Weekly View » 100 Years Ago

100 Years Ago: Sept. 25-Oct. 1

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 05:08:44 +0000

From The Indianapolis News, Saturday, September 25, 1926: The sixth annual concert of the Educational Aid Society for Colored Orphans will take place at Shortridge High School’s Caleb Mills Hall Tuesday evening. An “All Hoosier Cast” of more than forty musicians of exceptional ability include 150 singers representing the colored schools that will be the background for the community sing of patriotic tunes. Among the ensembles performing are the Mt. Paran female quartet singing negro spirituals, the Mitchell chorus, and the Y.W.C.A. quintette. Several individual piano numbers will be given along with vocal soloists. The Educational Aid Society was organized to meet the problem of the institutional children when they leave the Colored Orphans’ Home by providing scholarships. While the benefit concert raises $1,200 (2025: $22,288) annually, churches, lodges, clubs and white and colored citizens contribute annually to the Society.

100 Years Ago: Sept. 18-24

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 05:08:43 +0000

From The Indianapolis News, Thursday, September 23, 1926: A city-county public building with 400,000 square feet of floor space was proposed by architect William Eldridge yesterday before the Indianapolis Engineering Society as a solution to Courthouse and City Hall overcrowding. A six-story office style building with inside courts and wings, costing $4,500,000 (2025: $83,579,176), could be built on two-thirds of the market square. The proposed sale of the Courthouse would pay off its debt and provide some of the new construction funds. The Engineering Society recently suggested the market house be abandoned in favor of regional markets in the outlying parts of the city and City Hall might be turned over to the State as a museum. The plan would retain Tomlinson Hall and remodel its ground floor into the main auditorium and the second floor into a balcony floor.

100 Years Ago: Sept. 11-17

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 05:08:42 +0000

From The Indianapolis Star, Saturday, September 11, 1926: Formal dedication services of four new church buildings in Indianapolis and vicinity – Little Flower Catholic Church, 13th St and Bosart Av, Irvington Methodist Church on North Audubon Rd, Ben Davis Christian Church, and Garden City Christian Church – will be held tomorrow. Rt. Rev. Joseph Chartrand, bishop of the Indianapolis diocese, will lead the solemn high mass of dedicatory services at Little Flower Church and Bishop Frederick Leete will lead a special dedicatory service at the Irvington Methodist Church. Ben Davis Christian Church pastor Rev. Bernard Bass will lead the morning service followed by a basket dinner and the dedication sermon given by Rev. Otto A. Trinkle, pastor of Englewood Christian Church. Marion County evangelist Rev. Virgil P. Brock will deliver the dedication sermon at Garden City Christian Church tomorrow afternoon.

100 Years Ago: Sept. 4-10

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 05:08:06 +0000

From The Indianapolis Star, Sunday, September 5, 1926: Six Sisters of Providence are busily engaged daily in last-minute preparations for the opening of Ladywood, the newest school for girls in Indianapolis. Located seven miles northeast of the city on Millersville Rd, Ladywood is on the former Stoughton Fletcher estate, hidden in trees and surrounded by hills and streams, the site was recently purchased by the Sisters. The mammoth building is receiving the final touches that will make the school a home for thirty young women who are the first enrollees. Carpenters, electricians, other craftsmen, and decorators are rushing to complete their work for the school’s opening on September 28. The former third floor ballroom has been converted into a chapel, and the many bedrooms are now furnished with single beds and furniture that will bring delight to the feminine heart.

100 Years Ago: Aug. 28-Sept. 3

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 05:08:37 +0000

From The Indianapolis News, Friday, September 3, 1926: The giant, 195-foot-long TC-5 airship soared gracefully over the eastern part of Indianapolis Thursday evening on her way from Scott Field, Illinois to Dayton, Ohio. The airship’s great size and the roar of her powerful motors led many residents to believe it was so close it almost touched treetops as it passed over homes. From the ground, the beautiful ship presented a thrilling sight with searchlights playing on the gas bag and lights gleaming from the cabin portholes. Its great size was emphasized by an accompanying army airplane flying in circles around the large air boat like a sparrow darting after some giant bird. It was the first time many in the city had seen a blimp in flight, its majestic size and deafening thunder of the motors creating a near panic.

100 Years Ago: Aug. 21-27

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 05:08:40 +0000

From The Indianapolis News, Monday, August 23, 1926: Six bicycle teams, two youthful cyclists each, will compete in the third annual Irvington race. The fifteen-mile contest will take place on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Irvington Speedway, 5750 Hibben Ave. The track, banked on a forty-five-degree curve, was built by neighborhood cyclists under the direction of Don and Carl Vollrath, sixteen-year-old race promoters. The track measures one-twentieth of a mile; 375 laps will be required to complete the race. One of the “dangerous” curves has been made slippery with oil. Qualification trials will be held prior to the race. Carl Vollrath holds the new track one mile record, 3:15, an average speed of 18.4 miles per hour. The winning team will be presented with a silver trophy cup, and other entrants will receive merchandise prizes given by Irvington merchants.

100 Years Ago: Aug. 14-20

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 05:08:16 +0000

From The Indianapolis Times, Thursday, August 19, 1926: The police have started a campaign against “jay walking” in an effort to decrease the fast-growing death toll among pedestrian who fail to observe traffic regulations Inspector Lester Jones, of the traffic division, announced today. Four men and one woman were arrested today for violating a long dormant city ordinance prohibiting people from walking across the street diagonally at a street intersection. The arrests were made at Senate Av and Court St where nearly 1,000 workers leave the C. B. Cones & Sons Overall Factory and the Best Grand Laundry daily at 5 p.m. to cross to the Statehouse grounds. It was at this corner a woman was struck by a truck and killed on Monday. The maximum penalty for jay walking a $300 (2025: $5,572) fine and 180 days in jail.

100 Years Ago: July 31-Aug. 6

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 05:08:10 +0000

From The Indianapolis News, Wednesday, August 4, 1926: People don’t realize what they’re drinking or else they don’t care,” Sheriff Omer Hawkins remarked as he reported on an investigation of filth found in white mule whisky and mash seized in recent raids; the results are nauseating. One prize pint taken from north side bootleggers was decorated with a well-preserved cockroach inside. Other bottles contained mule clouded with unidentified mosslike scum. Seized mash barrels used for fermentation prior to distillation are prolific sources of filth. Dead rats and mice are quite common along with large green buzz flies. These intruders when filtered leave no noticeable taste with the rest of the batch and are sold to the customer. The fellow who says he knows where his hootch comes from and it is safe is a good man to stay away from.

100 Years Ago: July 24-30

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 05:08:47 +0000

From The Indianapolis Star, Monday, July 26, 1926: The six-story Haugh Hotel will be moved one block east from its present location on Michigan St between Meridian and Pennsylvania Streets to a new site at 127 E. Michigan St. It now stands near where construction is underway on the foundation of the World War Memorial building. Originally, the plan was to demolish the hotel, but it was found to be almost impossible to raze the red brick limestone trimmed concrete reinforced structure. The Kress-Oravetz House Moving Co of Pittsburgh is preparing the building for the move, undermining it with cribbing to elevate it with 550 large jacks. The building will be rolled over a steel track on 500 solid steel rollers. Four horses, working two winches, will be used to move the hotel at ten to fifteen feet an hour.

100 Years Ago: July 17-23

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

From The Indianapolis Star, Tuesday, July 20, 1926: Thirty-six Indianapolis Girl Scouts from various troops participated yesterday in the opening of Camp Dellwood, the new Girl Scout camp. Located eight miles northwest of the city on Big Eagle Creek, the camp was made possible by a gift from Dorothy Dell. The camp, divided into three units — Sherwood Forest, Gypsy Dell, and Fairy Ring — will continue under the direction of Emma Gardner, director of the Indianapolis Girl Scouts, for four periods of seven days each and the program will include archery, map making, nature lore, first-aid, swimming, athletics and games, and various outdoor subjects. A handicraft project of knitting squares which will later form an afghan will be conducted to fulfill the second-class scouting requirement. A graduate nurse, a dietitian, a cook, unit leaders, and counselors comprise the camp staff,