[9]</a> Carson is buried in the Indianapolis Crown Hill Cemetery. <a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftnref1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Rob Schneider, “She Never Forgot: Compassion for those in need grew out of her childhood experiences,” Indianapolis Star, December 16, 2007.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftnref2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a> Will Higgins, “‘She Touched So Many’: Congresswoman remembered for her courage and humanity,” Indianapolis Star, December 23, 2007.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftnref3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[3]</a> Rob Schneider, “She Never Forgot: Compassion for those in need grew out of her childhood experiences,” Indianapolis Star, December 16, 2007.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftnref4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[4]</a> “Long Odds Never Stopped Julia Carson,” Indianapolis Star, November 1, 2002.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftnref5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[5]</a> Maureen Groppe, “Carson to Oppose Iraq Resolution,” Gannett News Service, October 10, 2002. <a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftnref6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[6]</a> Matthew Tully, “Immigration Debate Calls For Prudence, Not Passion,” Indianapolis Star, April 12, 2006.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftnref7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[7]</a> Mark Leibovich, “Washington Traffic Jam? Senators-Only Elevator,” New York Times, August 2, 2002; “Long Odds Never Stopped Julia Carson,” Indianapolis Star, November 1, 2002.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftnref8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[8]</a> Maureen Groppe, “Carson Hospitalized for Infection in Leg,” Gannett News Service, October 1, 2007.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Julia%20Carson.docx#_ftnref9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[9]</a> Jasmine Garsd, “Rep. André Carson To Become First Muslim On House Committee on Intelligence,” NPR All Things Considered, January 13, 2015.

United States Representative Julia Carson (July 8, 1938 – December 15, 2007) lived in this house for more than thirty years, from before she rose to political prominence until her death at age sixty-nine.  A Democrat known for her progressive ideals, extended political service, and down-to-earth demeanor, Carson was the first women and the first African American to represent Indianapolis.  

Julia Carson Home

Lillian Thomas Fox was born in Chicago but grew up in
Wisconsin.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn1">[1]</a>&nbsp; Her father was Rev. Byrd Parker, an AME
pastor, and her mother was Jane Janette Johnson, a schoolteacher. &nbsp;After the death of Rev. Parker, Fox’s mother married
Robert E. Thomas, a barber, and Fox adopted the last name Thomas.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn2">[2]</a> &nbsp;Fox moved to Indianapolis with her family in
the 1880s, where she met James E. Fox, a Jamaican tailor.&nbsp; The couple subsequently married in 1893 but separated
after only two years.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn3">[3]</a>When <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Fox moved to Indianapolis</a>,
she quickly became one of the city’s leading African American citizens, using what
African American historian Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham calls “the politics of
respectability” to improve her Black Indianapolis community.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn4">[4]</a>&nbsp; She briefly worked as a stenographer, seamstress,
and hairdresser, and was hired as the only female journalist at the African
American publication Indianapolis Freeman
in 1891.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn5">[5]</a>&nbsp; The newspaper was primarily sponsored by
Booker T. Washington and, in line with his philosophy of improvement through
financial growth, held a mandate to work for “Negro self-betterment through
economic independence.”<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn6">[6]</a>&nbsp; Although Fox left the paper after her marriage,
she later joined the staff of Indianapolis
News in 1900, thus becoming the first Black woman to be hired as a fulltime
journalist by a white Indiana newspaper.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn7">[7]</a> &nbsp;Fox celebrated the power of journalism in a
speech for the Afro-American Press Association that same year, remarking that “no
human device holds a more exalted place in mankind’s regard than does the pen.”<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn8">[8]</a>&nbsp; In 1904, Fox used her “News of the Colored
Folk” columnn to spearhead a successful donation campaign for victims of severe
flooding.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn9">[9]</a> &nbsp;In 1895, Fox sued the Southern Railroad after she
encountered forcible segregation on a journey from Indianapolis to
Atlanta.&nbsp; The Ladies Auxiliary to the
Cotton States and National Exposition had invited Fox to speak at the Atlanta
Congress of Colored Women, a meeting attended by nationally prominent Black
women such as Fannie Barrier Williams, Frances E. W. Harper, and Mrs. Booker T.
Washington. &nbsp;Fox set out from
Indianapolis on a first-class ticket but, when she reached Chattanooga, TN just
before one in the morning, the new conductor informed her that she was required
to leave her seat and move to a segregated section located in the smoking car.&nbsp; When the conductor threatened Fox with
physical violence, she replied that such actions “would prove the most
expensive service [he] had ever rendered the company by which he was employed.”<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn10">[10]</a>&nbsp; The conductor responded by tossing Fox’s
luggage off the train. &nbsp;As&nbsp;she began to gather her belongings, the train
pulled out, leaving her standing alone in the dark.&nbsp; Although Fox’s fellow passengers successfully
demanded that the train to stop to allow her to board, she was unable to regain
her original seat.&nbsp; Upon her return home,
Fox filed a suit against the railroad company in both Indianapolis and
Atlanta.&nbsp; However, the outcome of her
legal case is not known.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn11">[11]</a>In addition to her journalistic accomplishments, Fox is
perhaps best known for her activities as a leading Indianapolis clubwoman.&nbsp; In partnership with <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Beulah
Wright Porter, the first Black woman physician to practice in Indianapolis, Fox
founded </a>a local Colored Women’s Improvement Club (CWIC) in 1903 and
expanded the organization into a state federation the following year.&nbsp; Although CWIC began as a literary society,
the group turned to community service activities in 1905.&nbsp; Fox was intimately familiar with the effects
of tuberculosis, having seen her mother and brother die from the disease in
1893, and she thus instituted the Oak Hill Camp for Black tuberculosis patients.&nbsp; Black sufferers, who were barred from seeking
treatment elsewhere, lived at the outdoor facility throughout the summer, and Fox
solicited donations from both Black and white community members in order to
fund the project.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn12">[12]</a> &nbsp;Moreover, in 1913, Fox enacted “Temple of
Progress,” a play of her own creation depicting African American uplift.&nbsp; The event raised $22.05 for philanthropic
activity.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftn13">[13]</a>&nbsp; The CWIC building was constructed in 1897, and is a 2
1/2-story, "T"-plan, Colonial Revival style frame building. It sits
on a brick foundation and a gable roof with hipped dormers. Originally built as
a private dwelling, the building has housed the Indiana State Federation of
Colored Women's Clubs since its purchase in 1927. It was listed on the National
Register of Historic Places in 1987.&nbsp; The
historical marker that currently sits next to the Club’s building states: “Organized
1904 by Lillian Thomas Fox with 14 clubs. Affiliated with National Association
of Colored Women's Clubs, founded 1896. Objectives include improvement of
education, health, living standards, inter-racial understanding. Clubhouse at
2034 N. Capitol since 1927. Listed in National Register of Historic Places,
1987.”In addition to her myriad club activities, Fox continued to
work as a journalist until 1915, when she was forced to retire due to failing
eyesight.&nbsp; Two years later, Fox passed
away from a heart attack.&nbsp; At a time when
the social roles of Black women were beginning to expand, Fox used her
journalistic abilities, leadership skills, and civic consciousness to enact
social reforms.&nbsp; As she worked to improve
the Black Indianapolis community, Fox was, in many ways, an ideal woman of the
Progressive Era.&nbsp; In recognition of her
accomplishments, she was inducted into the 2014 Indiana Journalism Hall of
Fame.











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<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref1">[1]</a>&nbsp; Sources offer differing details of Fox’s life.&nbsp; According to journalist Julie Slaymaker, Fox
was born in 1854 and her father, Rev. Parker, died in 1860.&nbsp; However, according to the 1910 census record,
she was born in 1866.&nbsp; Moreover, history
scholar Earline Rae Ferguson writes that Fox was widowed, while Slaymaker
writes that Fox separated from her husband, who subsequently left the
Indianapolis area.&nbsp; Ferguson also writes
that Fox had no children, yet the 1910 census record notes that she had two
children not living with her.&nbsp; Julie
Slaymaker, “Lillian Thomas Fox - 2014,” Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame, 2014, <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://mediaschool.indiana.edu/ijhf/fox-lillian-thomas">http://mediaschool.indiana.edu/ijhf/fox-lillian-thomas</a>;
1910 U.S. census, Marion County, Indiana, Indianapolis City, Supervisor’s
District No. 7, Enumeration District No. 99, Sheet No. 1, digital image, Ancestory.com,
accessed April 6, 2017; Earline Rae Ferguson, “A Community Affair:
African-American Women’s Club Work in Indianapolis, 1879-1917,” PhD diss.,
Indiana University, 1997.

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<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref2">[2]</a>&nbsp; Paula Burba, “Black History Month: Lillian
Thomas Fox,” Courier-Journal
(Louisville, KY), February 14, 2011; <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Julie Slaymaker, “Lillian
Thomas Fox – 2014.” </a>

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<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref3">[3]</a>&nbsp; Slaymaker, “Lillian Thomas Fox – 2014.”

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<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref4">[4]</a>
&nbsp;The practice of respectability politics
entailed non-confrontational behavior meant to demonstrate Black civility.&nbsp; See Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s Movement
in the Black Baptist Church, 1880-1920 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1994).

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<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref5">[5]</a>
“Lillian T. Fox,” Hoosier Women: Women in Indiana History, accessed April 6, 2017,
<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.louisehillery.com/">http://www.louisehillery.com/</a>; Ferguson,
“A Community Affair,” 29.

</div>

<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref6">[6]</a>
&nbsp;Slaymaker, “Lillian Thomas Fox – 2014.”

</div>

<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref7">[7]</a>&nbsp; Star Library Staff, “Female columnnist was a
state first,” Indianapolis Star,
February 7, 2007.

</div>

<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref8">[8]</a>
&nbsp;Slaymaker, “Lillian Thomas Fox – 2014.”

</div>

<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref9">[9]</a>
&nbsp;Slaymaker, “Lillian Thomas Fox – 2014.”

</div>

<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref10">[10]</a>&nbsp; <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Ferguson</a>, “A
Community Affair,” 29.

</div>

<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref11">[11]</a>&nbsp; Ferguson, “A Community Affair.”

</div>

<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref12">[12]</a>&nbsp; Katherine E. Badertscher, “Organized Charity and
the Civic Ideal in Indianapolis 1879-1922,” PhD diss., Indiana University,
2015; Ferguson, “A Community Affair.”

</div>

<div>

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://d.docs.live.net/d3ab1723d97b0f6f/PhD%20All/Clio/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox/Lillian%20Thomas%20Fox.docx#_ftnref13">[13]</a>&nbsp; Ferguson, “A Community Affair,” 27.

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</div>

Indiana State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, also known as the Minor House, is a historic National Association of Colored Women's Clubs clubhouse.  The Club was founded by Lillian Thomas Fox (1866-1917), a leading member of the Indianapolis African American community and the first Black woman to work for a white Indiana newspaper.  Fox and Beulah Wright Porter, the first Black woman physician to institute a practice in Indianapolis, founded the Indianapolis Colored Women’s Improvement Club in 1903 and the Indiana State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs in 1904.  Fox used her role as a prominent, middle-class African American woman to enact social reforms in the Progressive Era.

Lillian Thomas Fox and the Indiana State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs

Mary Hanson Carey Memorial Chapel Methodist Hospital has had a chapel space since its opening in 1908; however, because of space limitations, the first chapel became a multipurposed room. Along with serving as a place for spiritual reflection, the chapel also served as a workspace for interns and the bookkeeper. In the 1933 expansion, the Methodist Hospital board recognized the need for a space dedicated solely for spiritual needs. Therefore, they created a space in the newly constructed Julius A. Hanson Memorial Unit for the chapel. To fund the chapel, Mary Hanson Carey donated the money to Methodist Hospital. The chapel incorporated symbols from Christianity and Judaism to be welcoming to people of those faiths. Two of the chapel’s outstanding features were carved in Italy; a 150-year-old baptismal front and a reproduction of sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen’s famous work, “Serving Christ.” Because of the chapel’s size and focus on the needs of patients and their families, the hospital rarely hosted memorial services, but they made an exception in 1944 for LeAnna B. McKinney. Everyone loved Mrs. McKinney, who lived at Methodist Hospital for 9 years. After her death, she left a memorial trust to the Hospital in memory of her deceased husband. Because of her contribution, the Board decided to host her memorial service in the chapel. In 1954, the chapel also hosted the marriage of a Methodist Hospital School of Nursing graduate, Esther Margaret Baugh and her soon to be husband, Roman Stutzman; chaplain Claude McClure officiated. Occasionally, the chapel would host weddings for Methodist Hospital staff.  The chapel became a place where visitors and patients could pray and meditate. In 1947, at the annual Board of Trustees meeting, the report from Spiritual Ministry quoted two letters about visitor’s experiences in the Chapel. The following excerpt from one of the letters shows the importance of the Chapel in the spiritual life of Methodist Hospital: “My daily visits to the Chapel in the past two weeks have been a great inspiration to me and the reading of the prayers and other literature you have available there have been most helpful to our family in our anxious and dark hours. Now that our daughter has passed on, the peace and understanding that is exemplified by you and your little Chapel have assuaged our grief and deep sense of loss” (April 25, 1947). In 1961, an expanded chapel offering 55 seats opened in the lobby of the A building (now the B building). At the time, the Sunday services were averaging 41 attendees. The new chapel, named in honor of Mary Hanson Carey, was funded by community members. Like the old chapel, the planners wanted to make the space welcoming by incorporating symbols from different faiths. The chapel contained two stunning stained-glass windows portraying the healing Christ. In March of 1970, the Medical Media Productions department installed remote television cameras in the chapel for transmitting services to patients through television sets in their rooms. During the hospital expansion in the 1980s, the chapel moved to its current location in the A West Building in 1986 and maintained the Mary Hanson Carey Memorial Chapel name. At the time of writing, there are many spiritual programs throughout the week in the chapel including Catholic Mass at 11 am every weekday, a prayer meditation on Wednesday afternoons, and a quiet space for meditation available at all times.  Hospital Chaplaincy  Chaplains were present at Methodist Hospital early in its history, but the hiring of Reverend Dr. Claude M. McClure as hospital chaplain in 1947 marked the rapid expansion of the chaplaincy program. Although McClure spent many hours visiting patients, his predominant skill was networking and doing outreach with other churches. He also helped bring financial support and nurses into the Methodist system. In 1961, Dr. McClure retired; he estimated that he made over a quarter of a million bedside visits during his tenure at Methodist Hospital. His successor was associate director, Dr. Kenneth E. Reed, who was the first certified professional hospital chaplain at Methodist. Aided by grants from the Lilly Endowment and the Paul H. Buchanan family, the chaplaincy and pastoral education programs became one of the hospital’s most successful activities. The program was divided into three main departments each headed by a qualified ministerial staff: Pastoral Care, Pastoral Education, and the Buchanan Counseling Center.  A direct result of the expanding spiritual programs was a 24 hour, seven days a week, pastoral visitation program. In 1967, Father William S. Fisher became the hospital’s first full-time Catholic chaplain.  Walking Labyrinth  In 2005, the Daniel F. Evans Center for Spiritual and Religious Values in Healthcare funded a walking labyrinth with an IU Health Spiritual Values Grant. The labyrinth is located outside of Noyes Pavilion. It can be accessed by the outside doors near the closed Noyes gift shop. Open at all times, the labyrinth provides a space for reflection for patients, families, hospital staff, and the public. Structural repairs to the building below the labyrinth resulted in a complete restoration of the design beginning in August of 2020. In May of 2021, the Evans Center engaged John Ridder to repaint the original labyrinth design on the new surface. Today patients, families, hospital staff, and community members use the refurbished space for reflection.

Since opening in 1908, Methodist Hospital has had a chapel space in the hospital. Because of space limitations, the first chapel was also used by the interns and bookkeepers.  In 1933, Mary Hanson Carey donated the money for a dedicated chapel space in the hospital. With the expansion of the chapel the chaplaincy program also expanded, by the late 1960s, the chaplaincy department was one of the most active programs in the hospital. In 2021, the Daniel F. Evans Center for Spiritual and Religious Values rededicated and refurbished the walking labyrinth on campus as a part of an effort to maintain opportunities for spiritual reflection at Methodist Hospital.

Mary Hanson Carey Memorial Chapel 

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. 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; 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." 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. 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

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. 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. 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 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

May Wright Sewall was born in Greenfield, Wisconsin (a suburb of Milwaukee) on May 27, 1844. She became an avid reader at a young age and was apparently reading the works of British poet John Milton when she was seven. As a young woman, she became a teacher and taught in another Milwaukee suburb, Waukesha, and then enrolled in Northwestern Female College, which eventually merged with Northwestern University. In 1866, she earned a degree in science. In doing so, she became one of the first women outside of Oberlin College to earn a degree. Sewall later earned a master's degree in art in 1871, also from Northwestern Female College. Before that she taught in Mississippi, Michigan, and in Franklin, Indiana, where she met her first husband, Edwin, whom she married in 1872. They moved to Indianapolis in 1874. Sadly, he died of tuberculosis the next year.Sewall married Theodore Sewall, who was a principal in Indianapolis, in 1880. In 1882, they established the Classical School for Girls, which became well respected (Theodore founded the Classical School for Boys in 1874). Sewall served as principal for 25 years and taught literature. She and Theodore were both progressives and they acquainted themselves with similar-minded intellectuals, whom they often invited to their house. They did not have children.Sewall began to make a name for herself nationally in 1878 at the women's rights convention in Rochester, New York, where she met suffragist leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in 1878. That year she also helped establish the Indianapolis Equal Suffrage Society. Between 1881 to 1883, Sewall oversaw a state-wide women's suffrage campaign that was almost successful. In 1882, she became chairman of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and remained in that position until 1890. At a meeting of national and international women's organizations the NWSA held in 1888 (the 40th anniversary celebration of the Seneca Falls Convention was part of this gathering), in a speech Sewall was the first to suggest that a permanent "council" of international women's organizations be established. The delegates voted in favor of the idea, thus establishing the International Council of Women (ICW), which still exists today. Between 1891-1895 and 1897-1899, Sewall served as president National Council of American Women of the United States. She then served as president of the ICW from 1899-1904. At the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Sewall organized a gathering of national and international feminists. The next year, President William McKinley appointed her as a Special Representative to the Congress of Women to the World's Fair in Paris. Sewall's peace activism started in 1895. Between 1904-1914, she chaired the ICW's committee on peace and international arbitration. She gave speeches, wrote about international cooperation, and in 1915, organized a women's conference at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. That year she also sailed to Europe on a peace mission with Henry Ford and others on the so-called "Peace Ship." After living in New England since 1907, she returned to Indianapolis in 1919 due to declining health. She died on July 22, 1920.

This historical marker commemorates one of Indiana's leading educators and women's rights advocates of the 19th and early 20th centuries, May Wright Sewall (1844-1920). Her achievements include helping establish over 50 women's rights and education organizations, such as the International Council of Women, the Indianapolis Equal Suffrage Society, and the Indianapolis Women's Club. She co-organized the 40th anniversary convention of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the country's first women's rights convention. She was also a delegate to the Universal Congress of Women in Paris, France, became president of the National Federation of Women's Clubs in 1889, and helped establish the National Council of Women of the United States. In her final years she became an advocate of world peace. She died just one month before the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women's right to vote, was ratified in 1920.

May Wright Sewall Historical Marker

During
the course of African American history, there have been several African
American figures who have made an impact based on how much they put in and how
much they brought out for others to benefit from. One of these Individuals was
Madame Walker who became one of the first African American millionaires in the
United States . The Madame C. Walker Theater in St. Louis, Missouri is one such
impact of her legacy. While it is not a direct site where a major or moderate
event occurred that helped bring about a different change in American society,
the theatre itself is a monument dedicated to both the memory of Madame C.J.
Walker and the heart of African American Culture in the city of St. Louis. &nbsp;The story of Madame C.J. Walker is one of
triumph and charity to many who remember her and those who are continually
inspired by her example as a leader and giver. A self-made millionaire who made
her fortune through her cosmetic business that she started through scratch,
Madame Walker was just as much an activist as those who were apart of the
everyday struggle. 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Saga of Madame C.J. Walker began
on December 23rd 1867 when she was born Sarah Breedlove a daughter
of former slaves Minerva Anderson and Owen Breedlove in the community of Delta
Louisiana. By the time she was seven years old her mother passed away from
cholera and her father died a short time afterward and as a result of this
tragedy Mrs. Sarah Breedlove moved in with her oldest sister Louvinia and her
husband Willie Powell who was by all accounts a very abusive individual. In the
year of 1881 when Sarah was 14 Sarah married a man named Moses McWilliams and
had one daughter named Leila. However unfortunately her marriage to McWilliams
would come to a tragic end when Moses was mysteriously killed. While there is
no record as to the causes of his death it is believed that Moses McWilliams
had died from lynching or from a race riot. Following her husband’s death and
the death of Reconstruction, Sarah and Leila moved to the city of St. Louis
where she her brothers were staying. To put her daughter through school, Sarah
took up a job as a washerwoman in which she endured the pain of having to work
long hours for very little profit in order to ensure that her daughter was
taken care of. &nbsp;“Living on 1.50 a day as
a laundress and cook, Sarah struggled to send Leila to school-and-While joining
the A.M.E. Church.”

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It was during these arduous years
that Sarah Breedlove began to feel the fear of uncertainty about what awaits in
her and her daughter’s future so long as they continued to live in these dire
conditions. “As I bent over the washboard and looked at my arms buried in soap
suds, I said to myself; What are you going to do when you grow old and your
back gets stiff?”&nbsp;It was also during this period of time in history when Americans lacked indoor
plumbing and electricity which limited their hygiene to a large degree with a
lot of people including women going bald. “During the early 1900s, when most
Americans lacked indoor plumbing and electricity, and bathing was a luxury. As
a result many other women were going bald because they washed their hair so
infrequently.”&nbsp;However in the year 1904, Sarah met Annie Turno; a chemist from Illinois who
invented a hair growing substance known as “the Great Wonderful Hair Grower” at
the St. Louis World Fair. Sarah used Mrs. Turno’s product and in more than a
year later her hair grew completely back to its original state. As a result of
this, Sarah then began to work for Mrs. Turno as saleswoman selling Turno’s
products from door to door. 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; However despite her new job Sarah
left Mrs. Turno’s business and moved to Denver to start her own business of
hair care products. Denver was an excellent choice speaking from a business standpoint;
this can be said because Denver had the highest rate of damaged hair among
African American women. It was during this time frame that African Americans
were unable to find work in any particular field which in turn caused them to
turn to sharecropping and other menial jobs. “Blacks in the turn-of-the-century
America were excluded from most trade unions and denied bank capital, resulting
in trapped lives as sharecropper’s menial, low-wage earners.”&nbsp;Mrs. Breedlove then opted to start her own business out of her hair-care
products, during which time she remarried a man named Charles Joseph Walker and
therefore her name became known as “Madame C.J Walker.” This was a common
notion for many African Americans during the post-reconstruction era because of
the lack of employment opportunities available because of their skin color.
“One of the only ways out, as my colleague Nancy Koehn and others reveal in
their 2007 study of Walker, was to start a business in a market segmented by
Jim Crow.”&nbsp;Following the year of 1910, Madame Walker and her family moved to Indianapolis,
Indiana and it was from there that Madame Walker’s business took off. She built
a factory, hair salon and beauty school for training her technicians. “She and
C.J. began traveling around the country, recruiting agents to sell Wonderful
Hair Grower and other merchandise.”

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mrs. Walker’s business soon became
an instant success; more and more parlors under her company began appearing
across the country to the point where it became like a wild forest fire.
“Walker hair parlors began springing up all over the United States. Madame
Walker was soon on the road again, recruiting agents in Ohio and nearby
states.”&nbsp;The Success brought on by Madame Walker’s business soon spread to other
countries in the Caribbean including Cuba, Jamaica and Costa Rica. While Madame
Walker was preoccupied with her work she was nevertheless dedicated to the
promotion of Civil Rights for African Americans throughout her life. This can
be said, because her contributions to the movement toward equality for African
Americans and women included, providing a sum of five-thousand dollars towards
the NAACP anti-lynching fund (an equivalent to sixty-five thousand dollars by
today’s standards), she began a college in Pittsburgh named in honor of her
daughter called Leila College and she stressed the importance of women to be
economically, and professionally independent. However despite the enormous
amount of success she experienced, Madame Walker’s fast-paced lifestyle soon
began to take a huge toll on her health. On May the 25th 1919 Sunday
morning, Madame C.J Walker died of high blood pressure at the age of 51 with
her company’s leadership was turned over to her daughter. 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Her legacy of pursuing equality for
others in her community was erected into the now treasured Madame CJ Walker
Theater in downtown Indianapolis. The theater was brought up prior to Mrs.
Walker’s death in 1919, the construction of the building itself was completed
by her daughter A’Lelia in December 1927. The Building was placed strategically
at the center of a predominantly African American neighborhood and in doing so
became the heart of African American Culture in the city of Indianapolis
throughout the 1920s to the 1950s. During the late 1950s however, the building
began to decline along with the neighborhood. However, by the 1980s a group of
volunteers began to bring back the theatre through preserving its’ function as
a center of Culture for all Americans. The name of the theatre was later
changed to the Madame Walker Building Urban Life Center, which began a
non-profit organized rebuilding of the theatre. In 1988, the theatre now called
“The Madame C.J. Walker Theatre Center “was finally reopened. Since its
establishment, the Madame C.J. Walker Theatre Center has been a non-profit
company that put forth all its efforts towards preserving the legacy of Madame
Walker herself as well as providing cultural education, support for
entrepreneurship and empowering youth to become the next generation of leaders.<div><div>

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Named after the first female millionaire Madam C.J. Walker, the building was an important center of activity for the African American community for decades until the neighborhood began to decline in the 1950s. Mrs. Walker, originally named Sarah Breedlove; made a name for herself as a millionaire from selling hair-growth products and for her avid support for civil rights. She made her mark on the movement towards equality in the early years of the 1900s when she began a lawsuit to protest discrimination in a theater. In addition to the lawsuit she also urged the decry of lynchings in the south as well as join a delegation that went to Washington to protest the War Department's segregationist policies to President Woodrow Wilson. 

Madame Walker Theatre Center

After serving for a number of years as the supervisor for the Indianapolis Public Schools, Ruth McArthur began offering music lessons from her home. Her lessons gradually expanded and in 1946, the McArthur Music Conservatory was incorporated. The conservatory was located at 808-810 Indiana Avenue. The conservatory included thirteen departments, most of which offered two- and three-year programs. These departments included voice, choral workshop, piano, guitar, drama, instrumental studies, dance, church music, to name a few. The McArthur Conservatory--located in the heart of Indianapolis's jazz scene--was the first institution in the state to offer a formal jazz program, and it was not uncommon to find McArthur students performing in the jazz clubs that lined Indiana Avenue. .Beyond the local jazz venues, McArthur students and faculty were also involved in the community, giving regular performances for various community groups and events. Students from the conservatory performed annually at a&nbsp;gala event held at Crispus Attucks High School. In 1953, many students from the school staged a performance at the Indiana State Fairgrounds which featured African, Haitian, and Black American dance. The McArthur Conservatory was located in a three-story building on Indiana Avenue. The school featured a lounge, an auditorium, an orchestra room, a bookstore, and at one point, the school maintained a record shop on its first floor as a way to bring in extra income. Desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s meant that African-Americans had additional opportunities to study music in other parts of the city, and led to a declining enrollment at McArthur. The school closed in 1963 and the building was purchased by Indiana University in 1967.

From 1946 until 1963, Ruth McArthur operated the McArthur Conservatory at this location. The school occupied a three-story brick building with twenty rooms across from the Lockefield Gardens Housing Complex on Indiana Avenue. The school provided classes to both children and adults and was the first school in Indiana to offer a formal jazz program. In 1963, the school closed and the property was purchased by Indiana University. 

McArthur Conservatory, 1946-1963

Keller was born on January 12, 1871 in Cleveland Ohio but grew up in Indianapolis. She never moved anywhere else. After graduating high school, she attended the Woman's Medical College of Chicago then the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons, which was located in Indianapolis, where she earned her medical degree in 1893. In 1899 she married her husband Eugene Buehler.Keller became an associate professor of diseases of children at Central College in 1906. Two years later, Central College merged with the Indiana University School of Medicine, where she served on the faculty until 1919. Throughout her career, Keller lectured frequently on social hygiene, child welfare, housing and other issues. She was also the family doctor of Governor James P. Goodrich.In 1909, Keller and another activist, Grace Julia Clark, established the Woman's School League which worked to elect the first woman to the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners. The effort was successful; the principal of the Indianapolis Normal School, Mary E. Nicholson, won the election in 1910, becoming the first woman on the board. In 1911, the League changed its name to the Woman's Franchise League to reflect its new goal of achieving women's suffrage in Indiana. Over the next few years, the League established 100 branches around the state, forming a network of activists who lobbied slate legislators to give women the right to vote. This effort achieved some success in 1917 when the state legislature passed a bill granting women the right to vote for presidential electors, municipal officials, and Constitutional convention delegates (other organizations participated in the effort as well). However, the state Supreme Court struck down the bill saying that it violated in the state's constitution. When the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was up for ratification in Indiana, the League continued to lobby legislators. Its work was critical to the General Assembly in ratifying the amendment in 1920.During the last two decades or so of her life, Keller was an active in the Republican party, often giving speeches on behalf of candidates and participating in women's organizations affiliated with the party. She also became an active member of clubs, serving as the first president of the aforementioned Woman's Rotary Club of Indianapolis, which was established in 1919, and as the president of the Indiana Council of Women. She died on January 1, 1943.

This historical marker honors Dr. Amelia Keller (1871-1943), who, in 1908, became the first woman to join the faculty at the Indiana University School of Medicine. A specialist in gynecology and pediatrics, Keller also operated a private medical practice in Indianapolis for more than 40 years. In addition to her medical work, she was also an ardent suffragist and women's rights advocate. Her leadership roles included serving as the first president of the Women's Franchise League of Indiana, the first vice president of the Indiana Federation of Clubs, as as the first president of the Woman's Rotary Club of Indianapolis, and as president of the Indianapolis Equal Suffrage Society.

Dr. Amelia Keller Historical Marker

Indiana resident Amanda Way organized a women’s rights convention in 1851, and soon after, suffragists organized the Indiana Woman’s Rights Association. Women sent their first petition about voting to the state legislature in 1859, but the Civil War interrupted much of the movement. After the Civil War ended, suffragists got back to work. They were hampered by the structure of the state constitution amendment process. To change the constitution, an amendment needed to be approved by two separate legislative sessions (which only met every other year). This proved to be a problem in the 1880s when the state legislature approved a suffrage amendment in 1881. However, when the legislature reconvened in 1883, the law had mysteriously not been recorded in the official record, and they could not act on it.Indiana suffragists continued campaigning into the twentieth century and again almost won the vote in 1917. Partially due to the national suffrage movement and the participation of women in war efforts, the Indiana General Assembly passed several pro-women's suffrage measures. One such measure called for a convention to draft a new state constitution, one was an amendment to grant women’s suffrage in the current constitution, and the third granted partial suffrage to women, allowing them to vote in certain elections that year. 40,000 Indiana women registered to vote, but the victory was temporary.Opponents of women’s suffrage challenged two of the laws passed by the General Assembly, and the Indiana Supreme Court found both to be unconstitutional. Women lost their partial suffrage in October 1917, and there would be no convention to change the state constitution. The law granting full suffrage still needed to go through a second legislative session in 1919 to pass. With this second major setback, many women focused on the national campaign that led to the passage of the 19th Amendment. Indiana ratified the 19th Amendment on January 16, 1920.

This historical marker was dedicated in 2022 and recognizes Indiana’s women’s suffrage movement, which began shortly after the Seneca Falls convention in 1848. Although several measures to recognize women's right to vote were passed in 1917, the state Supreme Court intervened, and the women of the Hoosier State could not legally vote until Indiana ratified the 19th Amendment on January 16, 1920.

Indiana Women's Suffrage Historical Marker (Ratification on January 16, 1920)

Grace Julian Clarke was born on September 11, 1865 in the town of Centerville, Indiana. Her mother was Laura Giddings Julian, George W. Julian's second wife and daughter of noted politician and abolitionist Joshua Reed Giddings. Clarke had three half brothers from George's first marriage to Anne Elizabeth Finch, who died in 1860. Clarke spent her early years in Washington D.C., where George served in the U.S. House of Representatives (he served from 1849 to 1851, and from 1861 to 1871), until the family moved to Indianapolis in 1873 (at the time, where the house is now was in a suburb of Indianapolis called Irvington). George built the house at this time. Clarke earned her bachelor of arts degree and master's degree in philosophy from Butler University in 1884 and 1885, respectively. In 1887, she married attorney Charles Clarke, who served under George as Deputy Surveyor General. At the time of their marriage, George was Surveyor General of New Mexico and was tasked with resolving land disputes. Clarke accompanied him and that's how she met Charles. Charles would later serve in the Indiana Senate in 1913 and 1915.Clarke became active in Indiana clubs and organizations and would eventually establish a number of them by herself or with others. These included the Irvington Women's Club, a literary group that she founded in 1892 and served as its president, the Irvington Union of Clubs, and the Indiana State Federation of Women's Clubs. Clarke served as the president of the Federation from 1909-1911. She was also a board member and national press chairman of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. In 1911 she co-founded the Woman's Franchise League and became the first president of the Legislative Council of Indiana, which she also helped establish. Her name became known among women around the state in 1915 when she served as campaign manager during the Federation's presidential election. Clarke was largely responsible for revitalizing the suffrage movement in Indiana. After the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, Clarke shifted her focus to international peace activism and foreign affairs. Her activities included giving speeches in support of the League of Nations and serving as a member of the National Committee of the League to Enforce Peace.Clarke held several other positions as well. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson appointed her as the head of the Federal Employment Bureau employment office in Indianapolis. In 1931, she was appointed to the City Planning Commission and served until 1933. She was also a member of the Marion County Board of Charities. She died on June 16, 1938. She and Charles, who died the next year, did not have children.Many prominent individuals visited the house including suffragist Susan B. Anthony, African-American activist Sojourner Truth, and Presidents Henry Harrison and Woodrow Wilson. The house operated as a sanatorium (a long-term treatment facility) from 1945-1973. It eventually came into the possession of the Historic Landmarks Foundation. It appears to be a private residence today.

Suffragist, author, and journalist Grace Julian Clarke (1865-1938), lived in this house from 1873, when it was built, until her death in 1938. Clarke was one of Indiana's leading activists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was a member of many organizations including several women's clubs, was a staunch supporter of women gaining the right to vote, and co-founded the Woman's Franchise League. Clarke was a noted writer as well. She wrote a weekly column in Indianapolis Star, edited the paper's woman's page, and wrote two books about her father, George W. Julian (1817-1899), who was a lawyer, politician, and ardent supporter of women's suffrage and abolitionism. In 1868, he was the first to propose a women's suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Grace Julian Clarke House

Sarah Barrett was born in Newport, Kentucky but moved to Indiana as a child. The family first settled in Jennings County, and later Madison. As a young woman she contributed poems to the Madison newspaper. These poems attracted the attention of the paper's editor, Nathaniel Bolton (July 25, 1803 – November 26, 1858), and the two were soon married.&nbsp; <div>The couple moved to Indianapolis where Sarah gained a wide reputation as a poet. In 1855, Nathaniel was appointed consul to Geneva, Switzerland, and Sarah accompanied him to his new post. They remained in Switzerland for three years. During this time Sarah acted as a correspondent for the Cincinnati Commercial. In 1858 they returned to Indianapolis. Nathaniel died a few months after their return. Nathaniel co-founded Indianapolis's first newspaper, the Gazette, and was Indiana State Librarian from 1851 to 1854.</div><div> </div><div>After her first husband's death, Sarah married Addison Reese, a judge. They lived in Missouri for two years, but she found the climate unhealthy and moved back to Indianapolis. She only used the name Reese for business, and continued with the name Bolton for other purposes. She died in Indianapolis in 1893. She was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery. Bolton was Indiana's foremost female singer for many years. A complete collection of her poetry was published in Indianapolis in 1886. She has been called the "Pioneer Poet Laureate of Indiana". She also donated to the State of Indiana 180 acres of land for the building of what was then known as the Indiana Hospital for the Insane. She is commemorated by the Sarah T. Bolton Relief, a 1941 bronze relief in the Indiana Statehouse. Additionally,&nbsp;and is best known for her poem "Paddle Your Own Canoe" (1850) and&nbsp;as an activist for women's rights where&nbsp;she worked with Robert Dale Owen during Indiana's 1850–1851 constitutional convention to include the recognition of women's property rights. </div>

This marker sits on the location where famed Indiana poet, singer, and activist, Sarah T. Bolton (1814-1893), lived from 1871-1893. Though born in Newport, Kentucky, she spent the most of her years in Indianapolis. She is well known in Indiana not just for her poetry and singing, but for  her activism for women's rights. This area is called Beech Bank due to the prominence of Beech trees, of which the Boltons named their farmstead, "Beech Bank." The marker sits to the west of Bolton Park

Sarah T. Bolton Historical Marker

Both Mary Hunt Bryan and Samuel Bryan are buried in lots near this marker in Southport Cemetery&nbsp;

This historic marker honors Mary Hunt Bryan, who is buried near this marker. Mary Hunt Bryan was one of the first women of European descent to journey west through the Cumberland Mountains. Although the marker states that she crossed the Cumberlands in 1776, that is unlikely as her husband Samuel Bryan was a soldier in the Continental Army at that time. According to his pension records, the Bryan family crossed the Cumberland Mountains in 1779. The family later moved to this section of Indiana sometime between 1830 and 1832. 

Indianapolis Women's History Tour

"Milestones in Nursing" Historic Marker

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information