Irvington at 150: A College Town

 In the early 1870s, officials at North Western Christian University had begun the process of scouting a new location. Founded in 1855 by members of the Disciple of Christ, the university had outgrown its location at East 13th Street and College Avenue in what was then northern Indianapolis.  Its name derived by the fact that when it was founded, Indiana was considered to be in the northwestern part of the United States. The investors had been open to educating both men and women. The college was one of the earliest co-educational schools in nation. Beset by financial problems, the board of directors hoped that they could sell their current location and find new investors who would donate land and money for the institution.

In the summer of 1873, two places within Marion County seriously competed for the university. Carter's Station, a now forgotten community near what is today Speedway, offered 42 acres and their agent, James Johnson, proposed funding two faculty chairs in medicine and law. Irvington, a brand new neighborhood east of Indianapolis, offered 25 acres and $130,000 in cash. Ovid Butler the chief stockholder in the university did not want to relocate but the area around the campus was rapidly developing and the college could easily obtain more cash by subdividing the university land into city lots. Irvington sweetened the pot to $150,000 while Carter's Station held firm. On July 24, 1873, the college announced that Irvington had won the bid. The new school would be built on land formerly owned by Josephus Collet.  

Irvington investors donated 25 acres of land for Butler University (formerly North Western Christian University) south of the Pennsylvania Railroad, east of South Emerson Avenue (then National), north of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and west of South Butler Avenue on land formerly owned by Josephus Collet. (map of Irvington, 1886)

Butler, formerly North Western Christian University, was founded in 1855 and used to be at 13th and College in Indianapolis. (Courtesy of the Butler University digital archives)

The Main Hall was the first building completed at the Irvington campus and was dedicated in 1875. (Courtesy of the Irvington Historical Society)

Preparations for the campus began immediately with the construction of the main hall. The economic panic of 1873 nearly sabotaged the entire venture, but several key families stepped in to keep the university solvent. On September 14, 1875, campus officials dedicated the new building which contained both classrooms and a chapel. The structure was not as architecturally imposing as its previous Gothic-revival building, but the facility would serve its purpose for the next 54 years. The task for moving everything to Irvington fell to President Otis A. Burgess. A devout Disciple, Reverend Burgess was not as popular as a previous president named Allen R. Benton, who had left Indianapolis to start the University of Nebraska. (He would later return to Butler and move into the Ohmer home, later called the Benton House) Burgess was more strict about rules and he grew concerned that some of the professors were not as devout. David Starr Jordan, a young science teacher, irked Burgess more than the others with his strong views on Darwin. Jordan would later move to Indiana University where he eventually became the president. His career continued to skyrocket as he helped to found Stanford University. Jordan's passion about Darwin led him into racial purity theories and into the eugenics movement. Both IU and Stanford are removing his name from their campus buildings. Burgess, on the other hand, who left no such tarnished reputation still bears a street named after him in Irvington. 

Reverend Otis A. Burgess, the president of Butler, was responsible for moving the university from 13th and College to Irvington. The town's developers named a street for him. (public domain)

Butler was built upon land formerly owned by Josephus Collet. Mr. Collet also platted nearby housing additions. (see map above) (photo courtesy of the Collet family via Ancestry.com)

A very young David Starr Jordan briefly taught in the science department at Butler. He ran afoul of President Burgess so he resigned and moved to Indiana University in 1879. He later became the president of both Indiana and Stanford Universities. (public domain)

A steady stream of college students and some of their families began to move to the quiet town located along the National Road. Some commuted either by rail, foot, or the mule car from downtown. In 1877, the board of directors renamed the school after their founder, Ovid Butler. The arrival of the college was the economic kick that Irvington needed although housing construction remained modest at best throughout the remainder of the 1870s and into the 1890s. 

The Main Hall had a reception room for clubs to meet. (photo courtesy of the Butler University digital archives)

Butler added Burgess Hall in 1890. The new building contained science labs and classroom space. (photo courtesy of the Butler University digital archives)

The residence hall on Butler University's Irvington campus (photo courtesy of the Butler University digital archives)

The power station also housed the gymnasium in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries on Butler's Irvington campus. (photo courtesy of the Butler University digital archives)

Butler added an observatory on the Irvington campus for astronomy classes. (photo courtesy of the Butler University digital archives)

Butler added the Bona Thompson Library in 1902. This photo was likely snapped c1912. (photo courtesy of the Irvington Historical Society) 

Sources: George M. Waller, Butler University: A Sesquicentennial History, 2006; Competition for campus: Cambridge City Tribune, July 17, 1873; Indianapolis News, July 21, 1873.

The Irvington Historical Society has reissued and updated Paul Diebold's Greater Irvington. You may order it via the pre-sale price or later with the regular price at the link below.

Greater Irvington II