The February 29 meeting in the Robson Voorhees neighborhood was well-attended, and is one of the first to educate the public about the upcoming Indianapolis History Collecting Initiatives, spearheaded by the Indiana Historical Society. Jordan Ryan, the coordinator on the project, spoke at length about the IHS plans to collect information, oral histories, photos, and documents that will flesh out the growth of the city’s neighborhoods. The Bicentennial Project’s goal is to provide an interactive exhibit of collected materials that will be part of a large installation at the IHS from September of this year to January 2022, and will be available online at indianahistory.org.
In particular, the team is seeking documents, oral histories, and photos of often overlooked buildings, businesses, and neighborhoods prior to Unigov. Ryan pointed out that their existing collection has lots of information about the northside and Irvington, but very little from poorer neighborhoods. “There are gaps in the collection, especially about working class, LGBTQ, and minority populations,” she noted. Individuals with information or source materials are encouraged to contact her via e-mail at jryan@indianahistory.org.
Ryan said the IHS would be developing programs in the coming year to discuss aspects of the development of Indianapolis, including the impact of the interstates through neighborhoods, redlining policies, and other topics of how the city has grown and changed over the last 200 years.
Also at the presentation was Marion County Historian Steve Barnett, who discussed the founding of Indianapolis and its naming of it as the state capital in 1820, but the city wasn’t platted until 1821 — a delay that has lead to a full year of official celebrations. Barnett also discussed the early settlers of the Robson Voorhees neighborhood, including a handful of colorful characters who have all but vanished from the pages of local histories.
Historian Nelson Price was also on hand to discuss the founding of the city. He discussed the Centennial celebration in 1920 that included a parade that acknowledged that the city was tested in its first year when a malaria epidemic swept the first settlers. The 1920 pageant included representations of mosquitoes as well as the first settlers like McCormick and Pogue. He said of the first brave souls to venture into the swamp along the White River, “a third died, a third left, and a third stayed.”
