Every day the sound of music rings out across Irvington as the chimes of the Methodist Church proclaims the hour and on Saturday summer evenings at Irving Circle Park the sweet sounds of Audio Diner and other local musicians waft across a crowd of gentle listeners. Every October, Irvingtonians look forward to the Spooky Organ Concert at Our Lady of Lourdes Church and in years past the singing of Handel’s Messiah by a community chorus at the Methodist Church was a Holiday tradition. Music has long been a part of Irvington’s heritage performed by its talented residents.
Formal musical training began in Irvington with the classes of Clarence Forsyth at Butler University. A composer of vocal and instrumental music, Forsyth was known for his children’s music and setting old songs like “The Last Rose of Summer” and “Annie Laurie” to new music. In time, Butler’s music program helped to hone the talents of Black musicians Noble Sissle, a jazz composer and lyricist who wrote “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” and baritone opera singer Todd Duncan, the first Porgy of Porgy and Bess. This tradition of musical training expanded when coloratura soprano Adelaide Conte opened the Irvington School of Music during the First World War at her home, 269 S. Audubon Rd. Offering instruction in voice, piano, and violin, she was joined by her sister Gertrude Conte, a lyric soprano, Frieda Dyer pianist, Vittorio Montani, harpist, Rex Hopper, cornetist, and piano teacher Clarence Weesner.
By the end of the 1920s, Irvington was the home to various musicians, and the Irvington Music Club was formed so residents had an opportunity to share and appreciate these talents. One noted musician at this time was vocalist and band leader Dick Powell who briefly made the Classic Suburb his home while performing with the Dick Powell Orchestra at the Indiana Roof before beginning his Hollywood film career. Irvingtonian William “Bill” Shirley, a popular boy soloist, performed with the Irvington Playhouse before going to Tinseltown where he became known as the “boy with the golden voice.” He played the lead as Stephen Foster in I Dream of Jeanie, lending his tenor voice to the Southern composer’s famous tunes. National radio audiences at the time were also entertained with the voice of mezzo-soprano singer Eloise Ellis.
In the early 1930s, musically gifted Irvingtonians came together to provide entertainment for their fellow residents of the Classic Suburb. The Irvington Community Chorus of fifty voices, under the direction of J. Russell Paxton, head of the music department at Tech high School, and the Irvington Concert Orchestra were organized with pianist Edith Garrison, Harvey McGuire playing the English horn and Mary Moore Roland playing the coronet. Also, the Irvington Union of Clubs recruited choirs from Irvington churches to sing Handel’s Messiah during the holiday season under the direction of J. Russell Paxton. This community tradition continued under Charles R. Hamilton, director of music, Irvington Methodist Church, and later with William Moon, head of the music department at Tech high School, who directed the 100 voices.
Over the years, most Irvington children received their introduction to music at Indianapolis Public School No. 57 under the direction of Ruby Winders and Joann Fisher from singing to the playing of tonettes and developing an appreciative ear to classical music in preparing for the Music Memory Contest. Some boys and girls also honed their piano playing skills in the homes of talented teachers like Mildred Allen, Edith Garrison, Elizabeth Brock, Jesse Case, and Paula Rominger Lewis, while Bromley Music Store, 11 Johnson Ave., was a center for children and adults alike to learn the fine art of playing the violin, piano, clarinet, trumpet, saxophone, banjo, guitar, cello, and drums under the careful instruction of Charles Bromley and his wife Faye Bromley. In the 1990s, Guitar Town, 5614 E. Washington St., offered an acoustic blues guitar clinic.
The halls of academia benefited from the vocal talents of Irvington bass-baritone George A. Newton, Jr, professor of voice at Ball State University, and award-winning soprano Hazel Dell Nordsieck, a voice teacher at Earlham College. Locally, violin teacher and composer Beldon Leonard was Indianapolis Thomas Carr Howe High School’s music director who also wrote the Howe Loyalty song. The greater Hoosier Capital community was entertained by accomplished Irvingtonians Max S. Woodbury, a professional trumpeter, and his wife Norma Olson Woodbury, a cellist, who performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra along with harpist Pasquale L. Montani. The rich mellow baritone voice of Joe Leamon contributed to performances of the Indianapolis Opera and Symphonic Choir.
Residents and visitors to the Classic Suburb have enjoyed listening to the Jazz Band of Marty Hodapp and its Dixieland tunes at the Irvington Historical Society’s Ice Cream Social and the songs by guitarist Donn Smith at the Irving Circle Concerts. For decades, Audio Diner with Kevin Friedly, Dave Newman, Paul Hogan, Pat Hogan, and Annie Surina playing blues, rock, folk and country have provided entertainments at community venues from Irving Circle to Ellenberger Park and the Irving Theater.
Irvington’s long-time nickname “The Classic Suburb” acknowledges its rich heritage in the visual, literary, and musical arts and the recent Indianapolis Cultural District accolade is a further tribute to Irvington’s past and present.
