Who Lived Here? The Schoenholtz Family

      John Jacob Schoenholtz and his wife, Alma Glore Schoenholtz, moved into their beautiful Arts-and-Crafts-era home at 240 South Emerson Avenue in 1911 and remained for decades. Mr. Schoenholtz immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1897 along with his family when he was fifteen years old. The talented young man graduated from Purdue University in 1901 with a degree in chemistry. Two years later, he founded the Indiana Chemical Company. In 1906, he married Alma Glore of Rushville, Indiana. 

     The couple's new home on the southwest corner of Emerson and University Avenues was ideally situated across from Butler College (later University). In 1915, they took out a building permit for a garage. It appeared that their lives were going smoothly and then World War I broke out.

      Anti-German feelings swept the nation and was especially strong in Indiana after the Americans joined the side of the British and French. Some schools outlawed the teaching of German and one Indiana town changed its name from East Germantown to Pershing. In 1917, many local newspapers published the names of Germans, who were not citizens. Local Germans were ordered to be photographed and fingerprinted by local police departments as they were all considered as "enemy aliens." 

     John Jacob Schoenholtz, who had come to his country with his parents, was published on one of those lists in the Indianapolis Star. He was so mortified that he purchased an ad in the Indianapolis Star on December 9, 1917, announcing his loyalty to the United States. He at least had the money to purchase an ad as most Germans living in the United States had to live under a cloud of suspicion. 

     At some point while the couple resided in the house, a member of the Shimer family took a couple of photographs of the Schoenholtz house likely before World War I. Mr. Schoenholtz died in 1956 while Mrs. Schoenholtz passed away in 1969. Both lived most of their lives on that particular corner in Irvington. 

John Jacob Schoenholtz graduated from Purdue University in 1901 with a degree in chemistry. 

Alma Glore Schoenholtz grew up in Rushville, Indiana and married John Jacob Schoenholtz in 1906. She was an active Irvington club woman. Her photo appeared in the Indianapolis Star on September 1, 1929.

John Jacob Schoenholtz published his loyalty to the United States in the Indianapolis Star on December 9, 1917. He was one of many German residents of the city who had been placed on an "enemy alien" list. 

Ralph Shimer and his beloved dog posed in front of 240 South Emerson Avenue c1911. John and Alma Schoenholtz resided in the house at the time. (photo courtesy of Chris Shimer)

Members of the Shimer family posed in the side yard of their home at 230 South Emerson Avenue. We believe that the older gentleman seated in a chair on the left might be Charles O. Shimer. We do not know the name of the younger man seated in the chair. The boy seated on the ground was Ralph Shimer. Behind the men, you can see the Schoenholtz home at 240 South Emerson Avenue c1912. (photo courtesy of Chris Shimer)

240 South Emerson Avenue on January 16, 2024

Sources:  Polk's Indianapolis City Directories; Garage Building Permit--Indianapolis News, September 28, 1915; World War One--"729 Registered Here as Aliens," Indianapolis Star, February 7, 1918, 2; Mr. Schoenholtz obituary--"Chemical Firm Founder is Dead," Indianapolis News, August 4, 1956, 22