Article Archives: Building Blocks

Building Blocks is a monthly feature by historian Steve Barnett about historic properties on the east side of Indianapolis.

What’s In a Name?

May 27, 2021 | by Steven R. Barnett

Some time ago my friend Barb asked me why Indianapolis was called “Railroad City.” I surmised that it was because the “Crossroads of America” at one time had numerous railroads coming and going through the “Circle City.” Although, the number of railroads crisscrossing Indy today has diminished significantly, the old … Read More

“ . . . How Does Your Garden Grow?”

April 29, 2021 | by Steven R. Barnett

Gardening came to the Indianapolis east side neighborhood of Irvington as naturally as an April shower, and over the years the community became known as “the Garden Spot of Indianapolis.” Early accounts tell of gardens fashioned in stiff geometrical designs — stars, crescents, and triangles — ablaze with colorful geraniums, … Read More

It’s Not All Talk and Tea

March 25, 2021 | by Steven R. Barnett

One of the earliest coalition of women’s groups in Indiana was the women’s club movement which can trace its origins to the Female Social Society of New Harmony. Founded in 1825 by the state’s first recorded feminist, 30-year old Scottish born Frances “Fanny” Wright, the Female Social Society was the … Read More

Orator for Social Justice

February 25, 2021 | by Steven R. Barnett

Through time stories have been told of the famous and the infamous. Most of these tales have been told to American children from a Eurocentric point of view of the great and not so great men with a sprinkling of women thrown in along with the rare non-European. Growing up … Read More

WhEE-E-E-E-E-E!

January 28, 2021 | by Steven R. Barnett

I grew up in Irvington, on the east side of Indianapolis. Every winter I looked forward to sledding down snow-covered Brown’s Hill at the southwest corner of Emerson Avenue and East Washington Street with my neighborhood friends. I lived a few blocks from Brown’s Hill, and I would trudge along … Read More