Irvington at 150: Street Names I-M

In part three of our series on street names more historical information has been uncovered. Additional research will be needed as you will see that we don't know the origins for a few of the street names. Thanks to the efforts of historians like Larry Muncie and Steve Barnett, many of the mysteries have been solved. A romantic novel, prominent residents, a poet, a local girl, and the founders of Irvington have streets named for them in this grouping. If you have additional information on any of these avenues please let us know.

Irvington Avenue: On the evening of March 16, 1903, the Indianapolis City Council renamed Elm Avenue as Irvington Avenue. The Indianapolis News reported that the street was nearly named Tennyson Avenue, but local residents objected. It was obvious as to why Elm had to go as there was already another street in the city with that name, but why did this small side street get such a grand name? It wasn't the first time that a street in the town had been named for Irvington. Early maps show that Julian Avenue connecting what is today South Butler (then Lake) and South Hawthorne (then Commercial) as Irvington Avenue. It would seem to have been more appropriate for a major boulevard to have donned the name of the town; however, Elm Street won the day. To further complicate the story, an early plat of neighborhood shows that South Irvington Avenue used to be known as Cherry Avenue. 

Irwin Street: The small street located north of Washington Street did not appear in the Indianapolis city directory until 1941. Likely developed at the same time as nearby Elizabeth Street, the first families to dwell along Irwin included the Shocks, Kaisers, Matthews, and Washburns. Developers were also building homes along Irwin north of Irvington so it is unknown at this time as to the origin of the name. Is Irwin related to nearby Elizabeth? Perhaps someone knows the answer. To view beautiful photographs taken of the street in the 1950s, click on the "Irwin Street" link below. 

Ivanhoe Street:  On November 25, 2019, the BBC named Ivanhoe as one of the most influential novels ever written. Walter Scott, who published his book in 1819, set the fictional tale in 12th-century England complete with Normans, Saxons, jousting tournaments and a witch trial. The popular three-volume set was likely found on the shelves of many Irvington homes. A small street in the South East Irvington Addition, formerly called Fourth Street, was renamed after the popular tale in 1898. 

Ivanhoe was first published in 1819 but was still popular in 1916 when this edition came out.

Jenny Lane: On August 29, 1926, an ad in the Indianapolis Star announced the exciting news that several lots would be for sale for future homes along a brand new street called Jenney Lane. Later, city officials dropped the second "e". The small stretch was named for the Jenney family who resided in a beautiful home at 4603 East Washington Street. Charles D. Jenney (1864-1926) earned a comfortable living managing his own electrical company. Throughout the mid and late-1920s, contractors built charming brick bungalows and doubles along the lane. 

Indianapolis Star, August 29, 1926

Some early articles about homes along the street referred to it as Jenny's Lane. This ad appeared in the Indianapolis Star, November 17, 1929.

Johnson Avenue: Sylvester Johnson founded the town of Irvington along with Jacob Julian. His stunning Second Empire-style home faced Audubon Road. His backyard complete with a beautiful orchard abutted what is today Johnson Avenue. The small street became longer in 1898 when the town board named a stretch from Julian Avenue to the Pennsylvania Railroad after Johnson as well. 

Julian Avenue: The original Julian Avenue stretched from Ritter Avenue to Arlington Avenue (then Line) and is named for the family who made Irvington possible. Jacob Julian arrived first and founded the town. His more famous brother, George Washington Julian, arrived in 1874. George Julian, a retired Congressman, built a beautiful Italianate residence just south of Jacob's home on South Audubon Road (then Central Avenue). Congressman Julian's daughter, Grace Julian Clarke, was an important figure for women's suffrage in Indiana. She lived in the family home at 115 South Audubon Road until her death in 1938. Local historian, Steve Barnett, recently discovered that part of Julian Avenue from South Irvington Avenue to Downey Avenue was originally called Ohmer Avenue in 1871. West of Ritter Avenue, both Houston and Irvington Avenue became Julian Avenue in 1898. East of Arlington Avenue, Chestnut Street also became Julian Avenue in that same year. 

Kenmore Road: When researching homes in the Irvington Terrace Addition, it is important to know that some of the street names have been changed. For instance, Kenmore Road began as Eldridge Street. The Buckeye Realty Company developed much of the area beginning in 1913. Newspaper stories touted beautiful homes constructed by R. L. Castle. The original name of Eldridge (sometimes spelled Eldredge) came from John and Alanson Eldredge, who owned acres of land in the area in the 1840s. ("The Story of a Lot," Indianapolis News, May 16, 1914) The city of Indianapolis changed the name in 1916 to Kenmore Road. (Indianapolis News, October 17, 1916, 19) The origin of the name is unknown at this time. 

Photos of several Irvington Terrace homes developed by the Buckeye Realty Company were featured frequently in the Indianapolis newspapers of the 1910s including this house at 45 Kenmore Road (formerly 51 Eldredge/Eldridge Street). ( Indianapolis Star, December 20, 1914)

Kenyon Street: Sixteen years after the first residents purchased lots along Kenyon Street, the Indianapolis Star paid a visit in 1929 and described the avenue as "one of the most attractive streets in Indianapolis." The author further gushed that it is "lined with beautiful maple trees, well-kept lawns, and attractive new bungalows." First platted in 1913 by the Buckeye Realty Company under the leadership John Chilcote, the street is one of the few in the addition that has not been renamed. But what is the origin? There were Kenyons living in Irvington, but we see no connection just yet. Mr. Chilcote was a native of Ohio and developed numerous housing additions in the Columbus and Lima areas. Could the street be named for the Ohio college? 

From the Indianapolis Star, July 8, 1929

Kitley Avenue: Check any atlas of Warren Township produced in the nineteenth century and you will see the Kitley family name. In fact, John Kitley owned the area of what was to become Irvington Terrace in the 1850s. Other Kitleys continued to farm south of Irvington. Today, the only vestige of the Kitleys in the Irvington area is the street that bears their name. 

Layman Avenue: In the spring of 1896, the Irvington Town Board united Layman Avenue (north of Washington Street) with that of Tilford Street (north of Lowell Avenue) under one name--Layman Avenue. Tilford had been an early investor in the Chambers Addition north of Lowell, but by the late nineteenth-century, the town was more enamored with the wealthy Layman family who lived in the former Jacob Julian home at 29 South Audubon Road. (then Central) James T. Layman, a Civil War veteran, had made his money in the wholesale trade. He and his wife Cora Belle Parks Layman moved into their Second Empire mansion in 1887. At least one son, Theodore, also served on the Irvington Town Board. 

James Townsend Layman and Cora Belle Parks Layman c1910 in front of their home at 29 South Audubon Road (photo courtesy of Isabelle Layman Troyer)

The Layman home at 29 South Audubon Road c1910 (photo courtesy of Isabelle Layman Troyer)

Leland Avenue: This avenue first appears in the Indianapolis newspapers as Leland Street as early as 1905, but no houses were built upon the avenue until the mid-1920s. North of Tenth Street, contractors erected beautiful brick Tudor homes in a development called Emerson Highlands. Later they developed the street south of Tenth Street. So who was Leland? Is it a first name or a last name? Do you have information? The origin of the name eludes us at the moment. 

A sketch of the home of the Harryman family of 1101 Leland Avenue can be seen in an ad in the Indianapolis News, May 14, 1927.

Wayne Harryman helped to develop the Emerson Highlands neighborhood along Leland Avenue. He lived in a beautiful stuccoed English Tudor next to this house at 1101 Leland Avenue. (Indianapolis Star, May 26, 1929)

Lesley Avenue: Formerly called Greene Street, the name appears to have changed to Lesley Avenue in 1903. The street was named after Daniel Lesley, who resided at 5716 Lowell Avenue with his wife and two children. Mr. Lesley was a tax accountant and frequently made the news for exposing government corruption. Both he and his wife Edith Thompson Lesley hailed from Winchester, Indiana. 

Daniel Lesley (with a mustache) posed with his relatives most likely in Randolph County, Indiana c1885. Pictured: Jacob, Amos, Daniel, and Rueben Lesley (photo courtesy of Lesley family descendants via Ancestry.com) 

Lowell Avenue:  Irvington residents appear to have had love affair with writers from the Romantic era. In 1898, when the town board decided to rename a confusing hodgepodge of streets into one name, they chose to rebrand the long street after the poet and editor of the Atlantic Monthly, James Russell Lowell (1819-1891). Mr. Lowell was good friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Greenleaf Whittier, who also received Irvington street names. Previous names of the street included Elm Avenue (in between North Audubon Road and Irvington Avenue) and Walnut Avenue (in between North Audubon Road and North Arlington Avenue). Larry Muncie in his book, Irvington: Three Windows on Irvington History, 1989, mentions that at one point part of the street was also called Ohio Street. 

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) (public domain)

Maple Lane: William Alexander and Flora McDonald Ketcham filed for a plat for the subdivision of Pleasanton in 1915. This small addition to Irvington emulated the original plan for the area complete with winding streets. Most of the development for the new community, however, did not really take off until the early 1920s. The Ketchams chose Maple Lane as one of their streets although there was already a Maple Road (38th Street) in northern Indianapolis. Trees seem to be a theme for street names in Pleasanton. 

An ad for new homes along Maple Lane in Pleasanton from the Indianapolis News, September 23, 1921

Market Street: A small section of Market Street runs through Irvington. The more famous part of the street begins in downtown Indianapolis and was aptly named for the markets that still operate along that well-known avenue. 

Melvenia Street: Clarence and Josephine Hurst lived in a small cottage along an unnamed lane south of Burgess Avenue in the 1920s. By 1924, the Indianapolis city directory listed the Hursts on Melvenia Street. Melvenia Street? Where did that name come from? Who was Melvenia? It turns out that the answer was right in front of me. The Hursts had one daughter--Melvenia Hurst. She married John Martin and eventually moved to Florida where she passed away in 2005. We are in the process of attempting to track down family members to learn more about her. In 1940, the city of Indianapolis further honored her by naming another section south of Brookville Road as Melvenia. It had formerly been called "Haugh." 

Michigan Street: John Chambers was an early investor in Irvington. He developed land north of Lowell Avenue in between Ritter Avenue and just east of Arlington Avenue. He named one of the streets after himself. Unfortunately, like many early investors, Mr. Chambers went bankrupt. When the city of Indianapolis annexed Irvington, they changed Chambers to Michigan to align with the street that originated in the original mile square of Indianapolis. Mr. Chambers was completely erased from the story of the neighborhood; however, his name lives on in deeds and abstracts. 

John W. Chambers, who developed land north of Lowell Avenue and east of Ritter Avenue, went bankrupt in 1877. Later a street named for him became Michigan Street. (Indianapolis News, February 6, 1877)

Sources:  Larry Muncie, Irvington: Three Windows on Irvington's History. 1989; Irvington Avenue--"Mr. Warweg's Ordinance," Indianapolis Journal, March 17, 1903, 10; Kenyon Street--"Our Street," July 8, 1929, 8; Layman Avenue--"New Town Officers," Indianapolis News, May 12, 1896, 7: Melvenia Street--"Changes Sought in Street Names," Indianapolis Star, February 6, 1940, 5: "Changes in Street Names," Indianapolis Journal, January 18, 1903, 3; "Irvington's New Names," Indianapolis News, November 3, 1898, 7.