At first glance, Indianapolis Then and Now by Nelson Price and Joan Hostetler is just another book of delightful pictures of Indianapolis. It is, though, so much more. It is not just an update of the 2004 book of the same name. Upon opening the front leaf, one sees a wonderful map of central Indianapolis highlighting many of the book’s featured historic sites. The map is multicolored and easy to read and follow. The book’s introduction gives an interesting very short history of the city. Each of the spreads tells the story of the featured site.
Then there are the pictures. Each spread has an historic picture and a marvelous “now” picture shot by Garry Chilluffo. The authors worked hard to find the “then” pictures. Particularly difficult to find was the “then” picture of the Lucas Oil Stadium, the Tripp Warehouse. Some of the “then” pictures took me down memory lane. I’d forgotten about the Polk Sanitary Milk Company with the big milk bottles featured on the front corners of the building and Cadle Tabernacle. Chilluffo’s photographs are all colorful depictions of the sites. As expected, he makes the great buildings such as the Athenaeum and James Whitcomb Riley home shine. I was amazed, though, how attractive he made the Teacher’s Treasures building appear in the “now” picture.
The introduction and captions don’t sound like the traditional history tome. Rather, they are written in a conversational style with loads of unusual and fun facts. Among others, the book tells how the Governor’s wife didn’t want to hang her laundry so everyone in the city could see it from the backyard of the Governor’s house on the Circle, Mr. Pogue after — whom Pogue’s Run was named — disappeared and that a Governor of Kentucky is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery. The reader of this book will gain a good overall view of the history of our city.
The book also includes spreads on various areas of the city such as Broad Ripple, Irvington and Woodruff Place and an index.
I wasn’t sure an updated version of the book was necessary. But I was wrong. It is amazing how much the city has changed since 2004. Celebrate the publication of this marvelous new book and the beginning of local history month at Bookmamas, 9 South Johnson Avenue, on Sunday, January 31 at 2:00 p.m. The authors and photographer will be there to tell us more about the city and autograph books.
