A history lesson inside one 19th century photo

By Connie Zeigler

A while back, Indianapolis photographer and collector Larry Goshen arrived at my doorstep out of the blue with a wonderful gift of a circa-1900 photo of the Circle. Not just a photo, but also the 5×7-inch glass negative from which he’d had the photo of the same size printed.

The photograph is clear as a September morning. And it’s cluttered up with old Indianapolis.

A look down Market Street from the steps of the Indiana Statehouse toward the then-new Monument Circle.

But it takes a pair of good eyes and a bit of work to tease out the history here.

A little research revealed that this photo must have been taken right around the time of the opening of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Construction began on that monument to Civil War veterans in 1888 after German architect Bruno Schmitz won the international competition for its design. The cornerstone was laid in 1889, but it took 14 years to finish the structure. The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis says the monument was completed in 1901 and formally dedicated May 15, 1902. The monument is in the photo, so it couldn’t have been taken earlier than 1901.

The Indiana Historical Society is a good place to see historic photos of Indianapolis. The society doesn’t have a duplicate of this photo, but it has photographs of the Circle from the early 1900s. And it has several photos of the dedication of the Monument. Crowds jammed the Circle that day: men in top hats, women in dark coats and long dresses. The flags draped off of the top of the Monument in one of the historical society photos are the same flags fluttering in this photo. So, this photo was taken in 1902 while the flags were still in place.

The clothes on the few people visible in my photo suggest this one was taken on a much warmer day than the dedication day’s bundled crowd enjoyed. Here there are no coats. One woman sports a tall white hat; another wears a white dress. The fashion rule of no white before Memorial Day may not have yet existed, (although Memorial Day itself was officially proclaimed in 1868 and celebrated nationally by 1890), but these are obviously late spring/summer clothes. The top of a bicycle visible over the edge of the sidewalk in the foreground is another sign that this was a warm weather day.

Bicycles were a big deal in pre-car Indianapolis. In fact in the late 19th and early 20th century, bicycles were a local craze. Bicycle clubs for both male and female riders sprang up. The IUPUI Digital Library has a number of maps showing bicycle routes in Indianapolis and elsewhere in the state in this period.

This barely visible bicycle also gives a clue that the photographer had placed the camera high up on the Statehouse steps and was looking down at the bike, and at Market Street.

And there on Market Street is our city’s architectural past. Beltz and Fike Carriage shop stands on the southeast corner of Capitol and Market streets, ready to repair or repaint the horse-drawn carriages and wagons parked in front of their business. Theirs is one of several two-story buildings which line the south side of the street. A magnifying glass reveals that the Model Restaurant is just east of the carriage shop. The William Roth Livery is one door east of the restaurant. Within a decade all three of these businesses (though not necessarily the buildings) would be gone. The automobile made both the carriage shop and the livery obsolete.

Other signs along the north side of Market Street are too small to read, until the eye lands on the “Hotel English” at the northwest corner of the Circle. For preservationists, the English Hotel and Theatre building is the grand dame of lost Indianapolis. The metal dome visible on a corner turret of the building sports a flag and rises importantly taller than all the other buildings around it. But even the six-story domes of the English building are dwarfed by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument punctuating the center of the Circle with an exclamation.

A telephone pole just east of the monument proudly displays the city’s 1902 modernity. Three different phone companies served Indianapolis in this period prior to a consolidation. By 1920 this phone pole, and the others in Indianapolis, would belong to Indiana Bell.

A crowd of men (barely visible in the shadows of the buildings) stands in front of the “City Club” at the center of the block on the south side of the street. A woman on the southeast corner hastens in their direction, her white dress blurring from the slow speed of the old camera. In front of her, on Capitol Street a bike leans against a sign post, unfettered by the locks and chains of the modern world.

Today Market Street is lined with tall buildings, filled with cars and people, and not safe for your unchained bike. An old photograph reminds us this wasn’t always so.

Connie Zeigler is president and owner of C. Resources, Inc. Connie is a writer and a historic preservationist who consults on preservation and greening of historic buildings. She lives in Fountain Square and blogs at INArchitecture on cresourcesinc.blogspot.com.