Renowned Black Baritone Graduated from Butler University's Irvington Campus

    

     On June 15, 1925, Butler University seniors gathered outside under a grove of trees on Irvington's campus to receive their diplomas. Sitting among those hopeful students was Robert Todd Duncan.  He was born in Danville, Kentucky to John and Lettie (Cooper) Duncan on February 12, 1903. Later newspaper accounts noted that his mother named him Robert Todd after Abraham Lincoln's son since he was born on Lincoln's birthday. The family moved to Indianapolis when he was four and he remained in the city until his graduation from Butler University.  His mother was his first music teacher. She taught him how to play the piano beginning at age five. He also happened to be blessed with the most wonderful baritone voice as an adult. His mother, who raised him on Martindale Avenue (later Dr. Andrew J. Brown Avenue), worked multiple jobs and saved every penny to send him to Butler. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.

      His career after Butler is fabled. He earned a Master's degree from Columbia University and started teaching at Howard University. Everything changed when he auditioned for the role of "Porgy" in "Porgy and Bess" in 1935. George Gershwin, the composer of the opera, had auditioned many other singers before hearing Robert Todd Duncan. Gershwin knew immediately that he had found his Porgy. Mr. Duncan went on to sing in many other operas around the world. He sang on television stations at the BBC in the UK and NBC in the US. He never forgot his hometown and he returned frequently, often giving lectures. Sadly, his mother passed away just as his career was taking off. He lamented in newspaper articles that he wished she could have seen his success. 

     While much is known about his career, little is known about his time at Butler University. I have been contacted by a researcher who is looking into these early years. If you know of any sources or experts, please send me an email linked on this page. If you would like to hear his beautiful voice, click on the link below. 

In 1924, Robert Todd Duncan sat for his photograph for the Butler Drift his junior year. The editors

 of the yearbook placed the three Black students who posed for their shot separate and away from the white students. Robert Todd Duncan was placed as the last student when in reality, he would become the first. No one in that class would achieve such fame. 

In 1924, Robert Todd Duncan sat for his photograph for the Butler Drift his junior year. The editors

Sources:  "Butler Graduates Will Get Degrees Monday Morning," Indianapolis Star, June 13, 1925, p. 2; John K. Shephard, "Ladder to the Stars," Indianapolis Star, February 19, 1950, p. 96; Obituary for Lettia Cambron, Indianapolis Star, April 21, 1935, p. 41. 

  

Robert Todd Duncan singing songs from Porgy and Bess

Panoramic Photographs Show Many "Lost" Irvington Structures

      Throughout 1937 and 1938, a photographer from the Bass Photo Company documented the construction of the new International Harvester factory buildings along Brookville Road in southern Irvington. Inadvertently, he captured many structures no longer standing. Houses, a tavern, filling stations, and even Butler University appear on the margins of the photos. The Indiana Historical Society has uploaded 31 panoramic views of the construction of the complex. I have provided a link below to one of these images so that you can conduct your own investigations. 

Lost Houses:  The Shimer Farmstead

     The Shimer family predates Irvington. They had owned land along Brookville Road since 1829. In 1873 they built a beautiful Italianate home near what is today the intersection of Brookville Road and South Audubon Road. International Harvester officials purchased their land in 1937 and eventually demolished all of the structures on the former farm. 

Corydon and Hettie Shimer sold their farm to the International Harvester Company in 1937. Both of them lived long enough to witness the demolition of their beautiful home located on Brookville Road near South Audubon Road. (courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society)

Builders began clearing the Shimer land in 1937. The Shimer home on Brookville Road near Audubon Road had just a little while longer to stand. (photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society)

A Bass Photo Company employee stood atop a ladder or on a rooftop and captured one of the last photos of the Shimer home located on Brookville Road near South Audubon Road in 1938. The home had been completely surrounded by the new International Harvester factory. (photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society)

The 1927 Baist Map of Indianapolis shows the Shimer farm located on Brookville Road near South Audubon Road. (IU-Indianapolis Digital Collections)

Lost Houses: 5400 Block of Brookville Road

     For several years, Herman (Harry) and Louise Grabhorn lived next to the Shimer farm at 5451 Brookville Road. Mr. Grabhorn ran a music printing business next to his house. Their lives changed when the bulldozers and earthmoving crews arrived to build the International Harvester factory next door. Factory officials would eventually buy the Grabhorn residence along with several other homes and demolish the structures as the factory grew. 

Herman (Harry) and Louise Grabhorn along with their children lived in the pretty house at 5451 Brookville Road seen in this photograph. They witnessed the rise of the International Harvester factory from their dining room windows in 1937 and 1938. (photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society)

Herman (Harry) Grabhorn was a printer and advertised on this building (demolished) behind his home at 5451 Brookville Road. Ghosts of workers can be seen in the foreground. (photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society)

The Grabhorn home at 5451 Brookville Road along with several others were demolished. They used to exist on the south side of Brookville Road just east of South Irvington Avenue. (Google)

Lost Houses: South Ritter Avenue

     There used to be several homes in the 400 and 500 block of South Ritter Avenue. It was a diverse area of the neighborhood and home to a small black population. At one time, the pioneering Black suffragist, Carrie Whalon lived in the 400 block of South Ritter Avenue. By the 1930s when these photos were snapped, the street housed a mixture of Black and white families. 

After Henry Cress, who resided on the west side of Ritter Avenue just south of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, died in 1901, his widow Mary sold off eight lots in the Chambers and Tomlinson Addition in the 400 and 500 block of South Ritter Avenue. The houses above were located just north of Brookville Road on the west side of South Ritter Avenue. Heavy equipment and trucks were parked along the nearby streets on March 18, 1938, for the construction of International Harvester on Brookville Road. (photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society)

George W. and Willa Molden resided at 471 South Ritter Avenue in 1938 when this photo was snapped. That home was demolished for a series of commercial buildings. Mr. Molden worked for the city sanitation department. You can also see the filling station at 5506 Brookville Road also later demolished. (photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society)

Lost: A Tavern and a Filling Station on Brookville Road

     Although the construction sign for International Harvester blocks our view, you can still see the brick filling station at 5498 Brookville Road. (demolished). Maurice Kitterman operated the station. Joseph H. Meese managed a tavern in the larger white building at 5478 Brookville Road in 1938. (photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society)

5478 and 5498 Brookville Road (both demolished) as they looked on March 18, 1938. (photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society.)

Lost: Butler University

     When the Bass Photo Company photographer snapped a long panoramic view of International Harvester on March 4, 1938, the employee had no idea that he was also documenting the last weeks of Butler University's Irvington campus. Opened in 1875, Butler University students attended classes in some of these buildings until 1928. For ten years, the structures sat vacant and fell to vandalism. Two weeks after this image was snapped, Butler officials razed the old campus for future redevelopment. 

Abandoned Butler University buildings and the power station tower loomed ghostly through the trees in a panoramic view of the construction of International Harvester on March 18, 1938. (photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society)

Lost: International Harvester/Navistar

     The opening of International Harvester in 1938 changed the trajectory of Irvington. With the Great Depression in full swing, the factory offered relief for hundreds of people who found work during the difficult era. Employees, both labor and management, moved into the neighborhood and kept it a vital place. Many of their descendants still live on the eastside of Indianapolis today. No panoramic photographer showed up in 2018 to document the demolition of the factory. The site is now a major distribution hub for the U.S. Post Office. 

The Indiana Historical Society has 31 different views of the construction of the International Harvester. To see those images, click on the link below. (photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society)

International Harvester Plant Construction

     I wish to thank Kent Hankins and Anne Hardwick for their assistance with this story.

Sources:  Navistar International Indianapolis Plant, Indianapolis, 1987; Polk's Indianapolis City Directories, 1901-1940; US Federal Census Records, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940; Baist Fire Insurance Maps, IU-Indianapolis Digital Collections; Walter F. Morse, "Old Butler Campus Fading; Administration Building Razed, Indianapolis Star, March 26, 1939, p. 10; Cress sale--"Sales of Real Estate," Indianapolis Journal, December 13, 1902, p. 8. 

Butler's Irvington Campus Only Had One Dorm

 

Butler Dorm, c1915 (photo courtesy of Kyle Kingen)

    

     Throughout its tenure from 1875 until 1928, Butler University only hosted one dormitory for students. Located in the northern part of the campus, the dormitory was completed in August of 1882. College officials awarded the architectural contract to brothers, Allen and John Stem. While both men went on to distinguished careers, the dorm at Butler would not be one of their better projects. It did not help that a tornado struck the area in the summer of 1882 felling many trees and damaging part of the building still under construction. 

     Butler historian George Waller recorded that the structure was poorly-built. Originally, men lived on one side of the building while women lived on the other side with a wall separating the sexes. Waller noted that holes appeared in that wall. Campus officials then decreed that only men would live in the building, but completely reversed course by the early twentieth century and made it the women's residence. 

     In the 1890s students rented the upper rooms for thirty cents a week while the lower floors leased for fifty cents a week. Students were expected to keep their rooms clean or to hire someone to clean it. Waller noted that the college furnished each room with a "bed, mattress, stove, table, chairs, and a washstand."  University officials also provided a "dorm cow" who was not to be "surreptitiously milked." By the 1910s those same rooms rented between $3.75 and $4.00 a week. 

     Despite growing enrollments and the arrival of the Christian Women's Board of Missions, the campus did not provide another dorm. Young men and some young women found rooms in nearby boarding houses or in fraternities or sororities. After the college pulled out of Irvington most of the campus buildings fell into disrepair. The dorm, which never had a name, was demolished in the 1930s. 

Sources:

George "Mac" Waller, Butler University: A Sesquicentennial History, Indiana University Press, 2006, pp. 158-159; Stem Brothers: Tornado--"Other Disasters, Indianapolis News, June 26, 1882, p. 4; Construction--"City News, Indianapolis News, August 26, 1882, p. 3; "City News," Indianapolis News, August 28, 1882, p. 1.

Emerson Avenue Home Then and Now

      Little has changed over the decades of the home located at 246 South Emerson Avenue. Likely built around 1909, the first residents were Willis and Alfretta (Etta) Porter along with their son, Cap Harold and Myrtle.  The 1910 and 1920 Federal Census records indicated that Mr. Porter worked as a pressman for a local printer. The couple also appeared to have rented a room to a married Butler University couple, Elvin and Alice Daniels. The pair had a short commute to classes as Butler was just across the street from the Porter home. At some point, a member of the Shimer family, who lived a couple of houses away, snapped two images of the relatively-new home sometime around 1915. The Porters would easily recognize their former home today. 

246 South Emerson Avenue c1915 (photo courtesy of Chris Shimer)

246 South Emerson along with the neighboring houses c1915 (photo courtesy of Chris Shimer)

246 South Emerson Avenue in the winter of 2024. 

Information for this post came from Indianapolis city directories, federal census records. Regarding the Daniels family: Tipton Daily Tribune, February 3, 1914, 6. 

John T. Mahorney: Political Candidate, Businessman, Writer, and Inventor

      Over the past several years, a few local historians have been researching Gertrude Mahorney, the first African-American in the state of Indiana to graduate from an Indiana college. She made state-wide news in 1887 when she received her diploma from Butler University and again two years later when she earned her Masters Degree. She later taught German in the public schools. She now has a Wikipedia page. (see below) But how did Gertrude achieve this opportunity? The answer can be partially found in her talented family. 

John T. Mahorney Married Ann Gray in Chicago

     The Chicago Tribune reported that Saturday, July 23, 1859, was a sunny day with a high of near 80 degrees. It would be a perfect Saturday for a wedding. Sometime on that date, Ann Gray, whose father, Jared Gray, operated a highly successful wig-making business, married John T. Mahorney, a bricklayer, from Chambersburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was 19 and he was 29. For the next several decades, the couple built a business, raised a family, and traveled together throughout the United States and to the British Isles. Eventually, they settled in Irvington. 

A Successful Wig-Making Business

     Although he had been apprenticed as a brick mason, John T. Mahorney moved into the Gray family business of manufacturing wigs and toupees. Mrs. Mahorney joined in on the business adventure. Within a few years, the couple was ready to strike out on their own. By 1862 the couple had opened a shop in downtown Indianapolis on Illinois Street near the popular Bates Hotel. Ads placed in local Indianapolis newspapers indicated that the couple manufactured wigs and toupees along with other nineteenth-century hair pieces like poufs, braids, curls, and frizzles. They also opened another business selling the same products in Leavenworth, Kansas. The expansion of their base of operations took place during the middle of the Civil War. If they were not busy enough, John and Ann welcomed their first child to live into adulthood, Gertrude, in the early 1860s. They resided in a cottage at 235 Blake Street near the White River in Indianapolis. 

John T. Mahorney advertised his business in both newspapers and city directories. This ad appeared in Buell and Williams' Indianapolis City Directory and Business Mirror for 1864.

The earliest known ad thus far for J.T. Mahorney's wig and toupee business appeared in the Indianapolis Daily Journal, July 19, 1862, 3.

John T. Mahorney and Senators Charles Sumner and Hiram Revels

     After the Civil War, the Mahorneys continued to expand their hair product business. John T. Mahorney gravitated towards politics. In 1870, he corresponded with Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts. Mr. Mahorney likely admired the Senator's strong abolitionist views along with his stance on Civil Rights. On June 2, 1870, he sat down in his Blake Street home and penned a letter to the famed Senator.

     Honorable Chas. Sumner, Sir

     Allow me to congratulate you upon the bill called "Supplemental Civil Rights Bill" it is just what we want. May success attend your efforts, and the Prayers of the People go up for you and the cause you advocate. I have the honor to be your obedient servant. 

J.T. Mahorney

PS Senator Revels is an intimate friend of mine. J.T. Mahorney

Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts (Brady-Handy Photograph Collection, Library of Congress)

A letter from John T. Mahorney is now housed at Harvard University in the papers of Charles Sumner. (Courtesy of the Houghton Library at Harvard University)

John T. Mahorney mentioned to Charles Sumner that he knew Senator Hiram Revels, a newly-elected Senator from Mississippi in 1870 (Courtesy of Houghton Library at Harvard University) 

     Hiram Revels was the first black senator to be elected in the United States. During Reconstruction, many African-Americans were elected to both federal and state offices although that window closed once the Reconstruction-era ended. Mr. Mahorney may have known Revels from his work in Leavenworth, Kansas as the Reverend Hiram Revels also served as a minister in that community. There were also Revels family members living in Indianapolis. We do not have Senator Sumner's response to John T. Mahorney, but later Mr. Mahorney penned a biography of the Senator. No copy of that book has been found, but Harvard University, where the Charles Sumner papers are housed, contains the above letter from John T. Mahorney.

Hiram Revels was the first African-American to serve in Congress. John T. Mahorney and he likely crossed paths in Leavenworth, Kansas in the 1860s as both men had ties to that city at the same time. (photo courtesy of Levi-Corbin-Handy Photograph Collection, Library of Congress)

     The following year, John and Ann Mahorney welcomed a baby boy they named John Joseph Mahorney. He, along with his older sister Gertrude, would be the only children to survive into adulthood. 

A Turn into Politics 

     As early as 1866, John T. Mahorney attended various conventions and frequently spoke at these events. In November of that year, he was elected the corresponding secretary of the Colored Men's Convention of Indiana. Two years later, he sponsored at least two resolutions at another convention held in Masonic Hall in Indianapolis. In one resolution, he called the members to thank the recently-departed US Representative Thaddeus Stevens for his support of equal rights among all people. He also proposed a resolution honoring Senator Benjamin F. Randolph, a newly-elected black Senator from South Carolina, who had been assassinated. Both resolutions passed at the convention.

     Two major laws propelled John T. Mahorney into action. The first was the ratification of the 15th Amendment, giving African American men the right to vote, initially passed by Congress in 1869, and ratified by the country in 1870. On May 26, 1870, a group of African-Americans invited John Mahorney to participate in a reading of the new Amendment in Princeton, Indiana. In a "clear voice," he read President Grant's proclamation and the 15th Amendment. Brass bands, a parade, and picnic created a celebratory atmosphere. On August 25, he spoke for over an hour about the 15th Amendment to people in Lebanon, Indiana and on September 11, he and J.S. Hinton spoke to Black Republicans in Thorntown, Indiana. 

     The second law was closer to home. In 1869, the Indiana legislature, with the Common School Act, mandated that local school districts provide education for African-American children. Throughout his life, education had been near to Mr. Mahorney's heart. He made sure that his own family received a proper schooling in local institutions and later with college degrees. So, in August of 1869, the Colored Baptist Association of Indiana passed a resolution asking John T. Mahorney, J.S. Hinton, and I. M. Williams to travel around the state to educate local African-Americans about getting their children into the local schools.  In 1871, he attended another black convention this time in New Orleans. He authored a resolution calling for the education of ALL children from the ages of 7 to 15. His motion passed. Many people throughout the state of Indiana and the nation knew John T. Mahorney's name, and then he did something very surprising. 

A New Democrat

     After the Civil War most African American men who could vote either joined or supported the Republican party. The Democratic party became the party of oppression especially in the southern United States during the Reconstruction era. Horrible violence against African-Americans ran unchecked and often had the support of southern Democrats. Jim Crow laws had already started to emerge and would only get worse as the decade wore on. So, it likely came as a shock to his friends and associates when John T. Mahorney announced in 1872 that he was supporting Horace Greeley, a former Republican and now Democrat, for President of the United States against the re-election of Ulysses S. Grant. Just one year earlier, he had been part of a delegation that welcomed President Grant into the city of Indianapolis. He had given speeches about Lincoln, but in July of 1872 the members of the Greeley-Brown Club elected him as one of the Vice Presidents. His decision to join with Democrats did not go down well. Besides being physically assaulted, someone threw bricks through the windows of his Blake Street home. Perhaps some thought that he would return to the Republican party; however, he remained a Democrat for the rest of his life. His decision hurt his reputation but also helped his career.

     The 1870 Federal Census noted that the Mahorneys earned a comfortable living in the wig-making business and that they also owned real estate. At some point they shuttered the operation in both Indianapolis and in Leavenworth. With his involvement in the Democratic party, John T. Mahorney received job opportunities. In 1874, local Democrats appointed him as the turnkey at the city jail. Later, he would be employed as the watchman for the Deaf and Dumb Asylum. In the 1880s, he would be appointed as one of three library commissioners.

     His rift with fellow black Republicans did not stop him from participating in a local commemoration of Senator Charles Sumner in 1874. He also participated in a protest with fellow Black Masons, who were upset with Lawrence Township officials in Marion County who refused to allow a black family into their school system in the same year. However, the good will soon ended as Mahorney participated in a debate on June 24, 1877, with a "Mr. Taylor" in Masonic Hall as to whether African-Americans should join the Democratic Party. One person who attended that night, P.W.H. Johnson was so outraged that he penned a letter to the Indianapolis News reminding black people that the Democratic party had done nothing to help African-Americans. The white Republican media was not much kinder to him as they frequently used racist language and sometimes called him "O'Mahorney." 

In 1874, John T. Mahorney was appointed as the "turnkey" at the city jail in Indianapolis. It is possible that he is in this 1874 image of the Indianapolis police department, but we can't be sure. (Photo courtesy of Patrick Pearsey) 

The Mahorneys Travel to the British Isles 

     In August of 1877, the Mahorney family applied for travel documents to sail to Great Britain. It was the trip of a lifetime. The application described 47-year-old John T. Mahorney as 5'9" with a broad forehead, straight nose, brown complexion, and a small mouth with a mustache. His chin was round with a gray and brown goatee. Incredibly the Mahorneys would be gone for four months. They lived in London's East End. They toured historic sites including the Tower of London and St. Paul's Cathedral. They attended plays and visited both Ireland and Wales. For young Gertrude and John Joseph, the trip must have been fascinating. Mrs. Mahorney became so enamored with the journey that she wrote an unpublished account of the event called Our Rambles in London. It also appears that Mr. Mahorney was there on business as he had invented a new kind of switching frog to be used for railroads. His invention did not appear to get any takers. In December, the family boarded the R.M.S. China at Liverpool and sailed home. Their travels were covered in the Indianapolis News. 

A Stereoscopic view of the Tower of London in 1877 (public domain)

The Mahorneys Move to Irvington

     We do not know the exact moment that the family located to Irvington, but they might have been in the town as early as 1878. They were clearly in the community by 1880 as the Federal Census from that year lists them living near the Strawns and Tibbots. Unfortunately, the census from that year does not enumerate households by address and Indianapolis city directories did not bother with addresses, but merely placed an "I" next to Irvington families well into the 1890s. We do know that Gertrude Mahorney later possessed a lot in Chamber's First Subdivision which could have placed the family near the intersection of East Michigan Street and North Bolton, but we are not sure. 

     The Mahorneys wrote that they moved to the neighborhood so that their children could obtain an excellent education. They also expected both kids to attend Butler University. Both Gertrude and John Joseph excelled in school. Gertrude became the first black collegiate graduate in the state of Indiana. She later taught German in both Indianapolis and Rockville, Indiana. Her brother, John Joseph, majored in engineering and math. During his senior year in 1889 at Butler, he faced an ugly moment. He was named one of the presidents of the Mathesian Literary Society along with other seniors. Two Kentuckians in the club objected and demanded that he resign. Their families had enslaved people prior to the Civil War. The other members of the society refused to bow to the demands of the southerners and the two young men not only left the club, but they also dropped out of the college. 

John and Ann Gray Mahorney moved to Irvington in the late 1870s so that their children, Gertrude and John Joseph, could attend Butler University. 

Gertrude Mahorney was the first African-American to graduate from college in Indiana. You can read more about her in the link at the end of this post. (Photo courtesy of Butler University and the Irvington Historical Society)

The Final Years

     While living in Irvington, John Mahorney attempted to run for political office. In the summer of 1878 he traveled around the state giving speeches on behalf of the Indiana Democratic party; however he appears to have not been nominated for any office. He kept his job as watchman at the Deaf and Dumb Institute and remained in demand as a political speaker. In 1882, the Muncie Morning News reported on his speech and referred to him as a "talented colored orator." The Indianapolis News, whose writers had been extraordinarily hard on Mahorney since his conversion to the Democratic party, opined that he was "not an orator and not talented."

     In 1884, John T. Mahorney traveled to Louisville to participate in the Colored Men's Convention. The keynote speaker was the beloved black orator and Civil Rights champion, Frederick Douglass. With his shock of white hair, Douglass spoke firmly to the assembled crowd. He despaired over the fact that there were black Democrats present. He reminded the audience that they were stronger together. Was he speaking to John Mahorney? Three years later, Mahorney penned a letter to the Indianapolis News blasting Douglass for his critique of Europeans who participated in minstrels. Douglass spent much of 1887 abroad and had despaired seeing white people portray racist caricatures. The Washington Bee in the nation's capital also published Mahorney's rebuke so it is possible that the great orator read the letter. 

     Tuberculosis, known as consumption in the late nineteenth century, killed thousands of Americans each year. In 1890, John T. Mahorney started to have "lung trouble." He struggled for months and passed away in his Irvington home on June 24. He had lived long enough to see both of his children graduate from college. His death was reported all over the state of Indiana. The Shelbyville Democrat recorded that he "was a man of more than ordinary intelligence, a fine speaker, and well-informed of the great questions of the day." The Evansville Journal opined that he "was formerly a Republican, but we notice that since he changed his politics, a curse seems to have followed him." The Indianapolis News referred to his intelligence and integrity. They noted that he "had advanced notions about education." They also referred to him as "erratic" and a "reader." He was not a man who could be easily classified. 

     His son, John Joseph Mahorney, followed him to the grave in 1892 after an appendicitis attack. Ann and Gertrude moved out of Irvington around this time and relocated to the near west side of Indianapolis. The two traveled together and lived briefly in other towns while Gertrude taught in various schools. Mrs. Mahorney died in the autumn of 1904. More scholarship is needed on her as she also contributed to this highly successful family.  As of this writing, we do not know what became of Gertrude Mahorney after 1915. She seems to have vanished into the records. 

     I wish to thank Anne Hardwick, Don Flick, Steve Barnett, and Marvin Mason for their assistance with this story.

Gertrude Mahorney

Sources

Politics--Colored Men's Conventions--"Convention," Indianapolis Daily Journal, November 12, 1866, 8; "Colored Men's State Convention," Indianapolis Journal, December 31, 1868; 15th Amendment--"Ratification," Evansville Daily Journal, September 11, 1870, 8; Lebanon and Thorntown--Indianapolis Journal, August 26, 1870, 8; Indianapolis Journal, September 11, 1870, 8; Schools--"Colored Baptist Association," Indianapolis Journal, August 31, 1868, 4; "The Colored Convention," New Orleans Republican, October 1, 1871, 2; Democrat--Grant in Indpls-"Grant!" Indianapolis People, April 23, 1871, 10; Assault--Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1872; Greeley Club--Indianapolis News,  July 30, 1872; Bricks in house--Indianapolis News, August 17, 1872;  Appointments--Indianapolis News, May 19, 1874; Indianapolis City Directories; Debate in Masonic Hall--Indianapolis News, June 24, 1877; Racist press coverage--Indianapolis News, September 4, 1876) Travel to England--United States of American, Native Citizen form; "Additional City News," Indianapolis News, November 2, 1877; Indianapolis News, December 17, 1877, 3;  Mrs. Mahorney's travel writing--Anne E. Mahorney, "John T. Mahorney," Western Association of Writers, 1891, 232; Move to Irvington--Mathesian Society--"Civil Rights in College," Indianapolis News, June 15, 1889; Student papers--"Great Times at Butler," Indianapolis News, June 14, 1889, 4; Butler Collegian, June 1, 1889, 19. Final Years, Run for Office--"Pioneering Black Democrat," Indianapolis News, August 8, 1878, 4; "Political Notes," Indianapolis People, September 7, 1878; Indianapolis News, August 19, 1878, 3; Indianapolis News, September 24, 1878; Muncie Morning News, October 26, 1882, 1; Indianapolis News, October 26, 1882, 2; Louisville Convention, 1884--David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass, Prophet of Freedom, New York, 2018, 643-645; Columbus Herald (IN), October 24, 1884, 8; Letter to Editor--"Race Prejudice From Abroad," The Washington Bee, February 5, 1887, 1; Obituaries--Shelbyville Democrat (IN), June 25, 1890, 4; Evansville Journal, June 29, 1890, 2; "The Death of John T. Mahorney," Indianapolis News, June 25, 1890, 2; Obituary for Mrs. Mahorney-Indianapolis News, October 12, 1904

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)

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

The Caldwells Move to Bosart Avenue

Benjamin and Martha Caldwell and their talented son, Howard, moved away from their home in Lewisville, Indiana to a brand new house at 30 North Bosart Avenue in 1911. Mr. Caldwell, a carpenter, built the Bosart Avenue home in the Dutch Colonial style. Howard had just graduated from the Spiceland Academy and enrolled at Butler University where he once again excelled. The east side of Indianapolis was booming in construction so Mr. Caldwell likely found plenty of work. The home remained an important part of the Caldwell family for over twenty five years.

30 North Bosart Avenue in 2019

In December of 1913 tragedy struck the Caldwell family when Benjamin took a job in Lewisville building a barn for A. R. McIlvaine. He developed a deep chest cold but kept on working. Eventually, the cold turned into pneumonia. The 47-year-old carpenter was not able to make it back to his Bosart Avenue home as he died on the family farm near Lewisville. Somehow, Martha Freeman Caldwell, his widow, was able to keep the Indianapolis home. Howard was a sophomore at Butler University at the time.

Benjamin Caldwell's obituary was carried in the National Road Traveler (Cambridge City) shortly after his death on December 17, 1913. His obituary stated that he "was a man of few words and attended strictly to his own business. The family and friends feel that they can truthfully say that no man could be more devoted to his family, could have no more love for the partner of his joys and sorrows, and could have no greater interest in the welfare of his home...His sympathy was always with those in distress and was manifested by acts of kindness and deeds of charity and benevolence." His funeral was described as the one the largest ever held in Lewisville, Indiana.  (obituary courtesy of Ginny Hingst) 

Bosart Avenue was actually not very far from the western edge of Butler University's campus on Emerson Avenue so Howard could easily walk or ride a bike to his classes. He joined the Sigma Chi fraternity and remained active with that organization for much of his life. At college, he was the sports editor for the Butler Collegian. Butler President, Thomas Carr Howe, threatened to expel him after the journalist exposed that the football team's partying the night before an important game contributed to a loss. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and Howard remained on campus. While at Butler University, he met Elsie Felt, who was the daughter of a prominent judge. Their courtship would eventually lead to marriage.

Martha Caldwell as a young widow likely focused her attentions on making sure that Howard graduated from Butler University. After his graduation in 1915, Howard continued to live in the Bosart Avenue home as he worked for a variety of publications including the Marion County Mail which he helped to publish along with his fellow classmate and fraternity brother, Joseph Ostrander.

Howard and Elsie married in 1918 and lived in Kokomo, Indiana where Mr. Caldwell had been working since 1917 for the Haynes Auto Company in the advertising department. His fraternity brother Halsey Keeling also worked there. Martha Caldwell seems to have rented out rooms or perhaps the entire Bosart Avenue home to James Hallet in 1919. By 1920, Howard and Elsie and their new baby, Martha Virginia, moved back to Indianapolis and lived with Mrs. Caldwell on Bosart Avenue.

While living with Mrs. Caldwell, Howard formed the Caldwell-Baker Advertising Agency in the 1920s. They also welcomed a second child in their lives, Howard Caldwell, Jr. in 1925.  Their Bosart Avenue days were numbered for the moment as the family moved to the Felt family residence at 64 North Irvington in 1926. Judge Edward Felt, the father of Elsie Felt Caldwell, died in a tragic accident at the house when he fell from a ladder. The Caldwells moved into the larger large home with Mrs. Felt and remained until 1930.

In 1930, the Caldwells dwelled in the Audubon Court Apartments, but the Great Depression had taken a toll on the country and Mr. Caldwell's advertising agency so they moved back into the Bosart Avenue home with Mrs. Caldwell in 1932. This allowed the family to save money for a down payment on their very own home at 81 N. Hawthorne Lane. Today, 30 North Bosart Avenue looks much like it did in 1911.

Elsie Felt Caldwell posed with her daughter Martha Virginia Caldwell in the backyard of 30 North Bosart Avenue c1919. (photo courtesy of Ginny Hingst)

Little Howard Caldwell, Jr. posed in his backyard at 30 North Bosart Avenue in 1926. Behind him, you can see the rear of 34 North Bosart Avenue. The Binford family lived there at the time and became close friends with the Caldwells.  (photo courtesy of Ginny Hingst)

Howard Caldwell, Jr. in 1926 in the backyard of 30 North Bosart Avenue. (photo courtesy of Ginny Hingst)

The Caldwell family posed for this snapshot in 1932 in the backyard of 30 North Bosart Avenue. Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell had just moved from the Audubon Court Apartments back into his mother's home to help save money during the Great Depression. Behind the family, you can see the home at 26 North Bosart Avenue. Onias and Hattie Alford lived in that house at the time. Pictured:  Howard Caldwell, Sr, Martha Virginia Caldwell, Elsie Felt Caldwell and Howard Caldwell, Jr. (photo courtesy of Ginny Hingst)

Howard Caldwell, Jr. on the left posed with "Edward" in the front yard of 30 North Bosart Avenue in 1934. The fire hydrant behind the boys is still located in the same spot in 2019. (photo courtesy of Ginny Hingst) 

Sources:  On Benjamin Caldwell: Obituary, Knightstown Banner, December 19, 1913, 13; "Recalling School 57 and 'Schoolboy Crush,'" Indianapolis Prime Times, September 2003, 5; Early years of Howard Caldwell, Sr.: "Caldwell's Contribution Valuable to Profession," Indianapolis Prime Times, April 2003, 5; "Caldwell with Haynes," Indianapolis Star, August 12, 1917, 18

I am indebted to Ginny Hingst for her kindness in loaning me photos and stories of the Caldwell family.

Sigma Chi Fraternity Images 1913-1915

The Sigma Chi Rho Chapter has been a part of Butler University's three campuses since 1865. When the college moved to Irvington in 1875, the fraternity followed. By 1913, the club had eleven active members and several pledges. They lived in a variety of houses throughout Irvington. Howard Caldwell, Sr, for instance, resided at his family's home at 30 North Bosart Avenue. The club leased  a room at Moore's Hall, formerly located at 130 South Audubon Road, for their chapter meetings. Both the Butler Collegian and Indianapolis News reported in 1913 that the men of Sigma Chi had the highest GPA of any of the fraternities on campus with an average of 73.04%. Of course, the campus average was 75.5% and the Delta Pi Omega Sorority had an average of 82%.

Each year the club sponsored a dance. In 1913, a Sigma Chi alum managed to secure the Columbia Club in downtown Indianapolis for the event. In 1914, they held the dance at the Propylaeum on North Delaware Street. A formal photo from 1913 shows the men in standard pose while other photos reveal the more candid and playful side of the group.

Sigma Chi Rho Chapter Butler University 1913, front row: Joseph Ostrander, Robert Buck, Murray Matthews, Dan Trone, Robert J. Masters; second row: Howard C. Caldwell, Sr., Carlos Bonham, Halsey R. Keeling,  Bruce Robison, Carbs Harrison,  Kenneth Barr (photo courtesy of Ginny Hingst)

Members of the Sigma Chi fraternity at gathered at the north end of Butler's campus in1913 near the Pennsylvania Railroad. Behind the men you, can see the residence at 143 South Butler and the double at 137-39 South Butler Avenue. We only know the names of a few of the young men. Seated in front: ?; Second row: ?, ?; Third Row:  ?,?, Robert J. Masters; Fourth row: ?, Dan Trone, Howard C. Caldwell, Sr,; Top row: ?, Halsey Keeling, ? (photo courtesy of Ginny Hingst)

The members of Sigma Chi gathered for this photo most likely in 1913. The building next to the young men was possibly the Butler Observatory located at the northern end of the campus near the Pennsylvania Railroad. Howard C. Caldwell, Sr. is standing next to the building. Looking up to him is Halsey Keeling. We do not know the names of the other in the men in the photo yet. (photo courtesy of Ginny Hingst) 

Howard Caldwell, Sr. lived at 30 North Bosart Avenue with his parents although tragedy struck the family when his father, Benjamin Caldwell, died in 1913 at the 47. (photo courtesy of Ginny Hingst)

Howard Caldwell, Sr. graduated from Butler University in 1915. He was a writer and would later run his own advertising agency. (photo courtesy of Ginny Hingst)

Sources:  "Sigma Chi Plan Luncheon," Indianapolis Star, November 28, 1913, 13; "Ella Weaver Heads Honors List at Butler," Indianapolis News, April 17, 1913, 4

I am indebted to Ginny Hingst, the granddaughter Howard C. Caldwell, Sr., for these images.