Article Archives: Building Blocks

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

The First U Indy

September 25, 2025 | by Steven R. Barnett

In the dark woods, a plot of marshy ground was set aside in the original plat of Indianapolis as University Square. It was to be the site of the state university, but as the years passed another location was selected in Bloomington, Indiana and the square in the Hoosier capital … Read More

Excluded and Unwelcome

August 21, 2025 | by Steven R. Barnett

Two hundred years ago, Indianapolis was a village where English, German, French, and native Lenape was spoken in the log cabins and among the trees of the dark forest. Eighty years later, a daily worker “Parade of All Nations” — Serbs and Syrians, Hungarians and Romanians, Irish and Germans, Lithuanians … Read More

Hey, Where ‘Ya From?: Part 2

July 24, 2025 | by Steven R. Barnett

Four hundred years ago, my ninth great grandfather Thomas Blossom came to America with his family seeking religious liberty. One hundred years ago, my maternal grandfather Harold Dickinson came to America with his family seeking economic opportunities. Others had ancestors coming to America seeking security from persecution and other forms … Read More

Garages

May 22, 2025 | by Steven R. Barnett

It is said, “Necessity is the mother of invention” and in recent times as soon as the personal computer appeared, the laptop bag was created. Similarly, no sooner after the appearance of the smartphone, the selfie stick was developed. These are only simple contemporary examples of this truism. Much earlier, … Read More

A Dying Declaration

April 24, 2025 | by Steven R. Barnett

As thousands prepared for the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in downtown Indianapolis, a tall, dark brown-haired man of medium build with light blue eyes carrying a medical bag ascended the steps of an Irvington home shortly before noon on Tuesday, March 17, 1925, and crossing the porch, rang the … Read More