Oliver Johnson's Woods is a historic district and neighborhood on the northern side of Indianapolis,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Located in southern Washington Township, the district occupies the site of what was once the family farm of Oliver Johnson. Born on the present site of the

Indiana State Fair The Indiana State Fair is an annual state fair that spans 18 days in July and August in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. The Indiana State Fair debuted in 1852 at Military Park in Indianapolis and is the sixth oldest state fair in the U.S. It is th ...

grounds,Vanderstel, Sheryl D. "Johnson Woods". ''The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis''. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1994. Johnson grew up in a pioneer family that lived on the edge of the state capital city.Barrows, Robert G. "Histories of Indianapolis". ''The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis''. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1994. Upon attaining adulthood, he bought property a short distance to the west, to which he moved in 1846. Here, he built a larger farmhouse in 1862,Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory. ''Washington Township, Marion County Interim Report.'' Indianapolis: Indiana Landmarks, 1991, 132-135. and he tilled the soil for most of the rest of his life. As Indianapolis grew northward, it reached the Johnson farm in the early twentieth century; the aged farmer and his sons saw the city's growth as an opportunity for financial gain, and in 1905 they announced the

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bea ...

ting of of their property into individual lots. They chose an advantageous time to sell their property; as the new residents began to build their homes, an interurban railway was built along College Avenue on the district's western side that connected downtown with

Broad Ripple Broad(s) or The Broad(s) may refer to: People * A slang term for a woman. * Broad (surname), a surname Places * Broad Peak, on the border between Pakistan and China, the 12th highest mountain on Earth * The Broads, a network of mostly nav ...

. Many prosperous businessmen were attracted by the development's large lots and wooded streets; the city annexed Oliver Johnson's Woods in 1912, and by the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the streets were filled with large houses built in a wide variety of architectural styles. These early residents came from many different ethnicities: European immigrants were becoming more prosperous and leaving their

ethnic enclave In sociology, an ethnic enclave is a geographic area with high ethnic concentration, characteristic cultural identity, and economic activity. The term is usually used to refer to either a residential area or a workspace with a high concentration ...

s, and new neighborhoods such as Oliver Johnson's Woods appealed to them. Among the neighborhood's leading residents was a colony of Jews of German descent. ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs Houses in the district generally feature architectural styles that were popular in the early twentieth century, such as the

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...

, the

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

, the Arts and Crafts, the American Foursquare, and the Prairie School. Many of the district's Colonial Revival houses were constructed by William F. Nelson, who acted both as

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and as general contractor for these projects. Standing out from all other houses in the district is the original Johnson farmhouse; now known as the Johnson-Denny House, it originally faced Central Avenue, but its new owner relocated it to face Park Avenue while the surrounding land was being developed in 1919. Other buildings were once located around the house, but they have not survived. Today, Oliver Johnson's Woods is surrounded by the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood, and it remains the wooded middle-class neighborhood that it was originally planned to be. In 1979, the Johnson-Denny House was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

; it was seen as eligible because of its place in

local history Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small ...

and because of its well-preserved historic architecture. Twenty-five years later, all of Oliver Johnson's Woods was designated a historic district and added to the Register because of its architecture and local historical importance. The area designated as historic encompasses approximately ; ninety-two different buildings within this zone qualified as

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

. Ninety of these buildings are houses; a 1999

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

survey conducted by Indiana Landmarks ranked four of them as "outstanding," seventeen as "notable," and the other sixty-nine simply as "contributing."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson's, Oliver, Woods Historic District Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Renaissance Revival architecture in Indiana Colonial Revival architecture in Indiana Tudor Revival architecture in Indiana Historic districts in Indianapolis National Register of Historic Places in Indianapolis