Indiana Avenue is a historic area in downtown and is one of seven designated cultural districts in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mar ...

. Indiana Avenue was, during its glory days, an African American cultural center of the area. The Indiana Avenue Historic District within the area was designated a United States national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from cer ...

in 1987.

History

In 1870, 974

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

(one third of the city's African American population) called Indiana Avenue home. This represented a shift in racial demographics away from the mostly working class poor population of Irish and German immigrants that lived around Indiana Avenue during the early years of Indianapolis. As the African American population increased, black entrepreneurs opened businesses on practically every corner. Bethel A.M.E. Church, the oldest African American congregation in Indianapolis, was organized in 1836. African American owned businesses opened on the Avenue by at least by 1865, including a grocery store owned by Samuel G. Smothers and a "peddler shop" owned by William Franklin. The ''

Indianapolis Leader The ''Indianapolis Leader'' began in August 1879 as Indianapolis' first black newspaper. Before American Civil War, The Civil War, no African-American newspaper existed in Indiana. In 1870, during Reconstruction Era, Reconstruction, there were on ...

'', the first black owned newspaper in Indianapolis, catered to the interests of the growing African American population and featured advertisements for Indiana Avenue businesses. The ''Leader'' began publishing in the 1870s. The avenue continued to culturally develop, in much the same way as the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

. Due to the nature of segregation and

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the S ...

, several streets developed similarly in other cities, including

Beale Street Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of blues music. Today, t ...

in Memphis and 12th and Vine in Kansas City according to the book, ''Indiana Avenue: Black Entertainment Boulevard'' by C. Nickerson Bolden. Like Indiana Avenue, these streets were called Black Entertainment Boulevards, or stops along the

Chitlin' Circuit The Chitlin' Circuit was a collection of performance venues throughout the eastern, southern, and upper Midwest areas of the United States that provided commercial and cultural acceptance for African American musicians, comedians, and other enterta ...

because of the large concentration of black-oriented clubs, businesses and entertainment venues. Many prominent historical figures have their roots on Indiana Avenue: Madam C.J. Walker, jazz greats including

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives ...

, Jimmy Coe, Noble Sissle, Erroll "Groundhog" Grandy and

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

. Mary Ellen Cable was one of the most important African American educators in Indianapolis. Coupled with her work as an educator, she organized and served as the first president of Indiana's

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&n ...

chapter.

Madam Walker Theatre

Madam Walker's daughter helped build the Madam Walker Theatre, which opened on the Avenue in 1927 and quickly became known as the "Crown Jewel of the Avenue".

Decline

As segregation laws began to change in the late 1950s, the African American

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

began leaving the once-bustling Indiana Avenue corridor for greater opportunities in northwestern Marion County, settling in Pike and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Townships. By 1965, the plight of the community left the Madam Walker Building closed to abandonment, removing a vital economic anchor for the area. The

Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company The Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company (Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Co., The Walker Company) was a cosmetics manufacturer incorporated in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1910 by Madam C. J. Walker. It was best known for its African-American ...

remained in the ailing building. By the early 1970s, Indiana Avenue was suffering from severe

urban blight Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban deca ...

Historic district and revival

By the 1980s, instead of the city attempting renewal or regeneration, much of the area was demolished and replaced by office buildings or townhouses. In 1987, the area, containing eleven historic buildings, was declared a United States national

.. The district was developed between about 1869 and 1935, and includes representative examples of

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

style architecture. ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs The Madam Walker Building, one of the historic buildings, was restored and reopened to the public in 1988 with a focus on the performing arts. Through the financial support of the Indianapolis Cultural Development Commission, formed by Mayor

Bart Peterson Barton "Bart" R. Peterson (born June 15, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician who served as mayor of the U.S city of Indianapolis, Indiana. He is also a past president of the National League of Cities. A Democrat, he was first elected in 1 ...

in 2002, community stakeholders are planning the regeneration of the area. On March 28, 2007, the name of Indiana Avenue north of 10th Street and south of 16th Street was restored, after having been called Stadium Drive since 1932.

References

External links

* {{IndyCulturalTrail African-American history of Indianapolis Historic districts in Indianapolis Neighborhoods in Indianapolis National Register of Historic Places in Indianapolis Culture of Indianapolis Streets in Indianapolis Populated places established in 1869 African-American cultural history Jazz culture 1869 establishments in Indiana Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana