Google Streetview Reveals the Lost Structures of the Greater Irvington Area, Part II

      Since 2007 the Google car has captured dozens of lost structures from the greater Irvington area. In part two of this series you will get to revisit many houses and two commercial buildings that used to grace the neighborhood. I am working on a third post just about the lost buildings of East Washington Street. That will come later this spring.  

39 South Arlington Avenue

     For as long as I could remember it, the cute cottage at 39 South Arlington Avenue had been empty, but that hadn't always been the case. The small residence was likely built in 1905 for Charles Wambold, a painter and wallpaper installer. Numerous families lived in the home over the years including the Armstrongs, Vannettes, Reeds, Coreys, Kelleys, and Willettes. No trace of the home exists today, but Google captured one of the last photos of the house in 2007. 

39 South Arlington Avenue, 2007 (Google Streetview)

Sonia Johnson posed in her front yard at 44 South Arlington Avenue in 1975. Her Grandpa and Grandma Willett lived across the street in the cottage located at 39 South Arlington Avenue. (photo courtesy of the Garza family)

4902 East New York Street

     The former two-story home located on the northwest corner of East New York and DeQuincy Streets dates to at least 1908. Clarence and Helen Cummins and their daughter Marian were likely the first residents of the home. Mr. Cummins earned a reputation as an outstanding reporter for both the Indianapolis News and Indianapolis Star. He briefly moved out to California to improve his health, but sadly he died at a young age in 1917. Mrs. Cummins also died at a young age leaving Marian without parents. She later went to Butler University and was a candidate for the May Queen pageant. The house burned sometime around 2013 and the site is now an empty lot. 

4902 East New York Street, Google Streetview, 2009

Marian Cummins (lower right) grew up at 4902 East New York Street. By the age of 20 she had lost both of her parents. (Indianapolis Times, April 30, 1930, p. 2)

446-448-450 North Riley Avenue

      Earl R. Gillum opened his grocery store at 448 North Riley in 1911. Next door, Hugh R. Kennedy operated at a drugstore. Later Beverly D. Brown took over the pharmacy. Numerous families lived upstairs in the apartments overlooking the Michigan Streetcar line. With the arrival of the concept known as the supermarket, little groceries like Mr. Gillum's struggled to survive. It also didn't help that the drugstore next door seemed to be a magnet for bandits. In the 1950s, a company known as Musi-Com leased the building for an office. Owner Robert Whitesell and engineer Charles Bailey pumped music into various large stores like Marsh Supermarkets. By the end of the twentieth century, not much seemed to be going on with the building. The structure had so much potential, but there must have been issues as one day it was just gone. 

446-448-450 North Riley Avenue, Google Streetview, 2009

This Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows a sketch of the corner in 1940. The pinkish color represents that building was brick. (Indiana University-Indianapolis Digital Collections) 

435-437 South Ritter Avenue

     The first ad for renting either 435 or 437 South Ritter Avenue first appeared in various Indianapolis newspapers in 1909. For over a century, numerous people moved in and out of the tiny one-bedroom duplex. You could rent either side for $6.00. By 1930, it leased for $20 a month. In 1912, burglars snuck onto the back porch of 437 South Ritter Avenue and stole Martin Moore's recently-churned ice cream and spoons. He only called the police because he wanted his spoons back. Several couples welcomed babies while living in either half including Otha and Mary Higgenbotham in 1922, Earl and Thelma Oaks in 1924, Ernest and Lucille Settle in 1930, and Clarence and Emma Stockdale in 1945. Of course joy and sadness often go hand in hand. Perhaps the most tragic case occurred in 1912 when forty-one-year old George Moore failed to hear the train at South Audubon Road crossing at the Pennsylvania Railroad. His young son Edward had to identify his deceased father. Many neighbors along Audubon Road testified that the train was going too fast. By 2009 the property was in poor shape and all of those memories were wiped away with the removal of the historic structure. 

435-437 South Ritter Avenue, Google Streetview

In 1922, several local newspapers announced that Mary and Otha Higgenbotham welcomed a baby girl into their lives. The Higgenbothams resided at 437 South Ritter Avenue at the time and were active members of the First Baptist Church on Good Avenue. They named their little girl Ardell. Long after they moved out of their home on Ritter Avenue, Ardell posed for this photograph.  (photo courtesy of Krystal Wagner via Find-a-Grave)

466 South Ritter Avenue

       For the first several decades of its existence, 466 South Ritter Avenue served as a home for the Meyer family. They were first recorded living in the house in 1907. The Meyers have the distinction of being one of the founding families of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Irvington had largely been a Protestant neighborhood until the early twentieth century when many Catholic families like the Meyers moved into the area. The Meyers eventually moved around the corner into the beautiful two-story farmhouse located at 5802 Brookville Road. Through the remainder of the twentieth century, the home changed into both a restaurant and eventually a bar. The Ritter Inn became a landmark for many International Harvester employees who stopped by after work for a drink or two. The structure went up in flames in 2013. It had been empty for sometime. 

The Ritter Inn at 466 South Ritter Avenue, Google Streetview, 2011; The Meyer home in the rear of the structure was still visible. 

Regulars at the Ritter Inn swapped stories to reporter Marge Hanley in 1978. (Indianapolis News, May 4, 1978, p. 14)

110 South Webster Avenue

     In 1922 Jasper Raymond Rogers took out a building permit to erect the bungalow formerly located at 110 South Webster Avenue. He was a carpenter so it is possible that he built the house. Located in the Tilford and Thrasher Subdivision of Irvington, Rogers was one of the few white residents in the neighborhood. Over the years many Black residents purchased lots and built homes in the addition. Racist covenants and redlining prevented many Black citizens from the dream of homeownership in certain parts of the city. In 1938 Jesse and Maude Wright along with their children moved into the house. They resided in the bungalow through much of the remainder of the 20th century. Census records reveal that Mr. Wright moved to Irvington from South Carolina. He was part of the Great Migration, a movement of Black residents from the South for opportunities in the North. He worked in a foundry. The Google car captured one of the last images of the house in 2009. 

110 South Webster Avenue, Google Streetview, 2009

Tilford and Thrasher East Addition to Irvington as seen on the Baist map of 1927 (Indiana University-Indianapolis Digital Collections) 

     

Sources:  39 South Arlington Avenue--Polk's Indianapolis City Directory, 1905-1989; US Federal Census Records-1910, 1920, 1930, 1940; 4902 East New York Street--"Clarence Cummins Dies in California, Indianapolis News, September 11, 1917, p. 4; Obituary for Helen Cummins--Indianapolis News, December 12, 1928, p. 8;  448 N. Riley--"Addicts Blamed for Drug Store Narcotics Theft," Indianapolis Times, May 8, 1924, p. 2; "Two Armed Bandits Hold Up Drug Store," Indianapolis News, March 31, 1927, p. 40; 466 S. Ritter--"Meyer Services Wednesday," Indianapolis News, October 13, 1958, p. 8; "Former Ritter Inn is Destroyed by Fire," Indianapolis Star. October 24, 2013, p. A5; 110 South Webster--Obituary for Mrs. Maude Wright, Indianapolis Star, January 25, 1978, p. 40; Obituary for Carter Babb--Indianapolis Star, May 24, 1966, p. 42; Obituary for Jesse Wright--Indianapolis News, July 30, 1956, p. 7