Weekly View » Steven R. Barnett

100 Years Ago: May 8-14

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 07 May 2026 05:08:40 +0000

From The Indianapolis News, Saturday, May 8, 1926: “Ethiopia at the Bar of Justice,” a pageant depicting the achievement of Negroes, will be presented at Caleb Mills Hall on Thursday. A large audience is expected to see 150 performers portray a cross section of Negro life in America with emphasis on the difficulties in the struggle to reach citizenship. The principal characters are Ethiopia, Opposition, Justice, Miss Indianapolis, Prophecy, Love, History, and Mercy. One of the most interesting features will be impersonations of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. The colored Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A., the Indianapolis N.A.A.C.P. chapter, the National Federation of Club Women, and the National Musicians Association will be part of the production. The performance benefits the Elizabeth Carter Council of Federated Clubs which is raising funds for the Frederick Douglass Home, a colored women of America shrine.

100 Years Ago: May 1-7

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 05:08:27 +0000

From The Indianapolis Star, Saturday, May 1, 1926: The Indianapolis school board, in special session yesterday afternoon, voted 3 to 2 to build the new Shortridge High School at 34th and Meridian streets. While a board majority had favored a 46th St. and Washington Blvd. site, board president Theodore Vonnegut said it was useless to continue to oppose the 34th St. location and he was surrendering to public opinion. “The people want the school at 34th Street,” Vonnegut said. “I think it’s a mistake, but the whole town is tired of this subject and so am I. Public opinion unquestionably favors the 34th Street location, and it is not for me to say how I think the people will feel later. This site has many disadvantages which have been outlined before and in voting for it I surrender an ideal.”

Proclaim Liberty

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 05:09:51 +0000

“Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof” are the ancient words of scripture inscribed on the bell that once hung in the tower of the Pennsylvania State House. For almost a quarter of a century, the tocsin summoned legislators into session and alerted Philadelphians to public meetings before calling delegates to the Continental Congress to gather and then ring out for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. The State House Bell, first announcing a new constellation of thirteen stars among the universe of nations, became known as the Independence Bell and later as an anti-slavery icon the Liberty Bell, its clanging tones symbolically reverberating across the decades and centuries in protest to injustice asserting the self-evident truths that ALL PEOPLE “are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
After years of service, the Liberty Bell fell silent when it developed a large crack and the revered relic of American Independence was placed on an ornate pedestal for display in the Declaration Chamber of Independence Hall, later being hung from the ceiling of the chamber. The public came to hold a special connection to the artifact following popular stories of the Revolution relating to a tale of the ringing of the bell at the time of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Nine out of every ten visitors to the 1876 Centennial Exposition dropped by Independence Hall to see the Liberty Bell and items bearing its image or small replicas of it were sought-after souvenirs.
Following America’s one-hundredth birthday celebration, public devotion to the Liberty Bell increased. In 1885 the sacred relic of the Revolution was shown at the World Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans. The bell was ceremonially taken from Independence Hall, “swung in a polished oak yoke” on an open railroad flatcar “so it can be seen by the people of all the towns through which it passes,” and left Philadelphia under guard. The route took the Liberty Bell through major cities — Pittsburg, Columbus and Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile — where it was viewed by tens of thousands before arriving in New Orleans. After a six-month sojourn in the Crescent City, the historic symbol of freedom returned to its home in the City of Brotherly Love.
Eight years later, the Liberty Bell departed Philadelphia for the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, with all the pomp and ceremony due to the historic icon. Mounted on an open railroad flat car specially built by the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Bell of Freedom began its journey on April 25. Three days later, it arrived in Indianapolis at dawn to a thirteen-gun salute and a welcoming ovation of a crowd of hundreds gathered at Union Station. Later that morning, a mass of people surged around the railcar to get a glimpse of the Tongue of Freedom, passing personal items of every description to the guards to have rubbed on the sacred icon. Fifteen thousand flag waving school children joined thousands of other citizens in front of the State Capitol to hear formal remarks from former President Benjamin Harrison before the historic symbol left for Chicago.
The Liberty Bell would leave Independence Hall in 1895 for the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia; in 1902 for the Inter-State and West Indian Exposition in Charleston, South Carolina; and in 1903 for the Bunker Hill Day Celebration in Boston, Massachusetts. Each of these trips, as did its prior journeys, stressed the fabric of the bell. Pieces of the metal from around the rim had been surreptitiously chipped off for souvenirs and, of more concern, a 17-inch hairline crack had formed extending across the crown through the word “Liberty.” Despite these grave structural issues, the Bell of Freedom made two more cross-country trips.
On June 3, 1904, the Liberty Bell began its sixth trip outside of Philadelphia on a special train to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis where it was displayed in the Pennsylvania building for five months. On the historic relic’s return to Independence Hall, the train carrying it arrived in Indianapolis the evening of November 17, and the flatcar with the Liberty Bell was switched onto the city’s trolley tracks for a parade through downtown streets. An estimated 100,000 cheering people lined the route as the symbol of freedom on its railcar decorated with red, white and blue lights made its way to the Traction Terminal Train Shed where several thousand people viewed freedom’s voice. The following morning, thousands of children saw the Liberty Bell, some being hoisted up to the platform to touch and kiss it in the spirit of patriotism, before the flatcar and its honored cargo returned through the streets to be reunited with the special train to continue the journey home.
Eleven years later the Bell of the Revolution left the City of Brotherly Love on July 5, 1915, for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, its last journey. On the bell’s homeward trip, the special train once again stopped in Indianapolis on the evening of November 21. A flag waving crowd of tens of thousands braved the breezy cold to see the national relic, mounted on a flatcar decorated with flags, flowers, and lights, slowly roll along trolley tracks down Washington St. from West to East Streets and return, with stops in front of the Statehouse and Courthouse where more than 1,000 school children sang “America.” In the morning, the Liberty Bell resumed its travels to Independence Hall.
In 1950, to promote the sale of United States Savings Bonds, the Treasury Department had replicas of the Liberty Bell made without the infamous crack. These daughters of the historic national treasure were distributed to each state capital and in May a Liberty Bell replica on Monument Circle, together with the pealing of nearby church bells, rang out the launch of the Independence Savings Bond Drive in Indiana. After a tour of thirty-five cities and towns, the bell was placed on display at the Statehouse. It later was removed to the Indiana World War Memorial.
Today, the Liberty Bell is on display in the Liberty Bell Center across the street from Independence Hall in Philadelphia. When one of my grandsons saw the Liberty Bell when he was 10 years old, he said he thought it would be bigger than it was. While the physical size of the Liberty Bell may not have impressed a child, symbolically the enormity of its message of LIBERTY has transformed a nation and has inspired people across the globe seeking to be free from injustice.

100 Years Ago: April 24-30

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 05:08:10 +0000

From The Indianapolis Star, Monday, April 26, 1926: The first broadcast of the opening Indians baseball game from Washington Park will be made Thursday through special arrangements by The Indianapolis Star and radio station WFBM. Fitting festivities will welcome Ownie Bush and his Indians back in town to play their first game of the season before the home folks. It will be a return series with the Kansas City Blues with whom the Tribe was victorious when the American Association opened there on April 13. W. Blaine Patton, The Star sports editor, will be at the microphone for the broadcast and will give an entertaining and realistic play-by-play account of the game. Every Indiana baseball fan who is unable to see this game from the stands can hear a graphic description of every detail by tuning into The Star’s program.

100 Years Ago: April 17-23

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 05:08:56 +0000

From The Indianapolis News, Tuesday, April 20, 1926: Articles of incorporation for the Indianapolis Airport Corporation were filed today with the secretary of state by the Chamber of Commerce airport board. The nonprofit organization was offered free use of the northeast quarter of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a commercial airport which will be controlled and managed by the 113th observation squadron of the Indiana National Guard. Hangars in Kokomo currently used by the squadron will be removed and set up at the speedway for the airport The speedway makes an ideal landing field for commercial aviation, experts say. Under the supervision of the national guard, the cost of operation will not exceed revenues, and the property will be well protected. The immediate establishment of the airport is to place Indianapolis on the new commercial air map of North America.

100 Years Ago: April 10-16

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 05:08:26 +0000

From The Indianapolis Star, Sunday, April 11, 1926: The cornerstone of Little Flower Church will be laid this afternoon with the blessing of Bishop Joseph Chartrand, assisted by the church pastor Rev. Charles Duffy and several priests from various Indianapolis churches. The new building, which is half completed, will be used as a combination church and school. Six classrooms and a 700-seat church auditorium will occupy the first floor, and the second floor will be the living quarters for the nuns. The basement will contain club rooms for men and women. A copper box will be placed in the cornerstone, containing a roster of present members of the new parish, the names of the men employed in the building’s construction, the program of the ceremonies, a history of the foundation and beginning of the parish, and copies of local newspapers.

100 Years Ago: April 3-9

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 10:08:27 +0000

From The Indianapolis Star, Tuesday, April 6, 1926: The censor’s iron hand reached into the halls of classic Butler University yesterday and snatched a poster with a sketch of a young lady attired in a smile and abbreviated dancing costume, who was advertising the upcoming junior prom. In its place, the censor substituted a poster with an illustration of a prim and demure puritanical maiden, coyly asking the “boys and girls come to the prom, please.” The junior class prom publicity committee hung the first poster designed by Julia Bretzman in the administration building and within an hour it was replaced by one, according to university president Dr. Robert Aley, that was more in keeping with the tenets of the school. “It was just a little internal matter which needs no publicity. There was no disturbance or trouble,” Aley said.

Sunnyside

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 05:09:45 +0000

While smallpox was a feared disease, tuberculosis — consumption, wasting disease, white plague, whatever it was called — was once the major killer, particularly of young people. This insidious contagion, spread from person to person through the air by a sneeze, cough, or spit, was no respecter of class. Prevention and treatment of tuberculosis was championed by Dr. Henry Moore, a resident of the Indianapolis suburb of Irvington, and at the time “the underlying principle in the treatment of tuberculosis was rest,” diet, and sunshine. Dr. Moore was an organizer of the Indiana Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis and developed plans and supervised the construction of the State Tuberculosis Hospital at Rockville, Indiana, which opened in 1910.
Three years later, the Indiana legislature authorized counties to establish a local tuberculosis hospital. In the five years prior to 1913 tuberculosis was the leading killer with the deaths of 2,715 men, women, and children in Marion County and in the five years prior to 1914 Indianapolis saw 2,448 TB deaths. The Marion County Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis and other local organizations petitioned the county commissioners for a hospital and in September 1914 the county council authorized a tax levy of one cent on every $100 of assessed value to build and support a hospital. This together with similar actions taken by the county councils in St. Joseph, Howard, and Madison counties was hailed as a “big day for the anti-tuberculosis organizations in Indiana.”
A thirty-seven-acre site (eventually encompassing 57 acres), mostly timbered with large maple trees, on rolling ground along Indian Creek, adjacent to the Big Four Railroad and the Union Traction Co interurban line, near Oaklandon and one-half mile north of Pendleton Pike, was purchased for $12,000 (2026: $392,142) by the county commissioners from the Springer Estate in June 1915 for the new hospital. Six months later, the county council appropriated $80,000 (2026: $2,588,396) to build it and approved comprehensive plans by Indianapolis architect William E. Russ for a 300-bed facility consisting of a “large administration building with wings on either side [and] at a considerable distance on the right and on the left of this main building…a group of cottages with a large recreation hall at the rear of each group.” William P. Jungclaus Co was awarded the construction contract and Dr. John N. Hurty, state health commissioner, laid the cornerstone on Saturday, July 22, 1916. “Sunnyside” was the name selected for the new Marion County Tuberculosis Hospital. A naming committee headed by Hoosier Poet James Whitcomb Riley selected this submission by Fannie G. Strawson from hundreds offered by the public “because of its recuperative connotations.”
Sunnyside Sanitarium opened in September 1917 with Dr. Harold Hatch, a tuberculosis expert formerly with the Michigan state board of health, being named hospital superintendent and Carrie H. Hudnell appointed superintendent of nurses. Six patients were initially admitted and within days twelve additional patients were transferred to the new facility from the state hospital at Rockville. In the beginning, Sunnyside was one building and could accommodate only seventy patients and there was a long waiting list. While Blacks accounted for twenty-two per cent of Marion County TB deaths, only seven beds at Sunnyside were allocated for Black patients. Infected soldiers returning from World War I created an additional need for bed space at the sanitarium, many in the early stages of the disease who would “readily respond to treatment if treatment were made available.”
To alleviate tedious months or years patients might have to undergo treatment at Sunnyside, a recreational hall was available and a mile of concrete walkways winding through the complex provided convalescents with safe footing for exercise while enjoying the natural beauty of the grounds, fresh air, and sunshine. A school, under the guidance of a teacher, kept children invalids abreast of their studies. By the mid-1920s, Sunnyside had successfully treated 1,150 individuals and the facility had expanded to nine buildings — a children’s unit, two new units for men and women, and a nurses’ home — with bedspace for 170 patients that include forty-nine children, ages 4 to 15 years.
The Sunnyside Guild was formed in 1920 by Claire Gray Syfers “to make patient’s lives cheerier” through recreation and amusements. The Guild gave holiday parties and provided wearing apparel for the patients. It also bought player pianos, motion picture projectors, and had bedside earphones installed for patients to hear radio broadcasts, making Sunnyside the second hospital in the United Sates to have this convenience. The Children’s Sunshine Club of Sunnyside was organized in 1923 by forty-five women. It furnished the children’s recreation room, obtained slides for the playground, and provided books for the children’s library.
After World War II, the treatment of tuberculosis changed radically with the use of drugs, eliminating the need for bed rest in most cases. On November 1, 1967, Sunnyside closed and 100 patients were relocated to Marion County General Hospital’s new pulmonary disease section and to the Flower Mission Building. Four years later, Presbyterian Housing Program, Inc bought the former tuberculosis sanatorium’s buildings and its 57 acres. Following a $3,000,000 (2026: $21,037,661) renovation of the eight buildings, Westminster Village North opened on November 1, 1972, to the retirement community’s first senior residents.

100 Years Ago: March 27-April 2

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 05:08:47 +0000

From The Indianapolis News, Saturday, March 27, 1926: “Crispus Attucks” will be the name of the new colored high school on recommendation of the instruction committee of the Indianapolis school board instead of “Thomas Jefferson,” as it was named by the former school board. Soon after the new school commissioners took office in January, a large number of requests were received from colored patrons with the suggestion that the new high school be named after a colored man of fame. The name of Crispus Attucks, who was killed by British soldiers in the March 5, 1770, Boston Massacre, was suggested along with that of Ohio poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, the colored James Whitcomb Riley. The selection was left to the Colored Parent-Teacher Association to decide, and they recommended “Crispus Attucks” was the most favored by the colored people of Indianapolis.

100 Years Ago: March 20-26

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 05:08:48 +0000

From The Indianapolis Star, Saturday, March 20, 1926: Paul D. “Tony” Hinkle has been named athletic director of Butler University succeeding Pat Page, according to an announcement by Arthur Brown, chair of the athletic committee of the board of trustees. Present plans have Hinkle coaching football, baseball, and basketball and until a track coach is appointed, he will also devote a good part of his time to the Blue and White thinly-clads. A graduate of the University of Chicago, Hinkle came to Butler in 1920 as Page’s assistant and as the baseball coach. He also coached freshman football and basketball while assisting with varsity football and basketball, too. The Butler board of trustees has received numerous petitions from alumni and students advocating for the retention of Hinkle as athletic director, and the student body was highly pleased with the decision.