Ellenberger Home Then and Now

The Ellenberger family first moved into Warren Township in the 1850s.  By the end of the Civil War, they had made enough money from farming to build a grand Italianate home along East 10th Street.  Their investment proved to be a wise one as the land was fertile for agriculture and later for profit as the demand for housing increased with the expansion of nearby Irvington.  Although they grew crops, the Ellenbergers made much of their income from hogs.  In the early days, the family had to drive the hogs to Cincinnati down the Brookville Road by foot.  Mr. and Mrs. Ellenberger lived out the remainder of their lives in the home.

In this image, taken in the late nineteenth century, family members gathered for a photo on the east side of the farmhouse.  Thelma Murphy, the granddaughter of John Ellenberger, recorded the names of the people in the picture.  Her mother took the photo.  The people are labeled as:

1.  Alice and Columbus Barker
2.  Jack and Ellenberger
3.  John Ellenberger (in chair) and the Wagner Family
4.  Eva and Flora Ellenberger
5. Johan Ellenberger (in chair)
6.  Ellie (Deel) and Charles Shearer
7.  Morehouse Family and "Lizzie"

The extended members of the Ellenberger family gathered for a photo in the late nineteenth century at their farmhouse. (5602 East 10th Street)

The Ellenberger Home on March 25, 2013

By the 1910s, the Italianate style for homes was considered old-fashioned and passé. Descendants of the Ellenbergers must have noticed the interesting Arts and Crafts, Tudor Revival, and Mission Revival homes just to the south of the farm.  After World War One, the family completely remodeled and changed the home to be more contemporary. They removed windows and added some.  They eliminated the Italianate brackets along the roofline.  They removed doors and added others.  They tacked on an enclosed brick porch and a porte-cochère with a new side entrance.  They completely stuccoed the entire house so that any vestige of the farmhouse was gone.  For nearly one hundred years, most eastsiders have only known this version of the home and it has looked like this longer than the Italianate style.  The home still sits on a nice plot of land although developers eventually bought up all of the meadows nearby and built houses and at least one church on several acres near the dwelling.  So would a preservationist restore the home to the vintage 1860s-era or keep the 1910s style?  These are the kinds of questions that one debates in the preservation world.

The information and photo are courtesy of Thelma Murphy via Bob Alloway.

Ellenberger Reunion 1914-- Repost With Names!

In 1914, the extended family of the Ellenbergers gathered for a reunion.  They sat for this formal portrait in front of the family farm house on East 10th Street.  (the home is still standing near the northeast corner of East 10th and Ritter Avemue)  The Ellenbergers owned acres of land and made money not only from their farm, but also by selling land for development for nearby Irvington.  The city of Indianapolis purchased nearly 31 acres of woods from the family for a future city park for $21,490 in 1910.

Four years later, the family gathered for this photo.  Thanks to one of our astute readers, we now have the names of several of the people in this photo.  I can only imagine how exciting it would be to stumble upon a photo of a long lost relative while doing genealogical research online!  In the 1970s and 1980s, the Irvington branch of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library conducted oral history interviews with long-time neighborhood residents.  One of those folks recorded was Thelma Murphy, who descended from the Ellenbergers.  She took the time to list the names of the people in this photo.  Thanks to Bob Alloway, I can now share these names with you.  Some of the people in this photo dwelled in the Irvington area.  I have included the addresses of those folks.

The Ellenberger clan gathered at 5602 East 10th Street for a family reunion in 1914.  See names below.

Front Row:
Lloyd White
Paul Gates
Rolland Dove
Jessie Brisentine

Second Row:

Annie White
Charles Shearer (farmer southside of East 10th Street, east of Emerson Avenue)
Mary Shearer (same as above)
John or Johann Ellenberger, the family patriarch
Eva Tingle
Jack Ellenberger
Ellen Ellenberger
Ellen Dove (219 South Butler Avenue)
Lee Dove (219 South Butler Avenue)

Third Row:

Stella Longest
Stella White Longest
Edith White
Goldie Shearer
Ethel Shearer
Jerry Tingle
Ruth Dove Stevenson

Fourth Row and Back Rows:

Annie Brisentine
John Brisentine
Flora Johnson
Doris Evoy
Goldie White Apple
Laura White
Bess Johnson
Addie Springer (southside of East 10th Street, just east of Arlington Avenue)
Bertha Wagner Irwin
Joseph Irwin
Bertha Brisentine
Cora Wagner Gates
Ed White
Flora Wagner Perkins
--- Ellenberger
Wife of Charles Ellenberger
Charles Ellenberger
---Moorhead
---Moorhead
---Moorhead

   You may read the transcripts from these interviews or listen to the actual recordings by visiting the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library homepage.  Miss Murphy's interview is linked here courtesy of Bob Alloway.

http://digitallibrary.imcpl.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/ioh/id/35/rec/1

Rare Opportunity--Historic Ellenberger Home on Tour!

The Benton House Tour of Homes will feature several wonderful historic dwellings on Sunday, September 16, 2012.  (tickets may be purchased at the Benton House Museum at 312 Downey Ave) The Ellenberger Home will be among the many you can tour.  This is a rare opportunity to visit one of the most important landmarks on the east side of Indianapolis.  This lovely nineteenth-century Italianate farmhouse located on East 10th Street was dramatically changed in the late 1910s; however, the house is extraordinarily significant and tied to the story of Irvington.

The farm predates the founding of the neighborhood in 1870 as the Ellenbergers were responsible for selling vast tracks for development including what would later become Ellenberger Park.  The family was well-known on the eastside for years as there were several Ellenberger descendants.

An Irvington treasure--The Ellenberger Home

The Ellenberger clan gathered in 1914 for a reunion and this photo.

John or Johann Ellenberger in 1919

Do not pass up this opportunity to see a part of Irvington's history!  The tour begins at noon.

Bruckmann Farm--1893

Many people in the neighborhood know of the Ellenberger Family, who farmed north of Irvington, but how many know of the Bruckmanns who farmed just to the east of the Ellenbergers at the northwest corner of East 10th and Arlington? Their land stretched all of the way to East 16th Street.

The Bruckmanns traveled from Darmstadt, Germany and lived in both Ohio and Illinois before moving to the 10th and Arlington area in the mid-1860s. They lived in a log cabin and eventually built this fine home for their twelve children. (nine lived to adulthood) The dwelling remained in the family until the 1950s when they sold it to Mr Guidone. The house was demolished and developers put in a commercial area. Some of the farm remains undeveloped in 2011.

This remarkable photo shows the Bruckmann Family in 1893. The younger generation dropped the second "n" from the name. Only three married and had children. Some of those descendants lived in and operated businesses in the Irvington area. Notice the lushness of the front yard. The matriarch of the family, Elizabeth Rush Bruckmann, a Virginian, whose parents immigrated from Prussia, maintained a beautiful garden.

Featured in this photo are: (Standing from left to right) John Buckmann, Jr., Barbara Huber Bruckmann, Phil Bruckmann (also known as Shorty), Leana Bruckmann, Carey Bruckman (sadly, she died three weeks after this photo), Joseph Bruckmann, Kate Bruckmann, William Bruckmann, and Mary Bruckmann

(Seated from left to right) George Washington Bruckman holding Albert Bruckman, Bessie Helen Bruckman, John Daniel Bruckman, John Bruckmann, Sr., Elizabeth Rush Bruckmann

Today, it is difficult to imagine this beautiful Eden as this area along East 10th Street is now filled with concrete block commercial buildings and asphalt, but at one time it must have been one of the loveliest places to ride by on a leisurely outing either in a carriage or Model T. I am indebted to Don Rouse for the stories and this amazing photo.