Emerson Avenue Used to Have a Median Strip

    

     In the early twentieth century, local Irvington residents traveled on many brick streets including South Emerson Avenue. Additionally, this particular stretch of Emerson also had a median with grass and flowers separating the lanes. The homes most visible in the photograph below were 218 and 216-14 South Emerson Avenue. If the photographer had turned to the right, you would have seen Butler University. Students and professors who exited via the western side of campus would have viewed a beautiful street. Later, city officials removed the medians and paved over the brick as the street became a major thoroughfare. 

A grass and flower median used to separate the traffic lanes in the 200 block of South Emerson Avenue, c1910 (photo courtesy of Chris Shimer)

Google Streetview of the 200 block of South Emerson Avenue (August, 2019)

Pennsylvania Railroad Had a Double Track Through Marion County.

 

     Sometime around the year 1910, a member of the Shimer family crossed South Emerson Avenue and took a photograph of the double tracks at the Pennsylvania Railroad. If the photographer had turned ever so slightly to the right, you would have seen the campus of Butler University. The lighter colored home in the far left of the image is the rear of 152 South Spencer Avenue. The home next to the utility pole is 159 South Spencer Avenue. Both homes still stand in 2023. After the last rail company abandoned the tracks in the later part of the twentieth century, various people bought the land and constructed houses or expanded their yards near this section of the former line. Looking at this photograph, it is easy to see why some Butler professors complained about the noise of nearby trains in the middle of their lecture. 

Pennsylvania Railroad tracks at South Emerson Avenue in Irvington c1910 (photo courtesy of Chris Shimer)

Site of former Pennsylvania Railroad tracks as seen by Google Streetview in August of 2019. 

New York Street House Visible in Historic Photo

      Charles S. Townsend took out a building permit for 5821 East New York Street in 1910.  While Mr. Townsend may have been responsible for the construction of the house, the first person to reside in it was Abraham Shortridge, for whom both the high school and the road is named. That he was able to do so was quite amazing as the elderly man had been struck by a traction car near his farm east of Irvington in 1906 and lost part of a leg. After the accident, he convalesced at his son's home on Lowell Avenue. City directories indicate that the beloved educator lived in his new two-story home intermittently throughout the 1910s. 

The Coons Family

      George (known as Elmer) and Helen Schneider Coons likely moved into the New York Street home in 1918. It is unclear when they purchased the home, but a World War I draft card belonging to Mr. Coons lists him at the New York Street address. The card also noted that Mr. Coons was 38 years old and an unemployed laborer with a broken collar bone. Helen Coons came from a prominent German family in Hanover, Indiana. The couple had eight children so they likely needed a larger home. Don Rouse, the great grandson of Elmer and Helen Coons, had always heard that Elmer Coons had likely built the home. Mr. Coons was a Jack-of-all-trades and worked in a variety of jobs in construction and plumbing. 

     For the next four decades, the Coons family resided at 5821 East New York Street. Like any family, they celebrated many joyful moments and endured some tragedies. In 1923, the Indianapolis Times reported that Katherine Coons was part of a dance troupe known as the Indianapolis Follies. They performed at the Lyric Theater. One of their sons, Paul, helped to organize a bike race in Irvington in 1931 on the grounds of the former campus of Butler University. Several of their children married while living in the house. Shadows fell over the family after the death of two sons at a young age, and Mr. Coons died suddenly of a heart attack in 1926 at the plumbing business where he worked. He was only 47 years old leaving Mrs. Coons with the task of rearing their children and managing the house.

     Months after the death of Elmer Coons, an ad appeared in the Indianapolis Star that read, 3-room apt. for rent; furnished, sink, gas range, $6. In order to keep the home, Mrs. Coons turned the house into a duplex. She took out a building permit in 1929 so perhaps that is when she changed the porch and added a door onto the west side of the house. Numerous renters lived in the home throughout the twentieth century. She also covered the clapboard exterior with asphalt siding. A later owner clad the home in aluminum siding. After Mrs. Coons passed away in 1966, the family sold the property. 

     For the past several years, the home has been empty and work has started and stopped. Recently, building permits have appeared in the window so there is hope that the Shortridge-Coons home will see better days. 

     

Thomas Shimer, Jr., who lived at 5815 East New York Street, posed for this winter photograph c1931. Behind him, you can see 5821, 5823, 5825, and 5829 East New York Street. Besides the Coons family, the Timmons, Schaeffer, and Treat families resided in this block in the early 1930s. (photo courtesy of Chris Shimer)

A close up of the photograph taken in 1931 reveals the original front porch of 5821 East New York Street. (photo courtesy of Chris Shimer)

Helen Schneider Coons turned 5821 East New York Street into a duplex after the death of her husband in 1926. In this photograph, snapped in 1950, you can see that the home has been clad in asphalt siding and had a newer front porch. (photo courtesy of Don Rouse)

5821 East New York Street has been changed many times since 1910. Currently, the asphalt siding has been removed and building permits are in the window. (November, 2023)

The Coons family resided in 5821 East New York Street from 1918 until 1966. They posed for this photograph in 1920. Top Row: Anna, Ruth, Katherine, Elmer, Forest; Seated: Paul, Esther, Helen, and Carl. One son, Clarence, had already died. (photo courtesy of Don Rouse) 

     I wish to thank Don Rouse and Steve Barnett for their help with this post. It is possible that the house might have been moved onto the lot in 1910 as the architectural style reflects an earlier era. More research is needed. 

Sources:  Katherine Coons and the Indianapolis Follies--Indianapolis Times, June 7, 1; Paul Coons and the bike race--Indianapolis Star, September 4, 1931; Helen Coons--building permit--Indianapolis Star, August 29, 1929, 19; For rent ad--Indianapolis Star, September 26, 1926, 25; Polk's Indianapolis City Directories 1909-1966; Research by Steve Barnett at the Irvington Historical Society; Don Rouse, the great grandson of Elmer and Helen Coons.