Article Archives: Building Blocks

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

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

Indy’s Great Fires Part 2

March 27, 2025 | by Steven R. Barnett

Fire often has held a peculiar fascination. Like a moth drawn to the flame, a crowd, too, is drawn toward glowing, leaping red-orange flames, whether from a bonfire or building inferno. Such was with the St. Patrick’s Day Bowen-Merrill Co conflagration. A few minutes after three o’clock the afternoon of … Read More

Indy’s Great Fires

February 27, 2025 | by Steven R. Barnett

Last month televised news showed images of the devastating wildfires sweeping across the northern suburbs of Los Angeles County, California, leaving whole neighborhoods in ashes. My cousin’s home in Sunset Hollywood Hills was spared as flames raged ten minutes away. Some of his friends lost their homes and familiar streetscapes … Read More

“Where Everybody Knows Your Name”

January 30, 2025 | by Steven R. Barnett

While many New Year’s Eve revelers celebrated at glitzy downtown Indy hotel ballrooms and trendy Broad Ripple and Mass Avenue bars and lounges, the end of our earthly home’s revolution of the sun and the commencement of another spin through the blackness of space guided by the stars, others chose … Read More

Christmas Memories – Irvington

December 19, 2024 | by Steven R. Barnett

Today, Christmastime in Irvington is an early December Friday evening of local holiday shopping, picking out a tree at the Methodist Church lot, and Luminaria open houses before families and friends gather around the Christmas tree in homes to exchange presents all the while keeping in mind the idyllic image … Read More