Who Lived Here? A Brick House for a Brick Salesman

In 1923, Jacob Halleck Zinn and Mildred Keeport Zinn moved into their brand new brick bungalow at 5435 Hibben Avenue. The couple had previously dwelled at 139 South Ritter Avenue. Mr. Zinn had made a comfortable living as a clay salesman for the William Dees Company. Contacts in that industry likely gave him the opportunity to build the only brick single-family house along Hibben Avenue. Prior to moving to his new home, he patented a "sanitary" sewer pipe in 1909. It is unknown if profits from his newly designed pipe aided his bank account. By 1926, he worked for the Brooklyn Brick Company. The couple were likely thinking about their future when they built the one-story residence adjacent to the Pennsylvania Railroad. Mr. Zinn was 53 years and she was 48. They managed to weather the Great Depression in the home. The 1930 Federal Census reveals that the house was worth $12,000 at the time and one of the most valuable along the street. The couple had one son, Manvel, although he was an adult and living in New York City by the time they moved into their new house. Sadly, Mr. Zinn passed away in 1936 at the age of 59. Mrs. Zinn moved away from Indianapolis and died in 1944. In 2015, the lovely brick cottage looks much as it did in 1923 when the Zinns took up housekeeping.

5435 Hibben Avenue in the autumn of 2015