Classroom

The Indiana Theatre opened on June
18, 1927 as a movie palace. The theatre was designed by architects Rubush
and Hunter designed the six-story building that ended up costing $1.5 million.
The theatre had 3,313 seats and at one time the building’s basement held
bowling alleys, billiards, a lunch counter, and a barber shop. The theatre’s
façade was a white glazed terra cotta that matched the Spanish Baroque style of
its exterior. Its design recalled the work of 17th and 18th
century Spanish architect, Jose de Churriguera. 

Inside the theatre building were beautiful marble structures
and bold colors; the theatre was equipped with air-conditioning, expensive
technology in that era. At the time it was built, the theatre also had the Spanish-style Indiana Roof Ballroom on its 6th
floor. The walls of the ballroom were made to resemble Spanish houses, as in a
village, and its ceiling was made to look like the sky. The ballroom had a
“sea-breeze”: outside air passed over iced salt water in the summer to give the
effect of a sea breeze in a real Spanish town. In the winter they used warmed
salt water to create this illusion. 

In 1975 the theatre closed, but reopened
in 1980 when it became the home of the Indiana Repertory Theatre. Before
opening, the theatre was renovated and the building restored by Evans Woolen:
the balcony of the house was made into a second theatre to accommodate the
theatre group and the ballroom was retained in its original state.

Indiana Theatre exterior (date unknown)


More Info

2016 IndyStar article- Historic Indiana theaters give travelers classic holiday movies

The Indiana Theatre is the largest theatre built in Indianapolis. Since opening in 1927, it has housed many movies and performances. When first built, the theatre housed bowling alleys, a barber shop, a lunch counter, and a Spanish-style ballroom that is still used today. In 1980 the building was remodeled to accommodate the Indiana Repertory Theatre. The Repertory Theatre has been housed in the theatre ever since and continues to put on productions today

Indiana Theatre

This tour starts at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument and proceeds to historic sites around the city's famous Monument Circle before heading south and west to see historic buildings, markers, and the statehouse. The tour concludes at the Indiana State Library and Historical Bureau. Visitors to the city will also enjoy the War Memorial Plaza walking tour.

Downtown Indianapolis Walking Tour

Instructor

The Circle is thought to be the first theatre to open with the express purpose of showing feature-length moving pictures in the country. However, like many theaters of this period, the Circle also hosted live acts. It replaced a livery stable owned by the Wood Transfer Company, which stood on that spot for much of the 19th century. The Circle opened on August 30, 1916, with orchestral music, a dedication speech by Mayor Joseph Bell, and a showing of the silent movie Home. Other movies shown during its initial year were Wild and Wooly, which starred Douglas Fairbanks, and A Poor Little Rich Girl, with Mary Pickford. In 1928, the Circle played the first movie with sound shown in Indianapolis, The Jazz Singer, with Al Jolson. In the 1940s, big band jazz came to the theater. The Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Paul Whiteman Band made stops on their touring circuits. The 3,100 seat theater showed movies for sixty-five years. But like almost all movie palaces, it fell on hard times as development patterns and tastes changed. By the 1970s, the Circle Theater had fallen into disrepair. The building was briefly closed in 1981, talk of its demolition spread, and the owner and potential buyers fought to keep it off the National Register of Historic Places, as this would make it's razing that much easier. Fortunately, the Indianapolis Power and Light Company purchased the old theatre and, with tax-credit incentive and a great deal of community support, undertook an extensive $7 million renovation of the theater in the early 1980s. The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra then made the Circle it's new home. It reopened on October 17, 1984, to rave reviews, and since then, it's hosted numerous shows, symphonies, the weightlifting competition for the 1987 Pan-Am Games, and hosted the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon when the Super Bowl came to town in 2012. Tonight Show alumnus Jay Leno also hosted a fundraiser for the theatre in 2016 entitled "Laughing Matters."   The Circle has completed its long, strange trip from an early twentieth-century vaudeville house to a world-class symphonic and live-show performance venue. Its stage was torn out, rebuilt, and expanded during twelve weeks in 2002; all the seats were removed, reconfigured, and replaced in 2013, under a grant from the Lilly Endowment. A 3-manual, 24-rank Wurlitzer Theatre Organ was also installed. The theater now seats 1,781 people for concerts and shows, and today the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra is the largest performing arts organization in the state and one of only fifteen full-time orchestras nationwide.The theater celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary in 2016, renewing its support for its resident symphony orchestra but also extending its outreach to the greater Indianapolis community. The hall, lobbies, and Wood Room facility are now available during nonperformance dates for meetings, seminars, receptions, concerts, or for public or private functions.

The Circle Theater opened in 1916 as the city's first “movie palace”---and one of the first such buildings in the Midwest. Today it is the second-oldest building on Monument Circle, after Christ Church Cathedral, and is home to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.  The theater was designed by the prominent local firm of Rubush and Hunter in a Neoclassical Revival style. The exterior is white terra cotta, featuring a frieze of classical Greek figures. Inside, a detailed bas-relief proscenium, plaster molding throughout the house, and other details render the interior among the most historic in the city. In fact, the interior is one of only two interiors in the city that has been granted historic landmark status and official city protection.
The theater was renamed after Stephen Hilbert, a local businessman, and his wife Tomisue, in 1996, after they pledged $10 million toward a building endowment. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.  

Hilbert Circle Theatre

In 1922,
British archaeologist and Egyptologist, Howard&nbsp;Carter,&nbsp;uncovered the intact tomb of the boy
king, Tutankhamun, and its reverberations were felt across the globe, to
include Indianapolis.&nbsp; When the architectural
firm of Preston Rubush and Edgar Hunter began to design the Circle Tower in the
late 1920s they were greatly influenced by two themes; the first was the art
deco movement then sweeping the architectural world and the second was the
sudden interest in all things related to ancient Egypt then sweeping the rest
of the world.&nbsp; 

The
ziggurat-like structure was built with terraced floors, above the tenth, with
the one above stepping back from the one below.&nbsp;
This unique design feature was created for practical as well as aesthetic
reasons.&nbsp; The major feature of Monument
Circle is the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial that sits at its center.&nbsp; In the early 20th century, the
city sought to prevent the memorial from being constantly in the shadows of the
increasingly taller buildings being built around the Circle.&nbsp; To that end, they passed zoning ordinances that
restricted building heights and Rubush and Hunter complied with those ordinances
with the Circle Tower’s stair-like design.&nbsp;
Another interesting design feature is the building’s curved façade that
follows the circumference of Monument Circle.

Circle Tower
combines the geometric forms, pastel colors and sleek lines of the art deco
movement with Egyptian elements such as hieroglyphic figures, especially on the
gilded screen located above the arched, recessed Market Street entrance and the
elevator doors in the main lobby.&nbsp; That
main lobby also sports dark, polished marble walls with chrome and gold-colored
accessories and terrazzo floors.&nbsp; Its
ancient Egyptian and art deco influences can also be seen in other locations
within the tower, such as its second-floor spa that includes dark tile walls
with silver accents and figures.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

The 114,000
square feet of Circle Tower, since its completion in 1930, has been home to
various businesses who have used its upper floors as office space and its
ground floor for retail shops.&nbsp; It was
purchased by the Ambrose Property Group from Winthrop Realty Trust in 2012 for
the price of $6 million.&nbsp; Ambrose, in
turn, then sold it to the Chicago-based Level Office in 2016, a company known
for creating co-working spaces in the buildings it owns.&nbsp; Level Office plans to renovate part of the
tower’s interior to create communal work spaces as well as private offices for
its tenants.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Completed in 1930, Circle Tower was designed by Architects Rubush & Hunter, the same firm that built the famous and adjacent Circle Theater. The building uses Indiana limestone and its top stories recede from the previous story to create a tiered effect. The top of the building features Art Deco sculpture. The main entry on the north side of the building features a 1.5 story arch with an intricate bronze screen. This entry, and the first floor lobby, are full of artistic detail and well-worth a visit and photos. The building was designed for office space, with commercial storefronts on the street level.  Circle Tower is part of the larger Monument Circle Historic District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  

Circle Tower

For the first twenty years of the monument's existence, city ordinance prohibited the construction of any building near the monument that exceeded it in height. That ordinance came under fire from downtown promoters and was modified in 1922 to allow buildings to be taller so long as they did not overshadow the monument. For example, the Circle Tower uses a tiered design, with higher stories backing away from the building facade that faces the monument.  The monument was designed by German architect Bruno Schmitz and was intended to honor Indiana's American Civil War veterans. However, the design also pays tribute to those who served in the American Revolutionary War and a number of territorial conflicts including the Mexican and Spanish American Wars. Many times after the Civil War suggestions were made to build a monument honoring Indiana's Civil War veterans. The first proposal was made on April 1, 1862, when an anonymous editorial in the Indianapolis Daily Journal suggested a monument be erected in Circle Park; however, no action was taken. Talk of a monument continued in the years following the war. In 1867 governor Morton suggested a monument be erected on the highest point in Crown Hill Cemetery, but nothing came of it. In 1872 William H. English addressed a group of Civil War veterans and expressed his support for a monument at Crown Hill, but a bill introduced in the state legislature failed to pass. Other potential sites for the monument included University Park, Military Park, and the corner of Washington and Illinois streets in the city's downtown business district, along the National Road.No progress on was made on the monument until August 1875, when George J. Langsdale, a newspaper editor of the Greencastle Banner, presented a plan for a memorial during the first reunion of Civil War veterans, which was held in Indianapolis. Langsdale's idea was favorably received and a monument association was formed. By 1887 the Indiana Department of the Grand Army of the Republic had raised $23,380, before relinquishing responsibility for the monument to the State of Indiana.Further action was taken on March 3, 1887, when the Indiana General Assembly passed a bill to form a monument commission, whose original members included Samuel B. Voyles, D. C. McCollum, Daniel M. Ransdell, George J. Johnson, James, G. Gookins, and Langsdale, who was elected the committee's president at its first meeting on June 28, 1887. Randsell, who resigned two years later, was replaced by Thomas W. Bennett, and William H. English replaced Bennett. Other commissioners included General Mahlon D. Manson, and Thomas A. Morris. The bill also authorized the monument to be built in Indianapolis and appropriated $200,000 for the project. Some state legislators disagreed over use of the Circle as the monument's site; however, the legislative act that authorized it specifically identified the intended site as Circle Park.To select a design for the new monument, the commission established an international contest and solicited ten architects to submit sketches. Notices were also placed in leading newspapers in the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, and Italy, to encourage others to submit their ideas. The contest deadline was set for January 12, 1888, and seventy designs were submitted. The selection committee, who initially did not know the identity of the designers, chose two entries for further consideration. Bruno Schmitz, an architect from Berlin, Prussia, who submitted a design called Symbol of Indiana was the commissioners' unanimous choice as the winner. Schmitz, an architect knowledgeable in the field of monument design, was also a friend and fellow artist of the commission's secretary, James F. Gookins, when the two lived in Munich, Germany. Percy Stone, of London, England, received $500 for his second-prize entry.Several individuals and companies were involved in the monument's construction. Schmitz received his commission as the project's supervising architect in February 1888. His contract for the project specified his commission as five percent of the monument's total cost.[20] Schmitz arrived in Indianapolis from Germany in January 1889. Frederick Bauman, of Chicago, was appointed the project's deputy architect and Schmitz's representative. Enos Hege, of Indianapolis, received the contract to erect the monument's foundation, which was completed in 1888, and Thomas McIntosh, of Greencastle, Indiana, and an expert in stonework, became the project's superintendent. The Terre Haute Stone Works Company was awarded the contract to construct the monument's terraces, approaches, and superstructure. The project's stone and bronze sculptors included Rudolph Schwarz, Nikolaus (or Nicolaus) Geiger, George Brewster, and John Mahoney. Although ambiguous language in the authorizing bill created some confusion over the type of memorial to be erected, either a single monument or a combination of monument and memorial hall, the controversy was cleared up in 1893, six years after the bill's initial passage, when its confusing statement was repealed. In the meantime, construction continued using Schmitz's design.The cornerstone was laid on August 22, 1889. Inside, a copper box contained, among other items, an official list of all Indiana soldiers who had served in the Civil War, newspapers, copies of Indiana's two constitutions, a thirty-eight-star American flag, a photograph of Schmitz, the ceremony's program, and other related paraphernalia from the Grand Army of the Republic, the Women's Relief Corps, the Sons of the Republic, and other groups. Ceremonies held on the northeast corner of the monument included a speech by President Benjamin Harrison, an artillery salute, and a parade. Members of Harrison's cabinet, Indiana's governor Alvin P. Hovey, and other state officials were present. The Department Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic was master of ceremonies. It was the first monument in the United States to be dedicated to the common soldier.Public donations and the Indiana General Assembly's initial appropriations were not sufficient to fund the complete project. More funds were required. The state legislature appropriated an additional $160,000, and in 1891, raised over $123,000 with an additional property tax. Construction on the monument, which began in 1888, took thirteen years to complete. The obelisk was completed in 1892, the main elements by 1894, and its final installations in 1901. In 1893 the circle was renamed Monument Place. The cost to complete the monument was $598,318. An estimate to erect a similar structure in 2014 suggests it would exceed $500 million.The monument was formally dedicated on May 15, 1902. Thousands came to the public event, which began at 8 a.m. with a parade of flags and veterans of the Mexican-American, Civil, and Spanish–American Wars, and ended with an evening fireworks display. The formal dedication ceremony was held at 10 a.m. with General Lew Wallace as the master of ceremonies. General David R. Lucas led the gathering in prayer, and Governor Winfield T. Durbin, Wallace, and John W. Foster, the former United States Secretary of State under President Benjamin Harrison, gave speeches. A male chorus sang and poet James Whitcomb Riley read his poem "The Soldier", which was written especially for the occasion. Musicians played John Philip Sousa's "The Messiah of the Nations", a march he had composed for the occasion. Following a second parade in the afternoon and an evening vesper service, the bells of Christ Church sounded and its choir sang "My Country, 'Tis of Thee."In the years since its public dedication on May 15, 1902, the monument has become an iconic symbol of Indianapolis. It is the first monument in the United States to be dedicated to the common soldier, and the largest outdoor memorial and the largest of its kind in Indiana. The monument was included in the National Register of Historic Places on February 13, 1973. In 2011, the American Planning Association recognized Monument Circle as one of the nation's "great public spaces" in its annual "Great Places in America" ranking. The minor league Indy Eleven soccer team features Victory prominently in their logo.

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument, situated at One Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis, was dedicated on May 15, 1902. The monument was designed to honor the common soldier and was constructed over a thirteen-year period between 1888 and 1901. The structure is the largest outdoor memorial in the state of Indiana and has become closely tied to the identity of both the state and the city of Indianapolis. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument once housed the Colonel Eli Lilly Civil War Museum until flooding led to the relocation of those artifacts to the Indiana War Memorial. The monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 13, 1973.

Soldiers & Sailors Monument 

The Columbia
Club, when it was incorporated in 1889 by a group of prominent local
Republicans was originally known as the Harrison Marching Society.&nbsp; Its initial certificate of incorporation
stated that the club was “…organized for literary and scientific purposes for
the advancement of political economy and politico-legal historical criticism
from the standpoint of the Republican party.”&nbsp;
After Benjamin Harrison was sworn in, the club acquired its first home
at its present location in 1889 and changed its name to the Columbia Club.&nbsp; It has since been one of Indiana’s most important
social and political clubs and has been associated with the GOP for over 200
years.&nbsp; However, while in 1900 the club required
its members to be registered Republicans, that stipulation has since been waived.&nbsp; 

The current
home of the Columbia Club, which was completed in 1925, is its third at its
current location.&nbsp; The first was razed
for a new structure in 1898, while the club’s second home was later demolished
for the current structure in 1924.&nbsp; The
building that currently houses the Columbia Club was designed by the well-known
Indianapolis architectural firm of Rubush and Hunter.&nbsp; The firm designed a 10-story structure of Indiana
oolitic limestone with a Gothic Revival style.&nbsp;
Its most prominent architectural feature is its six-story oriel window
that contains leaded glass casement windows.&nbsp;
It also features bas-relief limestone panel sculptures executed by artist
Alexander Sangernebo.&nbsp; 

The club,
which didn’t accept women until 1979, has hosted every Republican president,
starting with President Harrison, either while they were in office or while
they were the party’s nominee.&nbsp;&nbsp;Other Republican officials to have visited
the Columbia Club include Vice Presidents Charles Fairbanks and Charles Evans
Hughes and Senators Albert Beveridge, Robert Taft, Everett Dirkson, and Barry
Goldwater.&nbsp; Non-politicians to have spent
time at the club include aviators Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, and
General John “Blackjack” Pershing.

The club is
also home to a large collection of artwork from the Hoosier Group, a collection
of Indiana impressionist painters that worked in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries, to include the works of T. C. Steele.&nbsp; It also has memorabilia from Benjamin
Harrison’s presidential campaign and pieces of Lincoln family china.&nbsp; 

Today, the
Columbia Club contains four restaurants and lounges, a fitness center, meeting
and conference rooms, a business center, a billiards room, a library, barber
shop and an ornate first-floor Grand Lobby.&nbsp;
It offers its members varied special events and is available for rental
as an event venue.&nbsp; The building and club
is only accessible to members and their guests.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Columbia Club was built in 1924 by supporters of the Republican Party. The club dates its origins back to 1888, when Indianapolis Republicans formed a group to support the presidential campaign of local attorney and politician Benjamin Harrison. Harrison had been an officer in the Civil War and had also been selected by the Indiana State legislature to represent Indiana in the United States Senate prior to the modern practice where voters directly elect their Senators. Harrison's presidential campaign was a success. The Columbia Club also experienced success, quickly becoming one of the leading social clubs in the city.  The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.  

Columbia Club

The parish was founded in 1837 with just 30 individuals. However, within 20 years, it had outgrown its original wood-framed church, and construction on a new building began after the old church was sold to the Bethel AME Church and transported to Georgia Street. Unfortunately, that church was destroyed by a fire in 1862. When the cathedral was completed in 1858, it was one of five churches on Governor’s Circle, as it was then known, and today, is the last one still standing. It is the oldest church building in Indianapolis and Marion County that has remained in continuous use.The cathedral was designed by well-known and Irish born architect William Tinsley in the Gothic Revival style. Its original red brick exterior was soon replaced by limestone. Its first official service occurred in May of 1859, and the structure has been expanded and renovated numerous times since that date. The spire was added in 1869, the Episcopal residence in 1871, and a brick Sunday school building in 1876. Its interior was extensively renovated in 1900 with the addition of a rood screen, stained glass windows, and an exterior porch. In 1927 its basement was excavated and renovated for educational and recreational use. Various other renovations took place in 1936, 1954, 1973, and 1983.Since the late 19th century, the congregation of the “Little Church on the Circle” has considered relocating outside the downtown area, and numerous corporate interests have made offers to purchase the valuable land on which it sits. However, congregation members, including famed pharmaceutical company founder, Eli Lilly, have fought to keep the cathedral at its current location, and so it has. Membership at the church has ebbed and flowed, peaking in 1963 at over 1,100.The church has always been known for its dedication to supporting the less fortunate through fundraising and charitable efforts. Its social activism increased under the leadership of Paul Moore Jr., who served as Dean from 1957-1964. The congregation’s most successful and popular fundraiser is its annual Strawberry Festival, which beginnings are as old as the cathedral itself. Money raised is then donated to various charities; local, national, and international. The cathedral is also known for its music. It has two professional choirs, the Choir of Men and Boys, whose predecessor began in 1883, and the Girls’ Choir, which was founded in 1945. It also has a volunteer choir known as the Christ Church Singers. These choirs perform during regular Sunday services. The choirs can be accompanied by one of three organs within the cathedral, the chancel organ, which was built in 1989 by Helmuth Wolff, the gallery organ, built-in 1991, and the Frederick E. Weber Memorial Continuo Positive Organ added in 1996.

Completed in 1857, Christ Church Cathedral replaced a previous church that was built at this location between 1837 and 1838. Like many of the other churches that were once located in the area, the congregation almost sold this property to developers several different times; however, even though many of the parishioners had moved away from the city center, members ultimately opposed the sale of the building. Today, the Cathedral serves as the ceremonial seat of the Episcopalian Diocese of Indianapolis. The bishop of Indianapolis presides here and oversees 46 congregations throughout central Indiana. The cathedral was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. 

Christ Church Cathedral

In 1923, the
Test family first put forth their idea for a parking structure along Monument
Circle and Market Street.&nbsp; The city,
which had already issued a building permit for a structure, quickly revoked it
upon hearing of the building’s intended use.&nbsp;
The city feared traffic congestion around the garage and the threat
automobiles posed to pedestrians.&nbsp; They
also felt the garage would be an eyesore within the larger Monument Circle
area.&nbsp; The case went to court and the
permit was reissued in June of 1924 when the Test family assured the city that
the building would meet all their structural and architectural demands.

The Test
family then hired the firm of Bass, Knowlton and Company to design a structure
in which form and function were of equal value.&nbsp;
The nine-story building was designed to be analogous to a Corinthian
columnn with an unadorned middle sandwiched between an ornate base and capital
or crown.&nbsp; To that end, the middle five
floors are relatively plain while the lower three floors are capped by a series
of bas-relief sculptures that depict different landmarks and modes of
transportation, such as a domed government building, a biplane and a
dirigible.&nbsp; These were created by
well-known local artist, Alexander Sangernebo.&nbsp;
The Test Building is topped by ornate scrollwork just below the ninth
floor and a carved cornice above.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Within the
building, the architects utilized a d’Humy Motoramp System that was first used
in a sturcture in Poughkeepsie, New York.&nbsp;
To use this system, the floors do not meet in the middle.&nbsp; They actually alternate like steps.&nbsp; This permitted the auto ramps to be half the
normal length in between floors which opened up more of the building for
alternative uses.&nbsp; The garage’s capacity
was also increased with the addition of two basement parking levels.&nbsp; This brought its capacity up to about 200
automobiles, which, even 20 years after it was completed, still represented
over two-thirds of all parking spaces within the downtown area.&nbsp; &nbsp;

The garage
was initially run by the Circle Motor Inn and its earliest occupants included
the United States Veteran’s Bureau and the International News Services, a news
wire service.&nbsp; The Test Building, also now
known as the Lacy Building, still houses retail shops at ground level and
office space on floors three through nine as well as a working parking
garage, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Located on Indianapolis’ famed Monument Circle, the Test Building was named after Charles Test, the former president of the National Motor Vehicle Company of Indianapolis.  At the time it was built, in 1925, it was one of the first buildings that served as a multi-level parking garage in the state, if not the first.  It was, and is, also unique in that it was a multi-use structure that housed retail space at street level and office space on the upper floors.  It was intentionally designed to appear as a Neo-Classical office building of the era so that it would not detract from the aesthetics that surround the city’s centerpiece, the Soldier’s and Sailor’s Monument.  The Test Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Test Building

Prior to 1905, a city ordinance prohibited the construction of buildings taller than 86 feet in an effort to make sure that the Soldiers and Sailors Monument stood taller than any adjacent building. After years of attempts to modify the law, in 1922, the city revised the law and permitted buildings adjacent to the Circle to be up to 108 feet tall. These buildings could also have an additional 42 feet of beyond this limit, so long as the additional stories used a series of retreating stair-step designs that would push the additional stories away from the Circle. The firm that build the Guaranty - Rubush &amp; Hunter - also added three more along the circle: the Columbia Club, Circle Theater, and Circle Tower. This location formerly held Wesley Methodist Chapel, until the lot was purchased by Richard j. Bright, the Indiana Sentinel newspaper publisher in the late 1860s. Bright added onto the building and the newspaper's offices were here, in what became known as the Waverly Block. The new, nine-story Guaranty Building cost $980,000 to build and was owned by the Guaranty Building Corporation, led by Albert Metzger. The lobby and wainscoting of the upper floors were upgraded to pricey Italian marble. The finished structure boasted a main entrance on Meridian Street leading to a stairway and four high-speed elevators. Four large commercial spaces front on Meridian and one storefront with an opening on the Circle. It took four months to move the equipment for the Western Union Telegraph Company from its location across Meridian Street to the new location in the Guaranty Building. The cable to New York City was dead for three minutes to make the final switchover to the two top floors, as the operators walked from one building to the other one Sunday morning in September 1923. For the past two days, a box and pulley system had been used to physically relay messages received at the old building to the new spaces. The new operating room boasted 8,700 square feet, with messengers travelling between desks on roller skates over a soundproof floor. Pneumatic tubes connected to the receiving office on the ground floor. Western Union employed 350 men and women plus about 100 male messengers in this office. Some of the tenants in 1924 were the Grand Gripper Shoe Company, Durham Realty, and offices of Dodge Brothers Motor Vehicles. The Guaranty Restaurant, in the building's basement, could hold 500 diners - 440 at tables and 60 at a counter. The basement restaurant held a grand opening under new management in March 1933. Neal's Guaranty was the brainchild of V.E. Neal, a restaurant owner with two locations and a dairy farm in Ohio. The cafeteria planned to run 25-cent specials daily; buffet and table service would cost a bit more, at 30 to 50 cents for the entire meal, including beverage! The restaurant proved to be the most popular tenant in the building and offered music at lunchtime and in the evening. The building faced demolition in the mid-80s when the vacancy rate exceeded 80 percent. The building was sold at auction for $700.000 and underwent massive internal renovations. With over 43,000 square feet of office space, the Guaranty Building rebounded to over 90 percent occupancy by the end of the twentieth century. Some of the current tenants are The South Bend Chocolate Company (serving scrumptious desserts, with frozen yogurt and ice cream in the adjacent Indy Swirl); the cafe and bakery Au Bon Pain; Northern Trail Outfitters; and financial business advisors firm Barnard Associates.

Built by the architectural firm of Rubush and Hunter and completed in 1923, the Guaranty Building was home to numerous law offices, insurance companies, and the Western Union Telegraph Company. The curved limestone facade blends in to Monument Circle - a feature that was required to win approval of the building by city leaders and others who originally opposed the construction of any building that might distract from the Soldiers and Sailor's Monument.  The building was planned to be seven stories tall but grew to nine stories upon completion. The 132-foot height was still below the new limit set by the city of 150 feet.  Read on to see how roller skates fit into the building's history.

Guaranty Building

The board of
the Merchant’s National Bank, which was founded in 1865, decided, in 1905, to
build a new building in Indianapolis to serve as their headquarters.&nbsp; They then hired Daniel Burnham, the head of a
Chicago architectural firm to design their new home.&nbsp; Burnham had studied under Louis Sullivan, the
founder of what would come to be known as the Chicago School of architectural
design.&nbsp; It is understandable, then, that
Burnham would design a building that fell within the Chicago School’s purview.&nbsp; He designed the building to represent a
Corinthian columnn, with a tripartite formula of base, shaft and capital or
crown.&nbsp; To that end, the building’s first
three floors are faced with Indiana limestone and feature twelve Doric-style
pilasters.&nbsp; The building’s next thirteen
floors are comprised of red brick with simple, classic lines.&nbsp; Finally, the building is topped with a crown
of classical terra cotta moldings.

Construction
on the building’s lower floors began in 1908 and was completed the next year,
while construction on the rest of the building was delayed as the lease on a
nearby building that had to be demolished did not expire until 1912.&nbsp; When completed, it was Indianapolis’ tallest
building, at just under 250-feet, until the City-County Building was completed
in 1962.&nbsp; The Merchants Bank lobby
occupied the building's first two floors and was built primarily with white and
green marble with bronze accents.&nbsp; 

Some of the
building’s first tenants included the New York Central, Louisville and
Nashville, and Illinois Central Railroads, Hook’s Drugs, and various insurance
and law firms.&nbsp; The city’s first
television station, WFBM also set up shop in the building in 1948 and placed a
tall receiving tower atop the building which has since been removed.&nbsp; The United Mine Workers of America, were, at
one time, headquartered within the building as was Eli Lilly, Stokley-Van Camp
and the L. S. Ayers and Company Department Store.&nbsp; 

Today, the
building’s top floors are occupied by the law offices of Barnes and Thornburg,
LLP, Indianapolis’ largest law firm.&nbsp; The
firm also now owns the building.&nbsp; As for
the ornate ground floor, it had been home to a branch of Borders Books until
2011 and is now home to another bank.&nbsp;
The building’s lobby was renovated in 2013 and its original color scheme
has been restored.&nbsp; New reception and
security desks were also added and the remaining original teller counters were
restored.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

Originally known as the Merchants National Bank Building, the 17-story Barnes and Thornburg Building was completed in two phases, the first in 1908-1909 and the second in 1912.  It is located at what many refer to as Indianapolis’ most important intersection at the corner of Meridian and Washington Streets, just south of the city’s center at Monument Circle.  It was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Burnham and Root and is an excellent example of the Chicago School of design.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and is also part of the larger Monument Circle Historic District.

Barnes and Thornburg Building

The Indianapolis Fire Department dates back to 1826 when a group of volunteers established the city's first fire company. The city hired its first paid firefighter in 1859. Although this fire killed more firefighters than any other in the city's history, it was not the deadliest fire in Indianapolis History. That distinction belongs to a fire that happened two years later at the National Surgical Institute.On January 21, 1892, 19 patients were killed when the Surgical Institute caught fire. Despite the tragedy, the fire could have been far more deadly without the rescue effort, as over 300 people were in the building when the fire started, and of those individuals, 194 were trapped above the fire on the top floor. Brave volunteers joined the firefighters as they rescued patients and staff from the hospital's top floor.

This historical marker is located near the site of the former Bowen-Merrill Bookstore, which was destroyed by fire on March 17, 1890. Twenty firefighters battling the blaze fell from the building's roof when the building's walls and the roof collapsed. Twelve of those men were killed by the accident; a thirteenth firefighter perished as a result of his injuries. The fire was the deadliest in the history of the Indianapolis Fire Department. As word of the tragedy spread, residents of the city established annuities for each of the nine widows and twenty-two orphans. The state of Indiana responded to the tragedy by creating the first statewide pension fund the following year.  

Bowen-Merrill Fire (1890) Historical Marker

The Indianapolis Artsgarden is a glassed dome spanning the intersection of Washington and Illinois streets in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. It serves not only as a pedestrian connector between the Circle Centre Mall and nearby buildings but also as a venue for the display and performance of artistic and musical works (more than 300 performances take place in the Artsgarden each year). Also, the Artsgarden houses the Cultural Concierge, who provides local arts and cultural information, maps, and visitor guides. The structure, including the walkways connecting it to the adjacent buildings, is owned and operated by the Arts Council of Indianapolis.The Artsgarden was designed by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut &amp; Kuhn Architects who, also designed the adjacent Circle Centre Mall. Blackburn Architects collaborated on the design and execution. The $12 million costs were funded by Lilly Endowment.The floor of the Artsgarden stands 17 feet above the intersection. A series of arched steel trusses create a graduated set of glassed vaults, the tallest of which is 75 feet above the floor and 95 feet above the street. The design yields a total free-span length of 110 feet within the dome. A total of 32,000 square feet of glass is used in the structure to give it an airy, open feel. The entire dome is set on two pairs of 185-foot plate girders that diagonally span the intersection.When initially constructed in 1995, the Artsgarden connected the second level of Circle Centre Mall on the southeast corner of the intersection with an upper level of the Claypool Courts on the northwest corner, while stairways provided access to the ground-level sidewalks on the northeast and southwest corners. In 2006, the Conrad Indianapolis was built on the site of the small park that had been on the northeast corner, and the stairway there was replaced with a direct connection to the hotel. In 2011 construction was started on a connector to the 16-story PNC Center and Hyatt Regency hotel complex on the southwest corner. The owners of the complex in 1995 declined to help pay for the connector. In 2010, an agreement was reached to split the $1.2 million cost, allowing the fulfillment of the original concept of the Artsgarden. The connector was completed in January 2012

The Artsgarden is owned and managed by the Arts Council of Indianapolis. It hosts many cultural events in this unique seven stories tall glass dome that sits suspended over the intersection of Illinois and Washington Streets. The structure also hosts the city's Visitor Information Center. The Artsgarden has featured a realm of performance art, including musical showcases. Its unique design sets it apart from its surroundings, making it as visually recognizable as the art events it houses.

The Artsgarden and Visitor Information Center

Given its proximity to the state capitol, the Claypool was the preferred hotel of state and national political leaders when they stayed in Indianapolis. It was also the home of the state headquarters of both the Republican and Democratic parties.

The Claypool Hotel opened in 1903, replacing the Bates Hotel, which had stood at this location since 1853 and had once provided lodging to President-elect Abraham Lincoln. At the time of its opening, the Claypool included 495 rooms, making it the largest hotel in the region. The hotel included a theater and also boasted one of the largest hotel lobbies beyond the East Coast and also claimed to hold more bathtubs than any hotel in the nation. Ten years later, the hotel expanded to include a total of 600 rooms. A fire on June 23, 1967, damaged the building and led to the closure of the hotel. After two years of sitting empty, the building was demolished. This location is still home to a hotel that is currently part of the Embassy Suites chain, as well as Claypool Court- a shopping center that includes offices of several businesses. 

Claypool Hotel (1903-1967)

The Times vs. the Klan, 1923-1928Though the fraternal organization of the Ku Klux Klan (also known as the Invisible Empire) originated in 1866 in Tennessee and had disappeared by 1877, the group re-emerged in 1915. It grew substantially after the end of the First World War. In the 1920s, the hate organization gained a frightening influence over governments in Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, and especially Indiana, centering in the capital city of Indianapolis. Led by the Grand Dragon of Indiana, David Curtiss Stephenson, the KKK gained a stronghold in the state's politics [2; 3]. In 1923, the Indianapolis Times began reporting on Klan activities and the fact that Secretary of State Edward Jackson had been exposed as a Klan member by another publication, Tolerance. Jackson, as an open Klansman, ran on the Republican ticket for Indiana governor in 1924 and received campaign support from the organization. The Times detailed the Klan's influence over the Republican platform, including white supremacy, segregation, exclusion of immigrants, and plans to appoint certain government positions exclusively with members of the KKK. The paper openly stood against the control of the government by the organization and committed itself to act against such a takeover. Though Jackson won the election, Grand Dragon Stephenson was tried and convicted of the brutal rape and murder of Madge Oberholtzer the following year. The Times kept its promise, printing a series of articles that exposed the full extent of the corrupt connections between Stephenson, Jackson, and other members of Indiana's government over the next several years. Some of its supporting documents came from the imprisoned Stephenson, who tried to call on his political connections to escape his life sentence, then sold out when they failed to rescue him; aside from his role in getting Jackson elected governor, Stephenson and the Klan had also been involved in corrupt political deals involving Indianapolis' Mayor John Duvall, six city councilmen, and the city administration. Governor Jackson was charged with attempted bribery but got off on a technicality. For its role in exposing the conspiracy, the Indianapolis Times received the 1928 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in Journalism "for its work in exposing political corruption in Indiana, prosecuting the guilty and bringing about a more wholesome state of affairs in civil government," [2].Public Service Journalism, 1930-1965The Times continued in its spirit of public service during the Great Depression, annually campaigning to help clothe Indianapolis children in need beginning in the winter of 1930. The Clothe-A-Child campaign was joined by the Mile of Dimes and continued into the 1950s, raising over $100,000 in 1952 alone. Around the same time, the paper began a series of articles on the condition of mental health hospitals in Indianapolis, advocating for improvements and reforms. These articles earned the newspaper the first Mental Health Bell Award from the Indiana Association of Mental Health in 1955. In 1957, the Times exposed another Indianapolis scandal in the form of shady land-buying deals and embezzlement on the part of the State Highway Department and received the Scripps-Howard National Story of the Month Award for its role in bringing the five culprits involved to justice [1; 2].During a brief recession from 1960-1961, the Times printed job ads free of charge, listing over 1,700 jobs in a two-week span in April of 1961. The success of the idea led other cities to follow suit, and the Times received yet another award from the International Association of Personnel in Employment Security [1; 2]. In 1962, the newspaper turned its reform-minded eye on the city's rising crime rates with a series of articles called "Streets of Fear." Calling for crime reporting and Police Department reforms, the paper got Mayor Charles Boswell's attention and led to a strengthened police force in Indianapolis. Three years later, the Indianapolis Times closed on October 11, 1965 for financial reasons [2].Historic Marker Inscription:The Indianapolis Times (originally published as the Sun in 1888) moved to this site in 1924. In the 1920s, it led a crusade against the Ku Klux Klan, exposing the Klan's influence in Indiana politics and spurring investigations into corrupt state elections. For this public service, the Times won journalism's highest award, the Pulitzer Prize, in 1928. // The Times advocated for the benefit of the public: organized Clothe-A-Child campaign during the Great Depression; won national award for its work on behalf of the mentally ill (1955); and identified jobs for the unemployed (1961). Exposed state highway scandals (1950s) and errors in crime statistics (1962), leading to better police patrol. Ceased publication in 1965. / Erected 2013 by Indiana Historical Bureau, Hoosier State Press Association Foundation, Marion County Historical Society. (Marker Number 49.2013.2.) [1]

Dedicated in 2013, this historical marker recognizes the importance of The Indianapolis Times newspaper which was established in 1888 as the Indianapolis Sun and was headquartered here starting in 1924. Beginning in 1923, the Times produced a series of articles exposing the Ku Klux Klan, its activities, and the hate organization's political influence in the city of Indianapolis and the state of Indiana. Though it was not the only Indiana paper to publish on the topic, but its coverage was extensive and in 1928, the Times was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in Journalism "for its work in exposing political corruption in Indiana, prosecuting the guilty and bringing about a more wholesome state of affairs in civil government," [2]. The newspaper upheld its role in public service by campaigning to aid children during the Great Depression, to help improve conditions and treatment of the mentally ill in the 1950s, and to reduce the city's crime rate in the 1960s through investigative journalism; the paper ceased publication in 1965. As of October 2023, the pole of the historical marker is still located in the west-central portion of Hudnut Commons, but the marker was missing at this time.

Indianapolis Times Historic Marker

This detailed retelling of the Lincoln Funeral Train’s journey through Indiana comes from the Indiana Historical Bureau:'On the evening of April 14, 1865, an assassin shot President Abraham Lincoln. He died the next day at 7:22 a.m. While Union soldiers hunted the conspirators, the nation went into mourning. The funeral for the assassinated president took place April 19, 1865 at the White House. The New York Times reported that “thousands wended their way up the capitol steps, into the grand rotunds, by the bier and coffin of the President… their homage was silent and tearful.” On the morning of April 21, a military guard placed Lincoln’s casket in the ninth car of a funeral train which was draped in Black. The casket of Lincoln’s son William who had died in 1862 was also aboard for the trip back to the Midwest.The train, which also carried friends, family, high ranking officials, and a military guard, left Washington D.C. destined for Lincoln’s home town of Springfield, Illinois, on April 21. The War Department directed the procession which declared the tracks along the route to be “military roads.” On April 30 the Lincoln funeral train passed into Indiana where Lincoln spent much of his youth (1816-1830). The War Department directed: “The route from Columbus to Indianapolis is via the Columbus and Indianapolis Railroad, and from Indianapolis to Chicago via Lafayette and Michigan Railroad. In order to guard against accidents, trains will not run faster than twenty miles per hour.”The train stopped in Richmond first, at 3 a.m., to the sound of tolling bells and a crowd of somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 people. Here, Governor Oliver P. Morton and almost 100 elected officials paid their respects. The governor and other several other high-ranking officials boarded the train for the trip to the state capital.At 3:41 a.m. the train arrived in Centreville, home town of congressmen George W. Julian, a steadfast abolitionist and supporter of women’s rights. Next it passed through Germantown and Cambridge City, home of congressman Solomon Meredith. As the train passed through Dublin at 4:27 a.m., almost the entire town was standing on the platform in the rain. Next the train stopped in Lewisville and afterwards it slowed as it passed through the small village of Charlottesville, where reportedly a large number of African Americans gathered in mourning. The train passed through Greenfield at 5:55 a.m. and then paused in Cumberland.The train reached Indianapolis on April 30 at 7 a.m. in the pouring rain. The city was decorated with arches, evergreens, and flags. The Indianapolis City band played the Lincoln Funeral March while soldiers moved the casket to the hearse. The hearse, which was an ornately decorated carriage drawn by six plumed white horses, delivered the casket from the train to the State House through streets lined with people. The Indianapolis Daily Gazette noted “the archways and mourning festoons across the streets, the public and private buildings draped in the habiliments of grief, the funeral procession, the solemn dirges, and, above all, the patient multitude that stood for hours in the drenching rain waiting an opportunity to look upon the earthly tenement so lately vacated by the spirit…”The coffin was placed in the interior hall of the State House which was lined in Black cloth. The Indianapolis Guard of Honor protected the flower-surrounded coffin. The Indianapolis Daily Gazette estimated that 15,000 troops and 60,000 private citizens passed through the rotunda that day. Rain prevented the elaborate ceremonial procession from the State House back to the train depot which had been planned for that evening. Instead, the casket lay in state until 10 p.m., which was longer than planned, and then the hearse carried the casket directly back to the train depot. Mourning Hoosiers followed the carriage and the train left Indianapolis at midnight.It passed through Augusta, Zionsville, Whitestown, Lebanon, Hazelrigg, Thorntown, Colfax, and Stockwell, before reaching Lafayette. The New York Semi-Weekly Times reported on the trip through these towns: “These are small places, but it seems the inhabitants are on the roadside. Some of them hold torches in their hands, and the surroundings are solemnly lighted. Men stand with uncovered heads as the train hurries on its way.” At Lebanon the residents “hung over the track, suspended from two uprights, a hundred variegated Chinese lanterns.”The train reached Lafayette at 3:35 a.m. and the Indianapolis Daily Journal reported that in Lafayette “The houses on each side of the railroad is [sic] illuminated, and; as elsewhere, badges of mourning and draped flags are displayed; bonfires are blazing and bells tolling; mournful strains of music are heard, and the people are assembled at all the stations to view the train.” After leaving Lafayette, the train traveled through Tippecanoe Battle Ground, Brookston, Chalmer, Reynolds, Bradford, Francisville, Medaryville, Kankakee, La Crosse, Wanatha, Westville, and Lacroix.The train reached Michigan City at 8:25 a.m. The Indianapolis Daily Journal reported that it “stopped under a large and beautiful temporary structure, trimmed with Black and white and ornamented with evergreens and choice flowers.” The arches were decorated with Black and white fabric, evergreens, and flowers. Over each arch were the words “Abraham Lincoln” and a motto. These included, “Our guiding star has fallen” and “Though dead he yet speaketh.” Young women sang the hymn “Old Hundred.” The Times reported, “Many persons are affected to tears.” The paper concluded its description of the Michigan City stop: “Meantime, guns are fired, and the subduing strains of music are heard. The scene is gilded by an unclouded sun.” The Chicago Tribune reported that the morning was “clear and beautiful. Finally, it had stopped raining.'

Following the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865 in Washington, D.C., a grand, yet somber, "Final Journey Home" was prepared for the body of Lincoln back to Springfield, Illinois. Eventually, 7 states (Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois) would have the train run through them, following the funeral and other events in D.C, with over 444 communities visited (New Jersey did not hold a viewing of the body or have a stop within). Indianapolis was the destination for viewing following a stop in Columbus, Ohio. Arriving April 30, at 7am in Indianapolis and taken to the Indiana Statehouse, the viewing lasted all day in the rain until the funeral train steamed off again at midnight for its next stop in Michigan City, Indiana. Indiana Governor Oliver Morton was one four Union governors to accompany the train throughout the journey to Illinois.

Lincoln Funeral Train Historical Marker

Indiana’s state government headquarters were moved
from&nbsp;Corydon, Indiana to
Indianapolis in 1825, only four years after Alexander Ralston laid out the town
of Indianapolis. Over the course of ten days, official documents and the
treasury of the state government were transported between the two towns in
wagons. At first the legislature was organized in the Marion County Courthouse
in Indianapolis, but in 1831 the General Assembly called for the construction of
a state capitol building, funded by selling lots in town. New York architects Ithiel
Town&nbsp;and&nbsp;Alexander Jackson Davis proposed
a plan for the statehouse and their plan was selected out of the twenty-one
entries submitted. Their building plan exemplified the Greek Revival Style and
was intended to "correspond in character...with the Parthenon" in
Athens.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[1]</a> Although created in the
Greek Revival Style, Town and Davis added a dome to the top of the structure,
which proved to be a controversial move. By the end of the civil war, however, the Greek
Revival Style had fallen out of favor and the statehouse was deteriorating: the
ceiling of one of its halls had fallen in and its exterior stucco was chipping to
such an extent that one historian described it as “disgusting.”<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[i]</a> Soon after, the structure
was torn down and in its place was constructed the state’s capitol building
that still stands today. In 1878 the Board of Statehouse Commissioners chose
architect Edwin May’s plan for the new statehouse and gave May a budget of $2
million for its construction. The interior of the building was designed in the
Italian Renaissance style; its main floor was built fourteen feet above ground
level and contains many beautiful skylights. However, May did not live to see
the statehouse completed. Instead, his head draftsman, Adolph Scherrer, oversaw
the last few months of the building’s construction after May’s death.Whenever possible, materials and workers from Indiana
were employed to complete the statehouse. On September 28, 1880, workers laid
the cornerstone that contained within it forty-two different items. These items
included a Bible, maps and newspapers, new coins, forty-seven kinds of cereal
and vegetable seeds grown in Indiana, annual reports from government agencies,
and a history of Indianapolis. Although no women artisans are known to have
helped with the building’s construction, an Indiana woman did model for the
marble statue of Justice that stands in the rotunda. In the late 1980s, the statehouse underwent a major
restoration. Domes were restored, woodwork removed and replaced, marble
polished. All work and additions to the building stayed true to its original
character and history; the revitalized statehouse was highly praised. Today,
the collection of monuments on its lawn provide a political and social history
of Indiana, depicting everything from Christopher Columbus to coal miners. The
Indiana statehouse building has a rich history, having experienced numerous
strikes, marches, speeches, and other events that took place in Indianapolis,
often on the statehouse steps.<div>





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<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[i]</a> <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.in.gov/idoa/2433.htm" title="Link: http://www.in.gov/idoa/2433.htm">http://www.in.gov/idoa/2433.htm</a>

</div>

</div>

Although the site of the Indiana Statehouse has remained the same since 1835, the current statehouse building was constructed in 1888 after the original was destroyed and renovated one hundred years later in 1988. The capitol building’s construction was highly centralized as the architects, workers, and even materials were largely from Indiana. Its cornerstone holds forty-two items significant to Indiana’s history or relevant to events of the time period. Today, its architecture still shines and holds the history of not only Indianapolis, but much of Indiana. 

Indiana Statehouse

Although presently home to a parking lot, this was the location of one of the largest and most opulent hotels in the region. The structure was not built as a hotel initially, but rather as a medical clinic and device maker known as the National Surgical Institute that treated patients and designed medical devices and surgical equipment. The building was completed in 1895 following a deadly 1892 fire that killed 19 patients and destroyed the company's previous headquarters. When complete, this building was home to researchers and physicians who were at the forefront of treatments for congenital deformities and they also created numerous medical devices. Unfortunately, efforts to recoup the considerable construction costs of this building led the company to bankruptcy by the end of the century. The building was converted to a hotel by 1900 and home to the Imperial Hotel between 1900 and 1914. The hotel changed hands during World War I, a time when it housed soldiers as they trained to become gunsmiths and mechanics. When it reopened after the war, the Imperial Hotel housed state legislators, and many of the city and state's most powerful men made deals at its ornate bar. The hotel changed names three times, but the story for each owner was similar. The building's maintenance costs led each of its tenants to financial problems, and the building was demolished in the late 1940s.

Imperial Hotel

The notion
of a state library was first mentioned in the Journal of the Constitutional Convention
in 1816 when the territorial capital was located at Corydon (It would serve as
the state capital from 1816-1825).&nbsp; However,
it was not formally established until the capital moved to Indianapolis in
1825.&nbsp; It was originally established to
assist state legislators with conducting research on various topics and space
was designated for the library in the new statehouse with the Secretary of State
serving as the first librarian. 

The library
eventually outgrew its statehouse home and plans for a new building began in
1929, the same year as the advent of the Great Depression.&nbsp; A 2-cent tax was levied to raise funds for
the new library, the site was purchased in 1931, and an architectural design contest
was created.&nbsp; This contest was won by the
firm of Pierre and Wright and their plans were completed by 1932.&nbsp; Construction began that same year and was
completed two years later.&nbsp; Their design
combined elements of both Neo-classicalism and art deco and called for a simple
and clean exterior.&nbsp; 

Carved into
the limestone exterior are numerous bas-relief figures.&nbsp; The smaller carvings, just above the first-floor
windows, represent the history of the state and the advance of
civilization.&nbsp; Included in this
collection are a Native American, pioneer, an airplane and a designer with instruments.&nbsp; The larger figures, along the Senate Avenue
side, represent the growth and development of the state and include an
explorer, soldier, legislator and an aspiring student.&nbsp; Inside the building is a soaring, 42-foot
vaulted foyer, a grand marble staircase, and a two-story circulation room that
features stained glass, murals, stencil work, and wood paneling and carvings.

Today, the
library is divided into six divisions: talking books and Braille library, genealogy,
the Indiana Collection, rare books and manuscripts, reference and government
services, and library development.&nbsp; In addition
to the over&nbsp;2 million&nbsp;volumes, the library also houses more than 3,500
manuscripts, 1.5 million images, and&nbsp;thousands of&nbsp;maps.&nbsp; Also located within the library is the
headquarters for the Indiana Historical Bureau which was established in 1915 as
the Indiana Historical Commission.&nbsp; It
was initially created to assist in the preparations for the state’s centennial
celebrations. &nbsp;It promotes the education
of Indiana’s history and places new historical markers throughout the state as
well as maintains those already situated.&nbsp;
It also operates a small gift and book shop within the library.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Indiana State Library was established in 1825 shortly after the state capital was moved to Indianapolis and the building that now houses it was completed in 1934.  The Indiana limestone building is the largest library in the state and contains over 2 million volumes within its walls.  It features stained glass windows, oak and walnut paneling, a marble staircase, hand-painted murals and bas-relief sculptures on its exterior.  The building is also home to the Indiana Historical Bureau and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

Downtown Indianapolis Walking Tour

Indiana Theatre

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information